wfn.org | LWI 2009-019 Theologians from Across the Globe Gather in Augsburg for Lutheran Consultation

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Theologians from Across the Globe Gather in Augsburg for
Lutheran Consultation 
Participants to Reconfigure Lutheran Theology for the Future 

AUGSBURG/GENEVA, 27 March 2009 (LWI) - "It is an overwhelming
experience to see so many people here from all over the world,
and all of them are Lutherans," declared Dr Bernd Oberdorfer,
professor of Protestant theology at the University of Augsburg,
in his opening address before an international gathering of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) on 25 March in Augsburg, Germany.
"This displays in a wonderful way that the Lutheran church is a
worldwide community," he remarked. 

The LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) is responsible
for the gathering, a global consultation entitled "Theology in
the Life of Lutheran Churches: Transformative Perspectives and
Practices Today," in collaboration with the Institute of
Protestant Theology of the University of Augsburg. The 25-31
March meeting with over 100 participants is the culmination of a
series of seminars and publications in the framework of the DTS
study program "Theology in the Life of the Church," which has
been ongoing since 2004. 

For Lutherans, coming to Augsburg in some sense means "coming
home," Oberdorfer observed. In his welcoming address, the
theologian retraced the political and theological history of the
city of Augsburg, with particular emphasis on the period of the
Reformation.  He felt the consultation afforded a wonderful
opportunity to search for "common answers to what it means to be
Lutheran in the world of the 21st century." 

According to DTS director Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist, the Augsburg
meeting is "probably the largest, and certainly the most diverse,
gathering of theologians that the Lutheran World Federation has
ever held." The challenge confronting contemporary theologians,
Bloomquist went on to say, is to truly practice theology within
the Lutheran communion. The consultation hopes to bring
participants to "engage in genuinely mutual ways and to
communicate with each other across contextual differences, and
thus to work together in reconfiguring Lutheran theology for the
future," she summarized. 

In his opening presentation, Dr Hans-Peter Grosshans, Professor
for Systematic Theology at the University of Münster, affirmed,
"I want to argue that perhaps there is not the one Lutheran
perspective all over the world, but that there is one theological
endeavor which binds and holds Lutherans together all over the
world." Grosshans, DTS Study Secretary for Theology and the
Church at the Geneva secretariat from September 2007 through
September 2008, further stated that there was a common way of
dealing theologically with the problems at hand and of
encountering the respective culture. 

More information on the LWF/DTS consultation "Theology in the
Life of Lutheran Churches: Transformative Perspectives and
Practices Today" is available at
http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DTS/DTS-TLC_Augsburg.html

>*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
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currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.5 million. The LWF acts
on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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