A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Mass
Article XXIV: Of the Mass. 1] Falsely are our churches accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among 2] us,…
Author: Dr. Paul Edmon
Dr. Paul Edmon is from Seattle, Washington and now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. He has his B.S. in Physics from the University of Washington in 2004 and Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Minnesota in 2010. He is professional staff at Harvard University and acts as liaison between Center for Astrophysics and Research Computing. A life long Lutheran, he is formerly a member of Messiah Lutheran Church in Seattle and University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis. He now attends First Lutheran Church (FLC) of Boston where he teaches Lutheran Essentials. He sings bass in the FLC choir and Canto Armonico. He was elected to the Concordia Seminary St. Louis Board of Regents in 2016. He is single and among his manifold interests are scotch, football, anime, board games, mythology, history, philosophy, and general nerdiness. The views expressed here are his own and do not represent Harvard University or Concordia Seminary.
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Marriage of Priests
Article XXIII: Of the Marriage of Priests. 1] There has been common complaint concerning the examples of priests who were not chaste. 2]…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Both Kinds in the Sacrament
Article XXII: Of Both Kinds in the Sacrament. 1] To the laity are given Both Kinds in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper,…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Worship of the Saints
Article XXI: Of the Worship of the Saints. 1] Of the Worship of Saints they teach that the memory of saints may be…
A Tribute to My Father
When I was in junior high I got my first dedicated computer that was connected to the Internet. Our family had had shared…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Good Works
Article XX: Of Good Works. 1] Our teachers are falsely accused of forbidding Good Works. 2] For their published writings on the Ten…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Cause of Sin
Article XIX: Of the Cause of Sin. Of the Cause of Sin they teach that, although God does create and preserve nature, yet…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Free Will
Article XVIII: Of Free Will. 1] Of Free Will they teach that man’s will has some liberty to choose civil righteousness, and to…
Magi
In the ancient world astrology, the precursor to astronomy and astrophysics, was a critically important science. Astrologers used the motions of the heavens…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Christ’s Return for Judgment
Article XVII: Of Christ’s Return to Judgment. 1] Also they teach that at the Consummation of the World Christ will appear for…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Civil Government
Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs. 1] Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that 2]…
Standing to Sing
Written in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Wessler, Kantor at First Lutheran Church of Boston. Jonathan is a super awesome Lutheran organist who has…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Church Ceremonies
Article XV: Of Ecclesiastical Usages. 1] Of Usages in the Church they teach that those ought to be observed which may be observed…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Order in the Church
Article XIV: Of Ecclesiastical Order. Of Ecclesiastical Order they teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Use of the Sacraments
Article XIII: Of the Use of the Sacraments. 1] Of the Use of the Sacraments they teach that the Sacraments were ordained,…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Repentance
Article XII: Of Repentance. 1] Of Repentance they teach that for those who have fallen after Baptism there is remission of sins whenever…
Gospel Reductionism vs. Gospel Foundationism
Author’s Note: This post has been updated in light of this post from Gottesdienst. I know many people have found the argument I’ve…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Confession
Article XI: Of Confession. 1] Of Confession they teach that Private Absolution ought to be retained in the churches, although in confession…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Lord’s Supper
Article X: Of the Lord’s Supper. 1] Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the Body and Blood of Christ are…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: Baptism
Article IX: Of Baptism. 1] Of Baptism they teach that it is necessary 2] to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: What the Church Is
Article VIII: What the Church Is. 1] Although the Church properly is the congregation of saints and true believers, nevertheless, since in this…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Church
Article VII: Of the Church. 1] Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: New Obedience
Article VI: Of New Obedience. 1] Also they teach that this faith is bound to bring forth good fruits, and that it is…
A Laymen’s Commentary on the Augsburg Confession: The Ministry
Article V: Of the Ministry. 1] That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments…
The Fermi Paradox
I’ve wanted to talk about the apologetic worth of the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation for sometime. Now a recent paper on…