Ecumenism

Norway: Oslo, workshop on “Are Luther’s theses still relevant?” Catholic and Protestant bishops’ speeches

“Are Luther’s theses still relevant?”: this is the topic of the spring workshop about Luther’s meaning in our time that will be taking place at the House of Literature in Oslo tonight. Speeches will be given by Oslo’s two bishops, the Catholic one, Bernt Eidsvig, and the Lutheran one, Ole Kristian Kvarme, along with Marianne Bjelland Kartzow, lecturer at the Faculty of Theology of Oslo University. The evening will round up a set of three workshops that have been jointly organised by Oslo’s two churches and have always ‘sold out’. The previous topics included “grace and deeds” and “the power of the Church and the power of God”. The goal, as explained by the organisers, is to “reflect together on Christian faith today” to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Lutheran Church put the celebrations under an umbrella title, “Grace”, with three implications: salvation is not for sale; human beings are not for sale; Creation is not for sale. The bishops wrote to the faithful: the anniversary “is an opportunity to renew the testimony of God’s grace and mercy in words and deeds”. “The most important task”, they wrote on, “is to preach the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, a gospel that we share with Christians of other confessions, including the Catholic Church. Let’s pray that the celebration of the Reformation may help us find more time for grace and mercy in the Church and in society”.