Currents in Theology and Mission, the Theological Journal of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary, offers theological essays and book reviews on a wide spectrum of theological literature, as well as exegetical and homiletical resources for every Sunday and major festival in the church year (the latter section is called "Preaching Helps"). Currents aims to provide resources for mission, ministry, and theological growth for pastors and other church leaders.

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The Globethics library contains articles of Currents in Theology and Mission as of vol. 43(2016) to current.

Recent Submissions

  • Toward a More Trauma-Informed Church: Equipping Faith Communities to Prevent and Respond to Abuse

    Singer, Pete (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    The church is called to care for those who have been abused.  While the church has fulfilled that calling with some survivors of abuse, she has also failed countless people and sometimes created more harm. This article provides guidance for becoming a more trauma-informed church. The most fundamental element of trauma-informed practice is a basic understanding of trauma. Trauma involves an event that overwhelms the normal human capacity to adapt or cope. This event leaves a lasting imprint on the mind, brain, body,  and soul. To care for a person who has experienced trauma and prevent retraumatization, a more complete view of trauma is required. Research is clear that one of the biggest factors contributing to resilience after trauma is competent, supportive relationships. Collaboration may occur between the church and survivor, the various people at the church helping the survivor, or between the church and providers or staff from other organizations who work with or may be able to help the person. The church is best able to fulfill this calling when she takes these principles, grounded in Scripture, and lives them out every day as a manifestation of who we are in Christ.  
  • Wilhelm Loehe, Preaching and the Lord's Prayer

    Pfeiffer, Joshua (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    This article explores the preaching of Wilhelm Loehe via a theological and rhetorical analysis of the opening sermon to his series on the Lord’s Prayer. Loehe’s preaching is located within the broader history of preaching, specifically within the Lutheran catechetical heritage. Loehe faithfully embodies this tradition not merely by conveying information and moralizing but by proclaiming law and Gospel within his catechesis. He manifests in his preaching some of his distinctive ecclesial emphases, such as the creative holding together of confessional orthodoxy and pietistic devotion. Elements of Loehe’s rhetoric are highlighted, including his lively use of imagery. Loehe’s preaching provides a rich resource for the ongoing homiletical task today. 
  • The History and Development of Doctrine: Loehe's Posture Toward Nineteenth-Century Theological Trends

    Lee II, James Ambrose (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    In nineteenth-century Germany, the study of the history of doctrine became a prominent theological subdiscipline as theologians increasingly turned to critical historical research to express the scientific character of theology and theories of development multiplied across German universities. The debate over doctrinal development was primarily an academic debate prosecuted by university theologians. From his congregation in Neuendettelsau, Wilhelm Loehe constructed his own conception of development. Loehe did not conceptualize doctrinal development as an academic discourse but as the result of the Triune God’s presence within the church. Development was the means through which God brought greater clarity to the church’s theological witness.
  • He Never Prayed for Nineveh: Jonah in a Year of Conflicts

    Lundblad, Barbara K. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    This issue has Preaching Helps for the weekends from Epiphany through Easter 2024 (January 7-March 31). Authors of the entries are pastors and seminary professors who offer sermon assistance and ideas for those in the parish.
  • Loehe about Himself: What Were Loehe's Key Theological Themes?

    Keller, Rudolf; Schattauer, Thomas H.; Hoenen, Allison Werner (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    Loehe was always completely focused on his specific tasks as well as the intentions of his publications. He very rarely spoke about himself, and certainly not about his state of mind. This is also the reason many of Loehe’s interpreters have added their own ideas to the explanation of his statements over the course of the long history of his influence. In this essay, quotations from letters and little-known sources are brought together in their historical context to show how the Neuendettelsau pastor personally provided information about his theological and churchly goals and motives. Key themes include: the Brethren Church, the sacrament of the altar, the Lutheran confession, the office of ministry, and true church fellowship. These themes shaped Loehe’s approach to matters of practice.
  • Christian Identity in Crisis: The Legacy of Wilhelm Loehe as Inspiration for the Church Today

    Schattauer, Thomas H. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    This issue of Currents in Theology and Mission—as well as the next—features papers presented at the 5th Conference of the International Loehe Society, July 2022. The Society has gathered periodically since its founding in 2005. The 2022 conference theme “Christian Identity in Crisis” offered space to reflect on Loehe’s theological and pastoral work in relation to crises from within and from without the church of his own time. Through his many endeavors—in church and mission, liturgy and diakonia, Lutheran confession and piety—Loehe grappled with matters of Christian identity, both personal and ecclesial. The question at the horizon of interest in Loehe’s work is how to understand Loehe’s legacy to us in the face of crises to Christian identity today.
  • Loehe's Liturgical Imagination: Inspiration for Christian Identity and Mission

    Schattauer, Thomas H. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    Imagination is a significant dimension of faith, and images—most especially biblical ones—are foundational for Christian liturgy and crucial to liturgical-theological work. This essay explores some of the evidence for Loehe’s liturgical imagination in three “soundings” focused on specific texts. In each case, we look at Loehe’s imagination from the liturgy in relation to his imagination for the liturgy: 1) participation in the life of the triune God—the communal and participatory character of liturgy; 2) eucharistic community—the regular celebration of Lord’s Supper; living liturgy—the intersection of liturgy and life. The horizon of interest throughout is how Loehe’s liturgical imagination contributed to his engagement with matters of Christian identity and mission and what inspiration we might take from such imagination.
  • Wilhelm Loehe and the Future Church

    Nessan, Craig L. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    This article develops six dimensions from the legacy of the nineteenth century churchman, Wilhelm Loehe, usable for revitalizing the church. These dimensions involve mission, worship, equipping others, diakonia, open questions, and recovery of the “missionary.” References are made to the work of Loehe for shaping imagination about the future church. The legacy inherited from the individuals, congregations, and institutions formed by Wilhelm Loehe can provide a compass for orienting the future of a church aligned with the mission of the Triune God.
  • Book Reviews - January 2024

    Nessan, Craig L.; Troftgruben, Troy M. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    Reviews submitted of current books on a variety of topics, all related to the content of the journal.
  • Sermon at Opening Worship

    Lohrmann, Martin J. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    A sermon preached on the commemoration of James, Apostle, July 25, 2022, at the worship service opening the conference. The witness of apostle James and pastor Loehe speaks to the freedom of those who follow Jesus Christ to see possibilities beyond the difficulties of the moment. In Christian freedom, we get to see the world as God sees it and to serve others in love.
  • Why Bother with Dusting Off and Updating Deinzer? Reflections on Writing a New Biography of Loehe

    Stephenson, John R. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-12-18)
    To come to life as a human discipline, history needs generous infusions of biography, and biographies of non-evildoers are best written by those with sympathy for their subjects. Loehe was fortunate to have as his major biographer a spiritual son and professional colleague with whom he shared the tragedy of the childhood loss of a father. Johannes Deinzer’s great biography of Loehe, Wilhelm Löhe’s Leben, is an indispensable resource for any standard biography to be written for the English-speaking world. A new biography of Loehe for readers in the US and Canada will need to comb Loehe’s copious correspondence and relate his theological and pastoral accomplishments to the spiritual situation of contemporary North American Lutheranism. 
  • Jesus, Materialism, and the Women Who Teach and Preach Mark's Gospel

    Parker, Angela N. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    After several essays exploring the work by Robert Moses, Jesus and Materialism in the Gospel of Mark, readers are invited to engage four women, two biblical scholars and two womanist preachers, as they engage the Gospel of Mark.
  • Did God Forsake Jesus? Abandonment and Presence in Mark 15

    Bashaw, Jennifer Garcia (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    A dominant strand of church tradition interprets Jesus’ words from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” to mean that because of the sin Jesus took upon himself, God abandoned Jesus during the crucifixion. Such an interpretation is built on later theological assumptions rather than the context of Mark’s crucifixion narrative. This essay uses the literary context of Mark 15 and Psalm 22 to answer the question, “Is Mark communicating God’s abandonment or absence in his crucifixion narrative or does the story’s connections to Psalm 22 lead to a different conclusion?”
  • Mark's Gospel and Justice for the Poor

    Mitchell, Margaret M. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    This article, a revised version of a panel response at SBL 2022 in Denver, provides an appreciative review of Robert Ewusie Moses’ Jesus and Materialism in the Gospel of Mark, highlighting the many virtues of the book and tracing the assumptions upon which the exegetical reading of Mark’s gospel as showing Jesus’ special concern for the poor is based. The review also includes some discussion of the claims Moses makes about the chief functions of the temple in Jerusalem in relation to his exegesis of Mark 11:11-25. I close with one example of why a reading like Robert Moses’ is urgently needed in our current moment.
  • Preaching Helps for October 1–December 31: From Ordinary Time to the Season of Christmas

    Lundblad, Barbara K. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    Suggestions for sermon preparation are given by clergy in a variety of settings. Weeks covered are from October 1 through December 31, 2023.
  • Currents at 50

    Billman, Kadi D.; Nessan, Craig L. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    The co-editors of Currents in Theology and Mission offer gratitude for and reflections on the 50th anniversary of publishing the journal. The shift to becoming an open access, online journal was a risk, but it has expanded readership in numbers and global reach. The article expresses amazement at the work of Ralph Klein who edited the journal for 35 years and introduces the republication of his history of Currents.
  • Book Reviews - October 2023

    Nessan, Craig L.; Troftgruben, Troy M. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    Reviews submitted by our readers, covering recent works of interest to those readers.
  • The Day That Jesus Got Healed

    Jackson, Leah D. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    Jesus willingly healed numerous people during his ministry. In Mark 7:24-30, Jesus is confronted by a Syrophoenician woman whose daughter was suffering from a demon, but he refuses to heal her daughter. This sermon, originally preached for the Doctor of Ministry Intensives at McAfee School of Theology, explores the social and cultural factors present in the interaction between Jesus and this woman. Jesus, in his humanity, is forced to confront his bias, providing an example of how believers can faithfully interrogate their embedded theology.  
  • Wealth and Poverty in Apocalyptic Tension: Reflections on Robert Ewusie Moses, "Jesus and Materialism in the Gospel of Mark"

    Black, C. Clifton (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    After examining three cruces interpreta, this brief assessment of Robert Moses’ Jesus and Materialism in the Gospel of Mark (2022) concludes with commendations of its author’s treatment of an underexamined topic in Markan exegesis.  
  • Mark's Jesus on Wealth and Poverty: A Response to C. Clifton Black and Margaret M. Mitchell

    Moses, Robert E. (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2023-09-18)
    A response to questions raised by Professors C. Clifton Black and Margaret M. Mitchell in their review essays on Jesus and Materialism in the Gospel of Mark: Traveling Light on the Way.  

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