A quick reminder, Dear Partner, about 4 upcoming events at LTSP that you won’t want to miss: 1) It’s not too late to register for this year’s free Ministry Resource Day this Thursday, Sept. 17. 2) On Tuesday Sept. 22nd we are celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Urban Theological Institute with a lecture by the renowned Dr. James Forbes at 11:15 and a celebratory worship service at Enon Tabernacle Church that evening at 7:00. Both events are free and open to all. 3) Professor of Reformation History Emeritus Timothy Wengert offers a convocation lecture on Tuesday, October 6 on the post-Reformation relationship...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Before jumping to Mark’s intriguing, elusive, and utterly captivating text (appetites whetted, yet?), I wanted to let you know about two events coming soon to the campus of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. 1) Next Thursday (Sept. 17), we’re holding our second annual (and free!) Ministry Resource Day. I’ll be offering two presentations on “Digital Pluralism and the Death and Resurrection of the Church” with worship and lunch in between. Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Theological Institute, and the Southeastern PA Synod of the ELCA, the event is...

The controversy around the group and movement identified as #BlackLivesMatter has stirred no small amount of controversy since its inception. By stressing that black lives matter, the typical argument goes, they must be suggesting that black lives matter more than other lives. Isn’t everyone of value? Why this focus just on black lives? I get it. The name has made me uncomfortable from the beginning. And so I’m likely to opt for the compromise that many of our politicians on the campaign trail have suggested. “Yes, black lives matter, because all lives matter.” I get it. But while I’m more comfortable with the assertion that...

Don’t worry, if you’re not familiar with the term “digital pluralism” you’re not behind the times, out of touch, or manifestly uncultured. Trust me, I should know, as I made this term up! 🙂 What I mean by talking of digital pluralism is to recognize that we live in an era when multiple stories, worldviews, traditions, convictions, and versions of reality now circulate, and even compete, with each other largely because of the advent of digital communication. Think about it in terms of this analogy: a generation ago we had “the Big Three” in television which, truth be told, mostly featured all the...

This past summer I ended up taking an unanticipated partial sabbatical from blogging. While I had taken part or all of the summer off in previous years, this summer I had hoped actually to catch up on writing in this space and a few others after a full, hectic, and blessed first year at LTSP. Alas, that wasn’t to happen. The summer was busier, and I was more tired, than I’d anticipated and apart from the weekly “Dear Partner” posts for preachers, I ended up writing exactly nothing. Once I realized that was the way things were going to roll, I intended to start up again after Labor Day. But then classes...