Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Hermeneutic(S) ( Reading Programs In Theology), Martin H. Scharlemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

The ancient Greeks called him Hermes. In their view of things he had the job of communicating what the gods on Olympus might want men to know and what human beings, in turn, hoped to bring to the attention of their several divinities. His name therefore went into the making of the word "hermeneutics," which was first used to designate the art of getting one's message across to others and only later began to be applied to the formal study of the rules and principles governing the task of interpretation.

St. Paul's Ideology For The Urbanized Roman Empire, Saul Levin

Concordia Theological Monthly

No one is likely to equal the sensation which Gibbon produced with the 15th and 16th chapters of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, where he viewed the rise of Christianity from the perspective of secular history. While he adhered on the surface to a pious, naive, and conventional veneration of the early church, at the same time he pierced the aura of holiness and taught his readers-in the name of philosophy-to understand religious movements realistically. It is unnecessary for us now to review the human causes which an 18th-century historian found for the success of Christianity.

The Theological Significance Of The Dead Sea Scrolls, Joachim Jeremias, David Zersen (Translator)

Concordia Theological Monthly

When the shepherd boy Muhammad ed-Deeb ("The Wolf”) of the half-nomadic tribe Ta'amire threw a stone into a cave to pass the time, it clattered so strangely that he was convinced an evil djin was after him. He ran away in panic-stricken terror, never suspecting that his name would go down in the history of scholarship. He had discovered Cave 1 at Qumran on the northwest coast of the Dead Sea. On the next day of that summer -presumably it was 1947 - he ventured to climb into the cave with his pluckier cousin. They found eight clay jars which …

Editorial, Walter Wegner

Concordia Theological Monthly

In Hosea 12:3-4 the prophet interprets Jacob's wrestling bout at Peniel (Gen. 32:24.ff.) as a wrestling with God's mal'akh: God's "angel" or "messenger." The history of Christian exegesis contains its own record of a wrestling bout: the wrestling of Christian interpreters with God's Old Testament messengers who recorded the Scriptures of the Old Covenant.

The Message Of The Deuteronomic Historian, Carl Graesser Jr.

Concordia Theological Monthly

In this study we propose to determine the main outlines of the message which the author(s) of the books of Joshua through Kings intended to speak to the contemporary Israelite people. Following a few introductory comments, the major structural elements utilized by the sacred historian (s) to construct this monumental work will be described. These elements will then be studied for the keys they contain to understanding the message of these books.

Editorial, Robert Bergt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Dedication to a churchman, mentor, and colleague- Walter E. Buszin

Religious Music Among The Jews, Walter E. Buszin

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Where were you ... when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" With these words God challenged Job, who is referred to at times as the patron saint of musicians. God's words to Job serve to remind the Old Testament reader that already earlier, in prehistoric times, worship and song had been used together to glorify and extol the Creator. Ancient peoples, including Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and a veritable host of early generations of mankind, recognized that the primary function of music is to honor and worship the Deity. Africans, Asiatics, Mongolians, Europeans, …

Lodge Practice Within The Missouri Synod, John W. Constable

Concordia Theological Monthly

The history of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod reveals that the Synod grappled with the problem of lodges almost from its beginning. In the present essay the author proposes to undertake a chronological survey of the Synod's viewpoints reflected in its official meetings and publications, in books, tracts and conference essays, and so forth. The topic of doctrinal opposition to lodges will not be discussed in any detail since American Lutheranism is all but unanimous on this point. Some attention will be paid to other Lutheran denominations and to possible cultural and economic influence on the lodge practice of the Synod.

Editorial, Herbert T. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Justification by grace through faith constitutes the unifying theme of this issue. Profs. Robert Bertram and George Hoyer treat the topic from different points of view. Bertram's paper was originally delivered to an international group of army officers in Europe; Hoyer spoke to a group of American architects in Kansas! The warm reception accorded both papers is evidence of the continuing relevance of this Lutheran shibboleth.

The Spirit Of Man: The Subject As Seen By Theologians, George W. Hoyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The National Catholic Reporter, which, like jokes about the Model T, is doing more to sell its product than the reverent sober sell could ever hope to do, has a column on the front page called "Cry Pax." Just to look at the title is to rejoice in the spirit of man. There's the feel of "A plague o' both your houses!" the sobering sound, "Peace, peace when there is no peace!” and at the same time the sense of the kiss of peace, or the Pax Domini, "The peace of the Lord be with you always," to which the …

The Presence Of Christ's Body And Blood In The Sacrament Of The Altar According To Luther, Norman Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The great feature of the 450th celebration of the Reformation is the extent of ecumenical participation. It might almost be said that our Roman Catholic brethren have taken over the show. Luther studies provide an index of the growth in mutual understanding, but what help is Luther at the heart of Christian unity, the doctrine of the Lord's Supper?

Pietism: Classical And Modern-A Comparison Of Two Representative Descriptions, Egon W. Gerdes

Concordia Theological Monthly

Only a few years after Philipp Jacob Spener in 1675 published his famous Pia Desidena, his followers were labeled "Pietists." The new name spread to Leipzig, where under the leadership of August Hermann Francke a group of students met in the Collegium Philobiblicum. They also were nicknamed "Pietists." Then one of the students suddenly died. His funeral was the occasion for the Leipzig professor of poetry, Joachim Feller, to say a word about the new movement with which he was in sympathy. And so he became the first man to identify himself with Pietism in a positive sense. He wrote …

The Theology Of Communism, Martin H. Scharlemann

Concordia Theological Monthly

In 1964 the Chicago University Press published a volume of essays entitled What Can a Man Do? The chapters of this book were written by one of our most distinguished Jewish journalists. One of his essays goes under the title "Christ Under Communism." It concludes with the observation that today there are really only two serious contenders for the hearts and minds of men, namely, the church and communism.

Editorial, Gilbert Amadeus Thiele

Concordia Theological Monthly

One of the basic reasons for ecumenical endeavor in the churches today, as always, is the desire to reflect in association with one another the commitment in faith and service to God, who is one. The fundamental contradiction that lies in distinctive organizational, liturgical, and personal relations between men and women, priests and people, leaders and followers, who confess the same faith in the same God-Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier - should and does disturb those who inherit, promote, and prolong the division.

Moving Toward Lutheran Unity, Oliver R. Harms

Concordia Theological Monthly

Two words in this topic seem to me very important: "moving" and "unity." They express thoughts that many persons seemingly have wanted to avoid or to ignore. There are those who say we are already at the point of unity. Others are sure we will never get there. Some flexibility in thought is required at both ends of this spectrum of opinion.

Some Thoughts On The Church In The Lutheran Symbols, Herbert J. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

Near the end of 1536 Martin Luther wrote that "a seven-year-old child knows what the church is" (SA III XII). In our time great ecumenical gatherings expend incalculable amounts of time and effort in wrestling with the doctrine of the church, and first-rate theologians in all churches provide the printing presses with an unabating flow of materials in discussion of the problems and implications of ecclesiology.

Interaction: Ecumenism And Confessionalism, John E. Groh

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is ironic that the contemporary confessional movement owes its origin, in part at least, to the ecumenical movement. Visser 't Hooft himself predicted that certain confessional and denominational retrenchments would occur after the first World Council of Churches convention at Amsterdam in 1948. Nor did he consider this a tragic development. The question of enduring significance was, what would follow next?

A Critique: “Two Levels Of History.", David W. Lotz

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is scarcely possible to read a theological treatise today without at some point meeting the current distinction between two levels of history, between Historie, and Geschichte, (following the Bultmannians), or between "outer" and "inner" history ( H. Richard Niebuhr), or between the "objective- historical" and the "existential-historical" (John Macquarrie). This distinction has primarily been occasioned by the rise of the historical-critical method in the 19th century, by the failure of the so-called "quest for the historical Jesus," and by the church's apologetic needs in the scientific ("positivistic") era. The primary aim of this paper is critically to examine this …

Editorial, Herbert T. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

We salute the new year of God's grace with three articles that deal with time and history. Marvin W. Anderson has addressed himself to a historical question about the origins of the Lutheran Reformation with reference to philological reforms associated with the name of Lorenzo Valla. David W. Lotz looks at the understanding of history associated especially with the name of Rudolf Bultmann. Oscar Cullmann speaks to the whole question of the historical character of the Gospels and the message the church offers to the world in this day.

Brief Studies, Marvin W. Anderson, Herbert T. Meyer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Professor Gordon Rupp: The Optimism of Grace

Toward Lutheran Unity

New Testament Studies, Past And Present, Edgar Krentz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The pastor who picks up a recent New Testament introduction or theology, a study of the Synoptic Gospels or Acts, or a history of New Testament times may well feel that for him the study of the New Testament has become an arcane and esoteric discipline. The questions asked about the Redaktionsgeschichte of a Gospel, the surprising frequency with which the term gnosis or Gnosticism appears in current literature, or the discussion in many circles of "incipient catholicism" may well lead him to suspect that the whole discipline has now changed.

The Word Of The Lord Came, Alton F. Wedel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Word of the Lord came! This is why I am here, and this is why you are there. If these Wenchel lectures were conceived and born in Dr. Wenchel's kindness and in his concern for more effective preaching, this is where we must begin- the Word of the Lord came!

Brief Studies, David Backus, Harry N. Huxhold

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some Sources of Graeco-Roman Features in the New Testament

Faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews

Brief Studies, Ronald Diener

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Ninety-Five Theses: Some Historical and Semantic Aspects

The Treasure Of The Church, Walter R. Bouman

Concordia Theological Monthly

If being on the cover of Time magazine is the status symbol of our age, then Martin Luther has it made. The issue of March 24, 1967, carried his picture, painted by Time cover artist Lucas Cranach the Elder. There's not much left in the status department, except perhaps being named "Man of the Year" or being belatedly canonized. The latter has been seriously suggested, but the former won't happen. This is 1967, not 1517. Religion could hardly be called decisive in national or international affairs. A protest against the sale of indulgences would be meaningless. Poor Tetzel couldn't give …

A Marxist De-Lutheranization Of The German Reformation, Douglas C. Stange

Concordia Theological Monthly

In 1947, when the rebuilding of a Europe ravaged by world war had only begun, a classical study of Thomas Müntzer appeared in Russia by the eminent historian, Moisei Mendelevich Smirin, entitled Nordnaja reformazija T. Mjunzera I welikaja krestjanskaja wojna. Five years later it was translated into German, and in 1956 it was enlarged and rcvised. Smirin's effort earncd him not only the Stalin prize, second class, but also acceptance as the "orthodox voice" in the confirmation of the Müntzer legend. Friedrich Engels in 1850 had baptized Münrzer's role in the German Reformation in the pure mainstream of Marxist history. …

Editorial, Gilbert A. Thiele

Concordia Theological Monthly

In this issue of the CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY our authors demonstrate insight into the events and persons that animated the century of the Reformation in Europe, including Britain, the centuries since then, and into our needs today.

Changes In The Missouri Synod, Arthur C. Repp

Concordia Theological Monthly

Have there been doctrinal changes in The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod? Few questions have disturbed that Synod more during the past quarter of a century. Both negative and affirmative answers have been staunchly maintained. ''Missouri has not changed its doctrinal stand" was the repeated claim made by Theodore Graebner, though few men changed their doctrinal position as much as he did in so short a time.

Luther On Justification, John F. Johnson

Concordia Theological Monthly

Once upon a time every student of theology identified in any way with the Lutheran Confessions was able to read, pronounce, and understand the expression articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae. More importantly, he was not only able to read it; he believed with all his heart that this designation referred to the doctrine of justification. Indeed, this has always been the distinguishing mark of evangelical Lutheranism.

Martin Luther's Views On The State Of The Dead, Philip J. Secker

Concordia Theological Monthly

In 1765 the Anglican theologian Francis Blackburne asserted that Blessed Martin Luther “espoused the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, upon a scriptural foundation, and then he made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint worship, and continued in that belief to the last moment of his life.”