The 2010 DOXOLOGY Grand Reunion in Schuyler, Nebraska, with Dr. James Nestingen on confession and absolution: how Christ reshapes the past and unfolds the future.
1. Christ Reshapes the Past – Dr. James Nestingen
In the opening lecture of the 2010 Schuyler retreat, Dr. James Nestingen sets out how the absolution reaches back into a person’s past. He argues that in the forgiveness of sins Christ’s own story overlaps the hearer’s story and brings it to resolution: sin forgiven for Christ’s sake loses its standing in the relationship, even where its consequences remain. Working from Luther and a store of pastoral anecdote, he distinguishes the gospel’s word of pardon from mere reassurance and moves toward the new future the absolution opens. Watch the lecture and read the transcript →
2. Is Absolution a Sacrament – Dr. James Nestingen
Dr. James Nestingen takes up whether Holy Absolution should be counted a sacrament, tracing Luther’s treatment from the 1520 Babylonian Captivity, where he defends the continuing worth of private confession even as he attacks the compulsory annual confession of the day. He grounds absolution in the risen Christ’s gift of the Spirit to the disciples in John 20 and in the Office of the Keys, and warns against any preaching that leaves the hearer merely shamed rather than forgiven, drawing a caution from mission work in shame-based cultures. The session includes exchanges on how the sacraments are counted and on admitting children to the gifts of Christ. Watch the lecture and read the transcript →
3. Practicing Confession & Absolution – Dr. James Nestingen
Dr. James Nestingen turns to the practice of hearing confession and speaking absolution. He distinguishes the formal absolution spoken in Christ’s stead within the pastoral office from the informal word of forgiveness exchanged between Christians, and treats the pastor’s discipline of memory — how to carry and release what has been confessed. Drawing on cases, the fifth step of AA, and the picture of a physician who names an affliction so that it can be resisted, he shows how the spoken word of forgiveness meets the penitent where guilt has lodged. Watch the lecture and read the transcript →
4. Forgiveness and the Unfolding Future – Dr. James Nestingen
In the closing lecture Dr. James Nestingen presses the forgiveness of sins forward into the future. He argues that the absolution does not only settle the past but bestows what is to come — that the future itself is laid open and given in the word of pardon — and illustrates a forgiveness that stands beyond judgment, creating a safety in which hope rises even while trouble bears down. Speaking amid the Lutheran realignments of 2010, he closes on Luther’s image of Christ reclaiming the believer from the grip of death, forgiveness overflowing until nothing is left but itself. Watch the lecture and read the transcript →