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Choice
Introduction The Division for Church in Society (DCS) and the Division for Higher Education and Schools (DHES) are pleased to make available to members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) these two informative and stimulating essays on educational choice. They demonstrate the ongoing concern by Lutherans for education and for public policy in education. They are meant to encourage further reflection on educational choice and other issues related to schools and education. Two Essays on Educational Choice: Lutheran Perspectives is a companion volume to the congregational study Educational Choice: A Discussion Guide. These essays provide insight and depth to two aspects of educational choice, a public policy proposal in which government financially assists parents who choose to enroll their children in non-government schools, including ones operated by religious bodies, as well as in public schools. At present, the most commonly discussed mechanism to implement this policy is a voucher system. Dr. Louis L. Almen places the current public discussion in a broad historical context. He describes and evaluates what he understands to be the presuppositions or pillars of the common or public school in the United States of America and finds in the Lutheran tradition resources for facing the present "crisis" in education. Dr. Marie Failinger provides a historical overview of Supreme Court rulings related to education. She draws out possible implications of this history for educational choice and compares Lutheran thinking on church/state relations to constitutional jurisprudence. Dr. Almen has served as a parish pastor, college professor, churchwide agency executive director and college president. He earned his Ph.D. in 1963 in recent American religious history, writing his dissertation on changes in the Protestant ethic as a result of mass production. His current interests include relating theology to contemporary societal issues. Marie Failinger is Professor of Law at Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, where she has taught since 1983. She teaches Constitutional Law and co-edits the Journal of Law and Religion. She has her BA and JD degrees from Valparaiso University and her LL.M. degree from Yale Law School. The essays express the views of the authors and not necessarily those of DCS or the DHES. They are not policy statements of these divisions nor of the ELCA. The publication of this volume was made possible by a grant from Lutheran Brotherhood.
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