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.