About

Introduce yourself – who you are, what you do, and where you are.

I was born in 1950. I’m a native of Chicago and a graduate of a Missouri Synod Lutheran parochial school, high school, and college. I have an M.Div from an ELCA seminary and served in the parish ministry of that denomination for thirteen years. I served three more years as pastor of an independent confessional Lutheran congregation in Des Moines, where I now reside.

Except while serving as a pastor, I’ve been politically active all my adult life. I’m an independent-thinking centrist who at various times worked in campaigns for candidates of both parties. I’m probably one of a very few people who has been a delegate to the state conventions of both parties here in Iowa, and served as a member of the county central committee of one of them.

In some ways I defy ideological categorization, and consider that a virtue. I think for myself, and am not afraid to admit being wrong and to change my mind about a great many things. I’m a traditional, confessional Lutheran theologically, and while I distinguish between my religious and political beliefs I’m not enough of a hypocrite to refuse to allow the former to influence the latter. At the same time, I’m a firm believer in Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. It’s the state’s job to maintain justice and order and not to proclaim the Gospel, and while the Church is obligated to be concerned about justice in the world its purpose is proclaim salvation through faith in Christ. I’ll deal with both of those concerns here, but as always I’ll strive not to confuse the two.

Expect to disagree with me. That’s OK. I don’t pretend to always be right, and I have no difficulty admitting it when I see that I’ve been wrong. And I’m far more concerned with what is true and practical and just and right than I am about checking the boxes on a list of rigid ideological positions.

I am pro-life. While I recognize, along with traditional, biblical Christianity, that the state has the right and sometimes the obligation to wage just wars and the theoretical authority to practice capital punishment, I regard human life at all stages as precious and sacred. I personally oppose abortion except in cases in which a woman’s life is in danger and in practice regard the possibility of error and the impossibility of correcting a mistake as an insurmountable practical obstacle to the practice of capital punishment. That said, I deeply emphathize with the human dilemas which cause women to seek abortions and with the very human, though spiritually dangerous, instinct of the wronged to see those who have injured them pay for their crimes. My mother was killed by a drunken driver; I’ve been there myself.

I believe that while truth is often complex and many-faceted, it exists and is objective. I believe that the substitution of ideologically and tribally-based narratives for objective facts threatens not only our ability to intelligently debate the issues before us and to govern ourselves as a free people, but the very foundations of civilization.

I believe that we need to discuss more and shout at each other less, and that the only way to heal our sick and broken society is rational conversation and the seeking of common ground rather than polarization and ideological confrontation. This blog is my attempt to contribute to that process, and my prayer is that what I say here will be read in the same spirit in which it is intended.