Home - T. R. Halvorson

Will We Ever Hear the End of It?

You have seen a kid like him. One day, he is trying too hard to please everyone. The next, he doesn’t give a rip what anyone thinks. One minute, he walks with ease. The next, the ground beneath his feet turns uneven and rocky. You’re there one day when he gets into trouble. He “borrowed” […]

What Can an Old Cigarette Ad Show Us about Gethsemane?

Some of you remember. Before 1971, television had cigarette advertisements. After that, the ads were banned. The jingle for one brand went, “Over, under, around, and through; Pall Mall travels pleasure to you.” The video showed smoke passing over, under, around, and through tobacco to the smoker. This illustrates something that happened to Jesus in […]

What Is Jesus Doing in Retirement?

Retirement affects people differently. One friend worked 50 years, got his gold watch, retired, and died less than a year later. Someone said he died of not having enough to do. Another friend said he had to retire to have enough time to get all his work done. He is busier now than when he […]

Gospel Determinism: A Preview

Gospel Determinism: A Preview by T. R. Halvorson Published originally on Brothers of John the Steadfast, January 21, 2020 NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document Contents Elements Effects First Round: On Scripture Second Round: On Doctrine and Practice Example Effects Caveats Caveat 1: Partial Partakers Caveat 2: Individual Salvation The Throbbing Question […]

Relevant Worship: The Story of Your Life

Relevant Worship: The Story of Your Life By T. R. Halvorson NOTE: This article may be downloaded as a PDF Document In the worship wars, one of the alleged reasons for abandoning the historic liturgy is to make worship relevant. We want application of the Gospel in ways that connect with people. Dear friends, the […]

Review: Kilcrease, The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde

Jack D. Kilcrease The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde Review In this book (Jack D. Kilcrease, The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2018), Dr. Kilcrease skillfully accomplishes many important feats. In a fast-moving and trim volume, Dr. Kilcrease engages the written works of theologians […]

FUBAR: Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition

In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Private Reiben asks, “Where’s the sense of riskin’ the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?” Captain Miller says, “We all have orders, and we have to follow ’em. That supersedes everything, including your mothers.” Private Reiben asks, “Even if you think the mission’s FUBAR, sir?” […]

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt

Johannes Quenstedt’s De Officio Christi is an antidote to errors about atonement in Lutheran circles. Lutheran Orthodoxy teaches that an indispensable part of atonement is vicarious satisfaction. Adversaries deny vicarious satisfaction. Their errors existed already in Quenstedt’s time. While teaching the orthodox truth, Quenstedt thoroughly refutes the adversaries from Scripture. Robert D. Preus says, “Quenstedt […]

No-Name Evangelistic Association: How Faith Comes to Grandchildren

How did the Christian faith come from my grandparents to my grandchildren? It came by mission, but not by missionalism. If this mission were given a slogan, it would be, “Start true to reach true.” Truth was the first thing. Then mission followed. Instead of “Start new to reach new,” instead of “sacramental entrepreneurs,” instead […]

FiveTwo’s Wordless, Bloodless, and Christless Theory of Sacrament

Note: This article was published originally on June 14, 2014on Brothers of John the Steadfast FiveTwo recently published an article by Jim Marriot titled, “The Sacramental Nature of Music.” At the outset he claims: “I believe music has a sacramental nature and efficaciousness.” He next says, “There is no way, within one blog post, to […]

You Are Nominated for the King’s Choice Award

Hollywood royalty. Millions watch them in theatres. More millions watch them when their movies are on television. Still more watch them receiving Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, and People’s Choice Awards. In those pageants, the media rank their glory by what they wear, who their designers are, who does their hair, and who arrives with whom. […]

How Well Loved Are You?

“Mom always liked you best.” That was the signature line of the comedy act, the Smothers Brothers. In an interview by PBS, Tommy Smothers recalled how it started. He was the younger, dumber brother. Dick was the older, smarter brother. Dick, as usual, was running Tommy down. He did it so convincingly that the audience […]

Who are these people, really?

This is a presidential election year. There have been so many candidates. People wanted to know, who are these people, really? Who are these promise makers? One of the parties started with four candidates. One candidate is a political veteran who has been known for decades. The others are less known. People wondered, who are […]

You’ll Have To Draw Me a Picture

I almost flunked out of high school. The first time was in algebra, trying to solve polynomials. “Solving” means finding the roots of many terms. My translation? Trying to make sense of a heap of concepts. Good gravy. After my algebra disaster, it was surprising how well I did in geometry. It’s not that geometry […]

The Focus of Life is “None of the Above”

The Pagan and secular worlds say we have three options for emphasis in our lives: 1. Being 2. Doing 3. Thinking (or Believing) Which is it? None of the above. They overlook the fourth option: 4. Receiving Yes, receiving. The Doer is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God creates. The Father […]

That Can’t Be Here. It’s in Chicago.

Marilyn and I were walking in Nice, Provence. While passing a gallery, something on a wall inside caught me. I stopped, stepped back, took a second look, and said, “That can’t be here. It’s in Chicago.” Marilyn humored me as we went inside and headed straight to the painting that was the spitting image of […]

Jesus’ Senior Picture Was Not in the Newspaper

I redesigned my Dad’s ’69 Chevy pickup. From a stop sign on a side street, I pulled into an intersection entering a 4-lane avenue. Wham! I hadn’t seen that car to my left. The officer gave me a date to appear. Wearing my Sunday suit, I walked 20 blocks to court. The judge asked, “How […]

Who should judge a talent competition, or your whole life?

Television has many talent competitions. Big hit shows include Pop Idol, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, and The X Factor. Sometimes the choice of judges is controversial. Highly accomplished vocal performer, Sir Tom Jones, took a swipe at The X Factor’s Simon Cowell, saying he is not qualified to judge because he has never sung live on stage […]

Review: Weedon — Thank, Praise, Serve, and Obey

William Chancellor Weedon Thank, Praise, Serve, and Obey Review Jesus lived a perfect human life. We know that. But it is easy to miss some of his practices. It might sound strange, but Jesus was pious. He had godly habits. By them, he lived joyously, even though He also was a man of sorrows and […]

Combining Was Pretty Rough on Jesus

The combine, originally called the combine harvester, is a machine that harvests grain. It combines three harvest operations: reaping, threshing, and winnowing. Winnowing uses wind to separate chaff and dust from grain. In ancient farming, harvesters gathered the crop onto an outdoor threshing floor. They tossed the mixture into the air with winnowing forks. Wind […]

Liturgy and Communion

Bibliography

Bibliography: Atonement

Books

Atonement in Confessional Lutheran Theology: Franz Pieper

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Baier-Walther

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Abraham Calov

Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Catechisms, Confessions, and Hymns

Catechism and Confessions

Vicarious Satisfaction in Explanations of Luther’s Small Catechism

Vicarious Satisfaction in the Lutheran Confessions

Hymns

Vicarious Satisfaction in Lutheran Hymns

Book Reviews

Jack D. Kilcrease, The Doctrine of the Atonement from Luther to Forde

Theodore Dierks, Reconciliation and Justification

Junius B. Remensnyder, Atonement and Modern Thought

Burnell F. Eckardt, Anselm and Luther on the Atonement: Was It “Necessary”?

Benjamin Wheaton, Suffering, Not Power: Atonement in the Middle Ages

Errors and Truth

Atonement in Our Circles and Church

The Cracked Foundation of Forde’s Radical Lutheranism

Nice Guys Ruin the Consolation of Christ’s Blood

The Saddest Chapter in the History of Mankind

NEC-NOS

Finally! Some Satisfaction in the Atonement

How Do Sump Pumps and Sacrifice Work?

Escaping a Prairie Fire on Burnt Out Ground

Jesus Received Up — John 9:51-56

Bibliography

Bibliography: Liturgy and Communion

Worship in General

Relevant Worship: The Story of Your Life

Worship: What for? Who acts? Which way does it flow?

W and M Forms of “Worship”

How Can Worship Begin — Baptism: No Stepping on the Lord’s Train

Parts of the Service

The Evangelical Kyrie

Why the Preface, Agnus Dei, and Pax Domini? Real Presence

Nunc Dimittis: Seeing God’s Savior and Salvation

What was I thinking when reciting the Creed?

Real Presence

Would you deny Real Presence to escape the jaws of beasts?

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Worship in General

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Invocation

Vicarious Satisfaction in Liturgy: Agnus Dei (Lamb of God)

NEC-NOS

The Sacrament and the Second Petition in Leviticus

Hushing Christ’s Words of Institution: Then and Now

Publisher’s Preface: Luther’s Liturgical Criteria, Bryan D. Spinks

The Focus of Life is “None of the Above”

Luther’s Liturgical Criteria and His Reform of the Canon of the Mass

Luther reformed the Canon of the Mass, the way the Sacrament of the Altar is administered. He has been branded a liturgical hack.

Was he a hack or a surgeon? What part did Jesus’ own words have in Luther’s reform. Is the Lord’s Supper a sacrifice we are to offer to God, or is it a testament and gift that Christ gives to the Church?

World renowned scholar Bryan D. Spinks reports the findings of his research. Spinks identifies errors of scholastic procedure in the body of literature. He examines root sources. By his industry and workmanlike procedure, Spinks succeeds at what he set out to do: Let Luther answer for himself.

As John T. Pless says in the Foreword: “It took an Anglican to rescue Luther from the Lutheran liturgical gurus. That was my first response to reading this tightly-packed and potent monograph years ago. Its value has not diminished with the passage of time. … Spinks demonstrates that Luther’s liturgical revisions were not sloppily done but carried out with integrity based on his confession of justification by faith alone. Luther understood God to be the donor in the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper. Thanksgiving which flows from the gift dare not blur this fact. The Sacrament is the Gospel.”

Spinks’ achievement gives this work an exceptional place in the literature. A new audience needs it. This is why it should be republished. First published in 1982, it has gone out of print. Used copies are rare and expensive. Dr. Spinks once more gives a precious gift to the Church by readily and graciously granting his permission for this new edition.

With new musical engravings of the Verba and The German Sanctus by Jon D. Vieker and commendation by William C. Weedon, this new edition bursts the epiphany of Spinks’ brilliance into the sight of a new audience and generation.