Theology is a conversation. It involves speaking and listening, understanding and sharing understanding, and it consists of words written or spoken among two or more people for a specific purpose. In an evangelical faith community, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, theological conversations serve a purpose related to the Evangel, the message of good news in Jesus Christ that the Scriptures proclaim. In other words, evangelical theological conversation serves the full and free expression of the gospel in the life of the world.
Evangelical, Lutheran theology does several things. Participants in evangelical theological conversations attend to the goodness of the gospel message — the specific good that God does in Jesus Christ’s cross and resurrection. They also seek the language and actions that give the most winsome expression to this compassionate mercy and liberating hope.
In these conversations many questions need attention and many viewpoints are helpful. All participants have something to contribute. The resources available in the Theological Conversations section invite you into this conversation that serves the gospel’s free course in the life of the world.
