wfn.org | LWI 2009-020 Augsburg Mayor Welcomes Participants at LWF International Consultation

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Augsburg Mayor Welcomes Participants at LWF International
Consultation
City’s Past Bequeaths Responsibilities for the Future

AUGSBURG/GENEVA 25 March 2009 (LWI) - In a welcoming address on
25 March in the Golden Hall of the Augsburg town hall, the deputy
mayor of the city of Augsburg, Hermann Weber, called it "a
special honor" to greet the participants of the international
consultation "Theology in the Life of Lutheran Churches:
Transformative Perspectives and Practices Today."  

On behalf of the Lord Mayor Dr. Kurt Gribl, Weber welcomed the
approximately 120 theologians to Augsburg, where the gathering is
being held on 25-31 March under the joint auspices of the
Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) and the Institute for Protestant Theology of the
University of Augsburg. 

Augsburg’s past is intimately intertwined with the history of
the church and with that of both Catholics and Lutherans, Weber
observed. From this past, he said, "we have inherited
responsibilities for the future." As a result, Augsburg could
rightly be considered itself the city of ecumenism, especially
because it was there, on 31 October 1999, that the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed. 

Ecumenism was even a feature of the urban landscape, Weber
pointed out, for it was common in Augsburg to see Protestant and
Catholic churches standing side by side. It was a great honor for
the city of Augsburg that, in the year of the tenth anniversary
of the signing of the Joint Declaration, theologians from all
over the world were gathering there to explore "new perspectives"
for Lutheran theology. 

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

>*        *          *

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on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
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of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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