The Burr in the Burgh

St. Louis songstress, Erin Bode, was a huge hit at the banquet this evening at the Grand Wayne Center here in Fort Wayne. Every year, Concordia Theological Seminary hosts its annual Exegetical and Confessional Symposia. This year the topic was on the Atonement. And every year, the Thursday night of Symposia week is the night of the banquet. Traditionally, attendees were treated to speakers, intros, jokes, etc. This year, to the relief and delight of some and most likely the chagrin of others, the faculty roasts and inside jokes were put aside and the packed banquet hall was filled with the sounds of jazz music. Bode was quite the hit receiving a lengthy standing ovation at the end. Go here to read information about her inspiring work with the Themba school in South Africa.

As you may know, we've launched a new blog from the Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary. It's called Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. Cute, eh? We're trying hard to use that new blog to bring attention to our school and to hopefully inspire prospective students to inquire.

If you have 2 minutes, you could help us tremendously. Go to the seminary blog and look at the left hand column. Down a bit, you'll see a notice that Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary is in the running for best religion blog. If you think our efforts have merit and want to help us generate higher traffic, please click that button and vote for us.

Thanks for your support.

Do you ever wish you had your own personal cheerleader?

Check out the latest post at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary.

January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord. The word "epiphany" means that something is revealed. Epiphany is a season which focuses on the manifestations of Jesus' divine nature. God reveals His glory most supremely in the flesh and blood of a man, Jesus Christ.

The Gospel reading for this day is Matthew 2:1-12, the story of the wise men. The Holy Scriptures actually tell us very little about these fellows. And several misunderstandings have piled up over the years.

The songs says, "We Three Kings," but the bible says nothing about them being royalty. They are called magi which means that they were wise men or scholars. We don't know where they came from exactly, though Persia is a good guess. The Scriptures merely say they came from the east. Even though your crèche has the wise men figurines, they were not present at the time of our Lord's birth. The holy family was no longer in a stable, but in a house and Jesus was probably about 2 years old when they showed up. We don't even know that there were three of them. It just says that they brought three gifts.

One thing we do know is that they were not Jews. Thus, they represent the nations of the world coming to Israel for salvation. Jesus later said, "Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22). Many moderns assume that all religions are essentially the same. The Gospel of Matthews suggests otherwise. If that were so, why did those poor stargazers and their camels cross mountains and deserts to worship the newborn king of Israel? If all religions are the same, they should have just stayed home and prayed to Ishtar and burned that frankincense in the temples of Zoroaster.

Author of study guide for ‘The Golden Compass'

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez

The Journal Gazette

Janelle Sou Roberts | The Journal Gazette

Scott Stiegemeyer, a Lutheran pastor, says “Compass” author Philip Pullman “clearly does have an anti-church agenda.”

Leave it to the Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer not to stray too far from the front lines of the culture wars.

A pastor in the Lutheran Church’s Missouri Synod who now serves as admissions director of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Stiegemeyer has a longtime interest in the intersection of faith and popular culture.

So, it didn’t surprise him when an editor at the synod publishing house called him three weeks in advance of the release of the controversial movie version of Philip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass” and asked him to write a study guide for use in churches.

“He was a reader of my blog,” says Stiegemeyer, who uses current events and cultural topics to gather readers to his “Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary.”

But, while some are calling on Christians to boycott the movie because of its allegedly anti-Christian themes and Pullman’s militant atheism, Stiegemeyer’s guide doesn’t.

Instead, it lays out some of the issues and provides biblical and doctrinal context for approaching the work in a question-and-answer/discussion format.

Should Christians read/see works by unbelievers? Who is Philip Pullman and what does he believe? Should I, as a Christian, see the movie?

Formerly a pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, where he started his first blog, “The Burr in the Burgh,” Stiegemeyer has credentials that include presentations on C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The DaVinci Code.”

For about two years, he and another Lutheran pastor, Don Matzat, turned an otherwise dead Sunday night radio time slot into two hours of lively chat on a call-in show, “Let’s Talk About Jesus.” The two took on topics such as the then-popular apocalyptic “Left Behind” book series.

“Questions and Answers about Philip Pullman’s ‘The Golden Compass’ ” is available free at www.cph.org/compass.

Why would you as a pastor even get involved in this area of popular culture?

“It seemed to me that congregation members, especially those of the younger generation, are getting more and more of their information from entertainment media even more than from the hour they’re in church on Sunday morning. Popular culture is influencing people’s faith. So as a pastor, I felt called to help them sort the good from the bad, and interpret what they are hearing and seeing from the perspective of their faith.”

What piqued your interest with this movie?

“Well, I had read the novels several years ago, and what piqued my interest about them then is they’re fantasy genre, and with fantasy genre novels, they often have spiritual themes. And Pullman has been outspoken about wanting to be the anti-C.S. Lewis (known for his Christian orientation). I think (Pullman) may be a bit tongue in cheek about that, but he despises C.S. Lewis. So that intrigued me. And a lot of (the commentary) was sort of predictably reactionary and emotional. … ‘Knee-jerk’ is a good word. So I wanted to balance that out.”

For those of us who might have been living under rocks, what’s the fuss about with this movie?

“This is the first part of a trilogy called ‘His Dark Materials.’ Its (theme) is not at all subtle. The characters find the church and God are evil, and they go on a crusade to kill God, whom they call The Authority. It’s set in an alternative universe, but very similar to the one we know. The characters do travel between universes. But it’s very complex, as fantasy novels are. ‘The Golden Compass’ is the most toned down, and the movie, if anything, softens the potentially objectionable material.”

So what happens in “The Golden Compass?”

“The bad thing that happens is that children are being taken, and what you eventually find out is that it is the church that is taking them and torturing them. The church is conducting experiments on them and basically sapping their souls. The heroine and her companions go on this rescue crusade.”

Not a pretty picture.

“No. It’s not a pretty picture. (Pullman) clearly does have an anti-church agenda.”

Which I’d guess you think isn’t accurate?

“In his view, the church is oppressive of free thought and free expression. I think it’s unquestionably true that at times in its history it has been oppressive, by burning books, and, occasionally, people. I’m not defending the flaws. But even from a secularist point of view, the church has done a lot of good.”

So you think Pullman is going to the extreme?

“In his church, there are no good people. There’s no ambiguity there. There’s nothing redeeming. And there’s nothing appealing about the religious characters. I think it’s not only not true, but it also hurts his storytelling, because the art of a good storyteller is to have characters that are multifaceted.”

Do you think his portrayal of God is Christian?

“ He portrays the church and God as being purely about law and rules. His favorite term for God is ‘The Authority,’ which leaves out a lot of things, like mercy and kindness, compassion and love, which are essential features of the God I believe in. He never really talks about Jesus and what he represents. If the church taught what he says, I’d be against it.”

Do you think the movie or the book is appropriate for the audience at which it’s aimed, which is young teens?

“It is targeted to the 12-to-14 age group. That’s a very difficult age. Young people are starting to define themselves. If you have someone who is uncertain in their beliefs, this could have an influence. And there is some merit to the argument that it is an entrée to the other books, but I think that is a weak argument. Do I think it’s appropriate? I wouldn’t ban it. But I don’t think I would just hand it out. I think discussion in a book club or church group is certainly a good way to approach it.”

So, if I’m a parent of someone in that age group, what do I do?

“I am a parent of someone in that age group! (Stiegemeyer and his wife, Julie, a children’s book author, have a son, Jacob, 12.) We went and saw the movie together. I didn’t block him from the book, but he doesn’t show any real interest in it. He was interested (in the movie), but I would have given the movie only a fair grade because it was confusing, and it wasn’t that well crafted as a film. His one response about the movie was that it was confusing. He liked the action scenes and special effects, the computer animation.”

What about parents who say they don’t want, as Christians, to expose themselves or their kids to these ideas?

“Some parents will say, ‘I want to avoid it,’ and I don’t blame them for that; I can respect that. But as a parent, I think we have the responsibility to equip ourselves to answer the challenges it raises, not avoid them. I’m not one of those Christians who want to shield themselves from the surrounding culture.”

So, you’re saying to parents “Don’t overreact”?

“I don’t think it’s a major threat to faith. People will want to forbid it, but I think that will have the opposite effect. If a kid wants to read it, he’ll read it, or if he wants to see the movie, he’ll find a way. I’d rather he do it in front of me than reading it or seeing it and hiding it from me. That way we could have a conversation about it. I just don’t want to make a law about it. I don’t want to be what Pullman says we are, which is lawgivers to exclusion of everything else.”

Why did Jesus die on the cross? I wrote a blog post on that question a while back and it is by far the number one most viewed post on this blog still to this day. Not that I wrote something so terrific. But I still get Google hits on it daily. And that is because people all over the world are asking and debating that question. [Go here to see that old post.]

The Mel Gibson movie brought this discussion to the surface and I was astonished (I was naive) at the number of commentators on the film saying that it is wrong to focus so much attention on the death of Jesus, as if the crucifixion were merely the unfortunate demise of an otherwise promising young man.

Concordia Theological Seminary is conducting an in-depth series of lectures on the subject of the atonement. Classic understandings are being dismissed, even in traditionally evangelical circles. What a delight it is to be part of a major institution that still boldly maintains the central truths of Jesus Christ and His salvation.

Register now to attend the Symposia, January 15 - 18, 2008. Engage with world-class theologians from our institution and elsewhere. David Scaer, William Weinrich and many others.

Posted also over at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary.

The CTS Kantorei, a 16 voice choir, is making stops in WY, MT, and CO this week. Check their schedule here and if any of those locations are near to, they'd love to have you come.

Philip Meade is a great blogging buddy over at The Beast's Lair whom I've enjoyed reading for quite some time. Currently, I believe, he is a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY whose president, by the way, Albert Mohler, is an active blogger himself. See here for President Mohler's always engaging blog.

I love reading Phil's blog because he seems to like a lot of the things I like, such as scary movies, theme parks, pop culture, and theology. Of course, he's a Southern Baptist and I'm a pretty traditional Lutheran so we wouldn't see eye-to-eye on everything. But one thing I do so enjoy is discovering how much common ground we really have. At least that is how it seems to me. I don't mean this in the sense that either one of us waters down our distinctives but in the sense that we both spring from a common Western Christian Reformational tradition.

All that having been said, I want to direct you to a very fine post he wrote recently that I think expresses views I too have long held. Here is The Knee-Jerk Effect.

In America today, there really are two distinct holidays celebrated on and around December 25th. Both celebrations are called "Christmas." One is a cultural celebration while the other is religious. These are not necessarily mutually exclusive although it seems common for people to observe one and not the other.

See the seminary blog for my post "Keep the Mass in Christmas."

Hey, check this out! The Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, IN now has a blog. Here it is. It's called Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. Cute, eh? Please come by and say howdy to me and the gang. And check back often too because we plan to post daily.

Eastern Promises is the latest film directed by David Cronenberg and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Cronenberg has a bizarre repertoire of films with a flair for the grotesque. Not only are his movies often graphically violent, but they serve as veritable meditations on the effects of violence, both emotionally and bodily. And in that sense, I hate to say, I think he may have a spark of genius.

Personally, I do not have a high opinion of most of his work. His most recent two films, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence, however, do deserve a bit of attention. It would surprise me very much, in fact, if Eastern Promises does not earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Director Cronenberg began his career making low-budget horror films specializing in yuck. E.P. is not a horror film by strict definitions, but is very similar thematically. And there is no shortage of yuck. Two fundamental themes for the horror genre are transformation and identity. Many literary forms ask the question "who am I?" but horror asks "what am I?" and "what am I becoming?", with typically unhappy answers.

The definition of a monster is a being who should not exist but does, or a being that cannot be classified. For instance, Frankenstein's monster is a being who should not exist but does. He is the fabrication of a scientist who plays God and attempts to manufacture new life out of old body parts. And Darth Vader is also a monster because we don't know what he is. He's hard to classify. Is he man or machine?

So horror asks, "what is it?" Dead or alive? Man or machine? Male or female? Plant or animal? Earthly or extraterrestrial? Sane or insane? Healthy or sick? Clean or unlcean? Think of the horror monsters you've seen and you'll find that these are the questions most often at play. The significant thing is that they urge us to ponder what it means to be a human. When does a being cross the line of being non-human to human or vice-versa? Etc. With today's bio-ethical dilemmas and the advances of research in genetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, cloning, chimeras, etc., you will see more and more, I predict, horror stories asking such questions.

How does Eastern Promises fit into this horror scheme? It's not a horror film, per se, but it considers transformation. A History of Violence does so even better, I'd say. Transformation from one thing into another, usually as the result of violence or bodily disfigurement. In E.P., Viggo Mortensen does a truly brilliant job portraying the ultimate thug as part of the Russia mafia in London. He captures the accent, look and mannerisms masterfully.

Here is what I value in this film. It assumes and teaches that violence changes human character. Not being the object of violence, but the subject. My pastor, Rev. David Petersen, posed a fascinating question in Bible class last Sunday, a question that he found in the work of Peter Kreeft, I believe. Suppose your child were a prisoner is a Nazi concentration camp. Now suppose, your child were approached by the sadist Dr. Josef Mengele who proposes to spare your son or daughter if he or she will assist him in his experiments. So the choice is this: Assist Mengele in torturing others or be tortured by him. Now how would you want your child to choose?

Many would say that since they don't want their child to be harmed, they'd prefer him to assist the doctor. But what is truly more damaging, to be tortured or to torture. I agree with Pastor Petersen's point that to do violence to another person damages the doer in more deep and lasting ways.

In his own way, I think Cronenberg makes this point. The monsters in this world are not those who've been damaged externally but those who do the damaging. They became spiritual freaks, if you will, disfigured on the inside.

How do atheists celebrate Christmas? That's the question posed by the always articulate Dinesh D'souza here.

The added question, for me, is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?

Oh, I see. Parties and booze. Parties and presents. That's the ticket.

I don't know. It seems pretty disingenuous to me. I would not trouble myself to observe a major holy day of a religion I disbelieved. Even worse. Many of the new atheists are not just a-theists. They are anti-theists. If religion, and Christianity in particular, is responsible for the bulk of this world's woes as some claim, then why would they commemorate the birth of its founder? I guess it's the parties, the booze and the presents.

UPDATE: See my related post at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary.

That is the headline from Reuters earlier this week. Calling for a boycott of the recent film based on the controversial trilogy, His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman, the Vatican statement elaborates: "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane". Also according to Reuters, the Vatican paper called The Golden Compass, "the most anti-Christmas film possible."

The Golden Compass is indeed a reason for concern, primarily because of the subsequent two volumes of the trilogy it is associated with. The current movie version of Compass is only mediocre as a movie and for the most part, avoids the most sticky wicky points.

How should Christians respond? First, I agree with the Vatican's concerns, but I believe it is important to remain cool-headed. Is it truly the most anti-Christmas film possible? Such exaggerated assertions suggest that the reviewer either didn't really see the film or is prone to overreaction. In both cases, our cause is harmed.

One of the biggest flaws in Pullman's technique is his extremism. Even some people who agree with his views feel he is an impediment because he overstates his case. I hope the church does not fall into the same approach. Not every attack on the Faith requires the same degree of response. Otherwise, every attack will be the most anti-Christmas film possible. And if every attack is the most anti-Christmas film possible (to use the phrase from the Vatican), then none of them are. Not everything can be the "most possible." Do you see?

So if next year, another film is produced that undermines Christianity but does so in a more direct and sophisticated way, how will we respond if we've already labeled Compass as the worst possible? If it's the worst, then all others must not be as bad.

I am in no way defending the militant atheism of Philip Pullman. I am only saying that our responses to our critics ought to be in proportion to the quality of the threat.

New Book on Women’s Ordination Includes Essays by Several CTS Faculty

FORT WAYNE, IN (CTS)—A collection of essays on the ordination of women, Women Pastors? The Ordination of Women in Biblical Lutheran Perspective, edited by Concordia Theological Seminary professor John T. Pless and Matthew Harrison has been published by Concordia Publishing House and is available for $26.99. This anthology of essays includes chapters by CTS professors Charles Gieschen (“Ordained Proclaimers or Quiet Learners?”), Roland Ziegler (“Liberation Theology in the Leading Ladies of Feminist Theology”), William Weinrich (“Women in the History of the Church” and “It Is Not Given a Woman to Teach: A Lex in Search of a Ratio”), and David Scaer (“May Women Be Ordained as Pastors?” and “The Office of Pastor and the Problem of Women’s Ordination”). Other essays are included by North American, European, and Australian theologians Henry Hamann, Bertil Gaertner, Bo Giertz, Reinhard Slenczka, Peter Kriewaldt, David Bryce, Fredrik Sidenvall, Peter Brunner, John Kleinig, Hermann Sasse, Gregory Lockwood, Louis Smith, Louis Brighton, and Robert Schaibley.

CTS President Dean O. Wenthe commented on the significance of the anthology: “It is striking that in the ancient Near East where female deities and priestesses were abundant, Israel was told to have only male priests. Similarly, in the Greco-Roman world, where female gods and priestesses flourished, the church restricted the apostolic office to men. This volume is to be commended for similarly resisting prevailing cultural novelties by supporting in a scholarly and churchly manner the God-given order for the church’s ministry. Women as well as men are blessed when they hear and follow the living, healing voice of Jesus in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.”

Of all the books, you've read, wanted to read or wanted to write, which has the most memorable first sentences?

Naturally, someone has compiled a list of the top 100. Someone's choices for the top 100, that is. See it here.

There are a lot of books on there which I've never read and many which I have. But it does happen to be the case that a couple of my all-time favorites are included.

From Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoy:
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

And number 47, from Voyage of the Dawn Treader by Clive Staples Lewis:
"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

What are yours?

Who doesn't luv bacon?

For bacon-related products go here. Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping.

Hi folks,

I just posted a few comments on the Pullman movie over at my department's new blog which you can see right here.

Hey, check this out! The Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, IN now has a blog. Here it is. It's called Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. Cute, eh? Please come by and say howdy to me and the gang. And check back often too because we plan to post daily.

It's a dud, folks. I went to see it today and it's just not that good of a movie. Aside from Pullman's atheistic agenda, this movie is mostly a bore. Seemingly, not many folks are rushing out to see it. Check this out. It only made about 9 million bucks on opening night. The latest Harry Potter flick made over 100 million on it's first night.

I love this reviewer's take. It's hilarious.

The Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN is planning to write a blog. I'm pretty excited about. We're seeing it as an opportunity not just to post information but to have a conversation with anyone/everyone but especially those who see themselves serving Christ in a Church vocation.

But here is where I could really use your advice. We want our blog to be funny, serious, edgy, and conventional. So you see our problem.

First, we need a name. I want the name to have a bit of jazz. It needs to be sticky, y'know, to stay in the mind. I've thought of lots of possibilities, but mostly they are dull. Maybe I'm too picky. My personal favorite so far has been The Maggot Sack, a reference to a famous Luther quote where he talks about human frailty. Now that's a sticky name. But a lot of people whose opinions I value have been less than enthused. Weirded out, but not enthused. So give me names people!

My second quandary has to do with which blogging service to use. I've been on Blogger for several years with Burr and I am generally pleased. But I figured this was a good opportunity to examine some of the other main services. The two contenders right now, other than Blogger are Typepad and Wordpress.

Without question, Wordpress seems like the most versatile. But it also seem like you need to be a computer programmer to use it. Which I ain't. As much as I like what I've seen so far, I don't have the time to spend all night trying to update my blog.

Typepad appears to be more powerful than Blogger in some ways and much easier to use than Wordpress for a novice. BUT, the big thing I don't like about Typepad so far is the very limited look. All their templates look basically the same. Typepad blogs are great for content but seriously stink in terms of style. I'm after both. If you know an easy, inexpensive way, to make a Typepad blog look like it did NOT come off an assembly line, please let me know.

Blogger is still a strong option because, like Wordpress, it's free. It's also the easiest to use. It's much more feature rich than it used to be. And here's the biggie, I already know how to use it. My problem with Blogger right now is that I want to host my own domain name. I don't want the word "blogspot" in my URL. Now, I know blogger says this can be done, but i am skeptical and afraid that it'll be a mountain of headaches.

Any suggestions?? I need your help! Pleeaaasseee. Serious suggestions only, please. . . . Why haven't you written a comment yet?