About the Journal

The purpose of the journal is to work together on the common theological task: speaking truthfully about God.  This task is done in service to the church and its proclamation and life.

The theological task is a particular vocation and as such is firmly within God’s left-hand rule of the world.  As second-order discourse, theology is a human and fallible enterprise.  Critique of one’s theology is not critique of one’s faith.

Approaching the cutting edge of theological questions will necessarily involve encounters between opposing views.  The journal seeks to foster conversations, even sharp conversations, as necessary for advancing the theological task.  But such conversations happen on the basis of a common faith in Christ crucified and risen and a common hope in a certain future, fostering a love by which we receive each other as members of the Body of Christ. Even if there is not eventual agreement, there is respect for each other’s perspectives and gifts. Demonizing those with differing views is completely out of bounds.

The journal will be philosophically aware.  It is expected that contributors will be able to explain and defend the philosophical underpinnings and consequences of their statements, as appropriate to their topic.

The content of the journal will emphasis awareness of and engagement with our cultural context. This means a particular focus on our modern secular age.  But the horizon must move beyond this to a global perspective, as the gospel encounters non-western, traditional, and/or anti-liberal societies.

While the identity and focus of the journal is Lutheran, it must also include non-Lutheran contributors, both to enrich the Lutheran theological conversation and also to provide an impetus for Lutherans making a more significant contribution to the theological conversations of the whole church. This last has been particularly lacking in the history of North American Lutheranism.