New feature: Sermon Assistant

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Another feature I wish that this had, which would apply to anyone preparing a homily or sermon from a Lectionary... I wish there were an easier way to input the passages from the Lectionary day. For example, the readings from the Catholic lectionary for today are:

First Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1–3, 6–12
Response: Psalm 123:1b
Psalm: Psalm 123:1b–2f
Gospel Acclamation: John 11:25a–26
Gospel: Mark 12:18–27

Typing all of these into the AI Sermon Assistant is rather difficult, and in the case of the first reading, I actually needed to add it twice, as it skips some verses. 

One idea that might have applications in other areas is if we could select the text with the verse references and right click and choose an option to "Copy verse references", where it would create a format we could just paste directly into the field and it would work. And a function like that could be useful in other areas as well. (it would take the same information that is used to create a Passage List, and just format it and put it in the clipboard).

Another option could be to add an option in the Lectionaries themselves to copy the verses in a format that works. Or to open up the Sermon / HOmily Assistant with the verses from this liturgy already loaded.

Rev. Robert Sundquist said:

The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"

Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.

xnman said:

MJ. Smith said:

Rev. Robert Sundquist said:

The AI generator seems to be very "Reformed Biased and Heavy" is there any way to change it to another tradition like "Lutheran"

Welcome to the forums. No, it is fed from Logos resources and represents the general Logos bias. One can manipulate it a bit by using Lutheran vocabulary. Beyond that it is a requirement that the user use Logos results with a recognition of the bias. When it is available, the Verbum version may be closer to what you want.

But isn't Verbum heavily Catholic biased? 

Actually not. MJ will probably explain that it's more geared towards ACELO churches (Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Oriental), but unless Logos trains or prompts the AI explicitly towards use of a larger canon and different recognition of church fathers, there is no relevant difference between the two. In those cases where the AI considers the user's library, there might be differences, but those would be within Logos as well.  

Rev. Robert Sundquist said:

By “no” I infer that you mean that I have to train the AI to give it a more Lutheran response

You are unable to train the Logos use of AI.

Rev. Robert Sundquist said:

The impolite characterization that a Lutheran is just Catholic light is almost as uniformed as suggesting that a Lutheran is a one and a half point Calvinist.

I would not consider Lutheran as Catholic light. My paternal Grandmother was Finnish Apostolic Lutheran, half the small town in which I was raised was Finnish Apostolic Lutheran, my daughter-in-law is an ECLA minister ... It did not occur to me that my suggestion would be misinterpreted but I understand why it was. As you are new to the forums, you are not aware of my push for more materials, tagging, tools geared towards the ACELO churches (high Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, high Lutheran, and Oriental Orthodox churches). This group have more in common with each other than with the Reformed-Evangelical churches that represent Logos (original) primary market. As you are LCMS, I would assume you are not high Lutheran. As my experience is with liberal and pietist Lutherans, I will admit to ignorance of your slice of the Lutheran pie, and apologize for offending you.

Fr Devin Roza said:

I was of the idea (maybe incorrect) that the AI that we are using is not an in-house AI trained and run by Faithlife. That would be incredibly expensive and difficult for a company the size of Faithlife. Rather, they are sending the petitions and context to ChatGPT or some similar service, using their API.

That means they can solve these difficulties by simply adjusting the prompt. They could allow users to choose a theological tradition and simply mention that in the prompt (invisibly to the user). ChatGPT or Claude and most other large models would adjust without any difficulty.

This is correct. What I meant is that we, as users, cannot "train" the AI. We live with the Logos prompt results ... and ask Logos for changes.

Christopher Esget said:

How are you using "high Lutheran"?

I use high Lutheran as a parallel to high Anglican (Anglo-Catholic) to describe Lutherans who worship in a high-church style i.e. more formal, more embodied, more ritualitic style. Put another way, high Lutherans have retained more of the Catholic/Eastern Orthodox style than many other groups of Lutherans. Just as with high Anglicans, this frequently also means their theology is historically conservative i.e. closer to the Catholic/Eastern Orthodox theology than other groups.

wikipedia said:

High church Lutheranism is a movement that began in 20th-century Europe and emphasizes worship practices and doctrines that are similar to those found within Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglo-Catholicism. In the more general usage of the term, it describes the general high church characteristics of Lutheranism in Nordic and Baltic countries such as Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. The mentioned countries, once a part of the Swedish Empire, have more markedly preserved Catholic traditions.

Background

The terms high church and low church were historically applied to particular liturgical and theological groups within Anglicanism. The theological differences within Lutheranism have not been nearly so marked as those within the Anglican Communion; Lutherans have historically been unified in the doctrine expressed in the Book of Concord. However, quite early in Lutheranism, polarities began to develop owing to the influence of the Reformed tradition, leading to so-called "Crypto-Calvinism". The Pietist movement in the 17th century also moved the Lutheran church further in a direction that would be considered "low church" by Anglican standards. Pietism and rationalism led not only to the simplification or even elimination of certain ceremonial elements, such as the use of vestments, but also to less frequent celebration of the Eucharist, by the end of the era of Lutheran Orthodoxy. There has been very little iconoclasm in Lutheran churches and church buildings have often remained richly furnished. Some monasteries also continued as Lutheran after the Reformation. Loccum Abbey and Amelungsborn Abbey in Germany have the longest traditions as Lutheran monasteries.

In old church orders, however there was much variation which could now be described as "high church" or "low church". One example of the more Catholic ones is the Swedish Church Ordinance 1571. The Agenda of the church order of Margraviate of Brandenburg (1540) contained unusually rich provision for ceremonial usages. The legacy of Brandenburgian Lutheranism was later visible in Old Lutherans' resistance to compromise in the doctrine of Real Presence. Other church orders following closely to pre-Reformation rites and ceremonies were Palatinate-Neuburg (1543, retaining a eucharistic prayer) and Austria (1571, prepared by David Chytraeus).

An interesting fact is that William Augustus Mühlenberg, father of the Ritualist movement in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, was originally Lutheran and came from a Lutheran family.

In Europe, after long influence of Pietism, theological rationalism, and finally, 19th century German Neo-Protestantism, a ground for 20th-century High Church or Evangelical Catholic Movement developed. The terms "High Church" (Evangelical Catholic) and "Low Church" (Confessing Evangelical) began to be used to describe differences within the Lutheran tradition. However, this terminology is not necessarily as characteristic for a Lutheran's identity as it often is for an Anglican.

Sometimes there is a distinction made between Nordic style Lutheranism and German style Lutheranism, with the latter being more influenced by pietism and the former having both retained and later also revived more of its pre-Reformation liturgy and practices and therefore being more high church. Examples of this are well-preserved church interiors, apostolic succession, and a clear episcopal structure. Although the name Nordic is used, it is actually mostly applicable to Sweden and Finland, and to a lesser extent, to Estonia and Latvia because those countries were part of the Swedish empire and were therefore the jurisdiction of the Church of Sweden. The other Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were under the influence of Danish rule in which the German form is dominant.

Thanks for the information re: LCMS. I know so little about the denomination that I wouldn't have been able to guess where it stood on the spectrum. I am not surprised it is very mixed. What terms are used internally within the LCMS to describe the liturgical-middle-non-liturgical groups?