A January 2026 study by the American Bible Society reveals that 42% of Americans did not read the Bible this past year. An additional 20% read the Bible only once or twice. Those who read the Bible once a month or less were 13%. So, 75% percent of Americans are “Not Bible Users” or “Occasional […]
Kent and I are delighted to announce that Rev. Dr. Adam Filipek has agreed to serve as a guest blogger this fall. His biweekly series, beginning September 25, will draw from his first-hand parish experience and academic research for his Doctor of Ministry degree. In an email suggesting a series topic to us, he wrote […]
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God (Psalm […]
“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). As Rhoda and I write in chapter 6 of Journey to Jesus:In the Lutheran tradition the baptismal paradigm of dying and rising (Rom 6) is central to the mission of the faith formation process. As Pastor Droegemueller at Living […]
Rhoda handed off to me the masterful theology of Diakonia from Galatians and chapter 9 of Ever to Emmaus, leading directly into the final chapter 11—Just’s personal diakonia in Spain (“I Will Leave for Spain by Way of You”)—and chapter 12—international theological education (“Word and Sacrament: The Means for Mission”). The liturgical mission has a […]
The final section of Art’s memoir (Liturgy, Catechesis, Diakonia, and Missions) includes four chapters, with today’s post covering the first two. The baton for this relay returns to Kent in August for the final blog post on Ever to Emmaus. Reading chapter 8, “Liturgy and the Catechumenate: What Is at Stake in the Worship Wars,” […]
Our thanks to a subscriber who emailed me, asking for information about where to buy the Art’s book. What poor marketing we have done thus far! To purchase the book, click here.
Rhoda ended last week’s blog with Arthur Just’s words about good pastoral ministry in the context of and oriented toward the Eucharist, which is always for him and for all of us a Return to Emmaus, an act of remembrance. Section two of the memoir, entitled “Jesus and Mary,” remembers Just’s teaching of the “Gospels […]
With this post, Kent and I begin a series reviewing a new book, Ever to Emmaus: A Theological Memoir, by our friend Arthur Just, Professor of New Testament at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Since Art graciously wrote one of the forewords to our book, Journey to Jesus, we’re delighted to be able to […]
Yesterday we celebrated the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession in which the various Lutheran territorial leaders confessed their “pastors’ and preachers’ teachings” as well as their faith on the basis of Holy Scripture. This commemoration—in many ways the most important commemoration for the evangelical-catholic reformatory movement of the church—calls us to think about how we […]