Trinity Days
October 1-2, 2026
Keynote: The Rev. Dr. Mark Allan Powell
Mark Allan Powell is now a Retired Professor of New Testament after teaching 32 years at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. An internationally known biblical scholar, he chaired the Society of Biblical Literature’s section on Matthew’s Gospel for ten years and the section on Historical Jesus studies for another ten year.
Powell may be best known for his numerous publications, which have sold over a million copies.
He is editor of the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (the world’s best-selling dictionary of the Bible) and author of Introducing the New Testament (the world’s best-selling New Testament textbook. An additional 35 works include a widely used commentary on Matthew’s Gospel (in the New Interpretation series) and books on spiritual formation (Loving Jesus), stewardship (Giving To God), and homiletics (What Do They Hear?: Bridging the Gap between Pulpit and Pew). His mammoth (1400-page) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music was chosen Book of the Year by the American Society of Music Historians in the year 2002 and has become the standard reference work for that field. Powell recently crossed genres to produce a secular collection of short fiction (Kindness Stones: Stories for Melissa) and in late 2026 he will publish a major work on the social and political views of Jesus.
An ecumenical, global scholar, Powell served for many years as the sole Protestant on the Executive Committee of the Catholic Biblical Association, and he has taught at seminaries in Estonia, Russia, and Tanzania. Within the ELCA, he served for many years as a columnist for The Lutheran and was a frequent contributor to that magazine. He was part of the Editorial Board that produced the Lutheran Study Bible and he made a series of video programs called How Lutherans Understand the Bible that received widespread use in ELCA synods and churches.
Program Descriptions
Surprising New Insights into the Social and Political Teaching of Jesus
Can anything new be said about Jesus? In three separate studies, Dr. Mark Allan Powell will present “new insights” into the teachings of Jesus that are currently taking hold among biblical scholars—things that he himself was surprised to discover: 1) Jesus claimed that God especially favors people who have lost their faith or simply “given up on God”; 2) Jesus insisted that those who were regarded as the most wicked people of his day would enjoy all the benefits of God’s salvation even if they did nothing to change their ways (in a manner required of everyone else); and 3) Jesus used “undocumented” or simply “unwanted” immigrants as role models for his followers and insisted that the harshest condemnation of God would fall on those who fail to welcome such people. Do you consider these claims unlikely and difficult to substantiate? Dr. Powell says, “Good! I’ve got you where I want you!” Would you be surprised if they could be substantiated? Dr. Powell says, “Of course—I certainly was!”
“Whose side is God on?” The answer shocked people of his day (opponents and followers alike) and would prove so challenging to later generations of Christians that interpreters would find ways of domesticating the message. When the Matthean Beatitudes are interpreted within their literary and historical context, they reveal Jesus as making claims that are still radical today: God favors the oppressed – especially those who have given up hope or lost their faith. God is ironically on the side of those who do not trust God. Further, God favors those who are concerned for the oppressed if and when this commitment translates into an inevitable and probably involuntary solidarity (i.e, when their concern for the oppressed causes them to suffer oppression themselves).
Jesus found himself caught between idealism and reality. Ideally, he believed that people should make heroic efforts to live in accord with God's will even when that meant suffering abuse. But his ministry brought him into contact with pathetic individuals whose lives would become even worse if they did as he said. He appears to have thought twice about some of his own demands and created enormous exceptions that prioritized mercy and compassion over holiness and righteousness. This remarkable aspect of Jesus' faith presents him as a dialectical thinker who realized "what God wants" may be subject to unpredictable contextual variation.
Church leaders today must be prepared to address questions concerning immigration policies and practices—and the Bible offers a wealth of resources for doing so. The New Testament maintains that followers of Jesus possess a “citizenship in heaven” that transcends other loyalties. Followers of Jesus embrace a theology of grace that prioritizes mercy and compassion over adherence to otherwise legitimate regulations, and Jesus insists that treatment of undocumented non-citizens is indicative of how he himself is actually regarded by societies or individuals who claim allegiance to his name. Materials relevant to a potential companion lecture on “The Bible on Borders and Immigration: Old Testament” will also be distributed.
Kantonen Lectures at Trinity Days
This series is funded by an endowment honoring a distinctive scholar and ecumenist in the Lutheran tradition, T.A. Kantonen (1900-1993). Dr. Kantonen was a long-time professor at Hamma School of Theology in Springfield, Ohio (predecessor to Trinity Lutheran Seminary). The purpose of the lectures is to help church leaders gain a deeper understanding of the various expressions of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.
List of Lecturers
1992
Professor Dr. Georg Kretschmar1993
Dr. Jaroslav J. Pelikan1994
Rev. Dr. Harding Meyer, Dr. Daniel F. Martensen, Dr. William G. Rusch, and Dr. Darlis J. Swan1995
Dr. Paul O. Manz1996
Dr. John H.P. Reumann and Rev. Dr. Walter F. Taylor, Jr.1997
Rev. Dr. H. George Anderson1998
The Most Reverent Rembert G. Weakland, O.S.B.1999
Dr. Wanda Deifelt2000
Rev. John Thomas2001
Sven Erik Brodd2002
Michael Nazir-Ali2003
Dr. Douglas John Hall2004
Dr. Leonard Sweet2005
Dr. Martin E. Marty2006
Dr. Walter Brueggemann2007
Dr. Ted Peters2008
Mr. Jim Wallis<2009
Dr. Elsa Tamez2010
Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub2011
Dr. Diana Butler Bass2012
Panel with Union Theological Seminary2013
Dr. Darrell Guder2014
The Rev. Dr. Amos Yong2015
Rev. Brian McClaren2016
Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean2017
Dr. Susan Wood (Roman Catholic) and Dr. Kathryn Johnson (ELCA), 500th Anniversary of the Reformation2018
The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas2019
Jacqueline Bussie2020
Karoline Lewis2021
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda2022
Imani Olear2023
Julie Faith Parker2024
Amy Reumann2025
The Rev. Leila Ortiz