Ernest L. Simmons

Reformation & Resilience: Lutheran Higher Education for Planetary Citizenship Ernest L. Simmons

Five hundred years ago the Protestant Reformation became a major turning point in Western history. Born in a university setting, the dialectical interaction of the life of the mind and the life of faith has been a hallmark of Lutheran higher education from the beginning. As Concordia College observes the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it is important to ask what is in need of reform today and what resilience remains within the tradition to help effect such reform? At its core, Lutheran liberal arts education emphasized preparation for vocation in service to neighbor. Today, the understanding of neighbor must be expanded to include all faith traditions and the natural world. The thesis of this book is that Lutheran liberal arts education must move beyond an anthropocentric to an ecocentric understanding of vocation in order to foster planetary citizenship and sustainability leadership.