Luther Lecture 2008
“For God Leads Down to Hell and Brings Back: Theodicy and the Word of Comfort in Luther’s Theology”
The Rev. Dr. Jane E. Strohl
“If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures happy, and if God were almighty, He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.” If at times suffering is God’s pitiless imposition of the second use of the law, it can also be a grace that works for the good of the believer. Luther is clear: It is not so much suffering against which we struggle as it is the God we encounter therein.
- 8:30 — Registration & Refreshments
- 9:30 — Morning Prayer with the Installation of Dr. Strohl to the First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Chair in Reformation Theology and History
- 10:00 — Luther Lecture
- 11:30 — Eucharist
- 12:45 — Lunch
- 1:30 — Conversation
