Practices of Belonging

Mainline Protestant Culture and Notions of Lutheran Identity in the ELCA

Abstract

Decades of diversity initiatives have failed to yield meaningful results for Lutherans who wish to see racial equity in the ELCA. The more recent emphasis on missional ecclesiology offers a promising channel but is currently undermined by the persistent predominance of white cultural norms. This essay describes how Lutheran identity came to be associated with white, elite cultural forms in its journey from immigrant religious tradition to American mainline Protestant denomination. The author advocates for increased attention to “Lutheran†as a fluid category in order to affirm the full membership of all who choose to be in Lutheran spaces, regardless of racial or cultural identity.