“Authentic Christianity and the Institutional Church: Time for a Change?” is the title of the 18th Annual Theological Symposium, to be held Sept. 18-19 on the campus of Concordia Seminary. The main speaker for the event is Robert D. Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

The Symposium will consider challenging questions that confront the church in the United States as it seeks to fulfill its mission in the midst of a rising tide of individualism. Some have suggested that the rise of individualism could lead to a dismantling of the institutional church in America. Pivotal questions include “What is the church?” “How does the church express its trans-congregational nature?” “Are there building blocks within the church’s tradition for dealing with these challenges?” This year’s Symposium will frame these questions, explore various options available today and identify resources to draw upon for developing Lutheran responses in the 2008 symposium.

Putnam teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses at Harvard University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the British Academy and former president of the American Political Science Association. In 2006, Putnam received the Skytte Prize, one of the world’s highest accolades for a political scientist. He was educated at Swarthmore, Oxford and Yale, and has served as Dean of the Kennedy School of Government.

Parish pastors, district and synodical officials, Seminary and Concordia University students and faculty, and interested laypersons are encouraged to attend. One CEU is available for attending the Symposium.

A variety of events will supplement this year’s Symposium and will allow visitors the opportunity to spend more time on the Seminary campus.

For more information and/or to register, contact the Office of Continuing Education and Parish Services at (314) 505-7123 or ce@csl.edu, or visit the Seminary’s Web site at www.csl.edu.