Developing Faith, Understanding And Tolerance
While the Concordia religion department offers several courses on Luther and his teaching, department chair Dr. Roy Hammerling is quick to point out the program is not about continuing catechism. Instead, through a diverse faculty and a wide array of course offerings, the religion department seeks to expose students to different faiths, cultures, people and ideas - encouraging students to ask tough questions and examine their own beliefs and ideas.
"Mostly, we're just helping students better articulate what they already know and learn in light of an ever increasingly complicated religious world," he says.
Hammerling's variety of interests lends itself well to the department's goals. While serving as the Luther scholar on campus, he also frequently teaches courses about the history of the Celtic Church in Ireland, women in religion, and religion and film. His interest in prayer is also evident in his new book, "The Pearl of Great Price: The Lord's Prayer in the Early Church," his work as editor of a collection of articles titled "The History of Prayer," and his translation work on the book "Jordan of Quedlinberg," a commentary on the Lord's Prayer.
Hammerling, a Lutheran pastor with his Master of Divinity from Wartburg Seminary and doctorate from Notre Dame, often uses international study to expose his students to the people, places, stories and theories they study in class. His Religion 100 class, for example, is taught as an Exploration Seminar and has included destinations such as Greece and Istanbul. He's led several May Seminar courses and co-taught a CREDO honors course about King Arthur that included time overseas.
"Study abroad etches the experience in your mind. Time slows and becomes thick as you move through another culture," Hammerling says. "When we take students to other countries, we give them a better sense of our wonderfully diverse world; as a result, students learn inquisitiveness, tolerance and confidence about how to negotiate life. Students create memories that change them and that's a real gift they can take with them as they leave Concordia."
