Once more on Luther's House Postil sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent. Last week we looked at the way in which Luther's account of "reason" (eyes) and "faith" (ears) informed his view of the Triumphal Entry and his sacramentology. But this basic insight is not,...

In an ongoing effort to get people to read this essay, I continue to catalog instances of historical figures who agree with meeeeeeeeeeeeeee and the essay's thesis. A little over a month ago I gave a bit of Minucius Felix's Octavius in support. Here's another one,...

Today, December 7, is the anniversary of the death of the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero. He was important in his own day, of course, but has also been equally, if not more, important in his afterlife. One of his great postmortem accomplishments was converting...

For Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, I think I'm going to change things up slightly for "Melanchthon Monday." For the next several weeks, I want to turn our attention to one of the two surviving hymns from the hand of the fifth century biblical epic poet Sedulius....

Once more on Luther's House Postil sermon for the First Sunday in Advent before we move on. Luther is often misunderstood, and almost as often caricatured (in an "oops I just stepped on a rake" sort of way), on the character and role of reason. This post won't fix...

Psalm 46: 9 (45:10 Vulg.), the Psalm that inspired "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," says: "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire." In his commentary on the Psalms, the...

For this week's "Melanchthon Monday," we're back to poetry. Below is an epigram consisting of a single elegiac couplet, which I have rendered (with a couple of liberties) into four lines of blank verse. Hope you enjoy it. Subditus esto Deo et ora eum.Subditus esto...

Advent starts tomorrow. In his House Postil sermon on Matthew 21:1-9 for the First Sunday in Advent, Martin Luther contrasts the kingship of Christ, counterintuitively manifested (and therefore hidden) in the lowliness of his carriage into Jerusalem to be betrayed...

Conservative Roman Catholic intellectuals are never more likely to make a misstep than when they comment on Protestants or Protestantism. Such comments frequently mar otherwise worthwhile works, like the birth-mark in Hawthorne's story. Examples abound, to such an...

Did you know that it used to be the common belief that church orders (/agenda/) were matters of public concern and human law, and were not matters of "worship," actually? It's true! Take Johann Gerhard, for instance. In his discussion of "law" in the Loci theologici...