Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary : 2004 Seminar
Participant Information
Institution Name: Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary
Key Contacts:
H. Frederick Reisz Jr., President
Michael Root, Academic Dean
Agneta Enermalm, Professor of New Testament
Robert D. Hawkins, Professor of Music and Worship
Nicholas K. Mays, Associate Professor of Contextual Education
Susan W. McArver, Assistant Professor of Educational Ministry and Church History
Key Contacts:
H. Frederick Reisz Jr., President
Michael Root, Academic Dean
Agneta Enermalm, Professor of New Testament
Robert D. Hawkins, Professor of Music and Worship
Nicholas K. Mays, Associate Professor of Contextual Education
Susan W. McArver, Assistant Professor of Educational Ministry and Church History
Brief Description of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, SC
The mission of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary is summarized in its mission statement:
Trusting in the Holy Spirit, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary educates faithful interpreters of Christ’s Gospel as servant leaders for God's mission in the world.
Centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, committed to the unity of the whole Church, and rooted in the historic Lutheran Confessions, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary forms women and men for ministry in the Church who are alive in faith, biblically knowledgeable, theologically articulate, ethically wise, culturally aware, and pastorally responsible.
Throughout most of its 174-year history, the mission of LTSS centered on training clergy for the small, but deeply rooted community of Lutherans in the Southeast. In the second half of the twentieth century, however, changes in theological education, in the Lutheran church, and in the Southeast changed the Seminary. Training for lay vocations has become increasingly important in the seminary’s mission, with the MAR degree now a major component of the Seminary’s program.
LTSS has enjoyed close ties to the Lutheran churches in the Southeast, which until recently were primarily small-town and rural, without strong outreach but with very strong retention of those raised Lutheran. Changes in the Southeast have brought far more Lutherans from outside the South to such cities as Atlanta and Charlotte. Outreach and suburban ministry have become far more important. The Seminary must attend to those needs.
Southern is a small seminary, with approximately 195 students (about 155 FTTE). Strong emphasis is placed on community life: daily chapel is relatively well attended; a money-losing lunch service is continued for the sake of community life; and the President, Dean, some faculty, and a large proportion of students live on-campus. The curriculum emphasizes classical disciplines, with a significant amount of time spent on languages. Uniting a solid academic program with practical preparation for ministry is the ideal sought. Like all the Lutheran seminaries, the majority of students go on a third year internship, which does undercut community life to a degree, since every year more than one-half of the student body was not present the year before.
Important for LTSS is a concern to be both Lutheran and ecumenical. This concern is realized particularly in the significant number of United Methodist students on campus, a smaller but still important group of African Methodist Episcopal students, and a new program in Baptist Studies.
The mission of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary is summarized in its mission statement:
Trusting in the Holy Spirit, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary educates faithful interpreters of Christ’s Gospel as servant leaders for God's mission in the world.
Centered in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, committed to the unity of the whole Church, and rooted in the historic Lutheran Confessions, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary forms women and men for ministry in the Church who are alive in faith, biblically knowledgeable, theologically articulate, ethically wise, culturally aware, and pastorally responsible.
Throughout most of its 174-year history, the mission of LTSS centered on training clergy for the small, but deeply rooted community of Lutherans in the Southeast. In the second half of the twentieth century, however, changes in theological education, in the Lutheran church, and in the Southeast changed the Seminary. Training for lay vocations has become increasingly important in the seminary’s mission, with the MAR degree now a major component of the Seminary’s program.
LTSS has enjoyed close ties to the Lutheran churches in the Southeast, which until recently were primarily small-town and rural, without strong outreach but with very strong retention of those raised Lutheran. Changes in the Southeast have brought far more Lutherans from outside the South to such cities as Atlanta and Charlotte. Outreach and suburban ministry have become far more important. The Seminary must attend to those needs.
Southern is a small seminary, with approximately 195 students (about 155 FTTE). Strong emphasis is placed on community life: daily chapel is relatively well attended; a money-losing lunch service is continued for the sake of community life; and the President, Dean, some faculty, and a large proportion of students live on-campus. The curriculum emphasizes classical disciplines, with a significant amount of time spent on languages. Uniting a solid academic program with practical preparation for ministry is the ideal sought. Like all the Lutheran seminaries, the majority of students go on a third year internship, which does undercut community life to a degree, since every year more than one-half of the student body was not present the year before.
Important for LTSS is a concern to be both Lutheran and ecumenical. This concern is realized particularly in the significant number of United Methodist students on campus, a smaller but still important group of African Methodist Episcopal students, and a new program in Baptist Studies.