Thanks for the nice–nay, flattering–review, Phil. It was so encouraging that I celebrated by making myself a turkey sandwich with two (2) slices of turkey on it for supper.
In the house where I grew up, that qualified as extravagance.
S. T. Karnick, over at his The American Culture blog, reviews the movie “Public Enemies,” and finds it wanting. I think I’ll give that one a pass. (And I don’t care what anybody says. There’s no resemblance whatever between Johnny Depp and John Dillinger.)
Dr. Gene Edward Veith, at Cranach, links to a post by Matthew Kratz at Sola Fide, in which he shares some information from Mark Noll’s book, The New Shape of World Christianity. Dr. Veith himself notes:
In my own tradition, there are lots more Lutherans in Africa (12 million) than there are in America (9 million). The Lutheran church in Madagascar (3.5 million) is bigger than the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (2.5 million).
Madagascar was a chief traditional field of Norwegian Lutherans. Not only Norwegians from the homeland, but young Norwegian-American pioneer churches, spent years and tears and blood in that country. I know several people who grew up in missionary homes there.
Cheers!
In 1990-91 three predominantly Lutheran countries attained independence. Estonia, Latvia and… Namibia! (Used to be a German colony, you see…)
On my one visit to Africa, I happened to spot in the bookshop of the Arusha airport (Tanganyika had been German too) a huge stack of remaindered copies of a book discussing Luther’s methods in translating the Bible.
Four of the nine men in my first year seminary class were from Africa. Unfortunately, none of them that I am aware of used their advanced training to go back and minister in Africa. The following year another man from Tanzania joined us for one year of study. he did return and I hear glowing reports of the work he is doing in his home country.
One African Lutheran told me how his country had been primarily Anglican under British Rule. After independence an athiestic dictator rose to power and all churches withered. After the country regained its freedom some leading Christians sought to re-establish the Anglican church but then discovered that the Anglican church had been founded upon a former king’s desire for a divorce.
As they researched the other denominations spawned by the reformation they discovered that the Lutheran church was founded, not on a rebellion against God’s Law, but upon the desire to stand upon God’s Holy Word. So they established Lutheranism as the leading denomination in their country.