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Articles 1 - 30 of 70
Full-Text Articles in Religion
Letter From The Chairman: Why We Are Not Our Own, Cody Macmillan
Letter From The Chairman: Why We Are Not Our Own, Cody Macmillan
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
In his book, You Are Not Your Own, author and professor Alan Noble argues that the fundamental lie of modernity is the one which says we belong to ourselves.1 He is concerned with our society's increased emphasis on individualism, and he asserts that it requires serious and intentional effort to remember how we belong to Christ. This truth, Noble says, is not just a doctrine to which we must subscribe but a reality which touches every part of our lives.2 It runs contrary to the narratives of self-discovery and self-ownership that we are surrounded by today, and it is the …
The Holy Spirit As The Undiminished Giver In The Early Church, Kyle Weeks
The Holy Spirit As The Undiminished Giver In The Early Church, Kyle Weeks
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
At one time or another, virtually every churchgoing Christian is bound to hear the moniker of “Sanctifier” applied to the Holy Spirit. In this role, the Spirit is often described as dwelling within believers to make them holy, so that they might produce the “fruit of the spirit” as they lead good and godly lives.2 To that end, the Spirit is said to effect a complete “regeneration and renewal” of the individual, empowering them with the strength, grace, virtues, and other “spiritual gifts” requisite for Christian life.3 In denominations such as Lutheranism, faith itself is proclaimed to be impossible without …
Bitterness And Anger In Ephesians, Archetypes, & The Bi-Hemispheric Structure Of The Brain: Comparing Paul, Jordan Peterson, And Iain Mcgilchrist, Joshua Armstrong
Bitterness And Anger In Ephesians, Archetypes, & The Bi-Hemispheric Structure Of The Brain: Comparing Paul, Jordan Peterson, And Iain Mcgilchrist, Joshua Armstrong
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Many people eager to confront falsehood and pursue justice or truth do so nourishing a vindictive, bitter, or resentful attitude. Nourishing anger, particularly resentment, is akin to stoking up the archetypal “Luciferian spirit,” according to clinical psychologist and author Jordan Peterson. This spirit presumes: “what I do is all there is to do, what I know is all there is to know.” It is symptomatic of attending to the world in a way overly reliant on a “left-hemisphere” approach, which leads to entrapment in a “self-reflexive virtual world” disconnected from real “other” things, and only really knowing itself, according to …
Not My Church: Confessional Living In An All-Consuming World, Cody Macmillan
Not My Church: Confessional Living In An All-Consuming World, Cody Macmillan
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
What I hope to offer in the following pages is a vision for the Church that is not our own in a world that is increasingly foreign to us. In a discussion of the Scriptures and the Sacraments, I would like to present three ways in which this Church is distinctly alien in nature. She presents alien standards, alien sentiment, and alien strength to which we are called to subscribe, submit, and surrender. In presenting the alien nature of this church, I offer points of contrast and comparison with the culture to which we are tempted to succumb. These comparisons …
The Beginnings Of Jewish Missions In The Lcms, Jaron Melin
The Beginnings Of Jewish Missions In The Lcms, Jaron Melin
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Mission is the theological account of the relationship between the church and the world. Where are the Jews in this relationship? If the church and the Jews had a relationship status on Facebook, then it might say, “It’s complicated.” This may be true of any kind of missions, but this shows itself to be especially true in Lutheran history and in particular LCMS-history. I look at the histories as recorded by Meyer, Lieske, Cohen, Parviz, and others on the early history of Jewish Missions in the LCMS, and I reflect on the context and theology behind them using missiologists like …
Virtual Reality In And For Creation, Jaron Melin
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.”
Christian Narrative Service: God’S Story Of Everything In Worship, Jaron Melin
Christian Narrative Service: God’S Story Of Everything In Worship, Jaron Melin
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Christian Narrative Service: God’s Story of Everything in Worship
Our Father Spoke, And It Was Good, Jason Kohm
Our Father Spoke, And It Was Good, Jason Kohm
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
A Wedding Hymn compsed by Jason Kohm.
Grapho 2024, Cody Macmillan
The Psalms And The Good Life Of God’S People, Rachel Mccloskey
The Psalms And The Good Life Of God’S People, Rachel Mccloskey
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
We belong to Christ who speaks his word to us. As a creedal church body, we recognize that God’s word is not only a word to be received, but a word to be confessed back to him. As the Spirit works through the word, he forms and shapes us as God’s confessing people. It has a transformative effect. We belong to Christ and his word does not leave us unchanged.
Letter From The Chairman: Over One Hundred Years Of Student Publications At Concordia Seminary, Ben Vanderhyde
Letter From The Chairman: Over One Hundred Years Of Student Publications At Concordia Seminary, Ben Vanderhyde
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
For hundreds of years, in various countries, through various languages, Christian pastors have exhorted their people to lift up their hearts in the liturgy of Holy Communion. Whether or not every church has always used these precise words, the exhortation is universal among Christians. We are called to put our faith and trust in the one who is above us; to set our hope firmly on the one whose second advent is on the verge of dawning; to aim all of our desires and affections toward the one who made us. In short, we lift up our hearts to the …
A Lutheran Perspective On Righteousness In China, Futao (Gary) Liu
A Lutheran Perspective On Righteousness In China, Futao (Gary) Liu
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
The recent history of China cannot get away from the impact of western thoughts and industrialization, including Democracy, Marxism, Republicanism, etc. For two millienium or so, the Chinese philosopher, Confucius (551–479 BCE), had dominated Chinese society through his philosophy (commonly called Confucianism) in every respect, from the hierarchical structures of governments and states to familial relations. Confucianism met its real challenge only in the recent history of China. At the collasping edge of the last feudal society (the Qing Dynasty which fell in 1911), patriotic Confucians had tried to bring what is useful of the West into traditional values and …
Sursum Corda As A Call For Repentance And Faith, Sebastian Grünbaum
Sursum Corda As A Call For Repentance And Faith, Sebastian Grünbaum
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
This article examines Chemnitz's understanding and interpretation of the Sursum Corda in his work the Lord’s Supper. Chemnitz’s theological adversaries had been claiming that the Sursum Corda was evidence that the early church did not believe that the true body and blood were on the altar. They argued that the believer had to go up to the Lord (who sits on the right side of the Father) in faith and eat mere bread in this faith.3 Chemnitz aimed to correct this understanding by showing that the Fathers did not understand the Sursum Corda in this way but rather as an …
Almsgiving In Early Christian Catechesis, Ben Vanderhyde
Almsgiving In Early Christian Catechesis, Ben Vanderhyde
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
To say simply that almsgiving was a part of early Christian catechesis would not say much that is new to the Lutheran church today. Our own catechism includes this idea in its explanation of the 5th commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.” It is not so much significant that the Apostolic Fathers taught almsgiving but how they did so. Almsgiving played such a central role in the life of the early church that it came to be …
Pierre Manent: The Empire Of Modernity And The Church’S Response, Hayden Lukas
Pierre Manent: The Empire Of Modernity And The Church’S Response, Hayden Lukas
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Manent’s body of work often problematizes the modern conservative impulse to draw on the history of thought with modernity’s conception of history, and this essay will attempt to explain this dynamic. To do this, I will explain the basics of Manent’s account of modernity as a way of evaluating history, drawing on the work of other political philosophers to supplement Manent’s account. Then I will examine how the work of Manent and Emile Perreau-Saussine, with the Catholic response to the Enlightenment, can contribute to the Church’s strategy to engage with the puzzle of modernity. .
The Holy Heart, Cody Macmillan
The Holy Heart, Cody Macmillan
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
No abstract provided.
Liturgy & Life: How The Divine Service Connects With The Rest Of The Week, Benjamin Janssen
Liturgy & Life: How The Divine Service Connects With The Rest Of The Week, Benjamin Janssen
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
On vicarage, I was blessed to spend many hours with a faithful member named Ginger, who, alongside her husband Walter, runs and operates the congregation’s robust food and clothing distribution center. This center is completely run by volunteer efforts out of the undercroft of the church and successfully feeds and clothes 150 families a month. This work both serves the neighbor in need and brings the congregation into contact with many of those living in the immediate community. In short, it is a blessing to the congregation and the surrounding community. Therefore, at the end of each service day, I …
Bounding Down The Mountain Peaks, Andrew Bloch, Lindsay Bloch
Bounding Down The Mountain Peaks, Andrew Bloch, Lindsay Bloch
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Poetry composed by Andrew & Lindsay Bloch.
Ariel, Hayden Lukas
Ariel, Hayden Lukas
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Poetry composed by Hayden Lukas.
Learning The Liturgy With Mr. Miyagi: The Case For Liturgical Catechesis, Benjamin Leeper
Learning The Liturgy With Mr. Miyagi: The Case For Liturgical Catechesis, Benjamin Leeper
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Using the narrative of The Karate Kid as a guide, I will demonstrate that Christian formation is a matter of recontextualizing liturgical practices in the daily life of the believer, so that she knows when, where, and how to use the precogni¬tive spiritual habits formed by Word and Sacrament in Christian worship. This understanding challenges prevalent liturgical theology, which tends to assume an automatic connection—or worse, no connection at all— between worship and daily life, by highlighting the necessity of locating for believers the telos of the church’s rites and ceremonies in discipleship. Finally, I will provide concrete examples of …
Members Of One Holy Body, Benjamin Leeper
Members Of One Holy Body, Benjamin Leeper
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Poetry composed by Benjamin Leeper.
Grapho 2023, Ben Vanderhyde
Grapho 2023, Ben Vanderhyde
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Lift Up Your Hearts
Catechism Service, Jaron Melin
Catechism Service, Jaron Melin
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
This service is organized in a simple manner for any congregation to use. Pastors and congregations are encouraged to use and adapt it for their worship. It was made brief to be printed as a worship-bulletin onto both sides of a single sheet of paper. Any part can be expanded to include more of the Small Catechism for further instruction and formation (e.g. questions and answers). Furthermore, Phillip Magness has put the Small Catechism to music which could be incorporated into this service so that people can learn the catechism by heart to music even in the midst of worship.
Letter From The Chairman: Over One Hundred Years Of Student Publications At Concordia Seminary, Kendall Davis
Letter From The Chairman: Over One Hundred Years Of Student Publications At Concordia Seminary, Kendall Davis
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
For this year’s issue of Grapho we are focusing on the theme, “The Light from Generation to Generation.” Obviously, this echoes the motto of our seminary, “Ἄνωθεν τὸ φῶς” or “The light from above.” But the student publications committee also felt that this theme captures well what we do here at this seminary: prepare men and women to teach present and future generations about the light, the Lord Jesus. In exegetical classes we learn how the writers of the Scriptures pointed their original hearers to this light. In historical classes we learn how Christians in the past taught and thought …
Tradition: Handing Down The Light To The Next Generation, Kristen Einertson
Tradition: Handing Down The Light To The Next Generation, Kristen Einertson
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
When my husband and I found out that I was pregnant with our first child, we started discussing the ways we hoped to hand down the faith to our children one day. Initially, the things that our own parents had done when we were younger helped us to come up with a pretty familiar list of activities: getting them baptized soon after they arrived, going to church regularly, teaching them to pray before mealtimes and bedtime, reading Bible stories, and familiarizing them with the church’s hymns. If there was one nearby—and we wanted to get a little crazy—maybe we would …
Impassioned Wonder: Theosis And The Place Of Reason In Gregory Nazianzen’S Theological Orations, Ben Vanderhyde
Impassioned Wonder: Theosis And The Place Of Reason In Gregory Nazianzen’S Theological Orations, Ben Vanderhyde
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
The theologian is situated between two realities: the revelation of God and the transcendence of God. It would seem that all of theology should be a matter of reckoning with these two extremities. Without transcendence, we have no God. Without revelation we have neither starting point, nor guide, nor aim; theology becomes pointless speculation. We must know God, and yet, not know him. He must remain far beyond any language to describe or any image to depict, and yet, we must describe him. Theology lives in the middle of these, neither putting God into a box nor holding God above, …
Deep Roots Are Not Touched By The Frost, Aidan Moon
Deep Roots Are Not Touched By The Frost, Aidan Moon
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Poetry composed by Adian Moon.
Light: Recovering An Ancient Perspective, Hayden Lukas
Light: Recovering An Ancient Perspective, Hayden Lukas
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
As John the Baptist bore witness to the Light of the World, so too must the Church today. But there are many ways to talk about light. How should we speak about light when bearing witness to Christ? On which understanding of light should we draw? Light can refer to daylight or the light in a room—the physical phenomenon we perceive through sight. But light can also refer to objects that produce light, such as a floor lamp; we “turn on the lights.” We are familiar with scientific descriptions of light, such as its speed or its wavelength. Light can …
Morning, Cody Macmillin
Morning, Cody Macmillin
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
Poetry composed by Cody MacMillin.
A Disordered Estate: A Lutheran Approach To Institutional Evils, Christian Dollar
A Disordered Estate: A Lutheran Approach To Institutional Evils, Christian Dollar
Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal
The question of institutional evils weighs heavily on the mind of the American Zeitgeist. Institutional racism, once happily relegated to history as a relic of Jim Crow, has reentered the public discussion on a national level in a way not seen since the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. The new virtue of “fair-trade” is lauded as the solution for an exploitive economic system, while “going green” promises absolution of a company’s carbon footprint. The extent of government COVID-19 measures and the debate surrounding the inclusion of critical theories in public education dominate primetime and social media. These are all examples of …