In just a few short weeks, I’ll begin my new position at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. And…I…am…completely…and…totally…thrilled! When folks ask me about the job, they almost always ask, first, about the start date and then, second, about the commute. When I tell them it’s an hour drive door-to-door (with good traffic!), they almost immediately ask what I’m going to do with the time and I just as quickly answer, “Thank goodness for podcasts!” And it’s true. I love listening to podcasts. While many have commented that we’re in a new golden age of television – and I totally agree – I also think...

Here’s the simple but just a little troubling question I’ve been wrestling with since participating in Luther Seminary’s recent Rethinking Faith Formation conference: Given how many other groups and movements legitimately lay claim to our allegiance today, can the Church ever expect to exert the level of influence in our lives that it once did? Let me explain: in medieval times the Church was everything and everywhere – involved in politics, in control of the banks, the arbiter of salvation (or damnation), the final authority on all matters of domestic and public life. The omnipresence of the Church has been declining for...