Luther's Ethic of Neighbor-love: A Kessler Conversation with Professor Cynthia Moe-Lobeda

Named after the world-renowned Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection held at Pitts Theology Library, Kessler Conversations (30-45 mins) offer opportunities for the general public to learn about the events in Europe the 16th century and to consider what they may tell us about the issues facing our communities. Conversations in a given academic semester focus on a single contemporary theme and trace it back to the Reformers. These conversations are free and open to the public, but registration is required. The theme of the Spring 2021 conversations is “Blessed are the Poor: Wealth and Poverty in the 16th and 21st Centuries.”

This May, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, and the Graduate Theological Union, joins Dr. Richard Adams in conversation titled "Luther’s Ethic of Neighbor-love: A Theological Repudiation of Maximizing Profit."

Martin Luther’s economic ethics, largely overlooked in North American Lutheran practice, are grounded in his theology of justification, his theology of neighbor-love, his eucharistic theology, and his understanding of Christ’s indwelling presence. These sources shape Luther’s firm argument that a Christian must not comply with economic principles, systems, or practices that harm people who are economically vulnerable in order to maximize profit for oneself. This ethic holds tremendous import as we seek to define norms for economic life in the context of advanced global capitalism.

Dr. Moe-Lobeda has lectured or consulted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and many parts of North America in theology; ethics; and matters of climate justice and climate racism, moral agency, globalization, economic justice, public church, eco-feminist theology, and faith-based resistance to systemic oppression. Her 'Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation' (Fortress, 2013), won a Nautilus Award for social justice. She is author or co-author of six volumes, and her published articles and chapters number nearly 50.

She is also Founding Director of the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith, and is a co-founder of Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability. She is one of 3 North Americans appointed to a global team to advise the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation on their work toward a new international financial architecture. Among her numerous awards for scholarship and civic leadership are the Provost’s Outstanding Scholarship Award from California Lutheran University, the Outstanding Scholarship Award from Seattle University, and appointment as Seattle University’s Wismer Professor of Gender and Diversity Studies. She was appointed theological consultant to the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and has served on numerous editorial boards.