The committee has developed a three-year sequence they are calling “Living Together in the 21st Century.” The sequence began in 2006 with lectures by the current and former presiding bishops speaking on “Living Together in the 21st Century: As Lutherans in the ELCA.” In 2007 the topic was “Living Together in the 21st Century: The State of the Bible in North America.” The sequence will conclude in 2008 with a series on “Living Together in the 21st Century: The Lutheran Vocation in World Christianity.”

Two prominent lecturers (an evangelical and a Roman Catholic) each traveled individually to four of our ELCA seminaries between February and May. At each seminary they delivered two lectures (each roughly 45 to 60 minutes in length) on the following topics:

• Lecture 1:  A theological discussion of “the state of the Bible” from the lecturer’s point of view.
• Lecture 2: What import this state of the Bible has for Lutherans.

In addition, at each site a Lutheran theologian was selected by that seminary and presented a third lecture in which he/she offered a response.