Rev Frédéric Stilmant (EEL-SF, France)

“Images of the New Testament in the Old Testament” (see e.g. 1 Peter 3:20-22).This presentation will offer help with how to read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and where to find the centre and unity of the Bible, namely in Christ. The presentations are accessible, being based on stories of the Old Testament, and yet also intellectually challenging at the same time. Using the Old Testament text, these presentations will make you think more deeply about these “simple” stories.

Rev. Dr. David Preus

David Preus earned his Master’s of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana and his PhD in Historical Theology from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. His doctoral education included a research fellowship at the Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany in 2011. He was ordained into the Preaching Office on August 28, 2011 at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Billings Montana, where served as pastor from 2011 to 2015. David lives with his wife, Jenny, and seven of their nine children in Brasov, Romania, where he serves as regional director of LCMS Eurasia. As regional director, he supervises LCMS missionaries, oversees mission operations, and cooperates in church planting and theological education with LCMS partner churches throughout the Eurasian region. He also serves as assistant pastor and church planter in Brasov. Before moving to Romania, David was a church planter and theological educator at Seminario Concordia, el Reformador in Palmar Arriba, Dominican Republic (2015–2021).

️️ The Image and Likeness of God: A Reassessment of the Lutheran and Catholic Debate In this seminar, I will review the historical debate between Lutherans and Catholics over how to define the words, “image” and “likeness” (from Genesis 1:26-27), in the context of their diverging views on sin and grace. I will then examine the words in the immediate context of creation, fall, and promise; explore their greater semantic range in the Old and New Testament; and zero in on how St. Paul interacts with these concepts in Romans 3:23 and Philippians 2:6-8. I will make the case that a new look at “image” and “likeness” and the biblical phrases in which they appear may support the Lutheran teaching concerning sin and grace more effectively than traditional exegetical arguments.

Rev. Daniel Brandt

Rev. Daniel Brandt is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Province of Sweden. He works part-time as a pastor in a congregation in Vännäs, northern Sweden, and part-time as a junior high school teacher. Daniel much enjoyed studying theology at the Lutheran School of Theology in Gothenburg and at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A Battle for Salvation

Do you know that we’re celebrating an anniversary this year? We’re celebrating the Nicene Creed, adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The Egyptian priest Arius taught that Jesus Christ is not God in the fullest sense, but rather the highest of God’s creations. His persistent propaganda caused a significant stir within the Christian world. One man who, sometimes standing alone, firmly opposed this false teaching was Athanasius, who understood the gravity of the matter: it was a question of eternal life or death.

My hope for the first lecture is to shed light on the historical background of the Nicene Creed and explain why it was formulated the way it was. In the second, we will examine how the Bible bears witness to Jesus Christ as God. The third lecture will tap into the theme of the conference and explore how the doctrine of the “image of God” is connected to Christ and His salvation.