Post: Readers Respond

"Your article on Reformation Reflections left me out in the middle of the labyrinth where I am still trying to make my way. I did jot down a few reactions, on a second reading, which I think reflect my problem(s).

"'No sacred persons, places or things'....'expressed a conviction about reality'. I was somewhere taught that the sacred was, by definition, about the unreal, 'I believe in order that I might understand,' goes one version of it. A sacred reality strikes me as a contradiction.

"'Creedless convictions' needs to be spelled out because, from where I sit there is here, also, the makings of a contradiction. A conviction, in its Latin form implies a proof somehow, which if creedless, is defying something or other.

"The statements on Christ's attitude toward Jews, and the subsequent anti-semitism, is more linked to Matthew, I would bet, than to John, the former being somehow more 'readable'. There is, however, a problem of language. To say that Christ changes tone in his dealings with Jews, in John 8, raises the fundamental question of, in what language'? The original Greek or the English or Swedish translations? I can only refer you to Augustine' s commentary and exegesis on John as a test of your (or Nyvall's) hypothesis. The Greek text may not bear you out on this....

"My critique of textual analysis of the Bible tends to be based upon the translations in the maternal tongue. Even the Vulgate (a good translation by biblical standards) I would cast into the flames." Robert Thompson, Geneva, Switzerland.

"Appreciate the self disclosures made in your article 'Protestant Principle, Presumption, and John 8.' And though the approaches of J. Louis Martyn and Raymond Brown to the nature of the historical situation in John 8 seem more plausible to me than the one in your paper, I am both delighted and existentially disturbed, challenged, confronted by your theological/hortatory observations. Thank you." Henry Gustavson, Red Wing, Minnesota

"Brother Tommy: Thank you for Pietisten. It is good....Keep it up. Greet the others. It is good that somebody tries to remember the heritage both nationally and religiously.... We need help of a doctor....Ask your readers if they know of someone....Contact Ebbe Bolin c/o Betel Institutet, 79400 Orsa, Sweden."