Twenty Lutheran theologians gathered at the Château Klingenthal outside of Strasbourg in mid-September for a colloquium on questions of Lutheran identity. The Institute is planning to a release a series of „theses“ on Lutheran identity in 2017 as a contribution to the Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, which will take place in Windhoek, Namibia, in May of next year.
The first set of these will address Lutheran identity as regards basic teachings of the faith. The second will move into questions of the unity of the church, and further sections will look at specific contexts and contemporary challenges for Lutherans and Lutheran churches today. The Klingenthal group drafted a template for the first two sections and sketched out the basics of sections three and four as well.
The theologians present at the meeting came from various Lutheran churches. The meeting itself was the result of close cooperation with the LWF’s Department for Theology and Public Witness, and Bp. Frank O. July from Stuttgart—who is both a Vice-President of the LWF and the Chair of the Institute’s board—participated in one day of the colloquium.
Over the next several weeks the text thus far will be developed and further revised. The Institute anticipates that at the beginning of 2017 a final text will be produced. The Institute wishes to express its special thanks to the Goethe-Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland, for once again extending such wonderful hospitality in Klingenthal.
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