Join us February 24th, 7 pm on Zoom for a presentation from Ole Schenk on Lutheran Liberation theology and vocation.

Zoom link: https://luthersem.zoom.us/j/304275262
Meeting ID: 304 275 262

Saved by grace through faith, through no works of our own. Saved by Christ’s work for us and the power of the Holy Spirit. These are familiar core beliefs of Lutheran theology. What and how can they speak with a liberation theology tradition that understands working for justice as essential to Christian faith?

Ole Schenk will offer some insights he felt changed him from the teachings of Brazilian theologian Vítor Westhelle, particularly as they relate to the topic of vocation. Ole’s conviction is that vocation is a key meeting point between Lutheran and liberation themes.

About the presenter

From the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, Ole Schenk came to Chicago first through serving in the Young Adults in Global Mission program of the ELCA. Ole attended seminary at LSTC where he met and married his husband Troy Medlin. Ole enjoys singing in choirs, reading theology, lively conversation, and longs for a church as faithful in preaching the gospel as it is in taking risks to welcome the stranger and to love the neighbor.

About the theologian

Vítor Westhelle (1952-2018) was for many years professor of systematic theology at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Before and during his studies at the University of Chicago and LSTC, Westhelle had served as a pastor active in the Pastoral Commission for Land issues in Brazil (Comissão Pastoral da Terra—CPT), an ecumenical organization that responded to the ongoing crises of forced evictions and landlessness of subsistence farmers. Among Westhelle’s many books and articles include The Scandalous God and “Labor: A Suggestion for the Way of the Christian.”