Luther Academy of the Rockies 50th Anniversary

2019 LAR Faculty

REV. DR. ANN FRITSCHEL

“Stewardship for the Next Generation”

We will look at holistic understandings of stewardship that may help millennials and generation Z engage in the vocation of stewardship and assist congregations in their ministries. Topics will include the stewardship of creation, finances, Lutheran traditions and congregational history.

Professor Ann Fritschel, a Wartburg Seminary graduate, celebrated her 30th anniversary of ordination in 2016. After serving churches in Dickinson, Mohall and Hamerly N.D., she got her Ph.D. from Emory University and joined the Wartburg Faculty in 1996. With a strong interest and passion in rural ministry, she also serves as the Director of the Center for Theology and Land. Another passion of hers is a holistic understanding of stewardship. She enjoys traveling, reading and needlepoint.

REV. DR. CARMELO SANTOS

“Thinking About God in The Age of Brain Science:

Musings for a Critical Liberation Theology of The Brain”

We will explore what brain and cognitive scientists are saying about the way the brain represents reality to itself and how religious narratives and rituals have the potential to shape, positively or negatively, the way people perceive reality and engage in meaningful action in the world. We will also explore how theology does not have to be a passive recipient of scientific knowledge but rather can be an active (critical and constructive) dialogue partner with the sciences of the Brain/Mind in the common project of plumbing the depths of the mystery of what it means to be human. Finally, we will end by imagining how theology and the sciences of the mind/brain can work together to inform a more effective praxis of the faith and guide our commitment for the liberation of the poor and oppressed and the flourishing of life in our planet.

Carmelo is a professorial lecturer at Georgetown University and Senior Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Synod (ELCA). He specializes on the dialogue between Science and Theology, specifically between the Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Theological Anthropology and Pneumatology. He also teaches in the areas of Liberation, Decolonial and Latin American Lutheran theologies. He received his M.Div., Th.M. and Ph.D. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where he wrote his dissertation, Symptoms of God’s Spirit? A Dialogue Between Pneumatology and the Cognitive Sciences, under the supervision of Antje Jackelén, the current archbishop of the church of Sweden. As a pastor, Carmelo is actively involved in the immigrants rights movement and was invited last year to speak at the U.S. Senate as expert witness on the theological and ethical reasons for the opposition of faith communities to the separation of children from their parents as part of the U.S. Immigration policy. He just finished a term serving as the editor of the journal of Lutheran Ethics and Director of the ELCA Theological Roundtable. Carmelo lives in Arlington, VA where he shares his life with his wife, Jennifer, their two kids, their dog and fish.

REV. MICHAEL L. BURK

”Musings of a Bishop Embarking on his Last Year of Service”

Grounded in the gathering of God’s people around the means of grace and informed by scripture, Bishop Burk will attempt to drive home his/our conviction that the church’s singular mission is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Rev. Michael L. Burk is bishop of the Southeastern Iowa Synod of the ELCA. He is a graduate of Wartburg College, Wartburg Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and the University of Iowa (MA and Ph.D. in American Studies). Prior to his election in 2008, he served as the ELCA Executive for Worship and Liturgical Resources. He was granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Wartburg Theological Seminary in recognition of his evangelical leadership. Bishop Burk contributes to the ELCA’s advocacy efforts on matters related to hunger and poverty and he has served as the Vice Chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops.