I’m not sure if she’s been reading my blog (I doubt it, actually), but Kathryn Kleinhans of Wartburg College answers my question What Does It Mean to be Lutheran in the new issue of The Lutheran magazine. Lutheranism 101: Culture or Confession is an excellent article outlining core themes of our Lutheran identity:
- Justification by Grace Through Faith for Christ’s Sake
- Law and Gospel
- Means of Grace
- Theology of the Cross
- Saint and Sinner
- Vocation
- Contextual Theology
Read the article, use the study guide in your congregation, and/or invite her to speak at your church. This is a great tool that all congregations should use for adult education.
The Lutheran Zephyr 
Thanks for pointing this one out. I hate to say it, but since the CCM/Word Alone infighting a few years back, and then the homosexuality stuff more recently, I have all but ceased reading the Lutheran. It was too venomous on both sides of these issues.
The past few months I am trying to re-engage it. The issues I have seen have been much better. This sounds like a wonderful article.
Why oh why does the Lutheran insist on putting their articles behind a subscriber wall? Do they really make that much from subscriptions?
Though I found a link to the article which bypasses the subscriber wall at Ed Schroeder’s Crossings site: http://www.crossings.org/thursday/Thur051806.htm
I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the tip!
I posted a longer version of Why be Lutheran at the Protestant Pub site. You can get to it from my site.