wfn.org | New titles published in "LWF Studies" series

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

"A Just Asia" and "Communion, Community, Society"

GENEVA, 30 July 1998 (lwi) - A Just Asia and Communion, Community, Society
are two new titles published in the "LWF Studies" series.

A Just Asia continues the series of consultations initiated by the Lutheran
World Federation Department for Theology and Studies (LWF-DTS) in the early
1990s. The consultations were organized in face of the political upheaval
of the late 1980s and began with the title A Just Europe. A Just Africa
followed. The current title in the series results from a seminar held in
Singapore, 26-29 Nov. 1996.

As described by LWF-DTS director, Viggo Mortensen, in his introduction, the
Singapore consultation's aim was to "show that today economic issues cannot
be divorced from environmental concerns." The question of a specifically
Lutheran approach to the issue of "economic justice" also played a
significant role in the discussions. "It is my conviction," Mortensen
writes, "that Lutherans have something special to contribute which I
believe to be a certain realism that is based on the knowledge that
whatever just measures we take we will neither justify ourselves nor
society." Together with introductory contributions, the book also contains
case studies from some Asian countries.

Communion, Community, Society marks the beginning of a new LWF-DTS project
launched in 1997 at a meeting in Geneva and being followed up by regional
consultations in India, Tanzania, Brazil, the United States and Sweden.

According to Wolfgang Greive, LWF-DTS study secretary for theology and the
church, "'communion' is a keyword in the present theological and
ecumenical, societal and political reflections, it is a focus common to
discussions in theology and social sciences." In face of the loss of
community experienced in different cultural contexts the question of the
precise understanding of "communion" and "community" needs to be addressed,
not least by the churches that understand themselves as being a communion.
The papers on the subject are gathered under six main headings: Theory and
Praxis of Communion; The Ecclesiology of Communion; Church and Society;
Identity and Community; Community in Different Cultures; and, Communion,
Community, Society - A Process in the Making.

Both publications in the LWF Studies series cost: USD 15, CHF 18 or DEM 20.
To order, please write to: LWF Office for Finance and Administration, Maya
Maugue, P.O. Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
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