Page Contents SCALD VI Past SCALDs SCALD V (2026) SCALD IV (2025) SCALD III (2023) SCALD II (2019) SCALD I (2017) Resources Other Opportunities

The Symposium for Central Appalachian Lutheran Dogmatics (SCALD) is designed as a day of theological discussion, employing the symposium model. Presenters give papers with discussion of those papers open to all participants. It is about providing an intellectually engaging and profitable opportunity for rank and file clergy and lay theologians (amateur and professional) to test their often private ruminations in a critical yet convivial gathering of peers.

Typically, five papers are presented over the course of the day. Sessions are not Zoomed. To date, there has been no fee for attending SCALD. Lunch is not provided, but ample time is built into the schedule for attendees to enjoy local eateries.

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We also invite you to join our SCALD Facebook group (a place we post information about events).

Questions may be addressed to Bishop Riegel (our Symposiarch).

SCALD VI

The next SCALD is tentatively scheduled for 12 April 2027 in Morgantown, WV. To register, click here.

Call for Papers

Paper proposals are now being accepted for SCALD VI.

• Papers may engage any topic so long as they also engage the Lutheran Confessional or Lutheran Scholastic tradition in a substantive manner.
• Papers should be approximately 20 minutes in oral-presentation length.
• Presenters should prepare for approximately 30 minutes of Q&A and discussion.
• Deadline for proposal submission is 31 December 2026.

Click here, to submit a paper proposal.

Past SCALDS

Andrae	Eckhart	+Herr	Mullins	Sornchai

SCALD V

• An Abbreviated Theological White Paper on Confidentiality and Trust: An Appeal Especially to Pastors — Eric Andrae
• Threat Assessment and the Care of Conscience: Confessional Lutheran Resources for the Potential Age of ET Alien Disclosure — Grant Eckhart
• The Athanasian Creed and Lutheran Dogmatics: Good Works, Salvation, and the Majoristic Controversy — Stephen Herr
• Death and Resurrection in the Joseph Narratives: How God Makes Us to be Like Christ — Kyle Mullins
• Equipped to Share: The Lutheran Confessional Tradition as Evangelism in Life and Worship" — Adam Sornchai

Christian	Johnston	+Riegel	Setley	Summers

SCALD IV

SCALD IV was held 20 February 2025 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Morgantown, WV, with 18 total attendees, 11 clergy and 7 laity, representing 7 different judicatories (WV-WMD ELCA, Lower Susquehanna ELCA, Southern Ohio ELCA,  NC ELCA, FL-Bahamas ELCA, Indiana-Kentucky ELCA, and Southeastern English District LCMS). The attendee who traveled the furthest came from Miami, FL. The following five papers were presented:

• Disputation on Offering the Sacrament of Holy Communion to the Unbaptized — Keith Christian
• Confessional Reappraisal: Dialogue between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod — Thomas Johnston
• Quo jure et quo modo? The Cleric Speaking in the Status Politicus —  Matthew Riegel
• Paved with Good Intentions: Reexamining Supersessionism — Tony Setley
• The Status Intermedius in the Lutheran Dogmatic Tradition —  Jaren Summers

SCALD III

+Riegel	Setley	McClinton	+Kusserow	Collins

After a four-year hiatus, SCALD III was held at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Morgantown, WV, on 9 November 2023. Nineteen attended: five laity and fourteen clergy. The clergy represented seven judicatories (five ELCA synods, one LCMS District, and one Episcopalian diocese). The furthest participant traveled from North Carolina. The five papers were:

• Dr. Chemnitz or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 3rd Use of the Law — Tony Setley
  
• Progression or Regression: Hymnody and the Lutheran Faith — Brian McClinton
• Enough! Seeking to Satisfy CA VII with an Articulation of the Gospel — Kurt Kusserow
• Mist in the Pulpit, Fog in the Pews: A Proposal to Clarify and Enhance Confessional Subscription in the ELCA — Daniel Collins
• Disputation on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and the So-called Virtual Communion — Matthew Riegel
  

Brian McClinton, at SCALD II, leads the gathering in singing hymns of the Christian Science tradition as an example of catechetical hymnody.

SCALD II

SCALD II, meeting in Keyser, WV, on 21 Feb 2019, saw a doubling of attendance over SCALD I, with thirty participating, representing six ELCA judicatories (WV-WMD, LSS, Allegheny, MNYS, NC, and Del-MD). There were two non-ELCA folks there (TEC and UCC). There were six laity and twenty-four clergy. One of the lay participants, a seminarian from LSTC, even road the train overnight to attend.

SCALD II papers...

•  Ask, Search, Knock. Opened? A Case for a Theology of Prayer in a "Just Do It" World — Christine Olson
• "You mean we can't sing Pass it on in Church": Hymnody and the theological importance in Christian education — Brian McClinton
  
• A (More) Trinitarian Baptism — Jonathon Jenkins
• On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Kierkegaard — James Demmel
• Shameless - and Mindless: A Proposed ‘Sexual Reformation’ in Need of Enlightenment —  Eric Crump
  

Elizabeth Hadaway, at SCALD I, delivering her paper, "The Babylonian Captivity of the Clergy Spouse," a very interesting critique of commonly held ideas about the role of the clergy spouse in light of Augustana XIV, XVI, and XXIII.

SCALD I

SCALD I met in Morgantown, WV, in 2017 with fifteen present. While predominantly pastors of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod, we also had a pastor from Lower Susquehanna join us and two priests from the Episcopal Diocese of WV.

SCALD I papers...

• Suicide and the Church's Answer: A Theological Primer on the Theology of Suicide and How the Church Should Respond — Matt Day
• The Babylonian Captivity of the Clergy Spouse — Elizabeth Leigh Hadaway
• My Church Council President Is a Montanist: Is That a Problem? — Brian McClinton
• Holding Fast: Ecumenism, the Answer to the Saviors Prayer or a Betrayal of Dogma? — Mike Hadaway
• The 95 Theses 500 Years On: What's Settled, What Is Still in Dispute? — Jerry Kliner

Resources

• Book of Concord
• English translation, Triglotta ed. (https://bookofconcord.org/)
• Concordia Triglotta. St.Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1921. (https://archive.org/details/concordiatriglot0000unse/mode/2up)
  
• Schmid, Heinrich. The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church., 3^rd ed. Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs, trans. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1899. (https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schmid/theology.html)
• Post-Reformation Digital Library (http://prdl.org/)

Other Opportunities

A wide variety of educational opportunities for both clergy and laity are to be found on the WV-WMD Synod's Education for Clergy & Laity page.