Bishop Peter Rogness to Speak at Annual George Hall Lecture

The Rev. Peter Rogness, Bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will give the 2010 George Hall Lecture at Gustavus Adolphus College at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 4.

Rogness’ lecture is titled “Are We Living in a Post-Lutheran Age,” and will take place in the President’s Dining Room, located on the upper level of the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Rogness was elected to his current position with the St. Paul Area Synod in April 2002. At the time of his election he was serving as bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod. He has served as vice chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops and as an advisory bishop to the ELCA Church Council. In Milwaukee, he served on the interfaith conference and as a board member of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, Carthage College, and Lutheran Social Service. He currently serves on the board of regents of St. Olaf College and Augsburg College, as well as on the board of directors for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

Rogness is the author of A Common Foundation: Shared Principles for Overcoming Poverty, a document written in 2004 and endorsed by more than 30 religious leaders around Minnesota. The document outlines the principles shared by all faith communities in walking with those living in poverty and shapes the synod’s ecumenical efforts to end poverty.

Rogness was part of a group of international ecumenical leaders who participated in a religious summit on poverty prior to the G8 summit in Scotland in 2005. In 2006, he co-authored with the Rev. Nancy Maeker, Ending Poverty: A 20/20 Vision, a guide for individuals and congregations.

The George Hall Lecture at Gustavus is named after George F. Hall (1908-2000), who taught in the College’s Christianity Department from 1938 to 1952. Hall left his post at Gustavus when he and his family left the country to serve as missionaries in Tanzania. Hall’s wife Lorena was instrumental in founding the College’s Art Department. The George Hall Lecture is sponsored by the Religion Department at Gustavus.