The Nihil Rule

(1) Recently the question of women writing theology has surfaced due to the book by Molly Lackey. Associated with it, the question of the authority of anon posters criticizing the publication of a theology book written by a woman. So far I can tell nothing uncouth was said of Mrs. Lackey, but unfortunately the conversations were deleted from Gottesdienst. While the Gottesdienst Crowd (sans Rev. Braaten) appears to oppose commentary by the anonymous, the discussion for the moment has been scuttled. Rev Braaten has been developing a set of theses which appear to be encouraging  to set the tone for discussing a woman's role in theology, setting the stage for further discussion.  (2) On women writing theology: Rev Braaten's theses and the subsequent blog post capture the frame very well. I won't rehash it here, other than to say first, while advancements in technology create opportunities it does not require us to reinterpret Scripture in light of technology. We are not more e...

A few weeks back the Lutheran internet was abuzz with Christian Nationalism on the mind . Well now it's Rev. Tyrel Bramwell's chance to air his thoughts . Rev Bramwell as always is thoughtful but holds no punches. The crux of the matter is that the label Christian Nationalist is "[a] verbal allergen meant to keep people away from the thought that people should bring their beliefs with them into the civic realm, let it shape the public discourse of the nation inasmuch as Christians are involved in that discourse" He then proceeds to remind us of our robust doctrine of the distinction - not separation - of church and state. The  Augsburg Confession, Article XXVIII:11ff  reminds us  "For civil government deals with other things than does the Gospel. The civil rulers defend not minds , but bodies and bodily things against manifest injuries, and restrain men with the sword and bodily punishments in order to preserve civil justice and peace." Minds belong to the C...

"Luther's polemical writings make the one who already believes the truths he defends with all his heart rejoice, they strengthen the weak in faith , they make the hitherto doubtful certain, they give full light to the hitherto ignorant of the matter and to the one who out of weakness is caught in error, and they crush the willfully resisting opponent of truth ." H/T  Back To Luther

  The Wauwatosa extolled by the WELS, contra what Wauwatosa themselves held dear. ' "Historical Thinking" was a trademark of Koehler's theology especially. "Faith-life," mentioned here by Hensel, is not what would be recognized as "Wauwatosan" today by anyone outside the Protes'tant Conference. Perhaps it was the Protes'tant controversy itself that made this aspect of the Wauwatosans' work fade into the background for the Wisconsin Synod. The nature of faith-life - the Christian life, justification and sanctification, Law and Gospel, etc. - was divisive. The Wauwatosans' work in this field was, at least to some extent, repudiated within the synod. Wisconsin synod commentators on the "Wauwatosa Theology" usually point to exegetical sensitivity as its main accomplishment. This stands in contrast to what Hensel posits here." '  The Hardening , pg. 348. 

Many of our modern-day pastors make a primary virtue out of winsomeness. Lenski offers a corrective: "To call brotherly love the articulus stantis aut cadentis ecclesiae  [that is, the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls -nihil]  is to think that apples can grow where there is no tree . Ἀγάπη is the love of true comprehension and understanding coupled with corresponding purpose . Thus its decline is lack of this understanding with which diminution of the energy of its proper purpose goes hand in hand. As for the understanding and purpose of love, note how Jesus makes it plain: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” - Lenski's commentary on The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 2:4.

The WELS is neither careful nor discerning in its introduction of Evangelical songs into our hymnal.  The WELS is introducing "WELS Youth Night" a quarterly event to gather the youth within a circuit for fellowship. They provide resources for devotionals and activities, along with a "suggested song list." Check the list below. All but three are licensed by Getty, two are contemporary and licensed elsewhere, the final hymn is an Anglican hymn. If we were filling in the matrix above, we'd have 11 hymns in the lower-left and one hymn in the lower-right, if we make the most generous allowances for "Before the Throne of God above." It did not appear in the previous hymnal or TLH.  WELS Youth Night – Song List (welscongregationalservices.net)   The WELS is reinforcing the thought that the youth need something different, new and special to bring them closer to Christ. This is flawed for a number of reasons. First, "teenager" as a distinction is a mi...

"As pastors this has to be coming out in our sermons. How can we not be applying the word of God to a society which, in the name of wokeness, is actually urging and funding and advertising and teaching for our children to have parts of their bodies amputated, to be flooded with hormones, to suit the ideology that says even an underage child should be able to choose what sex they are going to have? How can we not speak out against that? How can we not pray mightily for God to work contrition and repentance if not judgement on that sort of thing ... To be confessional means to speak according the content and, I think, the pattern of our Lutheran confessions, so we not only confess based on what we believe based on the inerrant words of Scripture and all that doctrinal stuff in the creeds and the Apology and the catechism and so forth. But we also are taught to go on and say, and as a result of the Biblical doctrine, we oppose this. We are against that. We do not agree with this. We ...

By this sign, Conquer! Something was in the air this week as we got hit by Christian Nationalism from multiple fronts: The Gottesdiesnt Crowd:  TGC 232 — Christian Nationalism Stone Choir:  Christian Nationalism Is Submission to God Issues Etc.:  3054. Christian Nationalism – Andrew Walker, 11/1/22 Dr. Jordan Cooper  What is the Deal with Christian Nationalism? and Matthew Cochran caught it a week in advance,  14 Points of Christian Nationalism – A Draft Your humble host received TGC and Stone Choir with great joy and mustered his way through Issues and Cooper. Receive the fruit of my labors.  The Gottesdienst Crowd  Rev. Braaten with Rev. Ramirez Nationalism is a natural extension of kith and kin. It's Godly. One of the big points Ramirez made is we need to speak clearly between the 19th century definition of Nationalism and the word as we use it today. In the 19th century it was simply flipping the switch from monarchism to popular vote. By hijacking...