Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, is pleased to announce a new venture to make video files of lectures and sermons available free of charge on its Web site (www.csl.edu/video.htm). The video files may be viewed online and require a QuickTime® player to be installed on the viewer's computer. The player is available as a free download from the QuickTime® Web site and a link is provided on the Concordia Seminary Web page.

"We are excited about this new venture, and we look forward to offering an increased number of video resources on our Web site," commented Rev. Glen Thomas, vice president for seminary relations at Concordia Seminary. "The Lutheran church has always been at the forefront of employing the latest technology in service to the Gospel, and this is one more example. We desire very much to engage the church and the world with the excellent theological resources offered in the Concordia Seminary community. We want to further the discussion of many important issues confronting the church at this time and to do so from a position which emphasizes Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions in addressing these issues. I also want to acknowledge and commend Dr. David Adams, associate professor of exegetical theology and director of educational technology at Concordia Seminary, for his tireless efforts in making this exciting new venture a reality."

The first set of video files available is a series of lectures that took place on the campus on Tuesday, March 27. World renowned Reformation scholars presented a day of lectures on the Concordia Seminary campus as part of a four-seminary lecture tour titled "The Book of Concord for the Twenty-First Century." The lectures were designed to highlight the publication of "The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church" by Fortress Press in 2000 and companion resource books scheduled for publication in 2001.

Charles P. Arand and Robert A. Kolb, professors at Concordia Seminary and contributors to the new "Book of Concord," provided lectures. Other lecturers included Irene Dingel, occupant of the chair of church history and history of dogma at the University of Mainz, Germany; Timothy J. Wengert, professor of the history of Christianity at The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Penn., and James A. Nestingen, professor of church history at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.

Wengert and Kolb served as co-editors for the translation of the new "Book of Concord." Arand translated the "Apology of the Augsburg Confession" for the new "Book of Concord." His translation is the first one based upon a different text--the "octavo text." Nestingen and Kolb are editing a volume of source and context documents related to the Lutheran Confessions and writing a historical introduction to the "Book of Concord." Both volumes are scheduled for publication later this year.

"We were pleased to serve as one of the host sites for this prestigious lecture series, and we invite all who have an interest in Lutheran confessional studies to view the video files of these lectures," commented Dr. Andrew Bartelt, professor of exegetical theology and vice president for academic affairs at Concordia Seminary. "Professors Arand and Kolb provided major contributions to the new "Book of Concord," and it is fitting that Concordia Seminary encourage the use of this significant new resource by students of the Lutheran Confessions."

For more information, contact Seminary Relations, Concordia Seminary, 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105; 314-505-7370.