R. Guy Erwin

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A California Lutheran University religion and history professor will discuss "What Does It Mean To Be Lutheran Today?" at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7.

The Rev. R. Guy Erwin, the Gerhard and Olga J. Belgum Professor of Lutheran Confessional Theology and director of the Segerhammar Center of Faith and Culture at CLU, will present the Reformation Heritage Lecture in CLU's Roth Nelson Room.

The Canoga Park resident is an authority on the theology of Martin Luther, the history of late-medieval and early-modern Germany and Scandinavia, and the history of Lutheranism since the Reformation. He will present material from “Introduction to World Lutheranism,” a book that he co-wrote with DeAne Lagerquist of St. Olaf College that Cambridge University Press is scheduled to publish next year.

In their book, Erwin and Lagerquist present a historical overview of Lutheranism’s origins, then analyze its principal teachings and practices and the ways it expanded beyond Northern Europe to become a worldwide church. They then survey it as it is today in broad strokes, continent by continent, using case studies to support their contention that Lutheranism still retains distinctive and unifying characteristics that may help it retain its identity within world Christianity.

Erwin was ordained as a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America earlier this year. Before coming to CLU in 2000, he taught the history of Christianity and historical theology at Yale Divinity School. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and two master’s degrees and a doctorate from Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 2008, he was appointed to the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and is the only American Lutheran among the members.

The Roth Nelson Room is located on Mountclef Boulevard near the corner of Memorial Parkway in Thousand Oaks. The lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Linda LeBlanc at 805-493-3936 or leblanc@callutheran.edu.