Events

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago’s (LSTC) theme for Black History Month 2023 is Reparations: Educate, Liberate and Celebrate!

The event will feature an exhibition of Black art along with a gathering of the Lutheran BIPOC community including students, staff, alumni and members of the African Descent Lutheran Association to engage in a lively conversation on “Black Lutheranism and Reparations.”

Join us monthly for a free 30-minute Manz Organ recital at 12:15pm in the Augustana Chapel.

Walking with Jesus through the season of Lent 2023 invites preachers and audiences to proclaim the message of death and resurrection through the passion narratives in the gospels of John and Matthew. Yet, in a time of blatant anti-Semitism in the US, how might preachers handle the anti-Jewish undertones in the passion narratives?

Each Sunday live at 6:00pm CT, repeated Wednesday via a facilitated recording at 7:00pm CT

Martin Luther on the Holy Spirit and the Christian Life
Dr. Candace Kohli, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology

Do Lutherans shout justification and whisper sanctification? This question, posed by an Orthodox theologian and made (in)famous by Carter Lindberg, a former LSTC student, suggests an over emphasis on Christ and justification in Luther’ theology and its reception in modern Lutheranism.

Join us in-person or virtually on Thursday, March 9, 2023, for the annual World Mission Institute. The event will begin at 6:00pm with dinner followed by a program at 7:00pm.

In the last years, Christian churches have become more and more away of their complicity in the oppression and marginalization of indigenous peoples all around the world. Many churches have offered apologies, have lamented their sinful collaboration with colonialism, and have responded to calls to work for reconciliation and reparation. This 2023 World Mission Institute will feature Dr. Michel Andraos of St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, who will reflect on the work of the churches of Canada for Reconciliation with Canada’s First Nation People.

Join Mike Ward, author of Abundance: Creating a Culture of Generosity and Managing Partner of GSB Fundraising for a workshop and discussion, Friday, March 10, 9:00-11:00 a.m., about generosity and how to craft the best story that leads people to generosity.

Join us for a celebration of the music we’ve enjoyed and times we’ve shared together in the place we’ve called “home” for more than five decades.

On January 16, 2023, our community came together to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. around the theme: King and Chicago—Where Do We Go From Here? The Guest Preacher was Rev. Reginald Sharpe, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church, and music was rendered by The Keith Hampton Singers. Panelists included: June Porter, Dwight McKee, and Santita Jackson.

See photos from the event on LSTC’s facebook page.

Theme: Am I My Sister’s Keeper? Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Over the last two decades, dedicated Indigenous leaders, families, organizers, activists, and organizations have worked in vital ways to shine a light on the ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic – and the thousands of women and girls who have been disappeared or murdered on Turtle Island (North America). Today, the movement is growing, not only to bring awareness to the issue, but also to create change in governmental and law enforcement systems that will finally begin to bring justice and prevent more stolen relatives. We gathered to learn more about MMIW and the movement to bring justice for our Indigenous sisters and the families who miss them, and asked how the Church might start to support these critical efforts.

Watch the symposium here.

Reflections, Music, and Witness by Rabbi Anna Levin Rosen, Jewish Cantor, and Stanley Jenczyk

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago annually commits to the denunciation of anti-Semitism and now and in the history of our tradition seeks to join together people of all faiths in the work of the world’s mending, the healing of the nations.

This event was hosted in remembrance of a massive, coordinated attack on Jews throughout the German Reich on the night of November 9-10, 1938, which has come to be known as Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass.

Watch Rabbi Anna Levin Rosen’s moving reflection here.

The Fall LSTC Seminary Sampler took place in-person October 24-25, 2022. During this event, prospective students were offered the opportunity to meet faculty and fellow students; engaged in individual and group discussions about discernment; listened in on a Fall 2022 class; explored campus housing and opportunities in Chicago (for those interested in living on or near campus); and learned about the LSTC admissions process, including information about student services and financial aid.

At this event, members of the institution’s Antiracism Transformation Team presented and sought input on their Strategic Action Plan as we move the seminary towards becoming an antiracist institution.

We hope to create a space that welcomes critique and engenders vision and imagination for OUR shared LSTC.

The centers of LSTC came together to explore the neuroscience of implicit bias and to explore practical examples of how we might overcome such bias in our personal and congregational lives. The event explored theological perspectives, encouraged self-examination, and questioned our perceptions of “the other.”

You can find out more about the event’s guest speakers and their research here.

LSTC’s fourth annual Alumni Week and Homecoming festivities were celebrated October 10-14, 2022. All were invited to come to campus or join virtually as we honored and celebrated years of ministry and service, reminisced and reconnected with classmates, learned what’s new at LSTC, and engaged in special worship services and programs.

Check out photos from the event on LSTC’s facebook page.

The annual Scherer Lecture took place Tuesday, October 4, 2022 from 4-5:30 p.m. It was offered in person at LSTC and was livestreamed. The lecture explored the concept of “resurrectional cruciformity” — cross-shaped ministry infused with the power and presence of the risen Lord — as the shape of Paul’s own sense of mission. We explored certain Pauline texts in which Paul narrates how he seeks both to embody this spirituality and to see it embodied in the communities to which he writes. We then considered how this same spirituality is relevant for the contemporary mission of the church locally and globally.

The lecture was presented by Michael J. Gorman, who holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has taught since 1991. He has also taught or lectured throughout the U.S. and in Canada, New Zealand, and Africa. The author or editor of nearly twenty books and scores of articles, Dr. Gorman has devoted special attention to theological and missional readings of the New Testament, especially the letters of Paul.

Watch here.

The Zygon Center for Religion and Science welcomed Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for a lunchtime presentation (question and answer session following) on Tuesday, June 14 2022.

Dr. Prescod-Weinstin was recently awarded the LA Times Book Prize in Science and Technology for “The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred.” The book was a favorite read in LSTC’s seminar “Spiritualities of Knowing” during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Connect with the Zygon Center on Twitter for more information.

View more information about the event on facebook here.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) celebrated the class of 2022 (along with the class of 2020 and 2021) during graduation weekend, which took place May 14-15, 2022. This year’s commencement speaker was Dr. Paul Pribbenow, President of Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN. A reception followed in the LSTC Courtyard. The commencement program may be viewed in PDF form.

A baccalaureate service was held on Saturday, May 14, 4 p.m. Central Daylight Time, in the Augustana Chapel, and livestreamed  on LSTC’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

Watch a recording of the event here.

On Sept. 15, 2021, LSTC hosted a panel discussion on the overlap of Lutheranism and socialism, focusing on how socialist concepts apply to day-to-day ministry realities in the parish and in the world.

On April 27, 2022, a follow-up seminar focused on how pillars of Lutheran theology – theology of the cross, grace, sin, the priesthood of all believers, etc… – line up with socialist thought.  A “Lutheran socialist” sermon was shared, and then all panelists debriefed with audience members.

Speakers were Erin Coleman Branchaud (2018, MDiv), pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Logan Square; Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, professor of theological and social ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary; Tobita Chow (2017, MDiv), global labor organizer and director of Justice Is Global; Francisco Herrera (2016,ThM), Christian agitator and LSTC PhD student in world Christianity and global mission; Micah Uetricht, Lutheran PK, labor organizer, and deputy editor at The Jacobin. Angela Cowser, associate dean of Black Church Studies and doctor of ministry programs at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, was the moderator.

Review the event recording on LSTC’s Facebook page.

The Dalit history month public lecture was delivered by Dr. Monica J. Melanchthon on “Framing the Widow in the Hebrew Bible: An Intersectional Reading.” The lecture was given in the Augustana Chapel and via Zoom on April 26 from 5-6 p.m.

Abstract of the Content: The paper attends to intersectionality as a theoretical framework, its antecedents and use in Biblical studies in India today. It then employs the intersectional lens to call attention to a marginal category among women, namely the ‘widow’ or the vidhavā , (both Dalit and dominant caste) as she is portrayed within the Indian social structure and the ‘almânâ in the Hebrew Bible with particular focus on Tamar (Gen 38) and Judith to showcase the impact of intersecting identities.

Review the event recording on LSTC’s Facebook page.

It is Well was the theme of the 32nd Annual LSTC Gospel Choir Benefit Concert which took place Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 4p.m. It featured a special guest conductor and Gospel music legend, Dr. Loudella Evans Reid.

For more than 30 years, the annual concert has been a benefit for the Grover Wright Scholarship Fund and the Rev. Carole A. Burns Scholarship Fund. Since 1994, scholarships have been awarded to students of color supporting the education that undergirds their ministry.

Free will donations continue to be accepted – please make a gift here by choosing which scholarship(s) you wish to support.

Review the event recording on LSTC’s Facebook page.

LSTC is committed to learning and developing a plan towards the implementation of a set of four of the fourteen Recommendations for Theological Education and Leadership (pages 14-15), a resource adopted at the 15th triennial ELCA Churchwide Assembly on August 9, 2019. LSTC has adopted “Authentic Diversity” as one of the core initiatives of this year’s strategic plan and are excited about partnering with community members to design our next actionable steps.

Community members participated in LSTC chapel with a service dedicated to Trans Day of Visibility and an authentic diversity panel presentation, among other activities.

The annual World Mission Institute, a collaborative event offered by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, and Catholic Theological Union, took place March 10 at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

George Sabra, professor of systematic theology and president of the Near East School of Theology (NEST) Beirut, Lebanon, was the keynote speaker. Sabra’s keynote was titled “Mission in a Collapsed State: The Church and Theological Education in Lebanon and Syria.” Severe economic and nation-splitting political crisis have created an economic crisis unprecedented in the history of Lebanon since its independence in 1920. The keynote presentation examined the effects and consequences of the crisis on churches and theological institutions, addressed current responses of the Church, and explored the future mission and shape of the church and theological education.

Watch the event on McCormick’s Facebook page or on Vimeo.

LSTC hosted several events and services in celebration of Black History Month. Visit our Black History Month web page to review event recordings!

Special thanks to the Albert “Pete” Pero, Jr. and Cheryl Stewart Pero Center for Intersectionality Studies and LSTC faculty, staff and students of color for their leadership and support.

On January 17, LSTC presented “History, Hope, and King: Where Do We Go from Here Amid Times of Political Unrest, Voter Suppression, and COVID?”, a series of presentations led by Christian ethicists who took Dr. King’s 1967 sermon “Where Do We Go from Here?” and put its themes in conversation with current events. Speakers included:

• Linda Thomas (Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago)
• Reggie Williams (McCormick Theological Seminary)
• Stacy Floyd-Thomas (Vanderbilt Divinity School)
• Elyse Ambrose (Meadville Lombard Theological School)
• Michael Hogue (Meadville Lombard Theological School)

The event was virtual only and streamed on LSTC’s YouTube channel. Access the event using this link.

LSTC partnered with Other+Wise for the 13th Annual Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium on November 16 and 17, 2021. The theme for this year’s symposium was “On Our Way to Truth and Healing.” The symposium educates seminarians, church leaders, and allies about the work of Vine Deloria Jr. and about Indigenous culture, movements, and activism. This year, symposium content focused on the intersection between Indian boarding schools and Christian and theological education.

Please visit the LSTC Facebook video page to review presentations and sermons.

Alumni enjoyed opportunities to participate in classes taught by LSTC faculty plus presentations centering on equity, eco-healing, decolonizing Latinequis semantics, and more. Guest preachers led worship services each day. Special recognition was given to classes marking 10-, 25-, 40- and 50-year reunions with distinct gatherings for each, and celebrating our 2021 Distinguished Alumni Awardees was a final event of Homecoming.

Visit the 2021 Homecoming and Alumni Awards webpages for further details and follow-up links to recordings (coming soon!)

The Center for Advanced Studies in Religion and Science (CASIRAS) hosts quarterly lectures grounded in how science informs our religious understanding of the cosmos which God has created.

Guy Consolmagno, SJ of the Vatican Observatory, presented “Your God is too Small” on Friday, October 1.

Review the recorded livestream of the lecture on Facebook.

In partnership with McCormick Theological Seminary and Catholic Theological Union, LSTC offered the 2021 Scherer Lecture virtually on September 28, 2021 at 4 p.m. The lecture featured Dr. George Hunsberger, one of the founders of the Gospel and Culture movement. The Scherer Lecture, titled “Three innovators in mission: Lamin Sanneh, Lesslie Newbigin, and Dorothy Day,” focused on three Christians in our own day who brought creative innovation to the practice of mission. Watch the livestream of the 2021 lecture on the LSTC Facebook page.