Search Results for: chilstrom
Herbert W Chilstrom Autobiography
Eighteen years after his retirement as the first Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Herb Chilstrom is still a commanding presence, standing straight and tall with his characteristic white hair. At the recent Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh, Herb and wife Corinne always had a cluster of well-wishers hovering around them in hotel lobbies, in the exhibit/lunch […]
Wisdom from Herb Chilstrom
Since the formation of the ELCA in 1988, the denomination has been shepherded by three presiding Bishops: Herb Chilstrom, H George Anderson, and currently Mark Hanson. Herb and wife Corrine now reside in retirement in St. Peter, Minnesota. On August 26th, Herb penned an op-ed piece for the newspaper in nearby Mankato—his response to the […]
When Herb Chilstrom speaks, Lutherans listen: #CWA09 & #Goodsoil09
When the ELCA was formed in 1987 as the result of merger, the first Presiding Bishop was Herb Chilstrom, and he shepherded nearly five million Lutherans during the formative years of the ELCA’s life. Herb is now retired and resides in St. Peter, Mn, the home of Gustavus Adolphus College. My wife and I were […]
Braaten responds to Chilstrom’s letter: ELCA war of words heats up #CWA09
Esteemed elder, Carl Braaten, has been a leading Lutheran theologian for the past fifty years. He was instrumental in drafting the original Lutheran Core open letter to which former Presiding Bishop Herbert Chilstrom responded. See my original blog post on the exchange. To get to the point, Lutheran Core opposes the proposed gay marriage and […]
Lutheran “Vision and Expectations” Revisited
The ELCA Church Council meets today at the Higgins Road headquarters in Chicago to consider a document entitled Trustworthy Servants as a replacement for a prior document entitled Vision and Expectations. The proposed document comes to the Council following recent action by the Conference of Bishops. To be sure, the current document purports to be […]
Queer Clergy Facebook direct ($19.95)
UPDATE: Queer Clergy is one of four Finalists in the General Nonfiction category for the upcoming 27th Annual Minnesota Book Awards, presented by 3M Library Systems. Winners will be announced at the Gala Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at Saint Paul’s Union Depot. How did we get to this time and place? What paths did […]
Cast of Characters: Anita Hill
With a childhood background in Louisiana Roman Catholicism and then Mississippi Methodism, Anita Hill’s faith matured in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While attending a Lutheran Campus Ministry Bible study on homosexuality, she became a Lutheran who sensed a call to ministry and advocacy. She became active in the fledgling LGBT group, Lutherans Concerned, and she was […]
Jeff Johnson, Phyllis Zillhart, Ruth Frost: Lutherans on trial
In 1990, ecclesiastical disobedience came to the ELCA, in the form of extra ordinem (extraordinary) ordinations. A pair of San Francisco congregations risked denominational punishment by calling and ordaining Jeff Johnson to one congregation and Ruth Frost and Phyllis Zillhart to a shared call at the second.
Queer Clergy Endorsements
Queer Clergy follows the parallel journeys of the five, principal mainline denominations toward full LGBT inclusion. Here are five endorsements of the book written by an iconic figure from each denomination. Rev. William R. Johnson was the first openly gay man ordained in a mainline church (UCC) in 1972. He has continued to serve as […]
ELCA Churchwide Assembly to consider anti-bullying resolution
I have two vivid bullying memories from my youth half a century ago. I attended a small, mid-Minnesota K-12 public school, and the first memory is a positive one. In early elementary school, the class always formed a line in the hallway before moving anywhere (being line leader was a great honor). One day as […]