News

St. Louis sem to host fall events

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is sponsoring several events in September. They include:

its first-ever “Alumni Homecoming” on Monday, Sept. 17. The daylong celebration — open to former students from all graduating classes of the seminary — begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and ends after a reception with faculty scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Forty half-price tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game that evening also will be available to homecoming participants on a first-paid, first-reserved, basis.
Other Homecoming activities include a morning chapel service; a visit with seminary President Dale Meyer; a tour of the new educational technology facilities, with a demonstration of online theological resources; and an opportunity to attend a class.
the annual “Day of Exegetical Reflection,” from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 17. This year’s event features papers by Professors Jeffrey Gibbs, Jeffrey Kloha, R. Reed Lessing, William Carr, David Adams, David Lewis, Bruce Schuchard, Timothy Saleska, and James Voelz. This year’s theme is “Current Trends in Biblical Studies.”
Participants at the Alumni Homecoming and the Day of Exegetical Reflection will begin and end the day together — with the morning chapel service and the afternoon reception with faculty.

“We really have two different schedule tracks running on Sept. 17 — one for the Homecoming activities, and one for the Day of Exegetical Reflection activities,” said Rev. Glen Thomas, assistant to the seminary president.

Participants at either event can attend all activities in one track, alternate between activities in both tracks, or attend any of the activities, he said.

There is no cost to attend the Homecoming or the Day of Exegetical Reflection, but registration is advised. Participants will be responsible for their own lodging and meal costs.

For more information about the Homecoming, contact Alumni Relations at (314) 505-7370 or alumni@csl.edu.

For information about the Day of Exegetical Reflection, contact Prof. Paul Raabe at (314) 505-7128 or raabep@csl.edu.
the ninth annual Hubert L. Dellinger Jr. Lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 18. The lecture, titled “Community Engagement in a Changing America,” will be given by Dr. Robert D. Putnam at 7 p.m. in the seminary’s Clara and Spencer Werner Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and a visiting professor at the University of Manchester in England. Among his many written works are the books Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000) and Better Together: Restoring the American Community (2003). He is currently researching the challenges of building community in an increasingly diverse society.

For more information about the lecture, contact Seminary Relations at (314) 505-7365 or semrelations@csl.edu.
the 18th annual Theological Symposium, Sept. 18-19, with the theme “Authentic Christianity and the Institutional Church: Time for a Change?” Putnam also is the scheduled main speaker at the symposium. His topic, as it applies to the theme, will be “the existing church and emerging church in collision and collaboration.”

Other plenary speakers and presenters on the program are Rev. Tim Conder, pastor of an international missional community in Durham, N.C., and Concordia Professors Charles Arand, David Peter, and James Voelz.

Ten sectional presentations also are on the symposium schedule.

Registration for the two-day Symposium is $110 per person, or $120 after Sept. 7 (no charge for full-time students and faculty of LCMS seminaries and colleges). Lodging and meals are extra.
a Witness Workshop, Sept. 19-20, focusing on “Missional Grammar.” Leading the workshop will be Dr. A.R. Victor Raj, assistant director of the seminary’s Institute for Mission Studies, who will discuss “four fundamental principles that distinguish a church in mission, drawing insights from Scripture, mission history, and the culture of our time.”

Registration is $35 per person. Meals are extra.

For more information about the Symposium or the Witness Workshop, contact the seminary’s Office of Continuing Education and Parish Services at (314) 505-7486 or ce@csl.edu.