The Ecumenical Vision

Robert Schmidt Editorial Note: Under the auspices of the Campus Ministry Division of the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. (LCUSA) the author led twenty-five students from Canada and the United States to work on several farms in Zimbabwe in 1984 after the Rhodesian-Zimbabwe war.  The work there was coordinated by Lutheran World Service, the development…
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Arrogance Born of Ignorance

Harold Kitzmann Editorial Note: Harold Kitzmann relates some of his personal ecumenical experiences as he seeks to fathom the depth of the LCMS’s opposition to fellowship with other Christians. After graduating from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1964 and later returning there for his S.T.M., he received his M.Th. in 1979 and his Ph.D. from…
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The Church Catholic in Mission

Alston Kirk Editorial Note: Pr. Alston Kirk is a retired naval chaplain who here reflects on the opportunity to welcome all of Christ’s people to the mission of the church. Not only does this refer to lay people around us but it also includes those from different Christian traditions. From 1966 to 1994 Captain Al Kirk…
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Seven Roads and Seven Realities under an Ecumenical Rainbow

John George Huber Editorial Note: John Huber recently earned a master of arts degree in ecumenical studies (2001) at Bossey, the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches near Geneva, Switzerland, where, at 70, he was known as the “Village Elder.” A graduate of Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis, he spent his ministry as a…
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Why Do They Keep Coming?

Herbert Hoefer Editorial Note: Dr. Herbert Hoefer asks the pertinent question of why the dalits (or untouchables, as we used to call them) continue to come to the Christian faith even though they may have to suffer greatly for it. Dr. Hoefer indicates that our common faith provides dignity and worth to the most vulnerable…
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The Synodical Conference: Ecumenical Endeavor

The Synodical Conference: Ecumenical Endeavor by Armin W. Schuetze. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 2000. 470 pages. Cloth. Reviewed by William Hassold The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America was a significant endeavor by Lutherans in the United States as they sought to achieve theological and confessional unity in what was for many of them…
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Ecumenism and Our Identity

John Hannah Whenever we engage Christians who are not Lutheran, our own identity is challenged. We find ourselves asking questions like these: “Who are we as Lutherans?” “Where did we come from?” “Who were we?” “How did we get to be what we are now?” The late, great Jaroslav Pelikan is said to have invented…
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