Guy Erwin

Last updated

Guy Erwin
Bishop
Guy Erwin 09 2016.jpg
Erwin in September 2016
Church Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
SeeSouthwest California Synod
In officeOctober 10, 2013 – August 1, 2020
PredecessorDean Nelson
Personal details
Born1958 (age 6465)
Denomination Lutheran
Spouse
Rob Flynn
(m. 2013)
OccupationPresident of the United Lutheran Seminary
Alma mater

R. Guy Erwin (born 1958, Pawhuska, Oklahoma) (Osage) is an American Lutheran bishop. [1] He was elected in 2013 to a six-year term as bishop of the Southwest California Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). [2] Since August 2020, he has served as president of the United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. [3]

Contents

A member of the Osage Nation, Erwin is the first Native American bishop elected to office in the ELCA. He was ordained as a minister in 2011, two years after the denomination dropped its ban against LGBT clergy. [4] He is the first openly gay bishop in the ELCA. [5] [4]

Biography

Born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in 1958, Erwin has Osage and European ancestry; he is registered as and identifies as a member of the Osage Nation. [6] When he was eight, his family moved to Germany; there he learned to speak German, and began to be interested in church history and Lutheranism. After their return to the United States, the family settled in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Erwin was president of the student council at Sapulpa High School, where he graduated. [6] Erwin went to Harvard College, graduating in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He holds the Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Yale University. [7]

Based on a Fulbright grant, Erwin lived in Germany for two years, where he conducted research for his doctoral dissertation and began to prepare for ministry. But in 1987, the newly created Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) denied ordination to a group of gay and lesbian seminarians. Erwin began to work within the Lutheran Church for changes to its position on gay clergy. While teaching for years at California Lutheran University, he also served as a volunteer parish associate. [6]

From 1993 to 1999, Erwin was lecturer in ecclesiastical history in the Yale Divinity School (YDS). He taught History of Western Christianity as well as courses on Martin Luther, the Pietists, and other topics.

Since 2000 Erwin has taught at California Lutheran University. He is considered a specialist on the life and teachings of Martin Luther, considered founder of the faith and highly influential to the Protestant Reformation. [4]

During the 2006–2007 academic year, Erwin was visiting professor at Yale Divinity School while on sabbatical. [2] In 2008 he was promoted to full professor. [8]

He was ordained as a minister in 2011, two years after the ELCA dropped its ban on LGBT clergy. Two years later, in an historic vote, Erwin was elected as bishop for a customary six-year term in the Southwest California Synod, which encompasses most of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. [4] He oversees 126 congregations with 33,000 members. [6] He also serves on the advisory council of the Guibord Center, an interfaith non-profit in Los Angeles. [9]

In 2020, Erwin was appointed as president of United Lutheran Seminary. [10]

Personal life

Erwin has been in a committed same-sex relationship with Rob Flynn for 20 years. They were married in August 2013. [5]

Related Research Articles

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2021, it has approximately 3.04 million baptized members in 8,724 congregations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada</span> Protestant denomination in Canada

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination, with 95,000 baptized members in 519 congregations, with the second largest, the Lutheran Church–Canada, having 53,165 baptized members. Together with the LCC and the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, it is one of only three all-Canadian Lutheran denominations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the Anglican-Lutheran North American grouping Churches Beyond Borders. According to the 2011 Canadian census, a larger number of 478,185 adherents identify as Lutheran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Hanson</span> American bishop (born 1946)

Mark S. Hanson is an American bishop who served as the third Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Before being elected presiding bishop, he served as bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod as well as pastor of three Minnesota congregations: Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Edina Community Lutheran Church; and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. In addition to serving as Presiding Bishop, Hanson was the 11th President of the Lutheran World Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Lutheran Church</span> Defunct Christian denomination in the United States

The American Lutheran Church (ALC) was a Christian Protestant denomination in the United States and Canada that existed from 1960 to 1987. Its headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Upon its formation in 1960, The ALC designated Augsburg Publishing House, also located in Minneapolis, as the church publisher. The Lutheran Standard was the official magazine of The ALC.

Anita Carol Hill is an LGBT American minister in the Lutheran Church. She is one of the first ordained lesbian women in the church and became a pastor before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) changed its policy on LGBT ministers.

Rev. Marie C. Jerge is a former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (PLTS) is a private Lutheran seminary in Berkeley, California. It is affiliated with California Lutheran University and is a member school of the Graduate Theological Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia</span>

The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), also known as the Philadelphia Seminary, was one of eight theological seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America. It is located on Germantown Avenue in the Mount Airy neighborhood of northwestern Philadelphia. Founded in 1864, it has its roots in the Pennsylvania Ministerium established in 1748 in Philadelphia by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.

Herbert W. Chilstrom was an American religious leader, who served as the first Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was re-elected to a four-year term at the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Florida. He served as bishop of the Minnesota Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of the three church bodies which merged to form the ELCA on Jan. 1, 1988.

Lutheran viewpoints concerning homosexuality are diverse because there is no one worldwide body which represents all Lutherans. The Lutheran World Federation, a worldwide 'communion of churches' and the largest global body of Lutherans, contains member churches on both sides of the issue. However, other Lutherans, including the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference and International Lutheran Council, completely reject homosexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First United Lutheran Church</span> Church in San Francisco, California

First United Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), located in San Francisco, California. Formed in 1886, it was the first Lutheran congregation in California to use English as its primary language for worship. In 1990, First United was suspended, and later expelled from the ELCA for ordaining an openly gay pastor, against the wishes of the denomination. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted to approve openly gay clergy in 2009, and in 2012, First United rejoined the denomination. Presently a "church without walls," First United meets in St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church, located at 2097 Turk Street, near the main campus of the University of San Francisco.

The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.

Leonard H. Bolick is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and served as the bishop of the North Carolina Evangelical Lutheran Synod from 1997 to 2015. Bolick is known for seeking ecumenical reconciliation and improving relations with the Roman Catholic Church in North Carolina while he has been bishop. Prior to serving as Bishop of North Carolina, Bolick served as a pastor at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Concord, North Carolina and St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He later joined the Bishop of North Carolina's personal staff and served in youth ministry and evangelism, and was a member of the Synod's transition team. He was consecrated as Bishop of the North Carolina Synod on February 2, 1997. He was succeeded in this position by Timothy Smith, who was officially installed as bishop of the North Carolina Synod on September 12, 2015.

Elizabeth Amy Eaton is the fourth Presiding Bishop, and the first female Presiding Bishop, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She was first elected to this post in 2013 and was re-elected for a second term in 2019. Prior to becoming presiding bishop, she served as bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Pacific Synod</span> Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Sierra Pacific Synod is one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It covers central and northern California and northern Nevada and supports ELCA congregations throughout that region. It is headed by a bishop, most recently by Megan Rohrer who resigned on June 6, 2022.

April Ulring Larson is an American retired Lutheran bishop. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to serve as a bishop by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Lutheran Seminary</span> American Lutheran seminary in Pennsylvania, U.S.

United Lutheran Seminary is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Gettysburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the seven seminaries of the church. It was created in 2017 when the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia merged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Rohrer</span> American activist for homeless and LGBTQ+ rights (born 1980)

Megan Rohrer is an American activist for homeless and LGBTQ+ rights and former Lutheran bishop. Rohrer is the first openly transgender minister ordained in the Lutheran tradition.

The Reverend James F. Mauney is a Lutheran pastor who served as Bishop of the Virginia Synod from 1999-2017. James Foltz Mauney was born to The Rev. Marshall F. Mauney and Laura Virginia Foltz Mauney of Norfolk, VA. His father served as pastor at First Lutheran, Norfolk, for 20 years.

References

  1. Sherman, Bill (June 10, 2013). "Lutheran church's first gay bishop has area ties". Tulsa World. ISSN   2330-7234 . Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Radio, Southern California Public (7 June 2013). "Rev. Guy Erwin on becoming the Evangelical Lutheran Church's first openly gay bishop" . Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  3. "United Lutheran Seminary Names Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin As Next President". WFMZ.com. Retrieved 2021-05-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Saillant, Catherine (31 May 2013). "Evangelical Lutheran Church elects first openly gay bishop". LA Times. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  5. 1 2 Press release. "The Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin Elected Bishop". Southwest California Synod, ELCA. Archived from the original on 2013-06-19.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Sherman, Bill (10 June 2013). "Lutheran church's first gay bishop has area ties". Tulsa World. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. "About, People - August 2013 - Yale Divinity School". divinity.yale.edu. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  8. "Faculty promotions announced". California Lutheran University. 12 March 2008.
  9. "About: Advisory Council, Guy Erwin". The Guibord Center. theguibordcenter.org. n.d.
  10. "President Erwin". www.unitedlutheranseminary.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-11.