Inclusive Language for God: Talking Together Scripturally, Theologically, and Evangelically
With Dr. Mary Streufert
In-person: Thursday, January 18, 2024
Location: Bethel Lutheran Church7001 Forsyth Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63105
9:00AM - 2:30PM CST
Inclusive Language for God: Talking Together Scripturally, Theologically, and Evangelically
Join author of Language for God and Lutheran teaching theologian Dr. Mary Streufert for an all-day workshop to explore how language for God that includes all genders is scripturally, theologically, and evangelically faithful. Christian language and images for God in worship and everyday thinking is mostly masculine, and conversations about how this is a problem for many Christians have sometimes been productive and sometimes contentious. Streufert offers insights on the Scriptures and faith as a Lutheran theologian, yet she also relies on history and art to explore what she refers to as multi-gendered language and images for God.
Whether you are hungry for inclusive language for God or uncertain of its faithfulness, you are invited to participate in this workshop through mutual inquiry and communal dialogue, personal reflection, and lectures. Together we will engage a range of enriching insights, including some history of sex, gender, and sexuality, Lutheran biblical interpretation and theological insights, scriptural images that are sometimes overlooked, and themes such as legitimacy and illegitimacy related to sex, gender, and race.
Dr. Mary J. Streufert serves as director for Gender Justice and Women’s Empowerment in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Teaching and facilitating widely, she works to empower a variety of leaders to think and act theologically for gender justice from an intersectional perspective. Streufert also directs a donor-funded initiative, ELCA Quality of Call for Women in Ministry. She co-directed the seven-year process to develop the ELCA’s social statement Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action (2019) , which shapes teaching,
programming, and policies within the church. In addition, she guided the development of the ELCA’s social message on gender-based violence (2015). Within a global network of Lutheran women, Streufert serves as the North American regional coordinator for gender justice within the Lutheran World Federation. Publications include Transformative Lutheran Theologies: Feminist, Womanist, and Mujerista Perspectives (ed.), Language for God: A Lutheran Perspective (2022), and over 20 scholarly pieces.
The daughter of a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor and women’s leader, Streufert considers two of the greatest gifts of her upbringing to be her confidence in God’s grace and delight in using intellectual gifts in faith. With her family, she lives in Michigan, where she most likes to be found reading, walking, or playing board games.
In-person: Thursday, January 18, 2024, 9:00AM – 2:30PM
Location: Bethel Lutheran Church, Forsyth Blvd, St Louis, MO
Registration: $65 (includes coffee, tea, snacks, and lunch)