CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will host pastors, rabbis, religious educators, youth leaders and lay people for a seminar March 30 on the presence and absence of God in the midst of suffering. Christian and Jewish scholars will examine Job -- a book in the Hebrew Bible and in the Christian Old Testament -- at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
The 13th Jewish-Christian Seminar will be an opportunity to see how the different faiths and traditions look at the same biblical text. It will include a panel discussion of how the story of human suffering is interpreted in American Indian and African American communities and the helping professions.
Rabbi Joseph Edelheit and the Rev. Paul R. Sponheim will lead a session that includes guidelines for interfaith Bible study. In Minneapolis, Edelheit taught at Augsburg College, a college of the ELCA, before becoming senior rabbi at Temple Israel in 1992. He is a member of President Clinton's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. Sponheim joined the faculty of Luther Seminary in 1969 and was named professor of systematic theology in 1974.
Luther Seminary, the Jewish Community Relations Councils of Minnesota and the Dakotas, and the ELCA regional task force on Jewish-Christian Relations will sponsor the event. It is partially funded by a grant from the Jewish-Christian Relations Committee of the Minnesota Council of Churches.
For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
- - -
About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
