Bishop & rabbi story struck a nerve

I was distressed with the article about Bishop B. Penrose Hoover and his daughter (January, "'We try to learn from each other'"). As an American I’m always happy to see examples of people of different faiths getting along with each other. However, I’m a Lutheran so I can’t avoid seeing Heidi Hoover’s abandonment of Christ and salvation as a great tragedy. Of greater concern is The Lutheran’s value-neutral editorial tone of happy approval. Heidi and the bishop can’t both be right. At some point interfaith dialogue must come to grief over the profound differences in the fundamentals. The article doesn’t do anyone any favors by pretending these differences don’t exist.

Unique story angle

As a journalist I can appreciate the unique angle for the story of the Hoovers. But as a Lutheran Christian, I believe such a story has no place in a magazine ostensibly dedicated to the promulgation of Jesus Christ’s divine existence and teachings.


Turn her back

How can a woman brought up in a Lutheran parsonage turn her back on her Savior and espouse the Jewish faith to the point of becoming a rabbi? How can she who, undoubtedly, pledged loyalty to the triune God at her confirmation, now preach that the Messiah has yet to come?