For a fortnight in January Dr Robert Kolb has been our guest. If he was wary of a winter visit to Canada, he need not have been, after record warmth melted all the snow on the ground last weekend. Let’s call it a warm welcome!
Dr Kolb is not only the co-editor of the most recent critical translation of the Book of Concord, but also the author of nearly 20 books and more than 100 articles on Luther and the 16th-century Reformation theologians of our church. Retired from his post as Missions Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, he still manages to spend a few months every year researching in the great library of Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
We are grateful that he agreed to visit St. Catharines to offer an elective course to our students on the exegetical work (biblical commentaries) of Luther and Melanchthon. The course not only had ten students around the table, but was joined over live internet video-conferencing by five students in Edmonton, a colloquy student in BC, two vicars in Saskatchewan, and a pastor from northern Ontario!
Dr Kolb also graciously offered a seminar on Luther’s Small Catechism for local pastors, parents, and catechumens, held at Resurrection Lutheran Church on Saturday. His warm personality, lively stories, and profound theological insights were well received.
We give thanks for our brother Lutheran from the LCMS (and Germany), and pray God grants him a safe return to his wife in St. Louis.
Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary 