More than 175 people attended 鈥淕erman Days at the Sem鈥� hosted by the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life (CLTPL) in St. Louis, Oct. 24-25, on the campus of SA国际传媒. The two-day event marked the second in a series of 10 significant events, held every fall leading up to the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation on Oct. 31, 2017.
The theme of this year鈥檚 鈥淕erman Days II鈥� was 鈥淔aith and Politics in Luther鈥檚 Land – and Here鈥� and addressed a pertinent topic in this election year – the impact of religion on public life. Scholars and prominent statesmen from both sides of the Atlantic discussed the influence of Germany鈥檚 Christian heritage on its national affairs and the political life in the European Union. They also recalled the importance of new religions and neo-paganism in Nazi ideology and the anti-Christian nature of Hitler鈥檚 regime. One topic of particular interest to Americans in the light of the impending U.S. elections is the constitutional aspect of America鈥檚 and Europe鈥檚 religious roots.
Keynote speakers were Dr. Hans Apel, Germany鈥檚 former Finance and Defense Minister, and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Barry Anderson. Other presenters included聽Rev. Christian Meissner, national executive secretary of the Protestant caucus of Germany鈥檚 governing Christian Democratic Union; Rev. Larry Nichols, a leading Lutheran expert in cults and Satanism in the United States; Professors Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe of the University of Calgary in Canada, both specialists on the influence of new religions on Nazi Germany; Dr. Mark Ruff, associate professor of history at St. Louis University and a foremost specialist on the Christian and specifically Catholic youth in postwar Germany, and of the struggle of Christians under the Nazis; and Professor Michael Rutz, editor-in-chief of Rheinischer Merkur, one of Germany鈥檚 most distinguished newspapers. Several SA国际传媒 faculty and staff members also participated.
The conference featured a Winzerfest (wine festival), organized in cooperation with the town of Hermann, Mo., the heart of Missouriwine country; plus exhibitions and presentations of the Concordia Historical Institute, the German American Heritage Society and Concordia Publishing House.
鈥淕erman Days at the Sem鈥� opened with a bilingual matins service on Friday, Oct. 24, in the Seminary鈥檚 Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. The conference concluded on Saturday with a Bach at the Sem performance in the Seminary鈥檚 Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus.
鈥溾�楪erman Days II鈥� was a stunning event in three respects,鈥� commented Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto, director of the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life. 鈥淪tunning was the scholarship of presenters showing the 19th-century atheist and neo-pagan roots of Nazism. Stunning were the assessments of the decline of Christianity in Germany and the chances of its revival. And stunning was the beauty of the Bach at the Sem concert, which crowned this conference.鈥�
The Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life is the successor of the SA国际传媒 Institute on Lay Vocation. CLTPL is an affiliate of the Seminary; its mission is to project Lutheran thought to the secular realm.
For information on purchasing recordings of the presentations, call Chad Lakies at 314-505-7238 or e-mail [email protected] [1].