Lutheran Churches Books

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Book SynopsisThrough the lens of American Lutheranism, this book offers a unique examination into the intersection of religion, war, foreign policy, church politics, and nationalism during the contentious 1960s and 1970s. It contributes a two-pronged investigation of American history during the Vietnam War era. First, it outlines how this diverse group of Christians understood foreign policy and the churches'' relationship to it. Lutherans offer a broad spectrum of religious, political, and diplomatic points of view because they never have represented a homogenous or unified group in U.S. history. Second, this investigation provides the perspective of one cross section of Americans who often remain hidden from historic memory: the silent majority as so labeled during the Richard M. Nixon administration. Most Lutherans held ''moderate'' religious and political ideologies, but Lutherans also had representatives from the far left and far right. Lutherans also signify the Cold War context of this decade with a relatively uniform hostility toward the Soviet Union and the People''s Republic of China. Yet, simultaneously they vigorously debated whether or not Communists had infiltrated U.S. institutions and contentiously disagreed about the Vietnam War. Further reflecting America at that time, by the mid-1970s they had reached a tentative reconciliation with one another because the infighting had so tired them. In doing so, they healed some of the wounds created by a decade of conflict but failed to learn lessons from the experience because they refused to dialogue further about it.Trade ReviewHighly Recommended. -- W. T. Lindley, Union University * CHOICE *[Settje's] approach and careful reading of sources are admirable. Lutherans and the Longest War is an excellent contribution to the genre of denominational studies and a useful starting point for exploring broader issues of religious assent, ambivalence, and dissent during the Cold War. * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, April 2008 *The author does an admirable job in concisely summarizing the historical literature on both the origins of the American war in Vietnam and the landscape of American Lutheranism in the era, carefully distinguishing between the major Lutheran bodies without too much jargon. . . . [Settje] has a keen eye for especially catching phrases. -- Perry Bush * Journal of American History *David Settje provides a close examination of a period largely neglected by other Lutheran historians: the Cold War in general and the Vietnam War in particular.Settje provides the first comprehensive look at Lutheran thinking on the Cold and Vietnam wars from pew to pulpit, and from editorial offices to denominational headquarters. It extends a microphone into a realm where the silent majority did not hold its tongue, exposing the wide-ranging views and vigorous debates that raged within church circles among those disinclined to march for either side. -- Jill Gill, Boise State UniversityTable of ContentsChapter 1 Lutherans and the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975: An Introduction Chapter 2 Tortured for Christ: Lutheran Assessmetns of Global Communism Chapter 3 Has the Tiger Changed Its Stripes? Lutheran Debates about Domestic Communism Chapter 4 Lions Loose in the World: Pro-Vietnam War Lutherans Chapter 5 The Mythology fo Prowling Communists: Lutheran Antiwar Sentiments Chapter 6 Adrift on a Sea of Doubt: Lutheran Debates about Domestic Veitnam Concerns Chapter 7 The Lutheran Cold and Vietnam Wars' Legacy

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Book SynopsisThrough the lens of American Lutheranism, this book offers a unique examination into the intersection of religion, war, foreign policy, church politics, and nationalism during the contentious 1960s and 1970s. It contributes a two-pronged investigation of American history during the Vietnam War era. First, it outlines how this diverse group of Christians understood foreign policy and the churches'' relationship to it. Lutherans offer a broad spectrum of religious, political, and diplomatic points of view because they never have represented a homogenous or unified group in U.S. history. Second, this investigation provides the perspective of one cross section of Americans who often remain hidden from historic memory: the silent majority as so labeled during the Richard M. Nixon administration. Most Lutherans held ''moderate'' religious and political ideologies, but Lutherans also had representatives from the far left and far right. Lutherans also signify the Cold War context of this decade with a relatively uniform hostility toward the Soviet Union and the People''s Republic of China. Yet, simultaneously they vigorously debated whether or not Communists had infiltrated U.S. institutions and contentiously disagreed about the Vietnam War. Further reflecting America at that time, by the mid-1970s they had reached a tentative reconciliation with one another because the infighting had so tired them. In doing so, they healed some of the wounds created by a decade of conflict but failed to learn lessons from the experience because they refused to dialogue further about it.Trade ReviewHighly Recommended. -- W. T. Lindley, Union University * CHOICE *[Settje's] approach and careful reading of sources are admirable. Lutherans and the Longest War is an excellent contribution to the genre of denominational studies and a useful starting point for exploring broader issues of religious assent, ambivalence, and dissent during the Cold War. * H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, April 2008 *The author does an admirable job in concisely summarizing the historical literature on both the origins of the American war in Vietnam and the landscape of American Lutheranism in the era, carefully distinguishing between the major Lutheran bodies without too much jargon. . . . [Settje] has a keen eye for especially catching phrases. -- Perry Bush * Journal of American History *David Settje provides a close examination of a period largely neglected by other Lutheran historians: the Cold War in general and the Vietnam War in particular.Settje provides the first comprehensive look at Lutheran thinking on the Cold and Vietnam wars from pew to pulpit, and from editorial offices to denominational headquarters. It extends a microphone into a realm where the silent majority did not hold its tongue, exposing the wide-ranging views and vigorous debates that raged within church circles among those disinclined to march for either side. -- Jill Gill, Boise State UniversityTable of ContentsChapter 1 Lutherans and the Cold and Vietnam Wars, 1964-1975: An Introduction Chapter 2 Tortured for Christ: Lutheran Assessmetns of Global Communism Chapter 3 Has the Tiger Changed Its Stripes? Lutheran Debates about Domestic Communism Chapter 4 Lions Loose in the World: Pro-Vietnam War Lutherans Chapter 5 The Mythology fo Prowling Communists: Lutheran Antiwar Sentiments Chapter 6 Adrift on a Sea of Doubt: Lutheran Debates about Domestic Veitnam Concerns Chapter 7 The Lutheran Cold and Vietnam Wars' Legacy

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is a fascinating book. It challenges standard assumptions about Martin Stephan by inviting the reader to consider his vision as well as his personal behavior. In doing so, it raises the continuing specter in so-called mainline denominations—namely that when faced with a fresh approach to faith, we fall into the abyss of personal credibility rather than engage in serious conversation about structures and images of faith. -- Thomas M. Carson, United Church of Christ Clergy, RetiredDisplays a tremendous amount of research, including travel to the important sites in the life of Stephan. * Christian News, January 2009 *The story of the beginning of the 'Missouri Synod' and its first leader deserves a renewed look simply because that church is the second largest Lutheran church body in America. Philip Stephan, the great-great-grandson of Martin Stephan, gives us that look through the lens of his great-great-grandfather's life and work. . . . In this book Philip Stephan attempts to set the record straight by delving into the theological, social, ethnic and family background of his forebear. It is a contextual narrative that he presents. The author does not gloss over the moral weaknesses of Martin, nor is he defensive about them. On the other hand, his research has brought out heretofore unknown (or at least unpublicized) life and theology. -- Rev. Arthur PreisingerAccessible and readable account of Martin Stephan and his ministry. * Lutheran Quarterly *...Philip Stephan's work is an interesting read. * Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly *Table of ContentsPart 1 Foreword Part 2 Preface Part 3 Introduction Part 4 Part One: Sunrise Chapter 5 Chapter One: Landing in the New World Chapter 6 Chapter Two: Saxon Emigration Society Origins Chapter 7 Chapter Three: Ancestral Roots and the Reformation Chapter 8 Chapter Four: Stephan's and the Underground Church Chapter 9 Chapter Five: The University Years Part 10 Part Two: Sunshine and Growth Chapter 11 Chapter Six: Martin's Family and Early Ministry Chapter 12 Chapter Seven: Martin as a Preacher Chapter 13 Chapter Eight: Martin as a Pastoral Counselor Chapter 14 Chapter Nine: Martin as a Defender of the Faith Part 15 Part Three: Noon Heat and Conflict Chapter 16 Chapter Ten: Condition of the German Lutheran Church Chapter 17 Chapter Eleven: Disputes with the Saxon State Church Chapter 18 Chapter Twelve: Legal Charges—1837 Chapter 19 Chapter Thirteen: More Legal Charges and House Arrest—1838 Part 20 Part Four: Exodus Chapter 21 Chapter Fourteen: Final Preparations Chapter 22 Chapter Fifteen: Farewell and Delay Chapter 23 Chapter Sixteen: Journey at Sea Part 24 Part Five: Arrival in America Chapter 25 Chapter Seventeen: Establishing Governance Chapter 26 Chapter Eighteen: Dissension Grows Chapter 27 Chapter Nineteen: Settling In Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty: Establishing a New Home Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-one: Reprise by the American Press Part 30 Part Six: Deposing a Bishop Chapter 31 Chapter Twenty-two: Rogate Sunday Sermon Chapter 32 Chapter Twenty-three: Pastors Plan the Deposition Chapter 33 Chapter Twenty-four: The Deposition Process Chapter 34 Chapter Twenty-five: The Colony Struggles Chapter 35 Chapter Twenty-six: C.F.W. Walther's Leadership Emerges Part 36 Part Seven: Sunset Chapter 37 Chapter Twenty-seven: The Bishop's Family in Germany Chapter 38 Chapter Twenty-eight: Stephan in Exile Chapter 39 Chapter Twenty-nine: Martin in his Own Words Chapter 40 Chapter Thirty: Justice Delayed Chapter 41 Chapter Thirty-one: Stephan's Last Days Part 42 Part Eight: Afterglow Chapter 43 Chapter Thirty-two: View from the Twenty-first Century Chapter 44 Chapter Thirty-three: Bishop Martin Stephan's Legacy

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Book SynopsisIn Pursuit of Religious Freedom is the story of Martin Stephan, a religious leader whose life was filled with both personal and spiritual crises. Born into a family whose fifteenth_and sixteenth_century ancestors twice fled their homes due to religious persecution, Stephan was orphaned as a teenager and he too was forced to flee his homeland when the family was discovered to be underground Lutherans. He eventually settled in Germany, where he was educated and ordained, and developed a successful ministry in Dresden. Although his reputation for preaching and compassionate counseling increased, Stephan began to be targeted by various groups: other pastors, parishioners, and the state-run church. He was charged with improper teaching, embezzlement, inappropriate socializing, and even sexual misconduct. Eventually, Stephan led the 1838 Saxon Emigration to Missouri. After a difficult journey, the seven hundred Lutherans he took with him found establishing their new home even harder. Disputes over money, authority, and style peaked within six months, until Stephan was exiled at gunpoint. He settled in Illinois, where he built up a new ministry and served until his death in 1846. His burial plaque calls him ''the first Lutheran in America.''Trade ReviewThis is a fascinating book. It challenges standard assumptions about Martin Stephan by inviting the reader to consider his vision as well as his personal behavior. In doing so, it raises the continuing specter in so-called mainline denominations—namely that when faced with a fresh approach to faith, we fall into the abyss of personal credibility rather than engage in serious conversation about structures and images of faith. -- Thomas M. Carson, United Church of Christ Clergy, RetiredDisplays a tremendous amount of research, including travel to the important sites in the life of Stephan. * Christian News, January 2009 *The story of the beginning of the 'Missouri Synod' and its first leader deserves a renewed look simply because that church is the second largest Lutheran church body in America. Philip Stephan, the great-great-grandson of Martin Stephan, gives us that look through the lens of his great-great-grandfather's life and work. . . . In this book Philip Stephan attempts to set the record straight by delving into the theological, social, ethnic and family background of his forebear. It is a contextual narrative that he presents. The author does not gloss over the moral weaknesses of Martin, nor is he defensive about them. On the other hand, his research has brought out heretofore unknown (or at least unpublicized) life and theology. -- Rev. Arthur PreisingerAccessible and readable account of Martin Stephan and his ministry. * Lutheran Quarterly *Table of ContentsPart 1 Foreword Part 2 Preface Part 3 Introduction Part 4 Part One: Sunrise Chapter 5 Chapter One: Landing in the New World Chapter 6 Chapter Two: Saxon Emigration Society Origins Chapter 7 Chapter Three: Ancestral Roots and the Reformation Chapter 8 Chapter Four: Stephan's and the Underground Church Chapter 9 Chapter Five: The University Years Part 10 Part Two: Sunshine and Growth Chapter 11 Chapter Six: Martin's Family and Early Ministry Chapter 12 Chapter Seven: Martin as a Preacher Chapter 13 Chapter Eight: Martin as a Pastoral Counselor Chapter 14 Chapter Nine: Martin as a Defender of the Faith Part 15 Part Three: Noon Heat and Conflict Chapter 16 Chapter Ten: Condition of the German Lutheran Church Chapter 17 Chapter Eleven: Disputes with the Saxon State Church Chapter 18 Chapter Twelve: Legal Charges—1837 Chapter 19 Chapter Thirteen: More Legal Charges and House Arrest—1838 Part 20 Part Four: Exodus Chapter 21 Chapter Fourteen: Final Preparations Chapter 22 Chapter Fifteen: Farewell and Delay Chapter 23 Chapter Sixteen: Journey at Sea Part 24 Part Five: Arrival in America Chapter 25 Chapter Seventeen: Establishing Governance Chapter 26 Chapter Eighteen: Dissension Grows Chapter 27 Chapter Nineteen: Settling In Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty: Establishing a New Home Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty-one: Reprise by the American Press Part 30 Part Six: Deposing a Bishop Chapter 31 Chapter Twenty-two: Rogate Sunday Sermon Chapter 32 Chapter Twenty-three: Pastors Plan the Deposition Chapter 33 Chapter Twenty-four: The Deposition Process Chapter 34 Chapter Twenty-five: The Colony Struggles Chapter 35 Chapter Twenty-six: C.F.W. Walther's Leadership Emerges Part 36 Part Seven: Sunset Chapter 37 Chapter Twenty-seven: The Bishop's Family in Germany Chapter 38 Chapter Twenty-eight: Stephan in Exile Chapter 39 Chapter Twenty-nine: Martin in his Own Words Chapter 40 Chapter Thirty: Justice Delayed Chapter 41 Chapter Thirty-one: Stephan's Last Days Part 42 Part Eight: Afterglow Chapter 43 Chapter Thirty-two: View from the Twenty-first Century Chapter 44 Chapter Thirty-three: Bishop Martin Stephan's Legacy

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Book SynopsisProvides a complete list of Dr. Sasse's writings, including unpublished essays and works about him. All introductory sections are in English and German; explanatory sections are likewise bilingual. Indexes.

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Book SynopsisMissionary Families Find a Sense of Place and Identity is a community history of members of nineteen Lutheran missionary families who served in Tanzania. Based on over ninety interviews and John Benson's extensive knowledge of cultural geography, he compares the lives of the missionary generation who grew up in the United States and went to Tanzania as missionaries to those of their children who grew up in Africa but settled in the United States as adults. Benson blends his personal experiences as a child of missionaries in Tanzania to tell the story of both generations. Missionary Families is centered on the themes of connection to place and religious development and will appeal to scholars of geography, cultural studies and religion.Trade ReviewIts interviews and reflections, reminiscent of Clifford Geertz’s ‘thick description,’ truly take the reader into the lives of a missionary generation and its progeny, into the details that mattered for them in formulating their worlds, and into the multiple ways in which responsiveness to a sense of calling for one affected entire life stories for another…. It is a kind of social autobiography, that I commend not only to church people and students of the missionary movement…. [but] to sociologists, psychologists, and educators as well. * Lutheran Quarterly *As a geographer, Benson offers a perspective seldom seen in missiology.... Missionary Families is informed by and contributes to the genre of missiology focused on the psychology and spirituality of missionary families.... While the book focuses on American missionary families serving in Africa, missionaries and missionary trainers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America may find this volume helpful in considering issues impacting missionaries and their children. Finally, this book is important as a general contribution to missiology. Geography as a discipline seems to be overlooked in our missiological discussions. Benson’s emphasis on “place” is a helpful step toward correcting that oversight. * Mission Studies *Missionary Families Find a Sense of Place and Identity is a careful memoir of growing up cross-culturally and cross-nationally. The single theme is that of place and identity, reflecting Benson’s training as a geographer. This book is broader than any single discipline and will be of interest in religious studies, east African history, intercultural psychology, missiology, and perhaps most importantly, for social scientists interested in how identity plays a role in human interaction. -- Tony Waters, California State University, Chico, and Payap UniversityIn this simultaneously intimate and sweeping narrative, John Benson provides a unique window into the lives of a particular band of “missionary kids” who grew up in East Africa. For those of us who shared some of his experiences as missionary kids, Benson’s account is a mirror, stirring reflection on how our roots have shaped who are and who we have become. For others, his account is a window into the complex processes of forming a sense of identity and place across two cultures on two continents. -- Eugene Roehlkepartain, Research and Development Search InstituteTable of ContentsChapter 1: History of a Mission Chapter 2: Place and Religion in the Childhoods of the Missionary Generation Chapter 3: Place and Religion in the Childhoods of the Second Generation Chapter 4: The College Experience for Both Generations Chapter 5: "The Call" for Two Generations Chapter 6: Making Sense of an Alien Place: Tanzania Chapter 7: The Adult Lives of the Second Generation: Finding a Partner Chapter 8: The Occupational Choices of Adult Children of Missionaries Chapter 9: The Second Generation Forming Connection to Places as Adults Chapter 10: Faith of Our Fathers Living Still Chapter 11: Placing Our Lives

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Book SynopsisWhat''s working and not working in your congregation? You''ll explore the factors that inspired and motivated changes to reverse decline as other congregations wrestled with the same issues you''re facing: ministry to current members, ministry to the unchurched, worship, changing neighborhoods, and more.

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Book SynopsisPragmatic Faith and the Tanzanian Lutheran Church: Bishop Erasto N. Kweka’s Life and Work examines the operations and organization of the Tanzanian Lutheran church through the life and times of its longest serving diocesan bishop, Erasto N. Kweka. Amy Stambach and Aikande Kwayu develop the concept of pragmatic faith, belief-in-practice, to analyze the integration of religious experience, institutionalism, and doctrine or orthodoxy. Pragmatic faith breaks down the lingering binary found in anthropological studies of Christianity between transcendental experience and pragmatic struggle, and between religious revival as rupture or continuity. Stambach and Kwayu analyze the instrumental use of religion in practice, as well as its socially mobilized potential for revelation and transformation. A key analytic agenda of this book is to illuminate how a church that retains the organizational and ritual forms of a European mission church "became" culturally localized over time and yet, paradoxically, also existed pre-colonially. Accordingly, this book offers detailed and ethnographically-grounded perspective on how leaders and laypeople affiliated with the Tanzanian Lutheran church connect the church with other significant institutions, not only the state and the government, but also descent groups, extended families, self-help groups, and existing civic organizations, in order to live meaningfully. Table of ContentsList of ImagesAcknowledgmentsChapter 1: Mainline Christianity: The Practical Work of the Lutheran ChurchChapter 2: Vocational Calling: Education, Colonialism, and ChristianityChapter 3: Political Philosophy: Connecting the Church and the State Chapter 4: Church Challenges: Ethnicity and NationalismChapter 5: Evangelical Prophecy: Procedure, Power, and DiplomacyChapter 6: Bishop of Projects: Stewarding Church ResourcesEpilogue: Kweka’s Legacy of Pragmatic Faith: Socially Engaged ChristianityAppendix: List of InterviewsBibliographyIndexAbout the Authors

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Book SynopsisDietrich Bonhoeffer's notions of religionless Christianity have provoked a great deal of theological inquiry, much of which has hindered evangelical reception of Bonhoeffer's work. By setting religionless Christianity in the context of Bonhoeffer's Lutheran sacramental theology, Chris Dodson furthers Bonhoeffer's belief that receiving the God given in the sacraments both resists Christians' proclivity towards religious, self-serving ends and draws Christians into a life of robust faith and love. Receiving Christ in baptism, the Eucharist, and confession serves to instill, sustain, locate, and vitalize the form of life that Bonhoeffer calls “religionless.” The church and its core practices are not abandoned in Bonhoeffer’s prison letters; they are reengaged with a more proper disposition: faithful love of God and neighbor. In this way, common evangelical skepticisms about Bonhoeffer’s later theology can be assuaged. Bonhoeffer’s theology, rightly construed, provokes evangelicals, and particularly American evangelicals, to reconsider and restructure their worship along the lines of a religionless Christianity that promotes a deeper faith resulting from a more vigorous encounter with Christ as he gives himself over to his people. Table of ContentsChapter I The God Who Is Given: Luther and the SacramentsChapter II Bonhoeffer’s Sacramental TheologyChapter III Bonhoeffer’s Theology Of The SacramentsChapter IV Faithful Habitation Of A Religious WorldChapter V Among The Iconoclasts: Un-Conceiving GodChapter VI Sacraments Against Religion: Receiving The God Who Is Given

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Book SynopsisContributors to this book analyze areas of Martin Luther’s and Lutheran theology that have otherwise been neglected or under-represented in the five hundred years since the Reformation. They widen the scope of Luther and Lutheran theology by viewing both from the perspectives of the “subaltern,” those whose voices are barely or rarely heard. The book formulates an inclusive Lutheran theology that reaches out but does not close out. The book’s sections address “Precarious Life,” from Luther’s own precarious existence as an outlaw under a death sentence; “Body and Gender,” addressing different aspects of gender and sexuality; “Women and Sexual Abuse,” focusing on Luther’s exegesis of biblical “texts of terror”; and “Economy, Equality, and Equity,” addressing Lutheran views on economy and equality that break new ground regarding common goods and the Anthropocene.Trade ReviewA rich ensemble of leading Lutheran scholars situated in different continents engage their political, social-economic and cultural locations to give voice to the subaltern and crack open existing binaries due to gender, race, class, caste, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, and speciesism. What emerges is a vision of an inclusive Lutheran theology reflected through a kaleidoscope of creative difference. An excellent, path-breaking, and timely book that is a `must’ for those interested in engaging Lutheran theology in face of the challenges of today’s world. -- Hilda P. Koster, Concordia College (Moorhead, MN)Table of ContentsForeword Musimbi Kanyoro List of Abbreviations Introduction Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen Section 1: Precarious Life 1. Luther as the Subaltern Precarious: The Banned, Excluded, and Outlawed Eleutherius Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen 2. Luther against Luther: Freedom Theology and anti-Jewish exegesis Kirsi Stjerna 3. Eschata, the Kin-dom of God in a Time of Presentism, Patriarchy, and Neo-Nationalism: Writing back to Luther through Hannah Arendt and Judith Butler Elisabeth Gerle 4. Theology Behind the Wall Peter Lodberg 5. The Heterotopic Creation: A Short Contribution to a Subaltern Ecclesiology Trygve Wyller Section 2: Body and Gender 6. A Word of the Word for Our Hearts: Embracing Multiple-Gendered God-Language with Luther Mary Streufert 7. The Queer Body-Mind in Luther’s Theology: From Subaltern Sodomite to Embodied Imago Dei Mary Elise Lowe 8. Manly Women, Feminine Men: Mere Exceptions or Signs of Inclusive Thinking? Alternative Readings of Martin Luther’s Anthropology Sini Mikkola 9. Wild Spaces of Neighbor-Centered Christian Freedom in Subaltern Contexts of Gender, Race, and Illness Deanna A. Thompson 10. Theology by Demand: A Queer and De-Colonial Perspective on Lutheran Theology André Musskopf Section 3: Women and Sexual Abuse 11. Making Connections: Dinah, Luther, and Indian Women Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon 12. Let’s Be Loud! God in Context of Sexual Violence and Abuse of Power Arnfridur Gudmundsdottir 13. Grace Alone! But Her Sins Are Neither Forgiven Nor Forgotten: An Alternative Indian Feminist Reading of the Muted-Sinful Woman in Luke 7 Surekha Nelavala 14. The Subaltern’s Witness: Examining Luther’s Explanation to the Eighth Commandment in Light of Clergy Sexual Abuse Claims Kayko Driedger Hesslein Section 4: Economy, Equality, and Equity 15. God against God: Cross as Tribulation Vitor Westhelle 16. Cracking the Ice: Subaltern and Lutheran Principles of Knowledge Marit Trelstad 17. From “the Common Good” to “Common Goods:” Unearthing a Community Chest of Cosmological Consequence Allen Jorgenson 18. Genus precarious: Luther in the Anthropocene Terra Rowe

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Book SynopsisLutheran colleges and universities occupy a distinctive space in American higher education. In an age where the dividing line between sacred and secular has become blurred, Brian Beckstrom argues that their "rooted and open" approach, combined with adaptive theological leadership, could be the best hope for faith based higher education. To do so, he provides an overview of Lutheran higher education, its history, and identity, and combines surveys of students, faculty, and staff at Lutheran institutions with leadership theory and theological reflection. Leaders at Lutheran colleges and universities will find it to be helpful in understanding their mission, identity, and vocation in a secular age, and navigating the changing cultural environment that challenges the church and higher education alike.Table of ContentsChapter One: Lutheran Higher Education in a Secular AgeChapter Two: A Brief History of Lutheran Higher EducationChapter Three: Secularization or Reformation?Chapter Four: Adaptive Leadership Challenges for Higher EducationChapter Five: Adaptive Leadership Challenges for Lutheran InstitutionsChapter Six: Adaptive Theological Challenges for Lutheran LeadersChapter Seven: Research ResultsChapter Eight: Humanism and Identity StewChapter Nine: Mission, Identity and Vocation

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Book SynopsisThe title of this book plays upon the central place a theology of the cross holds in Lutheran theologies, especially potent in Luther's Heidelberg Disputation (1518). The 500th anniversary of this document coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations wherein the preamble points to a global aspiration of a common good shaped by freedom, justice and peace. This book is located at the intersection of these two themes, asserting that the cross has material content in being the means by which Christ in suffering solidarity with individuals, communities, and the cosmos advances freedom, justice, and peace. Employing a variety of methods, and exploring a broad range of geographic locales, the contributors illumine the misuse of Reformation themes and offer a corrective in service of a common good that is publicly accountable and theologically sound. The book thereby explores how contemporary Lutheran theology has utility both for analyzing injustice and for advancing justice in local as well as global contexts.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Crux of the Matter Kristen E. Kvam1.Already Freed, Christians Should Serve (Cake): Religious Freedom Claims & Christian Privilege Caryn D. Riswold2.A Lutheran View of Conscience: Bound and Free, Constrained and Embodied Mary Elise Lowe 3.The Obligations We Bear With One Another: A Reply to Lowe and Riswold on Questions of Conscience, Domination, and Love Anthony Bateza 4.Retrieving Luther’s Critique of Idolatry for Our Fragmented World: Whiteness, Greed and the Environment Benjamin Taylor 5.A Non-Universal Lutheran Theology: Contextual Theological Process in Namibia Marit A. Trelstad6.Variegated Lutheran Theology in the Context of 21st Century Idols Mary Philip aka Joy7.Retrieving Luther’s Theology of Freedom for a Contemporary Ethic of Heteronomy Robert Overy-Brown8.Crux of the Matter: Theology of the Cross and the Modern Extractive Imaginary Terra Schwerin Rowe9.Crux in the Balance—In Response to Rowe and Overy-Brown Allen G. Jorgenson10.Luther, Politics, and the Production of Theological Knowledge Christine Helmer

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