This book takes the 500th anniversary of the Reformation as an occasion to take a broader global view. It focuses on the key issues and challenges for Lutheran theology and churches in non-European contexts at the beginning of the 21st century. Authors from Africa, Asia, South and North America discuss the elementary issues of development of the Lutheran theology in their respective contexts. Furthermore, two contributions reflect on the ecumenical formation of Lutheran churches and on the significance of global inter-religious relations. The introduction by the editors - both Lutheran systematic theologians - presents the issues to be discussed; their summary gives an overview of the cross-cutting developments and perspectives of Lutheran theology.