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04-02 Under the Fig Tree: The Augsburg Confession with Dr. Joel Okamoto
No full textIn this second episode of the 2023-24 academic year, hosts Rev. Micah Glenn and Dr. Ben Haupt are joined by Professor of Systematic Theology Dr. Joel Okamoto. Okamoto shares why he is often seen wearing shoes and how he became a pastor after studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Theology. The trio also dive a discussion about the Augsburg Confession. Okamoto says he is sometimes asked to summarize or simplify the church’s creeds and confessions. They “summarize these things: First of all, they lay out the key features of the Christian narrative, the Christian story of God and Creation, from God making all things to the life of the world to come,” Okamoto says. “Not everything in it, but … God made all things, redemption through Jesus Christ, His return and judgment, the Holy Spirit, the church, Resurrection, eternal life. If you depart from living according to that story, you’re not Christian. … The Augsburg Confession, its distinctive, doctrinal articles are all confessing that the righteous will live by faith, if you want to sum it up.”
Okamoto shared this advice for people considering vocational ministry: “Speak with other Christians, that’s what I did, especially those who prize truth over consolation. Get their perspective and their prayers. That helped me.”
“Under the Fig Tree” is a video and audio podcast of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. New video and audio episodes are added weekly each Monday during the academic year. “Under the Fig Tree” can be found on YouTube, the Seminary’s Scholar site (scholar.csl.edu) and most podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Those interested in vocational ministry are invited to learn more about Concordia Seminary at http://www.csl.edu or by contacting the admissions team at [email protected] or 800-822-9545
034. Ephesians 5:15-20
Get PDFChapel Sermon by Sean Daenzer from Ephesians 5:15-20 on Thursday, October 26, 2023
Mark 11:01-10
No full textMark 11:1-10 presented by Jeffrey Oschwald for the Gospel reading for Sunday, December 3, 2023, First Sunday in Advent 1B
04-05 Under the Fig Tree: From Lutheran teacher to deaconess student with Jessica Thompson
No full textIn this episode of Under the Fig Tree, hosts Rev. Micah Glenn and Dr. Ben Haupt chat with Jessica Thompson, a residential Deaconess Studies student and a new admissions officer at Concordia Seminary. Thompson, whose husband is a pastor, previously served as a Lutheran teacher before she started the deaconess program. “It’s been everything that I hoped it would be and even better,” she says of the classes she has taken so far. “It’s amazing. I eat it up. I’ve loved every class that I have taken. I even love writing papers. I love writing, so writing papers is even fun for me. I’ve been amazed at the theologians we have here as professors. These are people who really know so much about God’s Word, but they’re also so pastoral, which has been such a blessing.” She also shares some advice for prospective students: “Talk to people who really know you, faithful people who really know you. We as a church, we’re Americans, and we like to be very individual [and] make our own decisions and figure things out. But we are the body of Christ. I think we need to be in conversation with each other, helping each other discern.”
“Under the Fig Tree” is a video and audio podcast of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. New video and audio episodes are added weekly each Monday during the academic year. “Under the Fig Tree” can be found on YouTube, the Seminary’s Scholar site (scholar.csl.edu) and most podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Those interested in vocational ministry are invited to learn more about Concordia Seminary at csl.edu or by contacting the admissions team at [email protected] or 800-822-9545
Living with the Certainty of an Accurate Text: An Answer to the Synoptic Problem and the Differences in the So-Called “Western” Text
No full textThe differences within the so-called ‘Western’ text have usually been overshadowed by the reason for four Gospel accounts, with three of them extremely similar. The significant differences in manuscripts such as Codex Bezae have been described as differences either before or after the other manuscripts. Did the early church really care about the details of Jesus? This sectional proposes an early Jewish-Christian reason for such manuscripts and sees those differences as halakhic and haggadic perspectives of Jewish interpretation, with the four prohibitions described in the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15) as a type of conciliar agreement based on the all-important Pentateuch and giving permission for the four Gospel accounts to be given out. Connections may be made in much the same way to the four living creatures in Scripture (Ezek. 1; Rev. 4). The early church cared for all people and gave each one of them the reliable words of Jesus in a fourfold and loving way
Church and Society: Lessons from Hans Joachim Iwand
No full textHans Joachim Iwand was a contemporary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor of the confessing church, a resistor of the Nazi regime and a Luther researcher. Iwand wrote a series of essays in the 1930s through the 1950s dealing with the topic of the 2023 Theological Symposium. This sectional will lay out his concerns with the two realms/kingdoms doctrine as it was being used during the Nazi era. It will then present Iwand’s preference for Luther’s teaching on the three estates as a more helpful paradigm. This will lay the groundwork for Iwand’s explanation of how the kingdom of God breaks open the estates of church and society so that they can continue to relate to one another in godly ways rather than be closed off from one another. Finally, some practical ways that Iwand lived out these teachings will demonstrate what this can look like in the everyday settings of church and society
Amos 05:18-24
No full textAmos 5:18-24 presented by Kevin Golden for the First reading for Sunday, November 12, 2023, 24th Sunday after Pentecost (prop27)
033. Matthew 22:15-22
Get PDFChapel Sermon by Matthew Harrison from Matthew 22:15-22 on Wednesday, October 25, 2023
056. Mark 11:1-10
No full textMark 11:1-10 presented by Jeffrey Oschwald for the Gospel reading for Sunday, December 3, 2023, First Sunday in Advent 1B
Christian Hope Among Rivals
No full textHope is a widespread human experience. For centuries, followers of Jesus of Nazareth have ordered their lives around a central hope. How is their experience similar or different from others who live by hope? Living by hope involves living within a peculiar story of the world — an incomplete story. The stories that shape these hopes are threatened by evil, however it may be defined, and the hopeful struggle as characters caught up in plots that move toward resolution. In this regard, the hope of Christians is similar to others. Yet, it is different because they wait for the God and Father of Jesus to transform the world to fit the promise He made to Abraham. Therefore, although Christians and participants in other life-organizing stories do not agree on the ground of hope, taking a detour into the hopeful experience of another may help uncover a place where rivals can stand together long enough to talk