Symposia Papers

I appreciate going to the Ft. Wayne Symposia each year, though some years are better than others. This year I found many of the papers helpful and am looking forward to reading them when they are posted online. Over the next few weeks, I hope I will have some time to reflect on them and post some comments. However, when the papers are posted, the ones I recommend reading are (in no particular order) the two from Dr. Gathercole, Dr. Gibbs, Dr. Gieschen, Dr. Nordling, Dr. Masaki, and Dr. David Scaer. If you want to read a very provocative paper, read Dr. Root. His challenge to the construction of 20th century Lutheranism is thought provoking, and there are some things I both agree and disgree with in his presentation. (I was not able to hear the first two papers, by Dr. Maier and Dr. Peter Scaer, so I cannot speak to them.)

I was disappointed that attendance continues to decline. There are a couple of reasons for this, I think. One is that some guys are disgruntled with the seminary administration and the direction the seminary has been going, and so show it by staying home. They believe attending is a sign of support for the seminary. I don't think that is true, and don't want to impoverish myself from the learning I receive there. And while I also do not agree with everything going on, neither do I know the whole story, and I am still willing to "put the best construction" on things. The second reason folks have been staying away (I believe) is that in recent years the presentations had gotten too "esoteric" and were not enough directly addressing the needs of the Church. I think that changed this year, and I hope we will continue in a better direction.

All in all it was a good week.