Christian Dollar, a Ph.D. candidate at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has been chosen for the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE). Selected from a competitive pool of international applicants, Dollar is one of 14 participants in the 2025 Clergy & Religious Leaders Program.

This summer, Dollar and fellow participants will travel to Germany and Poland for a two-week seminar examining the ethical failures of clergy and other professionals during the Holocaust. The Clergy & Religious Leaders Fellows, collaborating with Medical and Journalism Fellows, will explore how ethical constructs and norms differ and align across their respective professions.

“FASPE presents a unique opportunity to study the triumphs and failures of leadership from diverse religious and professional viewpoints,” Dollar said. “I have known several fellows from previous cohorts for whom I have enormous respect. To be included with them as a FASPE Fellow is an honor.”

The FASPE program examines the complicity of clergy and other professionals in carrying out Nazi policies. Discussion topics include the failure to confront atrocities, postwar reconciliation and the ongoing need for ethical leadership. Designed to foster moral reasoning and vocational integrity, the program equips students with new insights for their future professions. The annual FASPE Journal features select participant essays addressing contemporary ethical challenges.

As a Ph.D. candidate researching the interconnection of theology and human rights, Dollar has written and presented on Martin Luther’s doctrine of the three estates as tools for resisting systemic evil, as well as the challenges of ministering to polycultural congregations.

“As Dean of Advanced Studies, I am happy to see another one of our graduate students getting involved in the FASPE program,” said Dr. Joel C. Elowsky. “Christian joins a growing line of Concordia Seminary scholars who are broadening their horizons, engaging the larger church and addressing the ethical challenges facing 21st-century Christians. FASPE provides a rigorous interdisciplinary platform for scholars from various fields that ups the game for all involved. I heartily commend this program and congratulate Christian on his successful application.”

Dollar is the sixth Seminary student to receive a FASPE Fellowship. Previous recipients are Paul Flo (2016), Christian Einertson (2018), Jess Biermann (2019), Kendall Davis (2020*) and Joshua Armstrong (2024).

*2020 Fellowship programs deferred to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

About Concordia Seminary

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit csl.edu.

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