Global Consultation "Theology in the Life of Lutheran Churches"
Coordinator | Host | Presenters | Seminar Convenors | Worship Leaders
(All links require Adobe Acrobat Reader) Click seminar titles for schedule.
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Dr Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon
Convenor seminar I: The Bible in a global communion
“The Bible through the eyes and ears of the marginalized: Implications for the Lutheran communion”
Dr Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon is Head of the Department of Old Testament at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College in Chennai, India. A 1995 graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, she has special interest in reading and interpreting the biblical text in context, with a special focus on issues related to gender, caste and class, and reading the biblical text in juxtaposition to native texts.
“I hope that the conference in Augsburg will be a platform for open and honest sharing and reflective appreciation of differing and global perspectives on the theme and the sub-themes. Boundaries within the Lutheran communion are often drawn and maintained based on differences in approach to the Bible, mission, and theology. As we attend to this shifting complex and problems we need to find ways to synthesize these currently disparate positions and locate an intersection of values that can inspire our attitudes and actions. I also hope we are able to name possible ways of critically intervening for the purpose of integrating, strengthening, and transforming the Lutheran communion.”
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Dr. Niels Henrik Gregersen
Covenor Seminar II: Creation, redemption and eschatology
“From deep ecology to deep incarnation, and back again...”
Dr. Niels Henrik Gregersen is Professor of Systematic Theology at Copenhagen University in Denmark, a member of the LWF Council, and chairperson of the Ecumenical Institute in Strasbourg. He is doing contemporary theology with a special emphasis on the relationships between theology and the sciences.
“My hope is that we will be well prepared, eager to learn from one another, and able to laugh at all our shortcomings. Without a cheerful atmosphere no serious work can be done."
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Prof. Martha E. Stortz
Convenor seminar III: Worship and other practices
“Marks of the church, marked by the body of Christ: A Lutheran approach to practices”
Prof. Martha E. Stortz is Professor of Historical Theology and Ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, which is part of an ecumenical and interreligious consortium, The Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California. Stortz has been a lay member of the faculty since 1981. She is the author of several books and continues to be interested in Lutheran spirituality, ethics, and spirituality practices.
“Whatever our various contexts, Lutherans share a theology, a commitment to scripture, and a distinctive style of worship. Yet because of our various contexts, we emphasize different aspects of that theology, we see different things in Scripture, and we worship in ways that express the deepest longings and wildest hopes of the people in our midst. This conference promises to identify some of those similarities and differences across cultures and around the world.”
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Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki
Convenor Seminar IV: Church's vocation in society
“Hermeneutic of resonance: Making biblical theology relevant”
Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, an ordained minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, is currently serving as General Secretary of the United Evangelical Mission: Communion of Churches in Three Continents, based in Wuppertal, Germany. He graduated with a Ph.D in Scripture from Luther Seminary, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1997. He is interested in making biblical interpretation relevant in daily life and, as a consequence, has been involved in advocacy work at the global and grassroots levels; his current focus is on the biblical aspects of mission.
Expectations of the consultation: “To get to know many people in the Lutheran family who are theologically engaged, to come up with a publication of relevant theological issues and to inspire continued theological discourse among the participants after the consultation.”
