Christian Identity in Crisis

The Legacy of Wilhelm Loehe as Inspiration for the Church Today

Abstract

This issue of Currents in Theology and Mission—as well as the next—features papers presented at the 5th Conference of the International Loehe Society, July 2022. The Society has gathered periodically since its founding in 2005. The 2022 conference theme “Christian Identity in Crisis” offered space to reflect on Loehe’s theological and pastoral work in relation to crises from within and from without the church of his own time. Through his many endeavors—in church and mission, liturgy and diakonia, Lutheran confession and piety—Loehe grappled with matters of Christian identity, both personal and ecclesial. The question at the horizon of interest in Loehe’s work is how to understand Loehe’s legacy to us in the face of crises to Christian identity today.