Cover of Reformation Notes 2022

Coming up: Kessler Reformation Collection Programming

Pitts Publishes the 57th Issue of Reformation Notes

Pitts Theology Library proudly announces the release the newest issue of Reformation Notes, a newsletter for partners of the library’s Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection. This annual publication details the activities surrounding the Kessler Collection, North America’s premier collection documenting the religious and cultural reforms in Europe in the 16th century. The current issue highlights new acquisitions and serves as an invitation for a Fall full of academic programming. Reformation Notes can be read online at http://pitts.emory.edu/reformationnotes, and print copies can be requested by emailing theologyref@emory.edu.

A Fall Full of Programming for the Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection

This Fall, all are invited to join Pitts Theology Library and distinguished guests for a series of in-person and virtual events around the Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection.

Kessler Conversations

On the first Wednesday of each month, Pitts will host a virtual conversation with a leading scholar of the Protestant Reformation, exploring the relevance of the 16th century for communities in the 21st. This semester is entitled “Martin Luther’s Bible,” and will be a series of conversations about Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament in German. Each month, our guests will look at a different aspect of this monumental publication. Attendance online is free, but registration is required.

On September 7th, we will learn from Dr. Euan Cameron, Henry Luce III Professor of Reformation Church History at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Cameron’s conversation, “The Distinctiveness of the Luther New Testament of 1522″ will look at how Luther used Erasmus’ Greek and Latin New Testament of 1519 as his source and how Luther’s German differed from those that came before him.

On October 6th, our guest will be Dr. G. Sujin Pak, Dean and Professor of the History of Christianity at Boston University’s School of Theology. Dr. Pak’s conversation is titled “Martin Luther as a Reader of Scripture and Insights for Today,” and she will introduce us to Luther’s exegetical method and what contemporary readers of Scripture can learn from the way Luther presents his theology in his translation.

Our final conversation of the Fall, on November 2nd, will be with Dr. Armin Siedlecki, Pitts Theology Library’s Head of Cataloging and Rare Book Cataloger. In his conversation, “’Let Anyone Who Would Hear God Speak Read Holy Scripture’: Luther’s Translation After 500 Years,” Dr. Siedlecki will speak as the curator of Pitt’s Fall exhibition on Luther’s September Testament, helping us understand the curatorial decisions he has made.

The Kessler Conversations fulfill part of the Kessler Collection’s mission, which is not only to collect materials from the 16th century, but to create learning opportunities for the general public to consider why such materials are important for today. This Fall will be the 5th semester of Kessler Conversations, and Drs. Cameron, Pak, and Siedlecki will be our 13th, 14th, and 15th scholars to join us. We encourage you to watch all the past conversations at http://pitts.emory.edu/kesslerconversations and contact us about topics you would like to see covered.

Fall Exhibition of Martin Luther’s September Testament

Lucas Cranach’s calligraphy on the title page of the September Testament

The Kessler Collection recently acquired its 4,000th item, but there is one book that stands above the rest in terms of its significance- Luther’s “September Testament.” This first edition of Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament from Greek (using Erasmus’s 1519 Greek New Testament, which we own!) to German was a landmark accomplishment, both in terms of the development of the vernacular Bible but also in terms of the development of a modern German language. It was also a landmark acquisition for the Kessler Collection in the early 1990s. We are excited to place it on exhibition this Fall, alongside other significant works that help define the context out of which Luther produced the translation and the major impact it has had on religious communities around the world. Dr. Armin Siedlecki has curated this Fall’s exhibition: “So That It Pierces and Rings Through the Heart”:Martin Luther’s September Testament and 500 Years of Bible Translation. Alongside the Kessler Collection’s copy of the September Testament will be dozens of other works from Catholic and Protestant traditions, which show the development of vernacular Bible translations throughout the centuries. The exhibition will open the first week of September, the 500th anniversary of Luther’s publication! Visitors are welcome in the gallery any time the library is open.

Reformation Day Worship in Cannon Chapel

The Rev. Jenny McLellan
The Rev. Jenny McLellan

Pitts Theology Library is happy to continue one of the great traditions of the library- Reformation Day worship at Emory’s Cannon Chapel on the final Thursday of October. This year we will be led in a service of the word by Rev. Jenny McLellan, the Associate Pastor for Congregational Care at Atlanta’s Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. We hope you will join us in person at Cannon Chapel or via the online livestream at 11am on Thursday, October 27th.

A New Tradition: An Evening with the Kessler Collection

Dr. Timothy Wengert
Dr. Timothy Wengert

This year’s signature event will be an evening Emory’s Convocation Hall, where guests will get an intimate look at the work of the Kessler Collection and learn from one of the world’s foremost scholars of the Reformation. This new evening event, on Wednesday, October 26th, will be an opportunity to celebrate the 35 years of building this collection of more than 4,000 items and to renew support to continue to grow the collection. Guests will be treated to an interactive cocktail hour, where they will get hands on experience with the Kessler Collection. They will then share a meal together, which will feature musical performances and updates about the collection. The highlight of the evening will be a lecture from Dr. Timothy Wengert, Emeritus Professor of Church History at United Lutheran Seminary and a longtime supporter of the Kessler Collection. His lecture is titled “Martin Luther’s Great Surprise: Translating the New Testament, 1522-2022.” We hope you will join us not only to learn from this great scholar, but to meet others who support this world-renowned collection and are dedicated to growing its impact for the church and academy around the world.

Reservations for this evening event are required, and they can be made at http://pitts.emory.edu/kesslernight.

Kessler Conversations 2022

Spring of 2022 comes with a new series of virtual Kessler Conversations!

Named after the world-renowned Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection held at Pitts Theology Library, Kessler Conversations (30-45 mins) offer opportunities for the general public to learn about the events in Europe in the 16th century and to consider what they may tell us about the issues facing our communities. Conversations in a given academic semester focus on a single contemporary theme and trace it back to the Reformers. These conversations are free and open to the public, but registration is required. The theme of the Spring 2022 conversations is Women of the Reformation: Reclaiming Forgotten Contributions to Church Renewal.”

 Many are accustomed to studying and celebrating the big personalities of the Protestant Reformation. Far too often, though, those are only the male personalities, and the contributions women made to the renewal of the church are overlooked. This semester, we invite 3 leading Reformation scholars to uncover and share with us stories and voices of women of the Reformation era. Our Kessler Conversations will consider the roles women played in the period, the contributions they made to changes in theology, culture, and church practice, the ways their stories have been covered over, and the lessons we can all learn from their work.

Mary Jane Haemig | Wednesday, February 2 | 12pm EST
Elisabeth Cruciger: Wife, Hymnwriter, Theologian 

Dr. Mary Jane Haemig is Professor emerita of Church History, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. She taught at Luther Seminary for 19 years; previously she taught for five years at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. As a scholar she has focused on the German Lutheran reformation, particularly its pastoral aspects, including preaching, catechesis, and the teaching of prayer. She is the editor of The Annotated Luther. Volume 4: Pastoral Writings (Fortress, 2016).

Elsie Anne McKee | Wednesday, March 2 | 12pm EST
Surprise and Diversity: A Woman’s Place in Reform Yesterday and Today 

Dr. Elsie Anne McKee is emerita Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary. Most of her academic research has focused on the 16th-century Reformation, particularly books on John Calvin and a woman reformer, Katharina Schütz Zell. She is probably best known for her trilogy on Calvin’s doctrine of the ministries and worship of the church: John Calvin on the Diaconate and Liturgical Almsgiving (Droz, 1984), Elders and the Plural Ministry (Droz, 1988), and The Pastoral Ministry and Worship in Calvin’s Geneva (Droz, 2016). 

Kirsi Stjerna | Wednesday, April 6 | 12pm EST
Women Leaders of the Reformation: Profiles, Contexts, and Texts

Rev. Dr. Kirsi Stjerna is the First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor of Lutheran History and Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (Berkeley) of California Lutheran University. She is also a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union and a Docent at Helsinki University, Finland. She is the author of Lutheran Theology: A Grammar of Faith (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2021) and Women and the Reformation (Wiley Blackwell, 2009), as well as the editor of Women Leaders of the Reformation: Profiles, Contexts, and Texts (forthcoming, Fortress Press/Media 1517, 2022).

Registration for these virtual events are free at pitts.emory.edu/kesslerconversations. We look forward to seeing you there!

Final Kessler Conversation THIS Week

This week marks the final Kessler Conversation of the Fall 2021 semester, taking the theme “Luther and the Other.” Join Dr. Dean P. Bell (Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago) as he rehearses some of Luther’s thoughts on Jews and Judaism, comparing it with other reformers of the period. Dr. Bell will help us think together about the implications of and opportunities for considering how we think about Others, other religions, and engage in interreligious discussions. This event is free but registration is required at pitts.emory.edu/bell.

The first two Kessler Conversations of the Fall 2021 Series on “Luther and the Other” with Dr. Anthony Bateza (St. Olaf College) and Dr. David Grafton (Hartford International University) will be available on-demand in the coming weeks—stay tuned on the Pitts Librarians’ Blog, or sign up for Pitts’ weekly newsletter at pitts.emory.edu/prospectus!

Wealth & Poverty: Kessler Conversations Spring 2021

Named after the world-renowned Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection held at Pitts Theology Library, Kessler Conversations (30-45 mins) offer opportunities for the general public to learn about the events in Europe the 16th century and to consider what they may tell us about the issues facing our communities. Conversations in a given academic semester focus on a single contemporary theme and trace it back to the Reformers. These conversations are free and open to the public, but registration is required. The theme of the Spring 2021 conversations is “Blessed are the Poor: Wealth and Poverty in the 16th and 21st Centuries.” Find more details about each session and register for the free webinars below!

Esther Chung-Kim, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Associate Director of The Gould Center of Humanities at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, joins Dr. Richard Adams in conversation titled “Caring for the poor during the Reformation.” 

David Fink, Associate Professor of Religion at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina joins Dr. Richard Adams in a conversation titled “Wealth, Work, and Wisdom in Early Modern Society.”

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and the Graduate Theological Union, joins Dr. Richard Adams in conversation titled “Luther’s Ethic of Neighbor-love: A Theological Repudiation of Maximizing Profit.”

The featured image for “Blessed are the Poor: Wealth and Poverty in the 16th and 21st Centuries” comes from Pitts’ 1862 La grande danse Macabre des Hommes et des Femmes (The great Macabre dance of men and women), in which Death interacts with both a rich and poor woman, indicating that neither expensive jewels nor simple flowers ward off mortality. Find this image and others like it in the Pitts Digital Image Archive

The Reformation of Suffering: A Kessler Conversation with Prof. Ronald Rittgers

Don’t miss the final installment of the Fall 2020 Kessler Conversations at Pitts Theology Library, a series of online interviews with leading church historians and theologians, asking this question, “What relevance do the events, personalities, and texts of the Protestant Reformation hold for contemporary communities?” These 30-45 minute conversations offer opportunities for the general public to learn about the events in Europe the 16th century and to consider what they tell us about the issues facing our communities. Conversations each semester will focus on a single contemporary theme and trace it back to the Reformers. This Fall, the Kessler Conversations focus on disease, healing, and pastoral care in the 16th century.

November’s conversation this week is with Dr. Ronald Rittgers of Valparaiso University. Professor Rittgers joined the VU faculty in the fall of 2006 after having taught for seven years at Yale University. He is the first occupant of the Erich Markel Chair in German Reformation Studies and serves as Professor of History, Theology, and Humanities. Professor Rittgers is interested in the religious, intellectual, and social history of medieval and Early Modern/Reformation Europe, focusing especially on theology and devotion. He will be speaking on the topic of “The Reformation of Suffering,” and the event will be live-streamed on November 4th at 12pm EST. Register for free at pitts.emory.edu/ronaldrittgers

In addition, catch up all September and October’s Kessler Conversations with Professors Anna Johnson (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) and Erik Heinrichs (Winona State University) at pitts.emory.edu/kesslerconversations!