All tagged ELCA

Human and Divine Justice in America’s Criminal Justice System

Human and Divine Justice in America’s Criminal Justice System

Derek R. Nelson

The criminal justice system in America is crumbling as untold millions of dollars are wasted; waning confidence in the credibility of the system erodes our fragile democracy; and countless lives are ruined not just by crime but by our faulty responses to crime. And yet most of the basic principles of our system of criminal justice pass muster on the closest scrutiny and in fact have been copied across the world. There is, clearly, a gap between justice-in-principle and justice-in-real-life. This is a chasm very hard to leap across...

The Urge to Merge

The Urge to Merge

Mark Granquist

Looking back on the twentieth century, two questions might be asked. First, why was there such a movement toward merger, and second, how did this whole process affect the course of American Lutheranism, especially but not exclusively the ELCA? To put it bluntly and directly, were all the efforts and energies expended on this process really worth it? ...

The Ecclesiological Implications of an Open Table

The Ecclesiological Implications of an Open Table

Wesley A. Telyea

In August 2013 the Northern Illinois Synod put forward a memorial at the ELCA churchwide assembly asking the church to consider whether holy communion should be administered only to the baptized. Should a change in the administration of holy communion be recommended and implemented in ELCA congregations, it would represent a drastic change in current and historic Lutheran sacramental policy...