Luther and Gettysburg Seminaries Explore Work Together on Two Projects

Luther and Gettysburg have begun to focus their mutual interests on a hybrid use of distance and residential learning for the M.Div. program and an emphasis on Religion and Media. Both schools desire to build upon their strengths in forming leaders for mission on behalf of the church.
These efforts, while maintaining separate institutional identities and the present Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) cluster relationships, aim at enabling the two schools to work together in creative ways that will unfold over the next several months and years. The conversations began in response to the call for creative collaboration in the ELCA's recent study on theological education governance patterns, "Renewing the Seed Bed," and actively pursue sustainable future directions for the two seminaries.

Amidst declining enrollment trends, challenging economic times that make student relocation more difficult, and escalating student indebtedness, there is a widespread call for creative new approaches to ministerial formation, including revisions in core Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree programs, which have remained relatively unchanged since the 1960s when parish internships became required components in many schools.

In a joint statement about the Gettysburg-Luther linkage, Presidents Michael Cooper-White and Richard Bliese indicated, "We are eager to see what emerges from an unexpected exploration on the part of schools from differing heritages and in distinct Eastern and Midwestern contexts. We are committed to sharing our discoveries and exploring broader collaboration with our other partners in the Lutheran network and broader circles of theological education."

Luther Seminary is the largest of the eight seminaries of the ELCA, with 796 students from the United States and 22 additional countries and a full-time faculty of 45. Luther, tracing its founding to 1869, offers four master's degrees, and both a D. Min. and Ph.D. degree programs.

Founded in 1826, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg is the oldest continuing Lutheran theological school in North America, with 220 students from 34 states, Europe, Asia and Africa. Gettysburg has a full- time faculty of 16 and offers four master's degrees and cooperates with the Eastern Cluster of the Lutheran seminaries in the Doctor of Ministry program.