For a Possible Adult Bible Class in the New Church Year
Rich in Grace: The Bible of the Poor for 21st-Century Christians, by Kathryn Ann Hill, is a fine resource for pastors who are looking for a fresh approach to teaching adult Bible classes in the new church year.
From Advent through the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, Lent and Easter, the church year guides Christians through the life of Jesus, teaching them what His life means for their salvation.
Similarly, the pages of Rich in Grace present the life of Christ in orderly fashion, from the Annunciation to Mary, through the Nativity and events of our Lord’s infancy, through His Baptism and some events of His public ministry, to fourteen lessons detailing Holy Week events, followed by seven lessons corresponding to the Easter season. Always emphasized in these pages is not only what Christ did or suffered, but also how His life, death, and resurrection fulfill God’s promises from the Old Testament.
Pastors might print out thissuggested schedule for using Rich in Grace to teach six months of Sunday morning adult Bible class.
An excellent supplementary resource that provides translations of the Latin texts that appear on the images and significant information in interpreting the images is The Bible of the Poor (Biblia Pauperum): A Facsimile and Edition of the British Library Blockbook, translation and commentary by Albert C. Labriola and John W. Smeltz, Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, PA. This book is available from Amazon.com for $22.00.
January, 28, 2008
For Lent and the Sundays of Easter
Rich in Grace: The Bible of the Poor of 21st-Century Christians by Kathryn Ann Hill, is a fine resource for the pastor who is looking for devotional material suitable for parishioners’ personal use or as a resource for Bible classes before and after the Feast of the Resurrection.
ALPB Treasurer Dorothy Zelenko wrote the following that appeared on the back of the 2007 ALPB Christmas Appeal Letter where the book was announced for the first time:
“At the start of this lovely volume, Kathryn Ann Hill quotes from Matthew 13:52: ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ And that is exactly what she has done in Rich in Grace: The Bible for the Poor for 21st-Century Christians. The ‘old’ things are the 38 woodcut images carefully reproduced from a 15th-century ‘blockbook’. Each image depicts a scene from the life of Christ along with two scenes on either side usually from the Old Testament. The ‘new’ things are the brief meditations in poetic form that Hill has written for each image. The original Biblia Pauperum was intended to teach ordinary people both Bible stories and the elements of the Christian faith. This volume can be used in the same way, even by Christian parents with their children. But a thoroughly Biblically literate pastor or layperson will also find much that is surprising and new here in some of the Old Testament stories chosen by the 15th-century artists and in many of the connections that are made in the poems. This is a large size volume (8” x 10”) with a beautifully colored cover … and full-page images printed on rich creamy paper. Jesus Christ is literally at the center of each image and is at the heart of each poem.”
Dr. Francis C. Rossow, Professor Emeritus, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in reviewing Rich in Grace for the ALPB wrote: “Repeatedly in her poems Kathryn Hill takes the jewels mined by the medieval authors and gives them the kind of setting that enhances their worth and splendor…. Her poems are not only an orthodox and devout witness to the Gospel – they are an artistic witness to that Gospel.”
Paper, 86 pp. $10.00 plus $2.50 postage for one volume, $.40 for each additional volume
New for 2008,
Richard Bansemer gives to the church another wonderful gift from his pen, Forced to Pray: God’s Chosen Under Pressure. Again, to whet your appetite in regard to this book I would quote from a review by Dorothy Zelenko as it appeared as part of the Christmas Appeal Letter:
“Richard Bansemer has thought a lot about prayer. His O Lord, Teach Me to Pray, a catechetical prayer book based on Luther’s catechism and published in 1995 has been the ALPB’s single best-selling book. His We Believe, a prayer book for adults based on the Augsburg Confession, has been used by thousands of individuals in study groups and personally. Bansemer, a retired bishop of the ELCA’s Virginia Synod, knows that praying the psalms or the prayers of the church at worship or prayers based on the Catechism or the Confessions can help us grow into the kind of people who order their lives by God’s priorities. But in this new volume, Forced to Pray: God’s Chosen Under Pressure, he approaches prayer from a different angle and looks at the prayer of the person who finds himself in difficult circumstances, with a heavy burden thrust upon him, and literally forced to pray by what has befallen him. He examines the lives and prayers of 5 persons in the Bible ___ Jonah, Job, Mary, Jesus and Paul ___ and considers how God might likewise drive us to pray by choosing us for some ‘hard heavenly work on earth.’”
Forced to Pray is available at $12.50 plus $2.50 for postage ($.40 postage for each additional copy). Paper, about 144 pp.
Dinner To Honor Pastor Russell Saltzman
On His Retirement After Seventeen Years As Editor Of “Forum Letter”
I doubt there is any well-informed Lutheran or others who have not heard that Pastor Russell Saltzman will be retiring as Editor of the “Forum Letter” with the sending out of the August issue. The ALPB Board of Directors is grateful for the seventeen years he has served as Editor, longer than his predecessors: Richard Koenig and Richard Neuhaus. To express our appreciation and make it possible for those living in the New York area or who may be visiting the area in mid-October, a Board Dinner honoring Russell will be held on Saturday, October 13th at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th Street, Manhattan, NY at 6 PM. The dinner speaker will be Father Richard John Neuhaus, Editor in Chief of First Things. The cost of the dinner will be $50.00 per person. To make a reservation for the dinner or to receive more information contact Donna Roche by phone at (607) 746-7511 or e-mail at dkralpb@aol.com.
New “Forum Letter” Editor Chosen
At the May 22nd meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Pastor Richard O. Johnson was unanimously elected the new editor of “Forum Letter” beginning with the September issue. Richard is no stranger to readers of “Forum Letter” having served as Russell Saltzman’s Associate Editor. Richard Johnson serves as pastor of Peace Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Grass Valley, California (since 1984) and is a member of the Society of the Holy Trinity. He received his B.A. from San Francisco State University in Philosophy and Relgion; an M. Div. from Yale; and a Ph.D. in church history from the Graduate Theological Union. He has serrved as Adjunct Professor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary's Northern California Extension. He has written articles for Lutheran Quarterly and Word and World and delivered several papers at the Lutheran Historical Conference. He and his wife of 29 years, Lois Solberg Johnson, are the parents of two children: Luke, currently working as a journalist in Beijing for the China Daily, and Johanna, a second-year student at Yale Divinity School.
For those who do not know Richard the photo below was taken at the May 22nd meeting, following his interview with the board and election.
Associate Editor Peter Speckhard serves Faith Lutheran Church in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and has previously served as Associate Pastor, also at Faith, and missionary-at-large for the Northern Illinois District of the LCMS, planting Community of Faith Lutheran Church in Spring Grove, Illinois. He is a 1997 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (though he attended both LCMS seminaries, transferring from Ft. Wayne after one year due to a job opportunity for his wife in St. Louis) and a 1992 graduate of Valparaiso University, where he received a B.A. in English as a Christ College associate. He has also served in the U.S. Army Reserves, has participated in the pastor-theologian program of the Center for Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ, and has served on the boards of various LCMS-affiliated schools and organizations. He is married to Heidi, a Latin teacher-turned-homemaker and has five children
October, 25 2006
I am rather confident that most subscribers to the “Lutheran Forum Package” know that Pastor Ronald Bagnall retired as Editor of Lutheran Forum with his completion of the Summer, 2006 issue and after ten years of outstanding service. As Pastor John Hannah wrote in the October issue of Lutheran Forum, “Ron will long be remembered for his faithful service at Lutheran Forum. His immediate reform of the Lutheran Forum layout made the journal so much easier to read. I suspect that Ron will be best remembered for his very carefully selected colored covers that greatly enhanced its attractiveness. He has certainly set a high standard for his successors. His stewardship coincided with a critical time for American Lutheranism and Ron has been faithful in constantly calling us to the confessionalism and evangelical catholicity which marks the ALPB.”
At the September 23rd meeting of the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau board of directors, Pastors Sarah Hinlicky Wilson and Paul Sauer were unanimously elected respectively, Editor and Associate Editor. Pastor Sauer at an earlier meeting had been elected Interim Editor.
Lutheran Forum staff elected at the September 23rd meeting of the ALPB Board of Directors meeting: Pastor Paul Sauer, Associate Editor, and Pastor Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Editor, engage in coversation following their election.
Sarah received her B.A. in Theology and Philosophy from Lenoir--Rhyne College and her M. Div. from Princeton Seminary. She is currently working on her Ph.D. at Princeton Seminary which she expects to receive in 2009. Sarah presently serves in a part-time call as Pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Trenton, NJ. In 1999-98 she served as Editorial and Research Assistant at First Things, and many of her writings for that journal can be found on the First Things website. She has also written for Books and Culture, Christianity Today, and Lutheran Forum among many others. Sarah’s many book credits include “The Great Reunion Beyond,” reprinted from Christianity Today in Best Christian Writing (2002) and “Seminary Sanity,” reprinted from First Things in Best Christian Writing (2001). She is married to Andrew Wilson, also a Ph.D. student at Princeton and they have a son, Ezekiel. Andrew will assist with the layout and production of the journal.
Pastor Paul Sauer received his B.A in Classical Civilizations from Valparaiso University and his M.Div. and S.T.M. from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He serves as Pastor at the Lutheran School and Church of Our Saviour, Bronx, NY and is a member of the ALPB board of directors. He has written several articles in Lutheran Forum and has just recently completed the final editing for the ALPB book, Lively Stone: The Autobiography of Berthold von Schenk, edited by Pastors G. George Fry and Joel R. Kurz. Paul also serves as Secretary of the Atlantic District, LCMS and as an instructor in both the LCMS and ELCA deacon program. He and his wife Jessica, a trained Lutheran high school teacher and presently a stay-home Mom, have two children, Katharine and Rosie.
Sarah and Paul will begin their work together as they prepare for the October, 2007 issue of Lutheran Forum. At the ALPB board meeting Sarah said I want to write and edit Lutheran Forum in such a way that I will gain the trust of our Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod subscribers and Paul said the same in regard to readers from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Sarah and Paul will undoubtedly be the two youngest editors of any theological journal and they promise to bring to the journal the writings of the younger pastors and theologians of our two Lutheran traditions and others, while continuing to seek out the writings of our more mature and seasoned pastors and theologians along with writers from other traditions of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. The members of the ALPB board are thrilled and excited with the future of Lutheran Forum as these two young pastors continue to bring us the best writings that will engage the church in a call to confessionalism and evangelical catholicity.
Yours in Christ,
Frederick J. Schumacher
Executive Director
October 2, 2006
The Church Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn
This 2nd edition of The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl Piepkorn has been updated by editors Michael P. Plekon and William S. Wiecher and retains the Afterword by Richard John Neuhaus is now available as the first of four new Piepkorn volumes: Volume I, 346 pages: $17.00 (plus postage).
For information on the additional Piepkorn volumes contact the
editor, Philip J. Secker, at psecker@snet.net.
Vol. 1
September 30, 2006
Lively Stone C. George Fry & Joel R. Kurz
Berthold von Schenk marched to a different drummer. He was never part of any political party in his church body; he was often shunned and ridiculed. Yet he remained as stable as stone while displaying a vibrancy not unlike that of the varied and flowing colors of polished marble.
This volume traces von Schenk's ministry in various locations as well as his thoughts on evangelism, ecumenism, liturgical renewal and much more. C. George Fry & Joel R. Kurz, editors Foreword by John Hannah 152 pp.: $12.50 (plus postage)
October 19, 2005
A HANDBOOK FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY BY PROFESSOR ERIC W. GRITSCH
The price for the 72 page Handbook is $5.50 each including postage, and $4.00 each for 5 or more copies. The Handbook is an ideal text for an adult study group committed to asking hard questions and desiring to have their lives formed in the image of Christ. In the Introduction Professor Eric Gritsch writes, "This Handbook has only one pedagogical prerequisite: Curious minds who wonder about everyday life and search for meaning, indeed have sensed the phenomenon of survival. Any group of any size from all walks of life, or from any Christian denomination, is invited to use this Handbook. It invites Christians and non-Christians to assess the experience of evil and the need for justice as essential parts of human existence. Salvation from evil, sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ is offered to anyone in the world. This distinction between the struggle for justice (law) and the promise of a never-ending life with God through Christ (gospel) puts the stamp Lutheran on this handbook. Lutheranism began as a reform movement within the Western church for the preservation and nurture of the essential teachings of the church catholic. The task of reform continues, and thus a Lutheran handbook is simultaneously an ecumenical handbook. Its instruction is offered to all Christians.
"The Handbook has 7 chapters -- beginning with Evil, followed by Justice, Baptism, Church, The Lord's Supper, Prayer, --- and ending with, Music.
Professor Eric W. Gritsch is Emeritus Professor of Church History, Gettysburg Lutheran Semnary wherehe also directed the Institute for Luther Studies. A native of Austria, he experienced firsthand the reign of Adolf Hitler and the tyranny of Communism; he came to the United States in 1954. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is the author of Bibliography of the Continental Reformation (with Roland Bainton) [materials available in English], Lutheranism (with Robert W. Jenson), Thomas Muntzer: A Tragedy of Errors, Martin -- God's Court Jester: Luther in Retrospect, Born Againism, Fortress Introduction to Lutheranism, A History of Lutheranism. He has edited volumes 39 and 41 of the American Edition of Luther's Works, selected Writings for Roman Catholics in Martin Luther --Faith in Christ and the Gospel and four volumes of Encounters With Luther, (Lectures, Discussions and Sermons at the Institute for Luther Studies, Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary). He participated for two decades in the North Amerilcan Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue; served for a decade on the Board of the Ecumenical Institute of the Lutheran World Federation in Strasbourg, France; he is a member of the International Congress for Luthe Research; a member of the Board of the Ecumnical Institute of Theology, St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore. He and his spouse Bonnie live in Baltimore, Maryland.
long-awaited, decades in preparation, is Now Available.
A complete prayer book “in the ancient way of offices”
text and music, including
Evening Prayer for each season of the Church year
(Advent, Christmas-Epiphany, General Time, Lent, Holy Week, Easter)
Morning Prayer for each season of the Church year
Compline
Forms for Prayer during the Day (mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon)
Proper antiphons with each Psalm and with the Gospel Canticles
Psalm prayers and prayers appropriate for each Old Testament and New Testament canticle
Hymns ancient and modern with music
Two-year BCP-LBW daily lectionary
Proper Responsories in Morning Prayer
An ecumenical course of collects, ancient and modern,
for every Sunday of the year and for every day of Christmas, Lent, and Easter
An enriched calendar of festivals and commemorations
Prayers, intercessions, devotional prayers
A treasury of prayer beloved of those familiar with Anglican, Lutheran, Roman Catholic traditions through the centuries
Arranged to facilitate use by clergy and laity; a prayer book for all the people of God
Intended for the faithful of many denominations, to be used whole or in part,
in private, in families or small groups, in churches
A companion book to the four-volume For All the Saints, which may conveniently serve as a lectionary
.Available from
Lutheran University Press
P.O. Box 390759
Minneapolis, MN 55439
Price: $49.50 including postage
Online discussion, article reprints, and new articles unpublished elsewhere.
May, 2004
Recent Awards
The oldest religious press association in North America, the Associated Church Press, founded in 1916 (two years after the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau), is an international community of communication professionals brought together by faithfulness to their craft and by a common task of reflecting, describing, and supporting the life of faith and the Christian community. Nearly 200 publications, websites, news services, and individuals are ACP members, representing a combined circulation of several million readers. Among perhaps 1,000 contestants in several categories, Forum Letter received two second-place awards for articles that appeared in 2003. In 2002 "Omnium Gatherum" received an honorable mention (third place among columns).
Editorials:
Award of Merit:Forum Letter for "A Press Release for Congress" by Pr. Russell E. Saltzman, March 2003. "In crisp language the editorial suggests that it is not the task of the church to take partisan stands on the issues or suggest that there is a correct political view based on church membership."
Convention Coverage:
Award of Merit: Forum Letter for "The Mark Hanson Show: ELCA Lutherans at
Milwaukee" by Pr. Russell E. Saltzman and Pr. W. Steven Shipman, October 2003. "This entry displays good writing and nice compartmentalizing of the various topics."
April, 2004
Christian Sexuality: Normative and Pastoral Principles
A vital read. This volume constitutes a clarifying light of truth.
Paul L Maier, Professor of History
In support of the overpowering evidence of scripture and two millennia of church tradition.
Walter Sundberg, Professor of Church History, Luther Seminary (From the Back Cover)
An indispensable text for those who feel that the mainline church in America has lost its way in sexual ethics.
Jaynan Clark Egland, President/CEO, WordAlone Network (From the Back Cover)
A faithful presentation of Christ's boundless love that confronts each of us with real and necessary boundaries.
Book Description
This book is a collection of nine essays mostly by Lutheran scholars and church leaders who, from various perspectives (scriptural, theological, pastoral, socio-scientific), defend the church's traditional advocacy of an other-sex prerequisite for sexual unions. The essays are revised versions of presentations made at the Conference on Christian Sexuality held in Kansas City in October 2002, sponsored by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau and attended by some 300 Lutheran (ELCA) pastors and lay persons from around the country. Although all the authors have in view the sexuality discussion going on in the Lutheran Church (ELCA) and all but two are members of that denomination, the aim of most of the essays is to provide a broad Christian perspective on sexuality and homosexuality. One of the two non-Lutheran contributors is Robert A. J. Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of two influential books on the Bible and homosexual practice. Gagnon provides a 50-page essay entitled "Does the Bible Regard Same-Sex Intercourse as Intrinsically Sinful?" offering the fullest discussion to date of both the relevance of the creation texts for an other-sex prerequisite and the weakness of claims that Paul and the ancient world generally had no concept of exclusive and innate homosexual desire. Gagnon also mounts a cumulative case against the contention recently put forward by Lutheran New Testament scholar Mark Allan Powell, in the book Faithful Conversations edited by James Childs for the ELCA sexuality discussion; namely, the contention that the Bible permits exceptions to a general prohibition of homosexual behavior. Gagnon's essay can be viewed as a companion piece to his essay in Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views (co-authored with Dan Via). Robert Benne, professor of religion and ethics at Roanoke College and author of Ordinary Saints and other books, provides a 10-page essay on the subject of "The Limits of Tolerance: Homosexuality and the ELCA's LPD (Liberal Protestant Drift)." Benne advocates a strategy of "gracious tolerance" that nurtures persons in homosexual relationships without blessing homosexual unions or ordaining persons in such unions. In a 20-page essay, James A. Nestingen, professor of church history at Luther Seminary, explores the subject: "Is There a Law? The Lutheran Reformation and Homosexual Practice." Nestingen examines homosexual practice in light of the law/gospel conversation in which Lutherans must engage. Merton P. Strommen, a research psychologist and specialist in youth and family ministry who has authored a number of books (including The Church and Homosexuality) describes in his 15-page essay the forces at work in our culture to normalize homosexuality, and the impact this is having on youth ("Homosexuality: A Youth Issue"). Russell E. Saltzman, pastor of Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church in Kansas City, commentator, and editor both of this volume and of the Lutheran publication Forum Letter, discusses—as a divorced pastor—the accommodation granted to divorced pastors and why it is not analogous to non-celibate homosexual pastors ("Clergy and Divorce," 12 pages). In a 14-page essay Amy C. Schifrin, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church (St. Cloud, Minn.) and former seminary pastor at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, draws on her personal experiences to address the conundrum of ritualizing homoerotic relationships ("Ritualizing Life or Ritualizing Death"). The book also contains essays by: Thomas A. Skrenes, "Some Thoughts from a Pastor Who Serves as a Bishop" (9 pages); Phillip Max Johnson, "The Spiritual Nature and Destiny of the Human Body: A Pastoral Perspective on Human Sexuality" (16 pages); and Father Jay Scott Newman, "Homosexuality in Ecumenical Perspective" (8 pages).
