Lutheran Historical Conference Newsletter

Vol. 40, No. 1 … February 2002 … ISSN 0460-0274

2002 Biennial Meeting: Program Preview

The Lutheran Historical Conference will meet in Saint Louis, Missouri, 17–19 October 2002 on the campus of Concordia Seminary. The Concordia Historical Institute is hosting the meeting.

The Program Committee is pleased to report that an excellent slate of papers has been proposed and accepted for inclusion in the program.

Under the conference theme, Re-Examining Conflict and Cooperation: Implications for Current Understandings of American Lutheranism, the LHC will attempt to move beyond the familiar, traditional retelling of American Lutheran history to new examinations of the implications of both conflict and cooperation for ongoing Lutheran church life in the 21^st century.

A diverse range of papers will examine, among other topics, the following:

The ecumenical ministry of Robert Miller, who in the rural South of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, was at one time Episcopalian, Methodist and finally a Lutheran pastor;
A fresh re-examination of Samuel S. Schmucker and his Definite Platform of the mid-19^th century;
Conflict and cooperation between the General Council and the General Synod in a “Context for the West” during the 1880s;
An examination of the history of Lutheran higher education, with particular attention to women’s experience;
The “Protes'tant Controversy” of the post-World War I Wisconsin Synod;
The “Lutheran left” in the mid-20^th century and its legacy today;
The ministry and life of the Rev. Robert E. Lee and his role in the civil rights ear of Atlanta and the southern church;
The effect of gender on foreign policy opinions within the Lutheran churches between 1964 and 1975.

These papers and other presentations will attempt to move us beyond the familiar and toward a focus on implications for churches today. The membership of the LHC is cordially invited to make plans now to attend this stimulating conference.

Susan W. McArver, Program Chair

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