From 4 to 10 September this year, the third international hermeneutics conference of the Lutheran World Federation took place at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, USA. Forty-four biblical theologians took part in the conference.
The theme of the conference was the reading of the Gospel of Matthew. Its aim was to create a space for a shared reading of the Bible among Lutheran theologians, in anticipation of the 2017 Reformation anniversary.
The lecturers examined various issues raised by both the global and the local context. The types of issues were varied – from healing to care for the environment, all the way to interreligious relations. Through the identification of these issues, one can then read the Gospel of Matthew hermeneutically, according to the Reverend Kenneth Mtata, study secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.
Brazilian theologian Dr. Felipe Gustavo Koch Buttelli noted that “the plurality of voices and interpretations is precisely what shapes our plural Lutheran community identity, which still confesses One Faith, but in different ways”.
Mtata emphasised that as the participants continued their deliberations, they gained a deeper affirmation that, despite the fact that contextual sensitivity is essential for applying the Scriptures today, there is still a need to find common interpretive tools in accordance with the insights of the Reformation.
Photo: LWF/ I. Benesch
LWF news http://www.lutheranworld.org
Aļesja LavrinovičaLWF/ I. Benesch