Forgotten Luther IV

Amanda Tyler

Amanda Tyler is executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is the lead organizer of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign and co-host of BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast. Tyler’s constitutional law analysis and advocacy for faith freedom for all have been featured by major news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and MSNBC. Religious News Service named Tyler one of “2022’s rising stars in religion,” and she regularly preaches in Baptist churches, speaks at denominational gatherings, and leads sessions on college campuses and with community groups of all sizes.

A member of the Texas and U.S. Supreme Court Bar, Tyler has experience working in Congress, in a private legal practice, and as a law clerk for a federal judge. She testified before Congress in 2022 and 2023 about the ways in which Christian nationalism provides cover for white supremacy and in 2018 about threats to religious liberty around the world. Tyler graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service, magna cum laude, and earned her J.D. with honors from The University of Texas School of Law. In 2019, the school named her their “Outstanding Young Alumna.” Following law school, Tyler worked in private practice and served as a law clerk for a U.S. district court judge in Dallas, Texas. She worked on the staff of U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett in Austin and Washington, D.C. for several years, serving as the congressman’s district director and then as his counsel for the Ways and Means Committee. She lives with her family in Dallas.

Elizabeth A. Eaton

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton was elected to serve a second six-year term as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. She is the ELCA’s fourth presiding bishop and was first elected at the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Eaton earned a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the College of Wooster.

Bishop Eaton was ordained in 1981 and served three different congregations in Ohio before being elected bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod in 2006. She was reelected synod bishop in May 2013, shortly before her election as ELCA presiding bishop.

In the Further Reading/Resources section for this symposium, please note her available video, Why I Am Against Christian Nationalism, August 18, 2023.

"Why I Am Against Christian Nationalism"

Jamie Raskin

Congressman Jamie Raskin proudly represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was sworn into his fourth Term at the start of the 118th Congress on January 6, 2023.

For more than 25 years he was also a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law. He is an articulate defender of constitutional values, reminding of the great American invention of the separation of church and state, as well as the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

Congressman Raskin was chosen by the Democratic Caucus to be the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the 118th Congress. This is his fourth term serving on the Oversight Committee.

Prior to his time in Congress, Congressman Raskin was a three-term State Senator in Maryland, where he also served as the Senate Majority Whip. He earned a reputation for building coalitions in Annapolis to deliver a series of landmark legislative accomplishments, including marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, passage of the first Benefit Corporation law in America and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

He has authored several books, including the Washington Post best-seller Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People, the highly-acclaimed We the Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About America’s Students, and the New York Times #1 best-seller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy.

Congressman Raskin is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and is a former editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Paul Wee

Dr. Paul Wee has dedicated his life to advocacy for justice, peace and grace for all, that is, treating each person in this world fairly. He has worked in eastern and central Europe, primarily with faith-based communities, and served as assistant general secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights with the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He has been active in the area of conflict resolution, having initiated talks between four armed opposition groups and the Government of Guatemala that resulted in the Oslo Accords of 1990, and was a member of the UN Observer Mission to South Africa (UNOMSA), which provided oversight of the first democratic election in that country. A resident now of Washington State, until recently Dr. Wee was professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, and earlier served as senior pastor at Reformation Lutheran Church, on Capitol Hill. The past few years Dr. Wee has been a significant leader in the Forgotten Luther Series, several symposia featuring the socio-economic facets of Martin Luther’s witness. Dr. Wee is the author of numerous articles and several books, including American Destiny and co-editor of The Forgotten Luther.

Michael Grzonka

Michael Grzonka is a Ph.D. chemist by trade and applies scientific, bilingual research techniques to Martin Luther, his times and his writings. He authored a book on the German Reformation, Martin Luther and His Times. Recent projects include Charging Interest - Medieval Wisdom for a Modern Financial Crisis (with Fortress Press), and co-authoring The Cry for a Life-Sustaining Economy (with the Radicalizing Reformation project’s working group on Economy).

“Mick” is interested in the connection between Christian religion and its guidance for the economic orders we design. In this context, the first half of the 20th century and the fascist movements following the “Roaring/Golden Twenties” prove a fascinating field for him, with Nazi Germany a particular focus.

Amy Reumann

The Rev. Amy E. Reumann serves as ELCA Senior Director for Witness in Society in Washington, D.C. Her leadership directs staff and church advocacy in federal public policy through the ELCA-affiliated state public policy office network, at the United Nations through Lutheran Office for World Community representation, and with the ELCA Corporate Social Responsibility program. She has served as a parish pastor, Assistant to the Bishop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin., and director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania and is a former intern at the Lutheran Office for World Community.

Pastor Reumann is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Muhlenberg College. She received her M.Div degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and an STM in Christian Spirituality from the General Theological Seminary, New York City. She was awarded a GreenFaith Fellowship in religious-environmental leadership and a Louisville Institute Pastoral Studies Grant on “Public Testimony as a Faith Practice.” Reumann is a Master Gardener, manager at an urban farm, and loves to garden, quilt, hike and read mysteries.

Roger Willer

The Rev. Dr. Roger A. Willer is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), serving as the Director for Theological Ethics in the ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop. He has worked in that capacity as co- or lead-staff for every ELCA social teaching writing project since 2005. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago (2009) in theology and is a scholar in theology and ethics for both church and academic audiences. He currently is directing the staff work for the ELCA Task Force for Studies toward a new social statement on Civic Life and Faith and co-directing the ELCA’s reconsideration of its social statement, Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.

His most recent publications suggest his diverse academic interests. Last year Dialog: A Journal of Theology published Religious Organizations and Government: An Ecclesial Lutheran ‘Take'” (Vol. 58, No. 2, May 2023). The previous year he wrote the entry on “Science” in Volume III of the newly published Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics. His current work continues to focus on political theology and fleshing out the claim that ELCA social teaching documents are weaving a coherent evangelical Lutheran ethic of social responsibility.

The Rev. Dr. Bruk Ayele Asale

The Rev. Dr. Bruk Ayele Asale serves as President of Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He was born in Ethiopia and raised Lutheran by his family. Bruk has been involved for many years in the leadership of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), including Sunday school, youth ministry, junior secondary school, Mekane Yesus Seminary’s (MYS) Theology Department, and other ministries. He eventually became the President of the MYS. In addition, he is active in teaching, training, preaching, and church planting. He also leads several congregations. He began his ministry as a volunteer minister while also teaching in a public school in the northern part of Ethiopia during the time of the communist regime; he went through severe persecutions and miraculously survived the ordeal.

After completing his first and second degrees in theological studies in Ethiopia, Bruk went to the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa for his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies, focusing on the connection between the Ethiopian Church, the New Testament (especially the Epistle of Jude), and the Book of 1 (Ethiopic) Enoch. He has published several journal articles, including in The Bible Translator, and a monograph related to his Ph.D. dissertation, 1Enoch as Scripture: A Study in the Reception and Appropriation of 1 Enoch in Jude and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Canon.

Besides his main teaching career for several decades at several levels, Bruk served as Bible Translation Coordinator of the EECMY, Radio program producer and coordinator, Academic Dean of the MYS, member of several Boards, and income generation scheme promoter and leader for sustainable development. As President of the main theological institution of the EECMY, Bruk envisioned and implemented a Bible Translation program at Batchelor and Master degree level. The first cohort of the B.Th. completed their studies and graduated recently.

At the international level, Bruk is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE), the Association of Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), and the Advisory Board for Lutheran World Federation Theological Education and Formation (LWF-TEF).

Bruk is married to Tseganesh Kassa (Charis). They have two sons: Behulum (23) and Tamagne (18). Bruk likes reading, running, traveling, and doing outreach.

Kristen Opalinski

Kristen Opalinski serves as the Manager for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations on the staff of the Office of the Presiding Bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Her role centers around helping to shepherd new and existing ecumenical and inter-religious partnerships, to communicate their work, and to assist in the development of resources to aid in the engagement and formation of ELCA members in the work of ecumenical and inter-religious relations.

From 2010-2014, Kristen served as regional communications officer for the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA). During her tenure with LUCSA, Kristen was an interfaith delegate at COP17 (UN climate conference in Durban) and served as the communications director for the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa's (IFAPA) 2012 summit in Johannesburg. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership, a global interfaith peacemaking organization based in Chicago, and as a North American advisor for the South Africa-based NGO, Sonke Gender Justice.

Kristen graduated from Augsburg College in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art. She is a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary), where she earned a Master of Arts in Religion with specializations in public leadership and conflict transformation. In addition, Kristen has been a part of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University and the Summer Institute for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. She is currently serving as a partner theologian with the Branches of Peace Initiative, a peace and reconciliation theology project of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission.

Kristen has written a number of articles, including reflections on her personal faith journey, women’s leadership development across the global church, and the Lutheran Church’s legacy of peacemaking. In addition to her writing, she is an artist, photographer, graphic designer, and composer. Her work has been featured by the Lutheran World Federation, the Product (RED) Campaign, CNN, the United Nations, The Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, and Westminster John Knox Press.