There are few things I like better than sitting down with a cup of tea, a pen in hand, and a good book or article on theology. The trouble is (if you’re anything like me) your bookshelves are all pretty much full already. So where exactly are we supposed to store the back issues of theological journals that we subscribe to?
Well, there’s now a solution for at least one such publication. Logos Bible Software has informed me (and asked me to pass on the info to my readers) that 20 years of the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (WLQ) is soon to be made available for your computer through Logos.
The Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly is the theological journal of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, the seminary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) in the United States, the third largest Lutheran body in North America. While there are theological positions that WELS takes which I would not, I’m more than happy to read their journal of theology. In fact, engaging the deep thinking of a church body is (in my opinion) the most honest way of doing ecumenicism. As I’ve written on another site, I believe “truly fruitful ecumenical dialogue only occurs when we recognize (and do not ignore) theological differences between Christians.” And as I note elsewhere on this site, I agree with the reformers that “God works in the vocations of all people (Christian or otherwise), meaning that there are things to be learned from those outside our own tradition.”
That’s perhaps the reason why the Emmaus Conference is such an interesting concept. This conference (which draws together representatives from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod) brings together people to discuss theology in a “free conference.” Free and open theological discussion is the basis for worthwhile conversation.
So dig in to WLQ (and any number of other theological journals for that matter). When you learn something new, thank God for the new insight and knowledge. And when you come across something you’re not quite sure about, thank God for the opportunity to sharpen your own mind—“as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” after all.
The following comes from Logos and gives a bit of the history of WLQ. It also explains some of the features available to users who get WLQ through Logos.
Since 1904 the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has published a theological journal, originally called Theologische Quartalschrift, now the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly. This journal is issued by Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary as a testimony of its theological convictions, as a public witness to the saving truths of Holy Scripture, and in the interest of the theological and professional growth of those whom the seminary is training for the public ministry and of those already active in this ministry.
With the Logos Bible Software edition all Scripture passages in Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly are tagged and appear on mouse-over. What’s more, Scripture references are linked to the wealth of language resources in your digital library. This makes all 84 issues more powerful and easier to access than ever before for scholarly work or personal Bible study. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “justification,” or “Paul.”
