| Episcopal Church: | “You will serve as a deacon for at least 6 months before being ordained a priest.” |
| The ELCA: | “You will serve as a deacon for at least 6 months before being ordained a pastor.” |
Is this true? Not yet, but it will be soon. Read more here.
Who is that “shadowy, if not menacing, figure on the contemporary scene, perhaps not yet clearly defined, often a puzzle to both friend and foe, usually mistaken simply for a hard-line conservative confessionalist or orthodoxist”? Why it’s Gerhard Forde – a post-liberal Lutheran!
What do Lutherans believe?; Some Lutherans say that they simply hold to the Bible and Confessions. Yet in the 1970’s Lutherans in this country split over how to use the Bible as the “only rule and norm.” Thus to say one simply holds to the Bible and Confessions is to fail to engage the dilemma of hermeneutics over which Lutherans are split. Read more here.
In November 1983 the Lutheran Council in the USA sponsored a series of lectures in honor of the 500th birthday of Martin Luther. One of the many eminent speakers was Dr. Inge Lønning of Norway, who, for many years, was a leading member of the international Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue. His address, “Luther and Ecumenism,” is transcribed from the audio-tape of his presentation.
Read more here.
This paper juxtaposes excerpts from Steven Paulson and Gerhard Forde on 24 issues, showing the contradictions between their theologies. These contradictions are important because, as Forde wrote (see p. 3), the gospel itself is at stake in the battle over the proper use of scripture. The first seven issues are as follows:
Read more here.