June 16, 2006
by Katherine R. Hinck

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) will inaugurate a Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice (CCME) Sept. 21. LSTC is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). According to an LSTC news release, the center will provide cultural and educational opportunities where Christians, Muslims and members of other faith traditions can meet in an atmosphere of trust and respect to address issues of mutual concern. The center is the outgrowth of relationships LSTC has been building with the Muslim community in Chicago for more than two decades.

The center's first conference, "Christians and Muslims Together: Owning Our Pasts – Visioning the Future," will be held Sept. 21- 23 at LSTC and the Chicago Cultural Center. CCME will periodically host guest speakers at LSTC and sponsor conferences and workshops for members of both faith communities. LSTC and the center will also work with the ELCA to form a Muslim-Christian panel similar to the ELCA panel on Lutheran-Jewish relations. The center will provide orientation programs for church workers and others who plan to live in primarily Muslim countries.

The center was made possible through the work of Dr. Harold S. Vogelaar, LSTC professor of world religions, and by gifts from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky, a Lutheran couple with an interest in interfaith relations, and the Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation.

Links

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago: http://www.lstc.edu/
eight seminaries: http://www.ELCA.org/theologicaleducation/seminaries/
Lutheran-Jewish relations: http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/interfaithrelations/jewish/index.html.

ELCA News Service
Katherine R. Hinck is a senior journalism and religion major at Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D. This summer she is an intern with the ELCA News Service.