Lutheranism & the Classics Conference

CTS to Host Classics Conference in October

Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne is set to host next month’s “Lutheranism & the Classics” conference on their campus Oct. 1-2.

The conference will strive to consider how the classical languages have influenced church, school, and home in the past, and how Greek and Latin are poised to enrich culture and civilization in both the present and the future.

The event is free of charge to Seminary students both at Fort Wayne and those in St. Louis, with the exception of the optional conference banquet Friday night. All wishing to attend the conference are asked to pre-register online at www.ctsfw.edu/classics.

Concordia Seminary President Dale Meyer will deliver one of the plenary papers at the conference entitled “Ridentem dicere verum: Horatian Satire in Preaching the Law.”

“My Greek and Latin teachers taught me to love the classics and to love that literature for its own sake,” Meyer shared. “Still, my younger years spent with the likes of Homer and Aristophanes, with Horace and Cicero and so many others have profoundly impacted my theological formation and service to the church. At this time of my life, I want to get back to a more active study of classics and welcome the conference as one way to do that.”

The conference will be presented in three separate tracks to specifically engage those in attendance. The tracks are broken up between an Academic track for Professional Lutheran classicists, a Classical Education track for educators, and a Concordia track for university faculty and students. Each of the tracks will be presented twice to give conference goers a broader depth of the material presented.

Throughout the conference, there will also be three worship opportunities, all of which will implement historical Latin in each of the services inside Kramer Chapel on the Fort Wayne campus.

According to the conference brochure produced by Rev. Dr. John Nordling, Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at CTS, “The conference is intended for homeschoolers, pastors, ‘classical’ educators (principals, teachers, parents), professional classicists, those who don’t know the ancient languages yet (but are fascinated by them), high school Latin students and their teachers, and collegians.”

During the two days of the conference, Nordling will also present his paper entitled “Teaching Greek at the Seminary: What’s Involved and Why Greek Remains Essential for the Ministry.”

Registration information, additional conference material, and suggested hotels can be found online at the conference website.

by Andrew Wilson; reproduced from the serial of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Around the Tower (Special edition, Sept. 2010, p. 4)