Our host institution: California Lutheran University
California Lutheran University (CLU) will serve as the primary host site for the conference. CLU was created in response to the need for a Lutheran College on the west coast. "California Lutheran College" was formed in 1959, with the first students arriving in 1961, the first choir touring in 1962, and the first graduating class in 1964. The college was restructured in 1986 as a university. In addition to many degree programs in the liberal arts, CLU hosts a Graduate School of Education and School of Management. Doctoral degree programs (Doctor of Psychology and Doctor of Education) began in 2006. CLU has had its own radio station in some form since 1973 (now it is KCLU 88.3 FM, 102.3 FM, 1340 AM - you can hear it at http://www.kclu.org/). CLU has about 4,100 students, and in 2010 was the 10th top employer of the city of Thousand Oaks, with 472 employees.
Our logo is the "Enormous Luther" (dedicated 1986), a statue that stands in the middle of CLU's campus, and was a gift from the members of the first graduating class in 1964. They commissioned Bernardus Weber, the school's first sculpture teacher, to create this statement: " ....this statue is a symbol; a symbolic expression by which Luther the man and his moment are recreated and reenacted." Weber explained that this statue, not meant to be realistic, was to be a symbol of "Luther's time, place and posture in history: old forms were being questioned and new forms were emerging.” |
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As we sit under the theme, "Behold, I Tell You a Mystery: Telling God's Story in the 21st Century", we will hear reflections of Luther, especially in his thoughts that, in the process of telling the Story, old ideas are used and maintained, but new forms and ways of communicating this Story are becoming evident. One special time during our conference will be the gift of hearing one of North American's foremost Luther scholars give us insights into some of this heritage and how it affects us today: Dr. Guy Erwin, Professor of Religion and History, holder of the Gerhard & Olga J. Belgum Chair in Lutheran Confessional Theology at CLU, and Director of the Segerhammar Center for Faith and Culture. |
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