Centers and Programs

Center of Christian-Muslim
Engagement for Peace and Justice

For many years LSTC has used Chicago’s many cultures and various faiths to teach students how to witness to God’s love in Christ Jesus while understanding and respecting the faiths of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and neighbors from other faith traditions. The seminary has long been teaching courses on Jewish contributions to Christian thought and since 1991 has offered courses on Islam and Christian-Muslim relations. Over the years, LSTC has been privileged to welcome Muslims from around the world who come to study for advanced degrees with concentrations in interfaith studies.

LSTC was chosen for this unique interfaith exchange because of its excellent faculty, its diverse urban setting and the resources available through LSTC’s relationship with the Hyde Park Cluster Seminaries and the University of Chicago. The events of September 11, 2001 have only demonstrated the importance of these endeavors.

Thanks to a generous gift, LSTC is able to enhance these efforts and move into a deeper, more intentional and sustained relationship with the Muslim community. September 2006 marked the establishment of the Harold S. Vogelaar Chair in Christian-Muslim Studies and Interfaith Relations and the inauguration of a Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice.

The primary work of the Chair and Center is to foster and deepen relations between Christians and Muslims, and in doing so to make significant contributions to the larger purpose of promoting peace and building bridges of mutual understanding, cooperation and respect among people of all faiths. A strong core of classes in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations will routinely be offered, with other courses offered to supplement them.

In addition, courses in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations are available at other ACTS schools. These offerings provide many opportunities for students who wish to take a course or two in Christian-Muslim relations or for students seeking a concentration in Christian-Muslim studies.

| Go to Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice web page |

Multicultural Center

LSTC has been committed to multicultural theological education and church leadership since its founding. Approximately half of the seminary’s Ph.D. students, as well as a significant number of doctor of ministry, M.A., and M.Div. students, are international students and students of color in the United States.

In 2006, LSTC received a three-year grant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to create a new Multicultural Center to recruit, form and accompany candidates from five ethnic groups for professional leadership in the church. The Multicultural Center will assist the ELCA fulfill its vision of a multicultural church by providing leadership for expanding ministry to the Latino, African Descent, Asian
Pacific Islander, Arab Middle Eastern, and American Indian and Alaska Native
communities.

This new partnership comes out of a long and productive relationship between LSTC and the ELCA and the commitment of both to preparing multicultural leaders for the church.

The director for the center will work with the ELCA Vocation and Education unit, the Multicultural unit and other units to create partnerships and new networks to provide better access to theological education for communities of color.

The goals of the Multicultural Center include developing and strengthening lay schools
of theology for African Americans, Latinos, Chinese, and Arabs in large cities in Illinois,
Wisconsin, and Iowa. It will encourage partnerships between LSTC and the Lutheran
Seminary Program in the Southwest, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and the Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta. The Center will strengthen the Latino doctor of ministry and Ph.D. programs at LSTC. It will assist with recruitment of students of color for all degree programs at LSTC and provide assistance, support and mentoring for them at the seminary.

Zygon Center for Religion and Science
(website: www.zygoncenter.org )

The Zygon Center for Religion and Science (ZCRS) was established in 1988 as a partnership program of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and the Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science (CASIRAS). “Zygon” is a Greek word meaning “yoke,” which describes the goal of ZCRS to bring together scientists, theologians and other scholars to discuss and carry out research on basic questions and issues of human concern. The center is the culmination of 20 years of effort by the seminary through the work of its faculty members.

The ZCRS program is led by a team of scientists and theologians drawn from the Chicagoland area and across the nation. Professor Ralph Wendell Burhoe, 1980 winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, helped establish the center and provided the endowment for the maintenance of ZCRS and its programs. He was a senior associate until his until his death in 1997. Philip Hefner was the first director of ZCRS. Antje Jackelén served as director from 2003 through spring, 2007. Gayle Woloschak is the current director.

The Zygon Center is dedicated to relating religious traditions and the best of scientific knowledge in order to gain insight into origins, nature, and destiny of humans and their environment, and to realize the common goal of a world in which love, justice, and
responsible patterns of living prevail. The overall program of the Center takes shape in
research, teaching and outreach.

Research is undertaken by associates of ZCRS as well as visiting scholars, both
individually and in small groups. Conferences and workshops support the research effort, bringing top scholars in the field of religion and science together to reflect on significant questions. The center also houses the editorial offices of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, the leading refereed academic English-language journal in its field. Teaching takes the form of various levels of coursework, and guiding students, especially doctoral students, in special projects. M.A. and M.Div. students can sign up for the Emphasis in Religion and Science, which is offered at LSTC through ZCRS. This emphasis builds competency in various facets of the dialogue and lays the groundwork for future ministry and scholarship.

“The Epic of Creation” is a 12-week lecture series offered annually by ZCRS. It is open
to the general public and may be taken for course credit by ACTS students. Scientists and biblical scholars present theories/stories of creation from their particular perspectives. The course concludes with a theological interpretation of the various creation stories in a context of the centuries-old dialogue between science and theology.

At the doctoral level, ZCRS annually organizes the Advanced Seminar in Religion and
Science, which attracts faculty members from institutions across the Chicagoland area. The topic changes each year, offering fresh ideas with each new seminar. In addition to formal classroom work, teaching is done through the Hyde Park Religion and Science Society, a student group that meets bi-weekly and offers students a chance to present research, discuss ideas, and interact with top scholars in the field on a more personal level.

Outreach is also an integral part of the center’s mission. The annual HIV/AIDS
workshop reaches out to medical and religious professionals in the community. While the Epic of Creation engages beginners to the field, the Advanced Seminar offers the highest level of scholarship. ZCRS also publishes a newsletter, ZCRS: News and Views, which details the center’s yearly projects and overall work. In addition, the student society reaches out into the student community of neighboring seminaries and schools.
The Zygon Center is a coalition of scholarship, education, and community outreach.
ZCRS and its students use the resources of the member seminaries of ACTS, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University.

For further information, please contact the ZCRS, at zcrs@lstc.edu or 773-256-0670.

Chicago Center for Global Ministries

(website: www.chicagocenterglobalministries.com)

In 1993, the Catholic Theological Union (CTU), LSTC, and McCormick Theological
Seminary formed the Chicago Center for Global Ministries (CCGM), an ecumenical agency that coordinates the resources for cross-cultural ministries, religious diversity and the study of world Christianity and global mission for the three seminaries.

This center ensures that a coordinated series of courses in cross-cultural studies, world
mission, world Christianity and global mission, ecumenism, and interfaith dialogue is offered each year in Hyde Park. It also fosters the professional development of the persons teaching in these areas and increased sensitivity among all the members of the faculty.

The Center assists faculty in designing research projects and serves as a resource to internal committees and supporting denominations in matters of globalization. Dr. Ogbu U. Kalu of McCormick Seminary is the Director of CCGM. Dr. José Rodríguez is the Associate Director from the Lutheran School of Theology and Dr. Edmund Chia is the Associate Director from the Catholic Theological Union.

More information about CCGM is available from its offices at:

5420 S. Cornell
Chicago, IL 60615
Telephone: 773-753-2564
E-mail: ccgm@ctu.edu

World Mission Institute
Each spring LSTC hosts a World Mission Institute sponsored by CCGM.
The following is a list of recent Institute themes:

• Global Eco-justice: The Church's Mission in Urban Society
• Mission Among Disposable People: Ministry Among Refugees and Immigrants
• Inter-religious Pilgrimages: Where Are They Taking Us?
• The Bible in a Multicultural Context
• Religious Faith and National Allegiance
• The Challenges and Possibilities of the Multi-Cultural Congregation/Parish
• Religion and Media Technology: Resources and Challenges

Summer Missionary Orientation
Every summer since 1990, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) have conducted an annual joint, cross-cultural missionary orientation on the LSTC campus for over 100 missionaries and their families. In recent years the Episcopal Church and the Volunteer Missionary Movement of the Roman Catholic Church have also been participants.

Eleanor and Arnold Scherer Endowment Fund
This fund, in memory of the parents of James A. Scherer, professor of missions and church history emeritus, endows an annual lectureship at LSTC dealing with some aspect of the church’s worldwide mission, missiology, or the life of the world Christian community. This fund also underwrites some costs of participation by LSTC students, including international students, in study seminars or conferences on the church’s global mission.

This webpage was last modified on Feb. 13, 2008

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