Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Virtual Reality In And For Creation, Jaron Melin

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Within the last few years, there has been growing excitement and concern in the rise of what is called the metaverse. How do various enthusiasts and observers characterize the metaverse? Bobrowsky on the Wall Street Journal reports the metaverse as “an extensive online world transcending individual tech platforms, where people exist in immersive, shared virtual spaces. Through avatars, people are able to try on items available in stores or attend concerts with friends, just as they would offline.”

Back To The Beginning Creation Shapes The Entire Story, Charles Arand

Concordia Journal

So creation is more than a stage or scenery for God’s story. It is integral to the entire story. After all, the entire story is about God’s relationship to his creation, especially to those extraordinary creatures that he had formed from the ground to look after and cultivate his creation.

The Concept Of Time In The Old Testament, Hans Walter Wolff

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the Old Testament we find abundant evidence for the view that man lives out his life within time, that he lives within times that change. By examining characteristic Old Testament texts, we shall attempt to gain a picture of how the Old Testament's understanding of time relates to its understanding of man.

The Soteriological Approach To Christian Doctrine., F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Lutheran Confessions present all Christian doctrine from the soteriological standpoint, that is, from the meaning each has for our salvation. Each and every doctrine of Christian revelation must be viewed in actu, not only in statu; it must be within the focus of a real spiritual problem and be presented only in its soteriological significance.

Documentation: What's Around The Corner For Humanity In The Life Sciences?, Paul E. Lutz

Concordia Theological Monthly

My comments here are restricted to those biological breakthroughs that will have some theological or moralistic implications. You must, therefore, understand that this restriction eliminates an enormous number of small and some very large advances in the area of basic biological research. Detailed research, for example, on mitochondrial DNA, mechanisms for hydrogenation in photosynthesis, insect photoperiodism, bacterial taxonomy, and phosphorus metabolism by planktonic desmids will all be very exciting and will significantly advance those areas. But there are few if any direct theological; ethical, or philosophical conceptual spin-offs from such studies.

My remarks are structured in three basic areas of …

Dangerous Trends In Modern Theological Thought, K. Runia

Concordia Theological Monthly

When we approach the problem of demythologizing from this starting point, it is beyond question that the Bible rejects every attempt in this direction.

The Natural Knowledge Of God, Ralph A. Bohlmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

This study grows out of a request for guidance from the Commission on Fraternal Organizations of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Over the years this commission has been meeting with leaders of a number of fraternal organizations in an effort both to explain our synod's position on lodgery as well as to encourage the removal of objectionable features from lodge rituals. These groups have shown readiness to make many of the ritualistic changes suggested by our commission. In one area, however, these groups refuse to yield. They insist that requiring belief in the existence of a Supreme Being of their members …

The New Year And All Things, Martin H. Franzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." ( Col. 1:17)

"It was the worst of times; it was the best of times." It always is. Any fairly clever theologian or fairly clever historian can always make out a pretty good case for both. It is rather difficult today, but for us in America at least most of our troubles are in the future.

The Doctrine Of Creation In Lutheran Theology, Jaroslav Pelikan

Concordia Theological Monthly

The fundamental category in the Biblical doctrine of man is the category "creature." Whatever else Christian theology may have to say about the nature and destiny of man, it says in the limits described by that category. Its picture of man as sinner, therefore, must portray him as a fallen creature. It must not make him a creature of Satan because of his sin. Nor dare theology forget that it is precisely man's creaturely derivation from God that makes his sin so calamitous. Because the category "creature" is so fundamental, orthodox Christian theology has always felt compelled to draw a …

Natural Science With Reference To Genesis 1, A. C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

A discussion of this problem has its pitfalls. There is danger of getting lost in a maze of conflicting opinions at the very start. The moment one turns to the Genesis account, the mind is flooded with associations coming from the outside. Besides, it calls for conscious effort to keep the mind from being swayed by one or the other of the many interpretations which have been presented. But if we seek a solution of some of the many problems which arise with respect to the relation of science and Genesis, we shall have to keep close to the text. …

Some Scriptural Aspects Of Processes In Nature, August C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Nature is like a veil. It both reveals and conceals the truth. What William Taylor says of the parable may also be applied to nature: " ... a cloud luminous to some, yet dark to others; the enveilment, but also the unveiling, of the truth to men." If nature appeals only to our intellect, we shall see only that which lies on the surface.

Some Phases Of "After His Kind" In The Light Of Modem Science, August C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some would estimate the number of species of animals to be about 1,073,000. Others say that there are about 3,000,000 species of animals. The wide range of difference between these two estimates is due to the diversity of opinion as to the concept "species." Since evolution is the background of modern biology, the term species is accordingly defined as an evolving group and net as an aggregation with set bounds and limits. Darwin's Origin of Species takes this view. Opposed to this view is that of the Bible, which speaks of natural groups of plants and animals and calls such …

Luther On Creation, Henry W. Reimann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Although he was bred in a Church and society in which men tried with their works to appease the God whom theologians and philosophers had carefully thought out, Martin Luther returned to the Gospel. Here God took the initiative to rescue and redeem His sinful creatures through His Son. This has rightly been called a Copernican revolution in the realm of religion. Just as Copernicus started with a geocentric, but reached a heliocentric conception of the physical world, Luther began with an anthropocentric or egocentric conception of religion, but came to a theocentric conception. In this sense, Luther is a …

The Alleged Contradiction Between Gen. 1:24-27 And 2:19, Alexander Heidel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The first chapter of Genesis, as every Bible student knows, has the animals made first and then man. But the second chapter is commonly held to reverse the order and to place the creation of man before that of the animals. This view is based upon the assumption that Gen. 2:18-25 constitutes a continuous piece of narrative and that the tense of the Hebrew verb with which v.19 opens therefore implies a sequence in the order of time, necessitating the following translation of v.19: "And so the Lord God formed out of the ground all the beast of the field …

The Province Of Human Reason In Religion, M. S. Sommer

Concordia Theological Monthly

At the very outset it is necessary to define what I mean by human reason. By this term I mean the entire sum of natural knowledge and powers of the human mind, including intuition and conscience and the ability to reason correctly. This human reason is a very precious gift of God and is therefore also to be prized very highly. It is a sign of great folly, corruption, aye, of Satanic delusion, to despise and teach others to despise God's gifts in nature. "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received …

Is The New Science Hostile To Religon?, Theodore Graebner

Concordia Theological Monthly

The question is raised in a letter which just comes to hand from Rev. H. J. S. Astrup of Zululand, South Africa, who calls himself "an unknown far-away man," but whose labors in the South Africa mission-field are not unknown to us. Rev. Astrup particularly refers to a recent book of Sir James Jeans, The Mysterious Universe, a book which in this reader's opinion "has upset many person's faith," particularly in its bearings on the Christian's belief in creation.

Brief Statement Of The Doctrinal Position Of The Missouri Synod Of The Holy Scriptures, F Pieper

Concordia Theological Monthly

We teach that the Holy Scriptures differ from all other books in the world in that they are the Word of God. They are the Word of God because the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy Ghost communicated to them by inspiration, 2 Tim. 3, 16; 2 Pet.1, 21. We teach also that the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures is not a so-called "theological deduction," but that it is taught by direct statements of the Scriptures, 2 Tim. 3, 16; John 10, 35; Rom. 3, 2; 1 Cor. 2, 13. Since the …