From January 24 through 26, 2020, the Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Moscow hosted the sessions of Module 2 & 3 of the Initial Theological Course for laypeople and clergymen from the ELCIR Moscow Deanery. The course is offered by the Theological Institute of The Church of Ingria and is taught extramurally.
The presenters were Rev. Dr. Charles Cortright (LCMS) who taught through translator Aleksei Zubtsov, and Deacon Yefim Romanenko from Sts. Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Moscow (ELCIR).
Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39, ESV), therefore the classes focused on the Book of Books, the Bible. The teachers spoke about the context, contents, textual scholarship, and relations of the Old Testament and New Testament books, for as St. Augustine aptly observed, “New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.”
Dr. Cortright presented an Introduction to the Old Testament and lectures on the Pentateuch and the OT books of history, prophecy, wisdom, and poetry. Deacon Romanenko presented a detailed and clear description of each of the NT books.
The classes were followed by informal fellowship over tea & snacks. We would like to thank the lecturers, congregational officers, and organizers for the blessed learning time and are looking forward to the next module!
Reported by Natalia Vorobyova. Photo credits: Nadezhda Kotenkova; Facebook page of Holy Trinity Lutheran, Moscow