Faith and Ministry in an Age of Anxious Groaning

As the planet groans, the nations rage and society frays, Christians rightly wonder about the basis of their hope. The good news Paul preached—a gospel focused on God’s righteousness, the promise of justice, new creation, the redemption of our bodies and deliverance from sin—calls us to place our hope in God. That hope derives from God’s commitment to humanity and to the entire cosmos. The scope of God’s commitment to renew is total, according to Paul, even as we await full consummation of God’s intentions. How can this biblical vision inform and animate faith and ministry, especially in light of the challenges brought by our current cultural anxieties? How do specific images, categories, claims and terms from the Bible nourish the church’s ways of articulating hope, especially with a Pauline accent?

Scheduled to occur alongside Luther Seminary’s 2018 Fretheim Lecture in Biblical Theology, in which Pauline specialist Beverly Gaventa will explore aspects of Paul’s Letter to the Romans and their relevance to the church’s public roles, this extended KAIROS event will allow participants to take a fresh look at key aspects of Paul’s gospel. Topics expected to be covered include Paul’s views on sin and freedom, new creation, the basis and practices of Christian hope, the gospel as an expression of the power and love of God and the benefits of preaching Paul’s letters in the current cultural context.