Church History

“A very different response is found in Rev. Francis J. Grimke…. Grimke acknowledged that there was some ‘considerable grumbling’ regarding the closing of churches. But he also offers a defense: ‘The fact that the churches were places of religious gathering, and the others not, would not affect in the least the health question involved.

“He believed the Church when it taught that a believing sinner received the grace of justification through the sacraments as he did his part to cooperate and become righteous. And this is what kept tripping Luther up – his part was never good enough.” - Ref 21

“The famous sentences ‘No man is an island’ and ‘the bell tolls [for] thee’ are excerpted from the same meditation: ‘No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

“Church history is intertwined with plagues. Read about what healthcare looked like during the Roman Empire, how Christian communities responded to outbreaks like the Black Death by persecuting Jews, and how the modern church approached the AIDS crisis.” - CT

“Not only have Christians cared for their neighbors during plague times–Stone also cites the example and words of Luther that we have been blogging about–they also pioneered principles of hygiene to prevent further infections” - Gene Veith

1918: “DC churches responded by calling an emergency meeting of the Protestant ministers….they ‘voted unanimously to accede to the request of the District Commissioners that churches be closed in the city.’ As The Evening Star reported the next day that the ‘Pastors Federation of Washington’ would comply with and support the safety measures called for by the city.” -

“No doubt, the more Scripture we directly infuse into our hymn texts, the better. But it is also possible to have excellently crafted, theologically rich songs to sing in church without falling into the Puritan dilemma of text versus art. We can be faithful to the text and pursue artistic beauty.” - Cameron Pollock

“Hardly any comment thread on this blog is without someone blaming Christians and Christianity for war, slavery, oppression, sexism, intolerance…. Bring up the value of Lutheran theology and you can count on accusations that Luther is responsible for Hitler and the Holocaust. So how should Christians respond to such criticisms?” - Gene Veith