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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 10, 1999

LUTHERAN PASTOR TO HEAD JEWISH-CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE
99-225-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Peter A. Pettit, a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), became director of the
Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College,
Allentown, Pa., on Aug. 1.  Muhlenberg is a college of the ELCA.
     "The institute is unique in the world of North American
Lutheranism.  It is a privilege for me to be able to add my leadership
to a strong team of supporters at the institute," said Pettit.
     "We are entering the era when Holocaust survivors and the
liberators of concentration camps will no longer be available to us.
The Holocaust will cease to be an event directly accessible through
eyewitness testimony, and will become part of the of the history of
Judaism and Christianity.  How we tell that story, how we pass on its
significance, will be formed in important ways during this era.  We have
the chance, uniquely in this generation, to shape that transition," he
said.
     Pettit attributed the strength of the institute to its founding
director, the Rev. Franklin E. Sherman, associate for interfaith
relations in the ELCA's Department for Ecumenical Affairs, as well as to
the institute's volunteer leadership "in the areas of interfaith clergy
support, lay Jewish-Christian dialogue, youth education for diversity
and public witness to mutual respect and dignity.
     "In coming years we look to deepening our presence in student life
at Muhlenberg, to sharing our resources and strength with others around
the church and to contributing more fully to the work of
Jewish-Christian understanding around the world.  In addition, we hope
to make contributions in all areas of pluralism and diversity, building
on the strengths we have developed in doing the work of Jewish-Christian
understanding for the past decade," said Pettit.
     For many years, Jewish students have constituted about 20 percent
of Muhlenberg's student body.  The college is located within walking
distance of four synagogues and the Jewish Community Center which houses
a Holocaust resource library.
     "The commitment of Muhlenberg College to the life and future of
the institute speaks volumes about its understanding of the Lutheran
purpose in higher education.  Not only for Lutherans, nor certainly
restricted to any 'Lutheran' topics, but founded in the Lutheran
understanding of vocation, the college works through the institute, as
through all its arms, to serve our whole society with the tools to find
our place before God in peace with all creation," said Pettit.
     Since 1990 Pettit, 44, served as pastor of Hope Lutheran Church,
Riverside, Calif., and since 1993 he has been an adjunct professor of
biblical studies in Claremont, Calif., a satellite program of Pacific
Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.  He continues as North
American coordinator of The Osher Jerusalem Center for Religious
Pluralism, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem.
     Pettit was a Finkelstein Fellow of the University of Judaism, Los
Angeles, and director of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center,
Claremont, Calif.
     He has taught biblical Hebrew, Old Testament, Judaism and
interfaith relations in several capacities at the Claremont School of
Theology and Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif.;
California Baptist College, Riverside, Calif.; University of California,
Riverside; Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, Hebrew Union College-Jewish 
Institute of Religion, Los Angeles; and University of Judaism and
Continuing Education, University of California at Los Angeles.
     Pettit is a graduate of Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and Claremont Graduate
University.  He received his doctorate from Claremont Graduate
University in 1993.
     He and his wife Lynn are the parents of two daughters.

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