Religion Commons^™

Soeren Aaby Kierkegaard, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Essays on Kierkegaard (just as such on many other great men) usually tum out to be no more than mere glimpses of the man and his work given by writers who are either for or against him, just as their studies have led them to see in him either a very great man or (to say the least) a very great enigma. It is therefore extremely difficult to arrive at an objective judgment of Kierkegaard by the study of biographies and historico-doctrinal monographs, no matter how many of them one may read. But to peruse his original writings is to …

Keeping The Doctrine Pure, J, H. Fritz

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the year 1924 a book was published entitled Great Preachers As Seen by a Journalist. In closing the last chapter of the book the author said, ''I believe that the creeds within Protestantism are more shell-like and fragile than appears on the surface. Some of these ministers I have written about in this book were born in one creed and preach now in another. Ask me at the end of my work what conclusion stands out in my mind, and I must say, 'I have found plenty of signs that the Protestant Churches of America will one day be …

The Lord's Prayer, The Pastor's Prayer, G. H. Smukal

Concordia Theological Monthly

The pastor prays to the Father: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." His privilege and duty is to understand the meaning of this petition and to convey it to his congregation. If he fails in this, he is incompetent; if he is incompetent, he should either acquire knowledge or return the shepherd's staff to Jesus. The knowledge of God's will is indispensable to faith and life. To attain this sufficiency, the faithful pastor strives earnestly to ascertain the meaning of this petition. That pastor was the devil's servant who said to an afflicted parishioner: "Don't …

Christian Fellowship, C. August Hardt

Concordia Theological Monthly

The following article on "Christian Fellowship" is the second part of the essay “The Scriptural Content of χοινωνία, Its Manifestations and Restrictions upon Such Manifestations," the first part of which: Fellowship with God," appeared. in the CONCODIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY, Vol. XV, 505 ff. To give the reader an overview and enable him to follow the line of thought more easily, we epitomize the contents in the subjoined outline.

The Concept Of Love In The Johannine Writings, Omar Stuenkel

Bachelor of Divinity

In the present study I have given emphasis to the Johannine writings because John provides all points necessary for consideration. It is my hope that I can in the future expand and extend the consideration of the love-concept in the New Testament to include especially the magnificent Pauline passages and the Synoptic implications. I reserve the liberty however, in this paper, to adduce passages from any part of the New Testament where these will add a unique thought to the understanding of the Johannine concept of love.

The History Of Scholasticism And Its Influence On The Church And Education Of The Middle Ages, Walter Huber

Bachelor of Divinity

This is to be a Bachelor of Divinity Thesis in the field of Church History. Immediately, however, it becomes evident that in the coverage of the above subject we cannot restrict ourselves within the bounds of Church History. It is impossible altogether to divorce Church History from general history. When one is taken and isolated from the other, both automatically suffer an infinite loss. Apart from the history of the world we cannot understand the history of the Church; and with the Church throughout all Christian ages playing so great, influential, and important role in the general history of mankind, …

A Review Of Moehlman's "School And Church: The American Way.", O. C. Rupprecht

Concordia Theological Monthly

Which is ''the American way" for the religious training of American children? According to Dr. C.H. Moehlman, Professor of the History of Christianity at the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, the American way is a different one from that pursued in Christian parochial schools. It is different, too, from the plan of "various religious groups" who "are conducting a vigorous propaganda for the return of the formal teaching of religion to the public classroom" (p. ix). The American way is to let public schools (in preference to parochial schools) and churches exist side by side, and to encourage them in at least …

Fellowship With God, C. August Hardt

Concordia Theological Monthly

By way of introduction let me say a few words about the reasons for submitting a paper on Koinonia. It is well known that the word "fellowship" has been very much in the foreground in recent years, especially in connection with the efforts of Lutheran bodies to establish church fellowship. We, too, have had committees at work discussing doctrinal differences with a view to bringing about Scriptural unity as a basis of church and altar fellowship. Some in our midst have looked upon these negotiations with doubts and apprehensions; others, however, feel that we have not even gone far enough …

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"O ye theologians, what are you doing? Think ye that it is a trifling matter when the sublime Majesty forbids you to teach things that do not proceed from the mouth of the Lord and are something else than God's Word? It is not a thresher or herdsman who is here speaking" (Luther XIX: 821). When men prefer those things that originate in their own minds to those that proceed out of the mouth of the Lord, they are doing an evil thing. We shall discuss this matter under four heads.

The Social Gospel, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

''Why bother about the social gospel?" a man recently told the present writer. ''The social gospel is dead and buried. No one concerns himself about it any more. It has been superseded by the theology of Karl Barth in its various forms, by the religious philosophy of Kierkegaard, by the neo-orthodoxy of Niebuhr and others, and by a number of other movements and developments."

A Manual For Summer Bible School--An Experiment In Christian Education, Allan Hart Jahsmann

Bachelor of Divinity

The need and the demand for new materials, new approaches, and new techniques in Christian education has been growing with the increasingly renewed recognition of the importance of the individual and the psychological approach to him. The parochial school teachers have been leading the chorus of voices for more directed mediums of religious instruction, and rightly so.

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Satan has brought untold woe upon the Church by inducing the Pope to deny the right of private judgment and suppress the exercise of it. And Satan brings additional woe upon the Church by inducing men to turn the God-given right of private judgment into a license to sit in judgment on Holy Scripture, to criticize and discard it. That is our second proposition: There is an exercise of private judgment which God absolutely forbids and condemns.

The Independence Of The Early Irish Church, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the annals of the past one frequently finds a twilight zone, where tradition and history meet, where fact must be distinguished from fancy and mythical accretion. It is rather challenging and intriguing to evaluate both secondary and primary sources in the effort to determine just which points may be regarded as the nuclear truth. In the history of the Apostles, for example, only that is acceptable without question which we find in the New Testament. With regard to later accounts and church tradition we must exercise great care to separate truth from legend. Thus we may, from the apocryphal …

Christian Worship Of The Ante-Nicene Church, Harold Krenz

Bachelor of Divinity

"Worship is man's response to God's revelation of Himself." In this sense worship consists of divine revelation and public response. This paper is devoted to the latter aspect of worship. It is the purpose of this paper to study the early origins of man's outward response to the revealed truths of Christianity; how the form of Christian worship was influenced by the Old Testament worship, how it received its indelible color from the Blood of Calvary, and how it began to develop into the highest and most beautiful of the aesthetic arts by the time the Christian religion became a …

Luther's Social Ethics In Contrast To Rome's Asceticism, Arnold Wessler

Bachelor of Divinity

"Luther brought back the pure doctrine of justification; that, above all, made him the Reformer of the Church." By carrying out the implications of this Scriptural truth in its relation to the rest of Roman theology Luther once and for all broke the power of the Roman papacy. Other reformers had failed and Luther succeeded in his Reformation because he struck at the root of the problem and undermined the foundations upon which Rome's whole diabolical system of theology rested. Luther succeeded because he destroyed Rome's sacerdotalism and sacramentalism.

The Doctrine Of The Holy Ghost According To St Paul, Edward Saleska

Bachelor of Divinity

The doctrine or the Holy Spirit is fundamental in Christian teaching. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is intimately bound up in the doctrine of the Trinity and is an all-important factor in the life of the Christian. It makes all the difference in the world as to what a man believes regarding the Holy Ghost and whether or not he has an intelligent understanding of what the Spirit is ready to do for him in his life.

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Unionism is the order of the day. In an address delivered at Valparaiso on Sept. 23, 1942, Dr. J. W. Behnken declared: ''The things which are happening on earth in these days are not merely rocking the very foundation of our vaunted twentieth-century civilization, but are also causing dreadful difficulties for the Church. But far worse than this havoc is the alarming indifference to the Word of God as it manifests itself in the mighty movements to unite all churches professing the Christian name into one large body. Within very recent months some very ominous statements have been made belittling …

Foreword, W. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Another year arrives, and what a hapless, disjointed, sad, disillusioned world it looks upon! Nation slaughters nation; the globe resembles one huge shambles; civilization apparently is collapsing, the social order disintegrating; the noble inventions and discoveries of science are harnessed to the chariot of destruction and death; the ingenuity of statesmen stands discredited; education has led downward; mankind may be compared to a large monster which is gnawing at its own vitals. Those whose eyes have not been entirely dimmed can plainly discern the seven angels pouring out the vials of divine wrath on the earth.

Youth Leadership, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

To offer a satisfactory summary of the problems which confront young people, particularly those of the late high school and college age, would require at least a semester's work, and therefore we can at best point out only those features of guidance which seem to require the most attention on our part. Let it be dated at once that the most difficult phases of work in the early stages of adolescence cannot be discussed at this time, partly because the amount of time at our disposal will not permit a satisfactory rehearsal of the most significant points, partly because most …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

This is, and must be, the burden of our concluding remarks: Let us "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3); let us faithfully guard' the precious doctrine of Verbal Inspiration.

We shall earnestly contend for it if we realize, in the first place, how much is at stake. We must realize what the Church would lose if she surrendered Verbal Inspiration. We would lose our Bible. The battle for Verbal Inspiration is not a mock battle played by children. It is not some unseemly brawl among squabbling theologians- Theologengezaenk. No; the Church is …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

We are asked to come in under the charter of liberty proclaimed by the moderns which calls for freedom from "the tyranny of words." We cannot do so, for three reasons.

First, we do not feel that Verbal Inspiration imposes a legalistic yoke on us. It does indeed require of us unquestioning acceptance of all the statements of Scripture. On that we and the moderns are agreed. We are bound by every word of Scripture. But we do not resent, nor rebel against, this bondage. It is a holy bondage. We rejoice in it. Why? Verbal Inspiration has taught us …

Youth Guidance In Marriage Problems, Elfred L. Roschke

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Youth Guidance in Marriage Problems" is the topic of this article. Before we begin the actual consideration of the topic, it may be well to get our bearings and to give some definitions. What do we mean by guidance? We believe that this term designates, or should designate, any effort by means of example and by means of precept, by direct or indirect instruction, to show people, especially young people, the true and right way, the best course to follow. Since this guidance, according to the topic, is to be a guidance of youth regarding the problems of one of …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

The moderns are bound to make the "sure Word" of Scripture (2 Pet. 1:19) unreliable. They have been telling the anxious Christian that the "mechanical, verbal theory" of inspiration is all wrong; that according to their dynamical canon the words in which the saving truth is revealed are purely human; that nobody knows whether the words of John 3:16 correctly express the divine thought. But they are not yet through with the dismayed Christian. Lest he still be disposed to base his trust on John 3:16 and similar passages of Holy Writ, they now tell him: Forget all about John …

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

The moderns have many more objections against Verbal Inspiration. To three of these they attach special importance. They denounce Verbal Inspiration as "a mechanical theory of inspiration"; they abhor it as "resulting in an atomistic conception of the Scriptures"; they abominate it as establishing "the legalistic authority of the letter." -The old evil Foe means deadly woe. The appeasers have up till now been telling us that nothing is lost if the Church gives up half of the Bible, seeing that they are willing to let her retain the important half, the Gospel message; if only the saving truths be …

The Doctrine Of Regeneration As Seen Especially In Romans 6:1-14, Eugene Klug

Bachelor of Divinity

Regeneration in the Epistle to the Romans: that is the problem before us for our consideration. Does Paul speak of regeneration at all in this epistle? There are those who hold that he does not, while others maintain that he does. Still others, unable to decide one way or the other, attempt to adopt a middle course, thereby becoming hopelessly enmeshed in doctrinal and exegetical confusion. The problem resolves itself still further into a dispute over one passage, ch. 6, 1-14, which is only section of Paul’s well planned letter which could – and which does, if I may anticipate …

Church Union, L W. Heidemann

Bachelor of Divinity

It is the purpose of our paper to show from History and from scripture that we have no reason to become disheartened in our position of strict confessionalism and determined separation from such unions which are based on compromise instead of complete doctrinal unity. History shows that this position serves the best interests of Christ and His Church. The Bible demands that this be our position.

Verbal Inspiration- A Stumbling-Block To The Jews And Foolishness To The Greeks, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

The second objection to Verbal Inspiration is based on the so-called unethical portions of the Bible. The mistakes of the Bible are to the moderns a small matter compared with the ethical blemishes they see in the Bible. These alleged immoralities and indecencies scandalize them beyond expression. That is what arouses their most violent protest. The moderns, both conservatives and liberals, join with the unbelievers and infidels in loudly protesting that the Bible as it stands contains much that outrages their moral sensibilities. What the present age needs is an expurgated Bible; and since Verbal Inspiration stands for an unexpurgated …

The Progressive Revelation Of The Antichrist, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

That there have been many antichristian forces, many "antichrists" in the world since the days of our blessed Savior, that, in fact, they had their origin in apostolic times, is clearly stated in Holy Scripture, as in 1 John 2:18; 4:3; 2 John 7. Our knowledge of this fact, therefore, and our belief in this truth, is based upon a teaching, a doctrine, of the Bible.

Privileges And Obligations, Th. Laetsch

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the name of the Prince of Peace, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, we are assembled here for the purpose of considering ways and means to bring the Gospel of peace to a war-tom world and to build, maintain, and extend His Kingdom of Grace and peace in a world enslaved by sin and Satan, harassed by war and rumors of war, by malice and hatred and deadly enmity. Almost one hundred years ago a considerably smaller number of men came together in Fort Wayne, Ind., and in other communities of the Central …

A Suggestion For A Lutheran Compline Service, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

At the risk of appearing to introduce what might at first blush seem to be an irrelevant thought, we feel constrained to refer once more to some of the doctrinal considerations which must ever be paramount in our attitude toward liturgical questions and liturgical problems.