Epistle Magazine
Download the latest Epistle magazine [PDF]
Stories from 2019
LSTC receives affirmation of accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission
Earlier this week, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) received affirmation of accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), one of the school’s accrediting agencies. LSTC is proud to be a dually accredited seminary, fully accredited by its specialty accreditor, the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) since 1945, and by its regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) since 1982.
Read moreSara Trumm appointed Director of A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice
Sara Trumm was recently appointed Director of A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice (CCME). She served as Interim Director of CCME since July 2018 and as the center’s Program Coordinator since 2008. In Spring 2019 CCME completed a yearlong re-envisioning process.
Read moreTim Brown returns to alma mater LSTC as gift officer
The Rev. Timothy Brown has joined the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) Advancement staff as a major gifts officer. A talented preacher and communicator, he has spent the last 10 years as a pastor, and has led his own and other congregations through successful fundraising campaigns.
Read moreLSTC hires director of Advancement Operations
John Damer recently joined the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) staff as the seminary’s new director of Advancement Operations.
Read moreLSTC hires Director of Philanthropic Engagement
William “Bill” Myatt recently joined the Advancement staff at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) as the seminary’s new Director of Philanthropic Engagement.
Read morePhD student Denise Rector chosen for panel, forum attendance
In late July, Denise Rector, who began her PhD studies at the Lutheran School of Chicago (LSTC) this past academic year, will be part of a three-person PhD panel at the Association of Teaching Theologians (ATT) convocation at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. The theme of the convocation is “Unearned Privilege as Cheap Grace.”
Read moreClyde Walter appointed LSTC’s Vice President for Advancement
At its Spring meeting, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Board of Directors named Clyde Andrew Walter as Vice President for Advancement, effective July 1. Walter had been appointed by President James Nieman as interim Vice President last fall and has served in that capacity for the last ten months.
Read moreEric J. Kyle appointed Director of Contextual Education
Dr. Eric J. Kyle was appointed as Director of Contextual Education at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) starting July 1. As a regular member of the faculty, Kyle will administer and adapt a framework for contextual education that is integrated with LSTC’s public church curriculum.
Read moreLSTC awards Madres por la Paz the Community of the Cross Award
Madres por la Paz (Mothers for Peace), a group of mothers in Chicago’s Back of the Yards and Little Village neighborhoods who lost their children to gun violence, was awarded the Community of the Cross Award by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago on Sunday, May 19, during commencement ceremonies.
Read moreLSTC awards Vítor Westhelle the Confessor of Christ Award
At its 159th commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) presented its Confessor of Christ Award posthumously to the Rev. Dr. Vítor Westhelle, a valuable member of the LSTC faculty and international scholar and teacher who died May 13, 2018.
Read moreLSTC holds Baccalaureate, Commencement this weekend
On Sunday, May 19, Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray Jr., president of Chicago Theological Seminary, will speak at the Lutheran School of Theology’s commencement ceremony.
Read moreJohn Damm, pastor, professor, president, dies at age 92
The Rev. Dr. John Silber Damm, pastor, professor and seminary president, died May 4 in his assisted living apartment at Wartburg Place in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He would have been 93 years old on June 21.
Read moreStudent from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago chosen for Auschwitz fellowship
Carolyn “Care” Lawrence, a Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) MDiv student, is among the 14 seminary and divinity school students, and early-career clergy, chosen for the 2019 Seminary Program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE).
Read more‘Public Church, Public Youth,’ 2019 Lutheran Heritage Lecture
On Monday, April 1, Dr. Jeremy Myers, whose research and teaching focus on young adults and theology, will give the 2019 Lutheran Heritage Lecture at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), 1100 E. 55th St., Chicago. The free public presentation begins at 11:45 a.m. A light lunch will be provided.
Read more‘Dual belonging’ topic of 2019 World Mission Institute
Is it possible for people simultaneously to belong to more than one religious tradition? The 2019 World Mission Institute explores the theme of “dual belonging” at its annual gathering the evening of March 21 at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago. The Institute is free of charge and open to the public.
Read moreLSTC Lenten devotional invites reflection, action on climate justice
Students, alumni, faculty and staff of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) invite action and hope in a new Lenten devotional guide, ‘40 Days of Climate Justice,’ available as a pdf online.
Read moreJennifer Thomas among class of fund raising executives
The Rev. Jennifer Thomas, deployed gift officer/alumni relations at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, is among the recent class of Certified Fund Raising Executives (CFREs). She is one of 180 graduates who join more than 6,300 professionals around the world who hold the CFRE designation.
Read moreLSTC doctoral student Brach Jennings receives Eric W. Gritsch Memorial Fund Fellowship for Reformation Studies
Brach Jennings, a doctoral student in systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) has been awarded the Eric W. Gritsch Memorial Fund Fellowship for Reformation Studies for 2019. The $5,000 fellowship will support Jennings’s studies with Dr. Jürgen Moltmann in Tübingen, Germany, from April thru July 2019.
Read more‘Healing in Such a Time as This’ theme of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at LSTC
The Albert “Pete” Pero Jr. Multicultural Center at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) will host its ninth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on January 21 starting with worship at 11 a.m. in the Augustana Chapel at LSTC, 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago.
Read moreMemorial services scheduled for James Kenneth Echols, Gordon J. Straw
Memorial services have been scheduled at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), for James Kenneth Echols, 67, former president of the seminary, who died December 22, and Associate Professor Gordon J. Straw, 59, who died January 5.
Read moreLSTC sponsors training that addresses Islamophobia
Faith Over Fear training, to be held February 1-2 at the Mecca Center in Willowbrook, Ill., offers participants information about Islam and the opportunity to develop skills to address Islamophobia.
Read moreLSTC gives thanks for the life and witness of Gordon J. Straw
The Rev. Gordon J. Straw, Cornelsen Chair for Spiritual Formation at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), died at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill., on Saturday, January 5. In the fall of 2018, he was diagnosed with an aggressive lymphoma and died of complications related to his treatment. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn Soto Straw, and their daughter, Amanda.
Read moreJürgen Moltmann will co-advise LSTC student Brach Jennings’s doctoral studies
World renowned theologian Jürgen Moltmann has agreed to serve as co-advisor with womanist theologian and anthropologist Dr. Linda E. Thomas for Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) Ph.D. student Brach Jennings. Moltmann will serve on Jennings’s qualifying exam panel in February. Then Jennings will travel to Tübingen, Germany, to do an independent study with Moltmann from April through July related to Jennings’s upper-level field exams and doctoral dissertation.
Read more