The 2009 Hein-Fry lecture topic was Hearing the Word: Lutheran Perspectives on Biblical Interpretation. This theme was chosen in order to engage the crucial conversation concerning various approaches to Scripture and what resources and challenges those approaches bring to diverse North American contexts. The hope for these lectures is that they raise awareness about the various ways the church has traditionally interpreted the Bible as well as explore a mixture of contemporary approaches to scriptural interpretation. Five scholars affiliated with the ELCA were invited to offer lectures out of their particular perspectives and scholarship. Each lecturer traveled to three sites where each delivered major presentations exploring important and innovative Lutheran perspectives on biblical interpretation, making a case for the promise of one, some, or even all of them.