Concordia Seminary will host the first of its events in the Reformation500 speaker series to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 by hosting a lecture on March 21, 2012, from 9:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. This event is co-sponsored by Lutheran Quarterly, Concordia Seminary, and the Center for Reformation Research.

Dr. Oswald Bayer, professor emeritus of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen in Germany, will speak on “A Public Mystery.”

In the turbulent ebb and flow of contemporary trends in the public square of all Western societies, the Word of God, which remains forever (Isaiah 40:8), cuts through the din and clamor of competing claims for allegiance and clashing interpretations of reality. Bringing divine judgment and God’s promise into a world agonizing over the mystery of evil in all its forms, God’s Word, with power also clothed in mystery, transforms the way we think and live.

Dr. Oswald Bayer is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen in Germany. He is particularly engaged in research on Martin Luther and the late eighteenth century critic of the Enlightenment Johann Georg Hamann, and serves as the academic leader of the Luther Academy Sondershausen-Ratzeburg. He is also an ordained pastor of the Lutheran Church of Württemberg and was the editor of Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie from 1986-2006. His life’s work has been the exploration of the often polemical engagement of Reformation theology with modern thought. He is particularly concerned to ascertain the place and task of Lutheran theology in our time. This intention is paradigmatically apparent in his book, Johann Georg Hamann as a Radical Enlightener, recently published by Eerdmans. His Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation has been published in German, English (translated by Concordia University, St. Paul professor Thomas Trapp), Portuguese, and Chinese. Vitor Westhelle lauds Professor Bayer as “[o]ne of the most significant and original Lutheran voices of this generation, in both historical and systematic theology.”

To download a brochure for this event, click here.

This lecture is free of charge and open to the public. Registration is not necessary. For more information, please contact continuing education at 314-505-7486 or email [email protected].