Today, October 31, 2017, marks the 500 year anniversary of the date that, according to legend, a monk named Martin Luther defiantly nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church and, in the process, gave birth to the Reformation and Protestantism. We celebrated Reformation Sunday in worship this past week, and today we are sharing some interesting quotes, articles and thoughts.
"Today’s Christians, even scholars, are accustomed to discussing Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation as solely European subjects. But Luther esteemed the Church of Ethiopia because he thought Ethiopia was the first nation in history to convert to Christianity. Located far beyond the orbit of the Roman Catholic Church, this first Christian kingdom, according to Luther, served as an older, wiser black sibling to the white Christian kingdoms of Europe. As an ancient church with direct ties to the Apostles, the Ethiopian Church conferred legitimacy on Luther’s emerging vision of a church outside the authority of the Roman Catholic papacy. In a sense, the Church of Ethiopia was the 'dream' for Luther, a true forerunner of Protestantism."
https://sojo.net/articles/martin-luther-s-dream-church-it-wasn-t-europe
“Theological Conversations” is a series of papers designed to invite congregational leaders in the PC(USA) into theological conversation wherever they gather as sessions, presbyteries or for adult education in congregations. They began as a way to create space for conversations accessible to all church members. Each paper is a study resource with accompanying questions for conversation or reflection, suitable for use by both individuals and groups.
http://pres-outlook.org/2017/06/theological-conversations-releases-legacy-faithful-dissent-fifth-2017-series/
