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Martin Luther

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December 2025

December 30, 2025

A Christmas Bread, Butter, and the Reformation

Delving into the history of a Christmas bread I made, I came across an illuminating...

October 2025

October 31, 2025

How the 95 Theses Ignited the Reformation of the Church

FREE POST: An excerpt from my recent book, "Engaging Your Lutheran Identity" on how and...

October 15, 2025

A Place to Stand

"If I had a place to stand,” said Archimedes, “I could move the world.” The...

March 2025

March 19, 2025

There Is More to Freedom Than You Realize

Everyone wants to be free, but they mean different things by it. Brad Littlejohn explores...

December 2024

December 06, 2024

Luther on Christ’s Return

Advent is the appointed time to contemplate Christ's return. But we need to be careful...

June 2024

June 07, 2024

DISCUSSION: “They’d Be Mentally Ill If They Were Happy”

"A lot of people who have depression don’t really have mental illness. They’re having the...

November 2023

November 07, 2023

Beware of Definitive Answers from ChatGPT

I have found that when ChatGPT doesn't have access to the sources it needs to...

September 2023

September 04, 2023

A Labor Day Meditation on Vocation

This is Labor Day, that secular holiday that we are Christianizing by making it be...

August 2023

August 25, 2023

Luther on Heresy

In his treatise "On Temporal Authority," Luther argues that the state should not punish heretics...

August 25, 2023

DISCUSSION: Thought Crimes

Today's main post is about Luther's opposition to the state's attempt to stamp out heresy...

July 2023

July 19, 2023

Luther on NOT Obeying Rulers

In his treatise "Temporal Authority: The Extent to Which It Should Be Obeyed," Martin Luther...

July 13, 2023

God’s Hangmen & the Duty of Rulers

In his "Temporal Authority" (1523), Luther, far from being deferential to earthly rulers calls them...

July 05, 2023

Luther on Compelled Speech

Not being allowed to say what you believe is a violation of your freedom of...

May 2023

May 19, 2023

Luther’s Rabelaisian Humor

I came across several articles on Luther's humor--his wit, his satires, and even his scatology,...

May 18, 2023

Searching for Luther on Laughter

Martin Luther said, “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest...

January 2023

January 10, 2023

Pope Benedict XVI on Luther & “Sola Fide”

The late pope emeritus Benedict XVI, whose funeral was last week, is getting lots of...

January 05, 2023

Christianity and Matter

St. John Damascene has been recommended as the patron saint of science, for his writings...

November 2022

November 23, 2022

The Dream of Frederick the Wise

Frederick the Wise supposedly had a dream the night before Luther posted his theses in...

November 14, 2022

Luther’s Cultural Influence

Luther and the Reformation had a major cultural impact, from the promotion of universal education...

October 2022

October 07, 2022

“Everybody Worships”

A book on "wellness" as a new religion quotes the late contemporary novelist David Foster...

May 2022

May 09, 2022

Bearing With Our Neighbor’s Weakness

Loving our neighbor is foundational to Biblical ethics, to the doctrine of vocation, and to...

December 2021

December 14, 2021

No, Luther Isn’t to Blame for Subjectivism

Conservative cultural critics often blame Luther for modern subjectivism and exaltation of the self. A...

November 2021

November 29, 2021

Luther on Advent

"He comes." That is what "advent" means. But there is more to it than that: ...

October 2021

October 29, 2021

The Four Distinctives of the Reformation

For Reformation Day, the four ways the Reformation differed from Catholicism and the myth of...

October 18, 2021

Elitist Education vs. Classical Christian Education

Harvard professor James Hankins notes that classical education used to be associated with the elite....

August 2021

August 20, 2021

Where the Battle Is Raging

Robert Benne quotes Luther on the necessity of Christian confession at the points where the...

May 2021

May 19, 2021

Celebrating the Burning of Heretics

I'm interested in Christian art, and I just became aware of a remarkable--and twisted--example. "The...

April 2021

April 30, 2021

Luther’s Nuances on the Atonement

Some explanations of the substitutionary atonement are abstract, rationalistic, and legalistic. Luther, though, avoids that.

April 05, 2021

What Luther Can Offer Evangelicals

As evangelicalism and its theology are floundering, a path forward can be found in the...

January 2021

January 08, 2021

Luther on Political Riots

The Capitol, one of America's most august symbols, was last assaulted in the War of...