Here is a little bit of history on Clarence Leonard “Kelly” Johnson, the geek who made "Keep It Simple Stupid" a popular phrase in the world of science and technology.Ĭlarence Leonard “Kelly” Johnson was a pathbreaking aeronautical engineer who worked for Lockheed Aircraft for over four decades.(1)ĭuring World War II, he designed the speedy P-38 Lightning, which pummeled destroyers and intercepted enemy fighters and bombers from Berlin to Tokyo late in the war his team developed America’s first operational jet fighter, the P-80, in less than six months. I love to talk about the forgotten geeks in the world of science and technology. The phrase "Keep It Simple Stupid" has been associated with aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson in the 1960s. KISS is often used as an acronym for "Keep It Simple Stupid." Like many acronyms we use today, they have their origins in the military. The example illustrated my theme: "Simple ideas, Powerful concepts." People don't want an internal combustion engine propelling a set of steel-belted radials, they want a mode of transportation. In my teaching I used the example from a Mazda commercial with a great tag line, "it just feels right." Over the years I have used the theme of "Simple ideas, Powerful concepts" in a sales seminar I gave to small business people. Luther saw clearly that the Christian life is actually distinguished not by elaborate complexity but by its beautiful, simple, accessible Christ.I have often talked about the doctrine of "keep it simple stupid." In much of my writing and teaching over the years, I have tried to maintain the theme of "geek speak made simple." In educating people about technology my goal is to have my message understood by any reasonably intelligent person. You have given them the means of eternal life. For such a one, the message of Luther is a liberation: give the people Christ in Word and sacrament and you have done the greatest thing for your people which you could ever imagine. Those demands, apart from being remarkable only for their absence from Paul’s list of overseer qualifications, are onerous and likely to serve only to depress any ordinary minister working in an ordinary church. I have read articles and blogs over the last few years which seem to imply that the "successful" minister must embody a remarkable combination of physical fitness, tattoos, advanced level knowledge of sociology, the management skills of an Apple CEO, and the rhetorical skills wit of a top entertainer. Yet there is another liberating aspect to Luther’s thinking: it makes both the ministry and the focal points of the Christian life much simpler. Offering readers an accessible portrait of Martin Luther’s life and theology, this book explores the impact of his cross-centered theology on living the Christian life. God regards human beings as either outside of Christ and subject to the penalties of the Law or in Christ and therefore the beneficiaries of his person and work. The key question for Christians-and thus the key question for those in pastoral ministry-was simply that of how one is united to Christ. Luther saw this clearly: God regards human beings as either outside of Christ and subject to the penalties of the Law or in Christ and therefore the beneficiaries of his person and work. One Simple QuestionĪ Christian life rooted in the simple tools set forth in Scripture may well strike against the aesthetic of a world in thrall to the spectacular and the innovative but it nonetheless arises out of one of the most powerfully gracious aspects of the biblical teaching on salvation: God is no respecter of persons. They also transcend any human categories we might care to create in order to make things more complicated, whether based on age, class, ethnicity, etc. Hearing, washing, and eating: three of the most basic, everyday human activities which require no special talent. Take his understanding of the sources of salvation, for example: Christ offered in the Word preached, and Christ offered in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. If Augustine freed the church from the back-breaking self-martyring piety of Pelagius, Luther freed her from centuries of obfuscating complication. And against the backdrop of his own complicated and scrupulous psychology, he discovered the straightforward peace that comes from the sufficiency of God’s saving action in the crucified Christ. Against the background of medieval piety, with its myriad holy orders, its penances, and its pilgrimages, Luther presented a Christianity for everyone. One of the striking things about Martin Luther’s vision of the Christian life is its utter simplicity.
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