Religious career
Following his ordination in 1974, Hanson served as pastor at Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1973 to 1979; Edina Community Lutheran Church, Edina, Minnesota, from 1979 to 1988; and University Lutheran Church of Hope, Minneapolis, from 1988 to 1995. He was elected Bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 1995, and had been reelected to a second term prior to his election as Presiding Bishop of the ELCA in 2001. [2]
In 2003, Hanson was elected President of the Lutheran World Federation, a role which he served concurrently with his role as ELCA Presiding Bishop. He serves on the executive council on the executive board of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Hanson is author of Faithful Yet Changing: The Church in Challenging Times (Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis: 2002). In 2007 Hanson was reelected on the second ballot, making him the longest-serving Presiding Bishop in the ELCA's history.
Bishop of the ELCA
In 2005, he mourned the death of Pope John Paul II, especially for his contributions to the ecumenical movement. [3] Since being elected presiding bishop, he has received several honorary degrees, including Doctor of Humane Letters from Augsburg University, Augustana College (Illinois), Wittenberg University, and Grand View University, Doctor of Humanities from Capital University, Doctor of Divinity from Lenoir-Rhyne College, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Susquehanna University, Wartburg College, and The Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration. Mark Hanson was Presiding Bishop of the ELCA from 2001-2013, when Bishop Elizabeth Eaton was elected as the next Presiding Bishop of the ELCA at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh, PA.
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.
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.
1517 Media, formerly Augsburg Fortress Press, is the official publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It also publishes for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada as Augsburg Fortress Canada. Headquartered on South Fifth Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the former headquarters of the American Lutheran Church, Augsburg Fortress publishes Living Lutheran, the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), the Lutheran Study Bible, and Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), as well as a range of academic, reference, and educational books. Tim Blevins has served as the CEO of 1517 Media since August, 2018. Beth Lewis served as the CEO of Augsburg Fortress since September 3, 2002.
The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was an American and Canadian Lutheran church body that existed from 1962 to 1987. It was headquartered in New York City and its publishing house was Fortress Press.
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The United Evangelical Lutheran Church was one of the many denominations formed when Lutherans came to the United States from Europe. Originally known as the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Church merged with other Lutheran groups to form the American Lutheran Church in 1960, which endured until 1988.
The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church was a Lutheran church body in the United States that was one of the churches that merged into the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962. It had its roots among the Swedish immigrants in the 19th century.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) was a Lutheran denomination that existed from 1917, when it was founded as the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (NLCA), until 1960, when it joined two other church bodies to form the second American Lutheran Church.
Paul Stumme-Diers was a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Greater Milwaukee Synod.
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.
Fredrik Axel Schiotz was an American Lutheran Church leader, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, President of the Lutheran World Federation and Presiding Bishop of The American Lutheran Church.
The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly was the eleventh biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It convened in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from August 17–23, 2009. The Churchwide Assembly is the 'highest legislative authority' of the ELCA.
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.
Richard Alvin Jensen was an American theologian who served as the Carlson Professor of Homiletics Emeritus at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Bonnie Lou Jensen is an American former missionary, international relations specialist, and director of the ELCA Global Mission.
Diego Lasansky is an American artist whose focus is on printmaking, painting, and drawing. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.
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).
David Walter Preus was an American Lutheran minister. He served as the last president/presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church (ALC) from 1973 until that body merged into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in 1988.
