Gold
Theological Symposium
33rd Annual Theological Symposium
Sept. 19-20, 2023
Church and Society: Living by Hope in a Secular Age
In today’s post-Christian era, the church’s place and voice are often disregarded by American society. The political and cultural landscape at times conflicts with the moral vision of Christianity — a vision increasingly deemed a threat to the public good. Political disagreement, social ills, moral decay and disillusionment challenge the church to speak and act. But how? In this symposium, plenaries and sectionals will explore how our hope — our Christian hope in a healed and new Creation — can better shape our engagement and witness with culture and society.
Symposium Highlights
Plenaries presented by:
- Dr. Michael Zeigler, the Lutheran Hour Speaker, Lutheran Hour Ministries, St. Louis
- Dr. Joel Okamoto, the Waldemar and Mary Griesbach Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
- Dr. Joel Biermann, the Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Panel discussion with plenary speakers
- Facilitated by Dr. Charles Arand, the Eugene E. and Nell S. Fincke Graduate Professor of Theology
Eighth Annual Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Lecture in New Testament Theology
- Presented by Dr. James W. Voelz, the Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Professor of New Testament Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
St. Louis Cardinals game
Monday, Sept. 18, hosted by LCMS Foundation. Complimentary tickets are limited and are first come, first served. Available for paid registrants only.
Registration
Registration: closed.
Walk-ins: $200 (includes the meals provided during the symposium)
If you have questions, please contact Continuing Education at 314-505-7286 or [email protected].
Sponsors
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Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023
| TIME | EVENT | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 7:45-8:30 a.m. | Registration | Sieck Hall Foyer |
| 7:45 a.m.-4 p.m. | Coffee and Refreshments Sponsor Fair |
Coffee available all day Sieck Hall 201/202 |
| 8:30-9 a.m. | Chapel | Service of the Word Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., Werner R.H. Krause and Elizabeth Ringger Krause Professor of Hispanic Ministries, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus |
| 9-9:30 a.m. | Registration Reopens | Sieck Hall Foyer |
| 9:45-10 a.m. | Introduction | Welcome and Introduction Dr. Thomas J. Egger, President of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Erika Bennett, Director of Continuing Education, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
| 10-11 a.m. | Plenary | Christian Hope Among Rivals Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour Werner Auditorium |
| 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Lunch | (included with paid registration) Dining Halls |
| 1-2 p.m. | Plenary | Creation and Hope: How the First Article Teaches Us How to Live by Hope Dr. Joel Okamoto, Waldemar and Mary Griesebach, Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
| 2:15-3 p.m. | Sectionals 1 | (see below) |
| 3:15-4 p.m. | Sectionals 2 | (see below) |
| 4:30-6:30 p.m. | Dinner | East Courtyard |
| 7-8:30 p.m. | Lecture | Annual Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Lecture in New Testament Theology: Being Humbled by the Texts of Scripture Dr. James W. Voelz, the Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Professor of New Testament Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023
| TIME | EVENT | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 8-8:30 a.m. | Coffee and Refreshments | Sieck Hall 201/202 |
| 8 a.m.-4 p.m. | Sponsor Fair | Sieck Hall 201/202 |
| 8:30-9:30 a.m. | Chapel | Service of the Word Dr. Michael Zeigler, the Lutheran Hour Speaker, Lutheran Hour Ministries, St. Louis Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus |
| 10-11 a.m. | Plenary | The Star Spangled Reformer: Luther’s Two Realms and Christian Nationalism Dr. Joel Biermann, Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
| 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Lunch | (included with paid registration) Dining Halls |
| 1-2 p.m. | Panel discussion | Dr. Charles Arand, Eugene E. and Nell S. Fincke Graduate Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
| 2:15-3 p.m. | Sectionals 3 | (see below) |
| 3:15-4 p.m. | Sectionals 4 | (see below) |
| 4:15-4:30 p.m. | Closing | Wrap Up and Itinerarium Erika Bennett, Director of Continuing Education, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Rev. Paul Sieveking, Campus Chaplain, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Werner Auditorium |
Plenaries
Christian Hope Among Rivals
Dr. Michael Zeigler
Speaker of The Lutheran Hour, Lutheran Hour Ministries, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 10-11 a.m.
Hope is a widespread human experience. For centuries, followers of Jesus of Nazareth have ordered their lives around a central hope. How is their experience similar or different from others who live by hope? Living by hope involves living within a peculiar story of the world — an incomplete story. The stories that shape these hopes are threatened by evil, however it may be defined, and the hopeful struggle as characters caught up in plots that move toward resolution. In this regard, the hope of Christians is similar to others. Yet, it is different because they wait for the God and Father of Jesus to transform the world to fit the promise He made to Abraham. Therefore, although Christians and participants in other life-organizing stories do not agree on the ground of hope, taking a detour into the hopeful experience of another may help uncover a place where rivals can stand together long enough to talk.
Werner Auditorium
Creation and Hope: How the First Article Teaches Us How to Live by Hope
Dr. Joel Okamoto
The Waldemar and Mary Griesebach, Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 1-2 p.m.
Christians have wonderful promises to give them hope. The promises are wonderful both because of what is promised — eternal life and salvation — and because of the one making promises — God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. The fact that God is making the promises means that Christians living by hope will be confident to find God working good things out in the world that is His. Discerning that sin and evil are in the world is one thing. Expecting the world to be sin and evil is quite another, and out of line with the confession that “God has made me.” This presentation will discuss how the First Article of the Creed bears on how to live by hope and suggest some ways it teaches us to live by hope today.
Werner Auditorium
The Star Spangled Reformer: Luther’s Two Realms and Christian Nationalism
Dr. Joel Biermann
The Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 10-11 a.m.
What most Lutherans confidently understand about Martin Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms is too often at odds with what the reformer actually taught. By coming to terms with Luther’s teaching we will also be in a good place to consider a faithful response to ideas of Christian nationalism.
Werner Auditorium
Sectionals 1
LCMS Decline in the New America
Dr. Larry Vogel
Associate Executive for the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
From the mid-1970s to the present, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) has suffered significant membership decline. One reason for the decline is a sharp decline in U.S. birthrates. This certainly affects the LCMS. Less widely acknowledged is the fact that while the United States has become increasingly diverse both racially and ethnically, the LCMS has largely retained its homogeneity. This sectional will focus on the need for expanded intercultural outreach that emphasizes the doctrine of catholicity in LCMS catechesis and dogmatic theology.
Werner Auditorium
Love as the Reason and Limit of Freedom and the Church as “No Man’s Land” in the Midst of Society: A European Perspective
Dr. Christian Neddens
Professor of Systematic Theology, Lutherische Theologische Hochschule, Oberursel, Germany
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
Western societies are polarizing and are coming under pressure from within and without. Unresolved global threats such as the ecological crisis and the scarcity of resources are accompanied by a new complexity of political powers. At the same time, the forces of social cohesion, which had long proved to be based on a mix of enlightened rationality and Christian values, are eroding. Where does the church stand in this situation? Does it become an actor alongside others in the struggle for cultural dominance? Or does it succeed in finding its place anew? What does it mean for its place in society if the mission of its preaching is not to secure a particular society, however, it is imagined, but to call sinners out of the bonds of death into the freedom of the justified children of God? This sectional will explore suggestions from the Lutheran theologian Hans Joachim Iwand (1899-1960), who in the 1950s, in the face of the ethical-cultural devastation after National Socialism, asked what Christians could contribute to the well-being and freedom of a life-serving political community.
Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus
Monastic Vows and Modern Purity Culture
Rebekah Lukas
Ph.D. Student, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
From the 1990s through the early 2010s, “Purity culture,” a movement marked by publications such as I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris (1997), rallies and revivals such as “Silver Ring Thing” founded by Denny and Amy Pattyn in 1995, and purity symbols such as the chastity ring, swept through North American mainstream evangelicalism. It is difficult to miss the relationship between this movement and the “ex-vangelical” movement, the great exodus of young people who are choosing to leave the institutional church, “deconstruct” their beliefs and question Christianity. How do the Lutheran Confessions speak to this large issue which permeates even our own congregations? How can we witness a generation of hurting American evangelicals who, in the midst of following a culture of purity, somehow lost their souls?
Presidents Room
Back to the Future: Hoping in God’s Sacramental Kingdom
Dr. Richard Davenport
Pastor, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Fort Smith, Ark.
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
Knowing how to engage the world around us in sharing the Gospel has been a problem the church has faced since its inception. We are directed to share the Good News of salvation through Christ Jesus, but when the reality of sin is something more and more people flat-out reject, explaining the need for forgiveness becomes even more difficult. Thankfully, God has given His church many more tools in His sacramental gifts. He doesn’t just tell us, He shows us what He is doing and what the future holds. Looking to the sacraments, we find new ways of engaging the despairing world and showing those without hope that there truly is something to look forward to, because God is already bringing it to us now.
Wyneken 205
The Rise of Integralism and Why Lutherans Should Resist It
Rev. Graham Glover
Senior Pastor, Abiding Savior Lutheran Church and School, Gainesville, Fla.
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
A movement known as “Integralism” has become increasingly popular across political and theological spectrums. Critiquing many of the philosophical commitments of constitutional democracies, with a sharp rebuke against individualism, pluralism and popular rule, “Integralism” longs for a polis and theology that are fused together, limiting the private nature of liberty embedded in most constitutional democracies. Although rooted in a history that has as its model an authoritarian Catholic state, contemporary “Integralists” represent a broader audience that increasingly attracts Christians outside the Roman communion. This sectional will broadly define the nature and scope of Integralism, highlighting why, even among Lutherans, it is a tempting philosophy in a world where the church’s place and voice are no longer valued. But despite its appeal, “Integralism” remains antithetical to Lutheran theology and will do little to create hope in our polarized world, which in turn begs the question, if not “Integralism,” then what?
Sieck 101
Praying Like a Lutheran in a Secular Age
Rev. Joshua Ulm
Pastor of Ascension Lutheran Church, North Olmsted, Ohio
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2:15-3 p.m.
Martin Luther’s theology of prayer is informed by his theology of justification by faith. Full reliance on the merits of Christ for salvation causes Luther to base even his prayers on trust. This sectional examines The Large Catechism, Luther’s Little Prayer Book and his Treatise on Good Works, as well as select prayers to show how Luther’s theology of justification flows into his theology of prayer and his own prayer life. This sectional will also explore how Luther’s trust-based theology of prayer benefits those praying in a secular world.
Loeber 2
Sectionals 2
Masculinity in Christian Perspective
Dr. David Maxwell
The Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3:15-4 p.m.
Masculinity is under attack in some quarters of the culture, and recent sociological research has shown that men and boys are struggling. This sectional will explore what the issues are and outlines what a faithful Christian account of masculinity might look like in response.
Werner Auditorium
Escape from Vanity: Jean-Luc Marion on the Possibility of Theological Virtue in a Nihilistic Age
Rev. Hayden Lukas
Associate Pastor, St. Martin Lutheran Church, Clintonville, Wis.
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3:15-4 p.m.
Nietzsche wrote in 1885, “Nihilism stands at the door.” In 2023, this uncanny guest is no longer at the threshold. Nihilism has stormed the house. It is the wind that blows through this stretch of the valley of the shadow of death the church walks today. Jean-Luc Marion diagnoses this normal nihilism as the end of a process that revealed human desire as intractably and terminally poisoned with vanity. Marion suggests it is only in “desiring the will of the Father” that vanity can be overcome. This sectional will use Marion’s account of desire in order to develop an approach to mission that utilizes the theological virtue of love in response to the vanity the church and the world.
Sieck 101
Lutheran Homiletics, Video Preaching and the Article VII of AC
Rev. Lucas Albrecht
Pastor, Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Regina, Canada
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3:15-4 p.m.
Form and content always go together. Content is never floating on its own, but it always takes some form. So, form always matters. This explains the tension and concern as well as promise and excitement that arise when new media forms emerge. The emergence of video has only magnified tensions, because it is constantly growing, adapting and innovating. For Lutherans, video initiatives to communicate God’s Word also raise tensions because it so different from the Lutheran face-to-face homiletical tradition. This sectional offers some reflections on and recommendations for the Lutheran work of preaching via video. The reflections will be in view of AC VII on the church, and they will make use of actual video examples. The recommendation will seek to help to use video in a meaningful way wherever a screen is at hand to communicate grace and hope in Christ.
Loeber 2
Imagining Hope: Irenaeus, Maximus and Luther on the End
Andrew Bloch
Ph.D. Student, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3:15-4 p.m.
Theological speculation typically does not enjoy prestige and rightly so! Christianity has always tried to assert the doctrine of the church as separate from individual theologians’ opinions. However, not all theologians follow this rule in their writings as history has shown. This sectional will take a look at the speculations on the beginning and end of Irenaeus of Lyons, Maximus the Confessor and Martin Luther, showing that these speculations do not happen at the whim of the theologian but arise from historical context, philosophical presuppositions and biblical doctrine.
Wyneken 205
Eschatological Hope Amid Present Infidelity in Hosea 2
Dr. Kevin Golden
Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology and Dean of Theological Research and Publication, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 3:15-4 p.m.
The eighth century B.C. prophet Hosea famously describes the sin of Israel as a fornicating wife who is unfaithful to Yahweh. Hosea also depicts Israel as a wayward son who turns aside from his loving father Yahweh. The second chapter of Hosea’s prophetic work summarizes the judgment upon Israel for such infidelity, calling God’s people to repentance. Yet before the summary judgment and call to repentance, Yahweh offers hope of eschatological restoration. The dynamic of the second chapter of Hosea not only captures Yahweh’s prophetic word for eighth century B.C. Israel but also delivers hope for the church today as we are called to repentance for our own infidelity to Yahweh.
Presidents Room
Sectionals 3
Church and Society: Lessons from Hans Joachim Iwand
Dr. Ben Haupt
Associate Provost and Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
Hans Joachim Iwand was a contemporary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor of the confessing church, a resistor of the Nazi regime and a Luther researcher. Iwand wrote a series of essays in the 1930s through the 1950s dealing with the topic of the 2023 Theological Symposium. This sectional will lay out his concerns with the two realms/kingdoms doctrine as it was being used during the Nazi era. It will then present Iwand’s preference for Luther’s teaching on the three estates as a more helpful paradigm. This will lay the groundwork for Iwand’s explanation of how the kingdom of God breaks open the estates of church and society so that they can continue to relate to one another in godly ways rather than be closed off from one another. Finally, some practical ways that Iwand lived out these teachings will demonstrate what this can look like in the everyday settings of church and society.
Werner Auditorium
Conscience and Conscientious Objection in Lutheran Theology
Dr. Rick Serina
Associate Executive Director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
American Lutherans, like their denominational peers, have often appealed to a right of conscientious objection to defend their expressions of civil disobedience. In this, they have cited Martin Luther’s infamous stance at the 1521 Diet of Worms: “My conscience is held captive to the Word of God.” However, such appeals are coming under increasing scrutiny as the government questions the legitimacy of our basis for conscientious objection. This sectional will address the understanding of conscience in Lutheran theology (particularly that of Luther, his medieval context and his interpretation by scholars such as Karl Holl), how that view of conscience has informed and complicated the discussion of conscientious objection, and how we might better ground our appeal to conscience in a secular society.
Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus
Cultivating a Posture of Curiosity
Rev. Andrew Jones
Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Concord, Calif.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
In 2008, Andy Crouch released Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling as a call for Christians to recover creativity in their engagement with culture. Crouch’s book helps readers break out of the posture of constantly condemning and critiquing the world. This sectional will introduce participants to Crouch’s concepts and will add a piece that is missing: curiousity. Eschatological hope is what allows Christians to respond to culture and society with words and actions of genuine, loving curiosity and compassionate questions.
Wyneken 205
What About the Lutherans?: Surveying Contemporary Lutheran Public Ecclesiologies for a Secular Age
Rev. Will Fredstrom
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Seymour, Ind.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
As the church lost its privileged place in Western culture and the secular imagination began to dominate social and cultural configurations, lines were drawn between what was public and what was private. In the modern secular imagination, the church came to be thought of as disembodied, privatized and depoliticized. In response to this, several theologians have sought to recover the church’s identity as a distinct public in the modern world. But what about the Lutherans? How have Lutheran theologians sought to offer a public ecclesiology for a secular age? This presentation surveys the work of three contemporary Lutheran theologians who have taken up this question: David S. Yeago, Cheryl M. Peterson and Theodore J. Hopkins. After engaging with their respective thought, the presentation outlines several principles and distinctions to guide ongoing reflection on the question of a Lutheran public ecclesiology for a secular age with a focus on political and economic theology.
Presidents Room
Living with the Certainty of an Accurate Text: An Answer to the Synoptic Problem and the Differences in the So-Called “Western” Text
Rev. Paul Landgraf
Pastor, St. John Lutheran Church, Drake, Mo., and Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Chamois, Mo.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
The differences within the so-called ‘Western’ text have usually been overshadowed by the reason for four Gospel accounts, with three of them extremely similar. The significant differences in manuscripts such as Codex Bezae have been described as differences either before or after the other manuscripts. Did the early church really care about the details of Jesus? This sectional proposes an early Jewish-Christian reason for such manuscripts and sees those differences as halakhic and haggadic perspectives of Jewish interpretation, with the four prohibitions described in the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15) as a type of conciliar agreement based on the all-important Pentateuch and giving permission for the four Gospel accounts to be given out. Connections may be made in much the same way to the four living creatures in Scripture (Ezek. 1; Rev. 4). The early church cared for all people and gave each one of them the reliable words of Jesus in a fourfold and loving way.
Sieck 101
Lamenting Toward Hope: Peculiar Speech in a Changing World
Drew Oswald
STM Student, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2:15-3 p.m.
The ways the church speaks shape her hope. While the church uses many forms of speaking, she has not often used the biblical language of lament in worship or preaching. Too often her hope is stunted. A rapidly changing context allows space for the recovery of lament in corporate worship and preaching, allowing the church to clarify her hope. Recovering a biblical language of lament would allow the church to aim her hope even more sharply, rather than, as Walter Brueggemann puts it, “…to accept the world’s possibilities as the only chance for the future.” This sectional will explore the biblical and theological themes of lament, provide options for a Lutheran theology of lament and propose a regular practice of lament in worship and preaching. Specific attention will be given to the corporate practice of lament. Through these practices, the church can shape her language and her hope toward “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”
Loeber 2
Sectionals 4
Herman Sasse: A Confessional Response to Sectarianism
Dr. John Pless
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
Hermann Sasse (1895-1976), a German Lutheran theologian who spent the last decades of his life in Australia, is remembered for his staunch adherence to the Lutheran Confessions over and against theological liberalism and unionism in the 20th century. It was precisely his unflinching commitment to the Lutheran Confessions that prompted him to reject sectarian isolationism. Sasse has been described as a confessional ecumenist and an ecumenical confessionalist. This presentation will focus on Sasse’s understanding of the catholicity of the Lutheran Confessions and the responsibility that Lutherans have in joyfully making this confession to the whole church.
Werner Auditorium
A Lutheran Approach to Institutional Evils
Christian Dollar
Ph.D. Student, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
Institutional evils, and the variable strategies designed to address them, have captured the political and cultural focus of Americans like never before. Such concern has also found root within the church. Unfortunately, many of the most popular strategies for correcting these evils are employed in ways antithetical to the Christian moral vision. Moreover, these strategies are often directed against institutions that Christians rightly celebrate. How is a Christian to distinguish between an actual instance of evil institutionalized and those trends rooted simply in the desires of the world? And once identified, how should she go about faithfully engaging these institutional evils through her words and actions in a theologically responsible way? This sectional will explore how Martin Luther employed the doctrine of the three estates to address the institutional evils of his day. For Luther, the three estates were the ecosystem of human life and the context in which vocations were fulfilled. As God-ordained realities, the estates framed human life both individually and institutionally according to a divine pattern and mutual creaturely support. Strategies of engagement will be drawn from Luther’s use of the three estates with which congregations and individuals may challenge institutionalized evils. It is not difficult to see that the world is not as it should be, but the Lutheran church has in her own tradition practical and timely resources available for Christians to challenge the evils of today.
Sieck 101
Embodied Superintendence: The Person of the Preacher and the Cultural Identity
Rev. Dennis Matyas
Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Bay City, Mich.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
The current homiletical world is rife with identity politics and intersectionality, yet modern Lutheran engagements tend to be ships passing in the night. This sectional will situate considerations of the person of the preacher as a historical and foundational Lutheran homiletic whilst maintaining faithfulness to the authority of the Word and the proclamation of the Gospel. A theoretical consideration called “Embodied Superintendence” will be offered that centers the preaching task of the Gospel of Jesus Christ while allowing cultural identity to be formative in helpful ways: holding to the Lutheran belief that God is speaking through the preacher, considerations of his cultural identity can form and inform the ways in which the preaching task is effected, particularly in regards to the preacher’s study and preparation, character and personality.
Wyneken 206
To Begin at Home: An Exploration of Intellectual Hospitality in the Word of Martin Franzmann
Rev. Matthew Borrasso
Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lexington Park, Md.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
Anthony Thiselton once rightly remarked that “too often we attack or defend before we have genuinely understood.” If there is any quote that sums up the current state of discourse in the world today it is that one. The practice of extending intellectual hospitality is sorely needed in public and private discourse, both inside and outside the church. By observing the work of Martin Hans Franzmann, Lutherans can understand practically what intellectual hospitality is and why it matters publicly, privately, ecclesiastically and academically. This presentation will contextualize instances of humility and the extension of intellectual hospitality displayed in Franzmann’s ecclesiastical and academic work. It will explore the concept of intellectual hospitality and make an appeal, influenced by Franzmann, for the proliferation of this practice.
Wyneken 205
The Never Married: Developing a Vocabulary for and about Singleness
Jacob Rhodes
STM Student, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
The 2022 census revealed that out of the current U.S. population, 34.1% of people over 15 years of age are classified as “never married.” This is a 7% increase from the beginning of the century. How does the church talk to and about this large portion of the current population? How do the Scriptures speak about the single life? How has the church spoken about the never-married through her history to the present day? This sectional will provide a beginning vocabulary of singleness for the church by answering these questions. A vocabulary that will enable the church and her ministers to faithfully witness to this portion of our country.
Loeber 2
One Vote Makes an Eternal Difference: How Lutherans Should View the 2024 Elections
Rev. Michael Hanson
Pastor, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Green Bay, Wis.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
The American liturgical calendar calls for another holy day of obligation in 2024, and, as always, the urgency of your sacred vote will be solicited round-the-clock given our 24-hour news cycle. Endorsements have already begun, it will only be a matter of time until the unsolicited “Christian voter guides” begin appearing, and between the pundits on television, and the pressures to join in the voices and topics of the elections from the pulpit, pastors had better be prepared. This sectional provides an alternative view for pastors to present to their parishioners to prepare them to faithfully engage our nation in a volatile time with the hope of a distinctly Lutheran outlook.
Presidents Room
J. G. Hamann’s Theology of History and Contemporary Genealogies of Modernity
Rev. Adam Carnehl
Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Randolph, N.J.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 3:15-4 p.m.
The religious, social and aesthetic fragmentations of the current era challenge Christians to find creative paths in the world. This presentation will argue that Johan Georg Hamann (d. 1788) offered a theological grammar to discern such a path. The key to this grammar is the coincidentia oppositorum — the coincidence of opposites — which he apprehended through the communicatio idiomatum in Christ — that what is divine participates in what is earthly and vice versa. Hamann understood that the coincidentia oppositorum did not only take place in the incarnation but also reflects how God is in creation. God is so far outside categories that human attempts to delineate Him in systems and theologies are hopeless, but He is simultaneously so close to human beings as to be present within each detail of the created order. Hamann’s theological grammar overcomes many of the philosophical and theological aporias of our late-modern and postmodern world. This sectional will place Hamann’s theological grammar into conversation with such contemporary figures as Löwith, von Balthasar, Taylor and Milbank, to show how his work may lead Christians toward a free community that mirrors the image of God in love, work and rest.
Wyneken 204
Additional Continuing Education Opportunities
Faith and Writing Workshop
Concordia Seminary’s “Faith and Writing” workshop explores various forms of creative writing — starting a blog, creating a sermon or devotion, “traditional” forms of creative writing (story, nonfiction, drama, poetry) — and everything in between.
Lay Bible Institute
Calling lay people, students involved in homiletical education, pastors and others interested in the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world: the Lay Bible Institute is for you!
Multiethnic Symposium
The Seminary’s annual Multiethnic Symposium brings together Lutherans and mission leaders of various ethnicities from across the country for workshops, discussions and worship.
Pre-Lenten Workshop
The Pre-Lenten Workshop includes sermon manuscripts, textual notes, orders of service for midweek services and also suggestions for the Sundays of Lent to help pastors in developing their own worship resources.
Workshop Series
Hosted by congregations across the country May through August, and led by Seminary faculty, these workshops offer an opportunity to delve deeply into topics ranging from the teachings of Martin Luther to pastoral tools, such as preaching, responding to conflict and teaching confirmation.