Next month, LCMS theology professors will meet in Dallas to discuss the theme “Talking about Sin and the Wrath of God.”
The convocation continues what was begun at the first convocation in 2003 when the professors focused on the first article of the Augsburg Confession under the topic, “Confessing the Trinity Today.” Those papers were published in the July/October 2003 Concordia Theological Quarterly.
The 2005 convocation picks up with a topic based on Article II, on original sin.
Theology professors from Concordia University System schools and the Synod’s two seminaries are invited to the convocation “to discuss theology and work together on theological issues for the benefit of the church today,” said Dr. L. Dean Hempelmann, interim executive director of the Synod’s Board for Pastoral Education and a convocation planner.
This year’s topic is especially timely, Hempelmann said. “The world today discredits talk about sin. There is little or no notion of a wrathful God,” he said. “How can God’s law be taught and proclaimed effectively in today’s culture? Original sin is not a commonly held belief, but it is a primary confession of Lutherans.”
The convocation is funded primarily by a grant from the Marvin M. Schwan Charitable Foundation, with additional funding from the Synod’s Board for Pastoral Education and the LCMS Foundation.
Posted Jan. 27, 2005
