Meilaender

Recently my good friend (and Godfather to Francesca) Thomas Pietsch paid a visit to us with his ever-charming wife Chelsea. Thom, who is now going into his third year at ALC (the Australian Lutheran Seminary) spent some time talking theology with me, and we together read a chapter ('Hearts set to obey') from Lutheran theologian Gilbert Meilaender's The Freedom of a Christian). I wish I could reproduce the text here, as it gives a very concise overview (and rightly critical) of the sort of Lutheran ethical thinking that is as popular as it is disconnected from the Lutheran Confessions.

Anyhow, since I can't give a link to Meilaender's essay I will give a link to a wonderful essay by Fr Bernhard Blankenhorn, a Dominican from the US. It's a nice summary of what I understand is called 'Virtue Ethics'. I came across it through a link on the Lutheran - Roman Catholic dialog in the US. Apparently David Yeago - who seems to me to be one of the best theologians in the ELCA - recently spoke at Blankenhorn's parish on the progress of the dialog in the US. I'm hoping for an mp3 of the talk to be put on the web soon. 

Bach

A little while ago I came across a link to these wonderful, free, and legal recordings of Bach's organ works.

If it's your thing, they're worth a listen.

A Test Blog

Today I have the good fortune to have the inimitable Schutz staying with me [that's SCHÜTZ, Fraser!]. He has been teaching me how to do a few things on my blog, like add a blog roll (see right hand side). I'm now also going to put in my first hyperlink like this (see here). 

And my first YouTube link: 

That's not me playing, unfortunately. 

Well, a real blog soon.