Practical Theology Commons^™

A Study Group Examines The Doctrine Of Election And Its Relation To The Ministry Of Word And Sacraments, Ralph Rokke

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Rokke, Ralph M. A Study Group ermines the Doctrine of Election and Its Relation to the Ministry of Word and Sacraments. Does a pastor’s view of the doctrine of election influence his ministry? Two different forms of the doctrine of election have long been taught among Lutherans. The first form leads pastors to preach the Gospel and to administer the sacraments trusting that God works through them to save sinners. The second form, the intuitu fidei form, encourages pastors to believe that sinners have free wills and that it is a pastor’s job to persuade sinners to become Christians.

Pastoral Premarital Counseling In A Campus Ministry Setting-Wittenberg Lutheran Chapel, University Of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, Lindsay Watkins

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

The goal of this Major Applied Project was to submit, articulate, and elucidate at least ten specific objectives for pastoral premarital counseling in the campus ministry setting of Wittenberg Lutheran Chapel, the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and to present a process to achieve those objectives. Four components, a "Survey of Christian Married Adults," a "Survey of Christian Singles," a study of the Scriptural teachings regarding marriage, and a study of family therapy, psychological, and counseling resources furnished the specific objectives for pastoral premarital counseling. Thirteen specific objectives and a process to achieve those thirteen objectives resulted.

In The Footsteps Of Jesus Building The Faith Through A Parish Visit To The Holy Land, W Hischke

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS: Building the Faith Through a Parish Visit to the Holy Land.

This paper shows the busy parish pastor how to arrange tour to the Holy Land for himself and members of his parish, and how their faith can increase by walking in the footsteps of Jesus. The paper outlines such an actual tour, giving the preparations before departure, the itinerary, the sites visited, the related Scriptures, and post-trip comments. A carry-along booklet for the traveler is included as Appendix B.

Faith Development And Self-Directed Reading Of Christian Literature: A Key To A Maturing Faith, Raymond Schiefelbein

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Christians need continuing education to develop their faith. Too often, youth and adult Christians complete confirmation instruction but fail to continue learning, fail to have a positive attitude about the necessity of Christian learning as a lifelong process, and even fail to understand that faith can indeed grow in strength and maturity or diminish and die.

This Doctor of Ministry research project is a test of the hypothesis that Christians who engage in self-directed reading of Christian literature are more likely to develop a more integrated, mature faith than those who do not engage in self-directed reading. The six key …

Persuasion In The Art Of Preaching For The Church, William Matzat

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Throughout the following pages three major themes will be interwoven with the aspects of the preaching ministry mentioned above. The themes are pastoral in nature and have been formulated over many years in the parish ministry. In some ways, they are similar to the themes indicated in an isogogical study of a Scriptural text, as one studies (1) the addressees, (2) the content of the message, and (3) the approach or style of the writer. In a similar way, this paper will study the proclamation of the Word in relation to (1) the hearers, (2) the content of the message, …

Nurturing Faith In Jesus: Adult Sabbath School Lessons: Daybreak Series, Walter F. Specht

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evangelistic Preaching In The Missouri Synod, Donald Ehlers

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

I decided, therefore, to look further into this matter of evangelistic preaching. What is evangelistic preaching? After arriving at my own definition of evangelistic preaching, I want to determine if evangelistic preaching, so defined, has Biblical precedent. I also want to determine how my definition squares with Lutheran theology on conversion. Based on my definition, I want to develop criteria for evaluating Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod preaching as to its evangelistic nature. Using these criteria, I propose to study sermons written and preached by Missouri Synod pastors.

The Excavations At Biblical Heshbon 1974 Part 1, Lawrence T. Geraty

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is God Trying To Tell Us Something?, Wayne Saffen

Concordia Theological Monthly

As the 1970s began, the western region of the National Campus Ministry Association held a convocation at the University of California's Santa Cruz campus to consider "Life Planning." The present article is a revision of this author's discussion paper for that conference. Its theme really deals with the crisis in ministry as such. As usual, campus ministry turns out to be one of the sensitive outposts catching some of the first signals of changes coming to affect church and ministry in the world. It is shared here with a wider readership in a firm commitment to and belief in confraternity …

The Interior Warfare, Harry N. Huxhold

Concordia Theological Monthly

In a recent bulletin of the Academy of · Religion and Mental Health a psychiatrist quotes a Harvard junior, "Many students turn into themselves and become preoccupied with their own thoughts and emotions to the point of obsession.'' We should not be surprised. Your generation has been more sensitive to the nature of man and his interior struggle than most generations. The era of Freudian psychology and existential philosophy has exposed the depths of man's psyche to the point of nausea. It was not too long ago that we greeted the Freudian view of man as the clinical evidence of …

Spiritual Formation For Ministry, Eugene I. Van Antwerp

Concordia Theological Monthly

Dimiui Shostakovich has described his Fifth Symphony (D Major, Opus 47), composed just 30 years ago, as "the assertion of personality. It is man with all his emotions and experiences that I saw as the focus of design in this work."

Theological Education: Crisis And Renewal, Arthur Carl Piepkorn

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the course of the confessional revival in the Church of the Augsburg Confession during the 19th and 20th centuries, Lutheran theologians interpreted the statements of the Symbolical Books about the sacred ministry in three typical ways.

The Gospel And The Mission Task Of The Church, Roland B. Miller

Concordia Theological Monthly

Here we seem to be on safe ground. If the gospel and the mission task of the church do not belong together, what does? The gospel reveals a God whose very nature is missionary, and it constitutes the people of God whose very esse is missio. The gospel's good news, absolutely good and absolutely news, creates the mission and determines its nature, extent, and urgency. The gospel and mission go hand in hand. What could be more obvious than this?

The Gospel And Its Freedom Today: A Foreword, Carl S. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The proclamation of the gospel with its message of freedom in Christ Jesus is the compelling drive of the churchman's life. To say that the unifying principle of his life's work is the furtherance of the gospel is to say that he is conscious of the basic specification of his task. But it is saying more than that. It postulates a commitment, a conscious program, and the ability to carry out the task. It permeates the churchman's being and total personality, his dealings with his fellow servants, and his conscious evaluation of them and of self.

The Gospel And The Theological Task, John H. Tietjen

Concordia Theological Monthly

"I'm no theologian, but …. " You have heard the statement many times. After a learned presentation by a theological professor at a pastoral conference a parish pastor rises to add his wisdom to the discussion and begins with those words, most often to take exception to something the professor has said. A delegate to a church convention utters them to convince his fellow delegates of the practical, down-to-earth advice he is about to offer, usually stated in very specific theological terms in spite of his introduction.

The Gospel And Life In Preaching, Andrew M. Weyermann

Concordia Theological Monthly

With a twinkle in his eye and skepticism in his voice a clergyman asked recently, "What, in your opinion, is a good sermon?" One almost despairs of giving an answer. There are so many styles of preaching and so many different kinds of people listening that it appears hopeless to try to give a definition of good preaching which would hold true for everyone in every situation. Even the so-called experts often do not agree. Every seminary has its tales of students who submit the same sermon to two homiletics professors and receive contradictory criticisms from them. The faithful often …

The Gospel And The Urban Crisis, Arthur R. Simon

Concordia Theological Monthly

The urban crisis compels us to reexamine the gospel. It gives the lie to our arrogant supposition that we proclaim the gospel in all its truth and purity. It shows that what we have passed along as pure gospel is really the gospel shaped by cultural accretions. Furthermore, the urban crisis prompts us to confess that the gospel is not believed and understood faithfully when it is viewed as a message detached from its worldly surroundings, because the gospel encompasses a way of life that comprehends in one seamless robe the words that express the good news as well as …

The Gospel And Political Structures, Jobst Schoene

Concordia Theological Monthly

The situation which suggests this theme is unique in more than one respect. Hardly ever in the history of theology has there been such intensive and impassioned questioning and contention concerning the relations between the gospel and political structures as today. That this is true also of the discussion within the Lutheran churches becomes evident the moment one investigates the problems posed by the concepts "gospel'' and "political structures." The rapid change of the political structures all over the world renders the answers from the Lutheran tradition, which have only too often been identified with the statements of Scripture and …

The Christian World View And The New Era In Science, August C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

The present article will concern itself chiefly with man's mastery over nature by means of the intellectual capacities which God has so lavishly bestowed on him and which God preserves even today, even though man has not fulfilled the intentions of God for the created world. It will also show that the vitiation of God's intentions and purposes for man and the created world is in the process of being resolved even now.

A Topical Sermon, Andrew Weyermann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The sermon in this issue calls attention to the possibility of dealing with very specific and even rather difficult subjects from the pulpit. It is not necessary for sermons to restrict themselves to generalities, and it is possible for preachers to build on, rather than continually repeat, the “foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." (Heb. 6:1)

Those "Divorce And Remarriage" Passages, Harry G. Coiner

Concordia Theological Monthly

The statements of Jesus on marriage and divorce were spoken within the context of (a) the particular milieu of His time and (b) His radical claims on those who would be His disciples. This is evident both in the context of His statements and in the particular wording of them.

The Complete Centurion, Robert W. Bertram

Concordia Theological Monthly

Any day now should bring with it a crop of good jokes about that prolific benefactor of our age, the dialog. The wonder is that the jokes have not appeared sooner, considering how quick men normally are to record their thanks for such a boon in their humor-the way they once did, remember, for GI Joe or for their pastors or for the soup kitchens or, in the days of great piety, for God.

Living With The Brothers In The Lord, Arthur Carl Piepkorn

Concordia Theological Monthly

Nov. 11, 1967-today-is the 49th anniversary of the armistice that initiated the end of the war between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. It is also the 484th anniversary of the baptism of Martin Luther. On this day I as a Lutheran "brother in the Lord" am greatly pleased to have been asked to address this Roman Catholic diocesan Institute on Ecumenism. The fact that this day is both the anniversary of an armistice and the anniversary of a baptism is not, I hope, without its symbolic significance.

Man, What A God?, C. Mervyn Maxwell

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Principles For The Development Of Adult Premembership Instruction, Robert L. Conrad

Concordia Theological Monthly

The need for a study was brought forcibly to the author's attention by his membership on a subcommittee of the Board of Parish Education of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The responsibility of the subcommittee is to formulate principles for adult premembership instruction in The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. The subcommittee could find no existing statement of principles, so it was forced to make a beginning on such a formulation.

Overview Of Pastoral Counseling, Leonhard C. Wuerffel

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his editorial preface to a volume titled An Introduction to Pastoral Counseling, Wayne Oates makes the observation: "The pastor, regardless of his training, does not enjoy the privilege of electing whether or not he will counsel with his people. … His choice is not between counseling or not counseling, but between counseling in a disciplined and skilled way and counseling in an undisciplined and unskilled way." Recent studies have also made it very clear that pastors hold a central and strategic position as counselors in today's society. Clinebell succinctly phrases the challenge: "It is obvious that clergymen are on …

Basic Considerations In Understanding The Goal Of Faith In The Sermons Of John Donne, Carlton Riemer

Master of Divinity Thesis

This study comprises an examination of a specific aspect of the art of preaching and a particular preacher who practiced the art of preaching with an unusual amount of success. The preacher is John Donne, an Anglican homiletician of the 17thCentury. He was chosen as a valid object for study in the general field of homiletics because his sermons are receiving renewed attention and analysis in the 20th Century. Contemporary homileticians and theologians are able to study Donne’s sermons because all of his 160 extant sermons have been published in a ten volume edition prepared by George R. Potter and …

The New Hermeneutic And Preaching, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The first unit in this series discussed the implications for Christian preaching of current studies in the philosophy and theology of language, studies which are usually identified by some such term as linguistic analysis and connected with names like Ian Ramsey and Frederick Ferré As we now turn to the contemporary study of the Sacred Scriptures, we do not make a clean break with the preceding discussion. The Biblical studies reveal the dominant question: What is the language of faith? The purpose of this review, however, is not to analyze the field of Biblical studies in general but to assess …

Current Contributions To Christian Preaching, Richard R. Caemmerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Preaching works with words. God can work on the human heart in other ways. He is able to raise up children to Abraham out of stones (Matt. 3:9). He can speak in the innermost heart without benefit of vocabulary. But when we speak of preaching, we talk about talk. We claim to see God in action by means of human language addressed by human speakers to human beings.

Brief Studies, Concordia Faculty

Concordia Theological Monthly

Justification by Faith