This month's bonus episode we discuss the book "The Spirituality of the Cross" by Gene Veith. This is a great book to read during Lent, as is looks at the centrality of the cross in our spiritual life. Katie Koplin and Gretchen Ronnevik focus their discussion on the beginning of the book, where he talks about morality based spirituality, speculative based spirituality, and mysical spirituality, and how the spirituality of the cross differs from those other 3 approaches. 

While morals, intellectual speculation, and spiritual experiences are all good, centering our spirituality on them can lead to exploitive and manipulative practices.

We talk about how the definition of terms in this book is strongly from a Lutheran perspective, which is important because some of the words like "Evangelical" can have a multitude of definitions. From a historic perspective, at the time of the Reformation, Lutherans weren't called Lutherans, they were called Evangelical, as opposed to the Reformed who followed the teachings of John Calvin. Veith talks about how the term "Evangelical" is also used in many churches in Europe that hold a Lutheran theology and liturgy, which can be confusing to tourists visiting. Add to that, and the American definition of Evangelical has been seeping into Europe through missionaries.

We talk about how law and gospel distinctions play into our spiritual life

Show Notes:

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What’s New from 1517:

• Remembering Rod Rosenbladt

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• Preorder: Encouragement for Motherhood Edited by Katie Koplin

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• Last Chance: NWA Conference May 3rd-4th

More from the hosts:

• Gretchen Ronnevik

• Katie KoplinBooks Discussed/Mentioned:

• Spirituality of the Cross by Gene Veith
• The Ten Commandments for All God's Children (FatCat Book)
• "Free to Be" by James Nestigan