ELCA college forms Luther House of Study

Augustana College, an ELCA school­ in Sioux Falls, S.D., joined forces with a nearby American Baptist seminary to form the Luther House of Study. The first classes, in Lutheran Reformation and heritage, began this fall.

Luther House of Study director Chris Croghan is an assistant professor at both Augustana College and the North American Baptist Seminary. “The initial vision of the Luther House of Study arose out of the expressed needs of local and regional congregations,” Croghan said at an Oct. 17 news conference. “The impetus and support [is] found in those same places.”

Croghan told The Lutheran the house will share college and seminary faculty, with NABS providing degrees.

NABS, Croghan said, “is looking to become a regional theological seminary, but they’re not planning on not being Baptist or making Lutherans into Baptists.” Many ELCA students have attended the seminary over the years because of “financial and geographic challenges,” Croghan said, adding that a Lutheran house of study will help students streamline “the candidacy and seminary processes.”