Events

On Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 29, the Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC) and the American Islamic College (AIC) are partnering together to offer the "Faith Over Fear" training, a training of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign. This training is for current LSTC and AIC students, as well as faith leaders in Chicago. It aims to reduce and to counter anti-Muslim bias, discrimination, and violence in the U.S. Persons from the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Re-Think Media, American Islamic College, and many national congregational leaders will lead this workshop.

Learn more and register for the event today! Registration closes January 26.

The Spring LSTC Seminary Sampler will take place virtually March 8-9. During this event, prospective students are offered the opportunity to meet faculty and fellow students, engage with LSTC alumni, explore LSTC housing and opportunities in Chicago (for those interested in living on or near campus), and learn about the LSTC admissions process, including information about student services and financial aid.

To learn more about the event and register, please visit our Vist LSTC webpage. All participants will receive a fun LSTC swag bag if registered by March 1!

Join us for the annual World Mission Institute, a collaborative event offered by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, and Catholic Theological Union, on March 10 at 7 p.m. At this time, the event modality has not been determined. Further details will be provided soon.

George Sabra, professor of systematic theology and president of the Near East School of Theology (NEST) Beirut, Lebanon, is the keynote speaker. Sabra's keynote is 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 will examine the effects and consequences of the crisis on churches and theological institutions, address current responses of the Church, and explore the future mission and shape of the church and theological education.

To learn more about the event and register, please visit our World Mission Institute webpage.

Annually, LSTC participates in a two-day fundraising event, hosted by the LSTC community with events offered virtually and in-person (as possible) that showcase LSTC's commitment to the development of leaders for the church and world. We appreciate your donation consideration during this event.

More information coming soon!

LSTC alumni and friends are invited to participate in the 2022 LSTC Middle East Travel Seminar, World of the Bible: Ancient Sites and Current Struggles in the Holy Land, hosted by Professors Klaus-Peter Adam and Barbara Rossing. The seminar is scheduled for Maymester this year, May 16-28, 2022 and will include a mix of students, alumni, LSTC leaders and friends.

Online and physical registration options are available. A $600 deposit is due by January 31. The tour price is a cash price, paid by check; 4% will be added for credit card or paypal or other. For more information or online registration, visit our tour web page or review the tour brochure.

While many Christian tours of the Holy Land focus entirely on the sites associated with the events and people of the Bible, this 13-day study tour does this and much more. Participants will visit key biblical sites in the Galilee (Nazareth, Capernaum, Magdala, Megiddo, Caesarea Philippi), Jerusalem (Temple Mount, Mount of Olives, Church of the Holy Sepulcher), Caesarea Maritima, and Bethlehem. We will dialogue with key persons and groups struggling for peace and justice today, and consider water resources from ecological and justice perspectives. In the best sense, this trip will be a pilgrimage for participants, because engaging “the world of the Bible” does indeed involve both ancient sites and current struggles, and how they are intertwined.

For further information, contact Barbara Rossing at brossing@lstc.edu.

Save the date for LSTC's fourth annual LSTC Homecoming, taking place October 10-14! Together, we will reminisce and reconnect with former classmates, learn what’s new at LSTC, engage in special worship services and programs and celebrate our many years of ministry and service.

More information coming soon!

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.