News
By the staff of The Lutheran, ELCA News Service and Religion News Service
federal-style building is original, Cooper-White said. From the dark wooden floors to the wainscoting, to the famous cupola where Union cavalry Gen. John Buford saw the advancing Confederate army of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the museum’s purpose is not “to preserve the past; rather, in opening this interpretive center we look to the future,” he said. Its purpose, Cooper-White added,
Reenactors interpreting the history of the Battle of Gettysburg set up encampments on the grounds of the Lutheran Theological Seminarty at Gettysburg (Pa.) and its Schmucker Hall on Seminary Ridge, site of the first day of the fighting 150 years ago.
Historic seminary building refurbished as museum
S
eminary Ridge Museum opened July 1 inside historic Schmucker
Hall on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pa.), coinciding with the 150th anni- versary of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. The museum opened with 20,000 square feet of interactive exhibit gal- leries that tell the story of the first day of the largest battle waged on the continent, the care of the wounded and human suffering within the walls of the building, and an examination of faith and freedom.
“When the seminary building and campus were overrun by war- ring armies 150 years ago, this place became a fierce battleground where the future of the nation was at stake,” Michael Cooper-White, seminary president, said in welcoming remarks on the steps of the museum. “In the battle’s aftermath, it was a place of healing for hundreds, and a hospice where some 70 soldiers closed their eyes for the final time. We can, we must, ponder the meaning of those
8 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
who, in the words of one, ‘Have come here to stay.’ ”
Care for more than 600 wounded Union and Confederate soldiers continued in the building (then called Old Dorm) for more than two months. Anxious to get started on the 38th fall semester, seminary founder and prominent anti-slavery advocate Samuel Simon Schmucker initiated cleanup and reopened Gettysburg’s classrooms on Sept. 19, 1863. Dam- age to the building was significant, with glass shattered everywhere, cannon damage in the northeast gable, damaged brick, and the refuse and scars from the treatment of the soldiers. The building itself is a historical artifact, said Barbara Franco, execu- tive director of the museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The museum is designed to preserve Schmucker Hall in the historical interpretive period from 1832 to 1914.
About 80 percent of the brick
remains “education, the patient and persistent search for truth, for answers to the great questions of conflict and reconciliation, freedom and human bondage, faith and doubt, which remain the same as they were 150 years ago.”
‘Her’ stories Twenty-five female theologians from Lutheran churches in Latin America and the Caribbean met June 24-27 in São Leopoldo, Brazil, to discuss the contribution of women to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Lutheran World Federation’s Latin America and Caribbean Women and Gender Justice Network emphasized the importance of making “her- stories” a staple in churches in the region, as well as the 500th anniver- sary celebration.
Wisconsin church divides A struggle for control of a building and a sizable endowment led to a split congregation, lawsuits and a lockout in Eau Claire, Wis. Two factions of Grace Lutheran Church have been in conflict for two years. When a pro- posal to leave the ELCA failed to garner the necessary two-thirds vote, the majority decided to affiliate with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ. A Wisconsin judge ruled the property and endowment belongs to the minority that stayed with the ELCA. Grace’s leadership, including both pastors, sited the ELCA’s “theo-
KATY GIEBENHAIN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52