Roth Receives Ecumenism Award

Director of the ISGA, John D. Roth, received the Washington Theological Consortium Ecumenism Annual at a service at the Virginia Theological Seminary on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. He received the award alongside Dr. Timothy Wengert, professor emeritus at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia.

This award is in recognition of their work that led to the 2010 service of reconciliation between the Lutheran World Federation and the Mennonite World Conference, which produced the historic document “Healing of Memories: Reconciling in Christ.”

Roth also presented the Figel Lecture for Ecumenism, “Healing of Memory: Lessons for Church Unity from the Lutheran-Mennonite Dialogue.” “For me this is a symbolic marker on a journey that I, along with the larger Mennonite Church, have been on for nearly 20 years,” Roth said.

The idea of healing memory—or, in the language of the dialogue, “right remembering”—has had a major impact on many ecumenical dialogues that address histories of oppression, suffering and misunderstanding.