April 2011 Volume 38 Number 2

The Church’s One Foundation

CURRENTS in Theology and Mission Currents in Theology and Mission Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in cooperation with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Wartburg Theological Seminary Editors: Kathleen D. Billman, Kurt K. Hendel, Mark N. Swanson Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Associate Editor: Craig L. Nessan Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) [email protected] Assistant Editor: Ann Rezny [email protected] Copy Editor: Connie Sletto Editor of Preaching Helps: Craig A. Satterlee Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected] Editors of Book Reviews: Ralph W. Klein (Old Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0773) [email protected] Edgar M. Krentz (New Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0752) [email protected] Craig L. Nessan (history, theology, and ethics) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) [email protected] Circulation Office: 773-256-0751 [email protected] Editorial Board: Michael Aune (PLTS), James Erdman (WTS), Robert Kugler (PLTS), Jensen Seyenkulo (LSTC), Kristine Stache (WTS), Vítor Westhelle (LSTC). CURRENTS IN THEOLOGY AND MISSION (ISSN: 0098-2113) is published bimonthly (every other month), February, April, June, August, October, December. Annual subscription rate: $24.00 in the U.S.A., $28.00 elsewhere. Two-year rate: $44.00 in the U.S.A., $52.00 elsewhere. Three-year rate: $60.00 in the U.S.A., $72.00 elsewhere. Many back issues are available for $5.00, postage included. Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, a nonprofit organization, 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60615, to which all business correspondence is to be addressed. Printed in U.S.A. CURRENTS is indexed in ATLA Religion Database, Elenchus, IZBW, NTA, OTA, Religion Index I (formerly IRPL), Religious and Theological Abstracts, and Theologische Literaturzeitung. MICROFORM AVAILABILITY: 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm, 105mm microfiche, and article copies are available through University Microfilms Inc., 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Unless otherwise noted scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Contents

The Church’s One Foundation Kurt K. Hendel 82 Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009 Daniel Aleshire 84 How My Mind Has Changed Mark Bangert 90 The Afterlife of Exile James P. Wind 93 How My Mind Has Changed Paul F. Goetting 101 Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith Edgar Krentz 103 How My Mind Has Changed Kurt K. Hendel 117 Christ Seminary–Seminex Library: From Concordia Seminary in Exile Library to Seminex Legacy Collection Susan J. Ebertz 120 How My Mind Has Changed Ralph W. Klein 126 Seminex: A Spiritual Journey Paul Bauermeister 128 Let me see! Lessons for the Commemoration of Renewers of the Church, Jer 1:4–10; Mark 10:35–45 Everett R. Kalin 133 Camelot Joan Beck and Donna Herzfeldt-Kamprath 136 Valid, Etc. Everett R. Kalin 140 Tribute Ralph W. Klein 144 Book Reviews 149

Preaching Helps Concerning this Column Craig A. Satterlee 157 Seventh Sunday of Easter–Proper 13 Arthur C. Bergren 159 The Church’s One Foundation

Christ Seminary–Seminex evokes a variety of memories, impressions, and responses in its participants and observers. This issue ofCurrents in Theology and Mission provides glimpses into the Seminex story and, more importantly, ex- plores the faith that still inspires God’s people to make a bold witness of Christ, who is the church’s one foundation. The majority of the materials offered here were presented at the celebration of the 35th Anniversary of Seminex, which took place at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in June, 2009. Daniel Aleshire recounts five personal stories that link his own experiences as a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with the Seminex story. In the process of doing so, he offers keen theological and biblical insights that shed light on the nature and consequences of ecclesiastical conflict. Among the conclusions that he draws are that “conflict appears because beliefs mat- ter”; “denominational conflict leads to change, but not the change that either side presumes”; “seminary-church conflicts occur…because theological schools are deeply connected to the church”; and “hope comes slowly,…but it comes dependably, faithfully, forcefully.” James Wind, who was one of the student leaders at the time, describes spe- cific student actions that were an immediate impetus to the formation of Semi- nex. He summarizes the students’ motivations in the following way: “Drawing on American traditions of democracy and our own Lutheran confessional un- derstandings of the centrality of the gospel and the freedom/duty of a Christian to protest wrongs in the church, we came to the conclusion that our consciences mattered, that authority could and at times should be challenged, that ethics… revealed character, that new knowledge was not the enemy, and that the gospel should not be bound. So we acted.” Wind also places the students’ activities and the founding of Seminex into their historical setting and insists that they were not isolated or unique events but part of a “…great global argument about what the church was.” The Seminex story is, therefore, not finished. It continues, and so do its consequences. Edgar Krentz’s essay focuses on a crucial aspect of the conflict that gave birth to Seminex, namely, the normative role of Scripture in the life of the church. While the question of the legitimacy of historical criticism inspired heated debate, for the seminary faculty the crucial issue “…was the relationship of the Bible to authority in the church,…the relationship of Bible to theol- ogy,…[and] the priority of gospel to Bible in the life and work of the church.” As he explores the Bible as the church’s Book of Faith, he weaves together his own methodological and interpretative insights with those of Martin Luther and emphasizes both the diversity of the biblical message and the centrality of Christ. He notes particularly that “…the biblical gospel always makes Christ necessary and gives glory to God.” Susan Ebertz shares the interesting story of the Seminex library in her article, thereby celebrating the scholarly and pedagogical importance of this col- lection as well as the courageous ministries of its staff, especially its director, H. Lucille Hager. The remaining contributions are sermons, reflective essays, and a tribute, all prepared by former Seminex students and faculty as a part of their celebration of the 35th anniversary of Christ Seminary–Seminex and its living heritage. I want to express a special word of thanks to Dr. Everett Kalin who served as co-editor of this issue.

Kurt K. Hendel Editor

Seminex walkout, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. ELCA Archives photo. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex June 2009

Daniel Aleshire Executive Director, Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada

This is a storied gathering. It is storied 1. because the exodus from Concordia Tom Graves is one of my closest friends Seminary in 1974 was arguably the most from student days at Southern Baptist dramatic moment in twentieth-century Theological Seminary in Louisville. He theological education, but that is not the ended up a professor at Southeastern story that I have most in mind this evening. Baptist Seminary, and I became a professor This is a storied gathering because this at Southern. We both imagined that we event is about the personal stories that would retire from the faculties of which have been draped around that historical we were a part, but as a bumper sticker event. All of you here have a story of I once saw read, “Vicissitudes happen.” how your lives and ministries have been Controversy hit the Southern Baptist fashioned and formed by the Lutheran Convention in the late 1970s and did not Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) leave the entire time the two of us served controversy. You have a story about your on these respective faculties. I joined decision to process off the Concordia the Association of Theological Schools campus, as the tower bells were ringing. (ATS) staff in 1990, and Tom became You have a story about your decision to the founding president of the Baptist attend Christ Seminary–Seminex, and in Theological Seminary in Richmond, the that choice, separate yourself from a future first seminary to be formed as a result in the church body you knew best. Stories of the Southern Baptist conflict. Tom’s of human beings seeking to be faithful are father, Allen Graves, was vice president sacred stories, and I am honored to have at Southern Seminary in the 1970s and been asked to share in this event. served on the 1972 ATS accrediting I am not a Lutheran, although my committee that visited Concordia Christian life bears ample evidence of simul Seminary responding to concerns about justus et peccator. I am not a Lutheran, but I patterns and practices of governance and have struggled with law and gospel and the academic freedom. My association with the permeable boundaries between these two Missouri Synod controversy has been from gifts of grace. While not a Lutheran, I want a distance, but from my student days at to share some stories from my life that, at least Southern, the Concordia story intersected from a distance, overlap with your stories and with parts of my story. reflect with you on denominational conflict, I dug out the report of that visit from theological education, and ministry. the accrediting archives at ATS and read

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Aleshire. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009

85 it. In fact, I read every report prepared for Theological schools are hybrid institutions: the Commission on Accrediting between they are simultaneously creatures of the church 1972 and 1980 related to Concordia and creatures of higher education. Both are Seminary, Concordia-Seminary-in-Exile, social systems with particular conventions and Christ Seminary–Seminex. There were and methods of procedure. It is usually the several. As best I can tell, ATS accreditation church side of a theological school that creates didn’t make many Lutherans very happy the most complex problems, and theological during those years. ATS placed Concordia schools often turn to their higher education Seminary on probation for issues related side for a remedy to those problems. My to governance and academic freedom in perception is that the solutions offered by 1972, and, after considerable work to one side of a school’s identity never satisfy the change policies and correct procedures, problems caused by the other side. ATS removed that probation in spring 1974, just months after the exodus from 2. the 801 campus. At the same meeting In 1975, I joined the staff of what is now that ATS removed the 1972 probation, it Search Institute in Minneapolis. The imposed probation for another set of reasons organization had just completed a major related to educational capacity following study on Lutherans, A Study of Generations, the exodus. Missouri Lutherans were and I was hired to work with three projects upset that probation had been imposed, that formed the focus of the Institute’s removed, then re-imposed for different work during the middle and late 1970s: reasons, and Seminex Lutherans were upset the Readiness for Ministry Project that that accreditation was not withdrawn from was commissioned by ATS, the Lutheran Concordia Seminary after the exodus. In Seminarian Project, and a project for 1975 and 1976, the Commission moved the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) with more speed than it ever had to grant colleges that was seeking to identify what accreditation to a new seminary: Christ made these Lutheran colleges “Lutheran” Seminary–Seminex. Missouri Lutherans as their faculties, student bodies, and were upset that Seminex was accredited in boards were increasingly non-Lutheran. such a short period of time and probably The Lutheran Seminarian Project thought that ATS was playing favorites. involved the American Lutheran Church Seminex Lutherans were upset because (ALC), LCA, and LCMS seminaries in an Concordia Seminary was removed from effort to understand how entering students its second probation in 1976 and its understood ministry. I visited Concordia accreditation reaffirmed. The ATS archive Seminary during the 1975–76 academic does not include all the correspondence, so year (probably because I was the only non- my perceptions about everyone being upset Lutheran on the research team). My task may not be accurate, but I think that, for was to interview students, and as best I the most part, they are. Concordia Seminary could tell as a researcher, the students were was visited again near the end of the decade reticent to talk. They were cooperative and when it sought initial accreditation by the polite, but seemed unsure about what was North Central Association in addition safe to say and to whom it was safe to say to ATS. North Central appointed John it. I can only imagine how hard it was to Dominic Crossan to that joint visiting be a student at Seminex—preparing for committee. (Accreditation is usually boring, ministry knowing that the old English but not always!) District congregations could never absorb Aleshire. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009

86 all those Seminex graduates and uncertain Baptist Convention (SBC) struggle and about the degree to which the LCA and his with the LCMS. David grew up in the ALC would be open to extending calls a Congregationalist family, and joined a to them. I can only imagine that it was Missouri Synod congregation in late high also hard for students at Concordia who school. He told me he was drawn to the had cast their lot with one side when it confessional, theological character of the was not clear which side would ultimately Missouri Synod and to its high Lutheran prevail. liturgy. In the LCMS, he found a home In denominational struggles, pastoral where his faith took root and grew into a careers are at risk, and seminary students calling to ministry, and a setting in which are especially put at risk. Church bodies that ministry was practiced. David never don’t split like teenage boyfriends and left the LCMS and never felt completely girlfriends split up. Church bodies split like comfortable about staying. He retired forty-year-old couples get divorced—with from ATS in 1990 and died suddenly a property to fight over, with children’s lives few years ago. At the time of his death, upended, with a history in contest, and he was serving as the interim pastor of an with a future unclear. Like the children of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America divorce, seminary students feel the tension (ELCA) congregation. I attended his of the fighting and experience the loss of funeral, which was conducted at the LCMS a future they thought they were called to congregation where David and his wife serve. The Apostle Paul and his missionary had been members. About ten LCMS partner Barnabas parted company as a result clergy were there, vested and sitting as a of their disagreement about whether young group in the pews. The associate pastor John called Mark should accompany them. of the ELCA congregation that David I wonder what Mark thought as he watched had been serving was also there. She did Paul walk away. What would ministry be not sit with the LCMS clergy, but she did like with Barnabas? The text gives us no clue. speak from the lectern about the many There are times when roads diverge, and the contributions that David had been making paths in either direction are equally risky. at the congregation they both served. Church battles tend to replace nuanced 3. positions with hard-edged, binary categories. While working on the Readiness for A person is on either one side or the other, Ministry project, I became both friend in sympathy with one leader or another, and colleague of David Schuller, the committed to one position or the other. ATS staff member responsible for that Middle ground collapses. People like David, project. David was a Concordia Seminary burdened with the ability to see some good graduate and was a faculty member at in both sides, tend to lose. They are like Concordia when he joined the ATS staff. Laodicea, “neither hot nor cold.” David could He watched his former colleagues process not abandon the LCMS in which his faith off the 801 campus from his ATS office. and ministry took hold, and he could not David kept his clergy credentials in the embrace the direction that the LCMS had LCMS, although in many ways his heart taken. I think David would have been pleased was with his former colleagues who left. to see the vested LCMS men at his funeral During the 1980s, David and I continued listening to an ordained ELCA woman. It to work on one project or another and often was the perfect metaphor for the Lutheran talked about my pain with the Southern that David was. Maybe ministry is like our Aleshire. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009

87 salvation, and we are called to work it out few biblical errantists would ever win a with fear and trembling. Baptist battle. I have had the opportunity to observe 4. three denominational conflicts, and all of The SBC struggle of the 1980s involved them have led me to conclude that the rhe- the word “inerrancy.” If I have read the torical and doctrinal concerns on the surface documents in the ATS files correctly, it are not necessarily the animating forces of was an important modifier for Scripture the conflict. These struggles are more likely a in the LCMS struggles as well. function of fault lines and fissures far below The word “inerrancy” does not occur the surface. That’s why I think a protracted in the 1932 LCMS statement on the Holy struggle in the SBC over “inerrancy” can Scriptures, and it occurs primarily as an occur and the word not be given a privileged explanation of infallibility in the 1973 place in a subsequent statement of faith by statement on “Scriptural and Confessional the individuals who advocated the term in Principles,” adopted in the heat of the the struggle. Maybe it was all theology and denominational storm. The most typical biblical studies in the LCMS struggles of linguistic formulation in the letters I saw the 1970s, but I am quite sure it was not about the Concordia controversy was that all “inerrancy” in the SBC struggles of the the Scripture is “inspired and inerrant,” not 1980s. Inerrancy was an important proxy for inspired and infallible. The statements of viewing the Bible as the unique, revelatory, faith that the SBC adopted in 1925 and word of God that is best understood as liter- in 1964 did not use the word “inerrancy.” ally true with regard to history and miracles, After the SBC struggle ended with con- and theologically true in all matters. It was servatives fully in control, the Statement a critical issue, but not the only one, and of Faith was revised. While the 2000 perhaps not the deepest one. The fault lines statement tightened the language about 1 that shook the denomination involved an Scripture, the term “inerrant” does not old SBC system that pushed some leaders to appear. Roy Honeycutt, an Old Testament the margins while privileging others at the scholar who was president of Southern dur- center, the residue of inadequately addressing ing most of the SBC struggle, commented theological differences that had their roots in one time that the problem with the word the fundamentalist-modernist struggles of the is that if you are not an “inerrantist,” you 1920s, and the persistence of a tendency to must be an “errantist.” The word creates perceive anti-intellectualism as a friend of binary categories. He reckoned that very faith. 1. In the 1964 SBC statement, Scripture “is the record of God’s revelation 5. of Himself to man” and in the 2000 My last year on the Southern faculty was statement, Scripture “is God’s revelation 1989–90, and John Tietjen was the speaker of Himself to man.” While both the 1964 for our fall faculty retreat. He reflected and 2000 statements say that Scripture with us as a pastor about the Concordia “has God for its author, salvation for its story fifteen years after the exodus and end, and truth, without any mixture of shortly after the ELCA had formed. error, for its matter, ” the 2000 statement adds, “Therefore, all Scripture is totally Tietjen seemed “whole” to me. There true and trustworthy.” (www.sbc.net/bfm/ were scars, but no open wounds. He was bfmcomparison.asp) able to talk about what happened, about what he wondered might have been done Aleshire. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009

88 differently, and about what consequence the exodus. Conflict happens because another course of action may have had. beliefs matter. Two things seemed evident to me as I listened to him. The first is the apparent 2. Denominational conflict leads to inevitability of some denominational change, but not the change that conflicts. There are times, it seems, when either side presumes. When you irresistible forces result in struggle—like enrolled at Concordia Seminary the “spring of the year, the time when kings or Christ Seminary, you could not go out to battle” (2 Samuel 11:1). Strong have imagined that your ministry personalities are always players, and they may would be housed in the ELCA, or use the struggle, but the struggle is ultimately that so many former Missouri Synod fueled by forces beyond personalities. While scholars and students would have the struggle might be managed for a time, the leadership and respect they have the underlying forces will prevail. Four of experienced in the ELCA. Three of the six Southern Baptist seminary presidents the eight ELCA seminary presidents tried different strategies during the 1980s have Missouri Synod backgrounds. and early 1990s—from aggressive resistance And the Missouri Synod now is not to accommodation—and none of them what the contenders of the 1970s succeeded in preserving what came to be thought it would be decades earlier. identified as the moderate presence in the They argued for theological issues that SBC seminaries. The second is that there don’t have much power to attract these is life and ministry after the struggle. We days. Last summer about this time, experience these painful struggles as if they I visited an LCMS congregation for have more power than they actually have, worship. The church was growing, as if grace were held by the structures rather the praise band was good, there were than by the Spirit. Tietjen was whole. no vestments, the liturgy was on the light side—much lighter than my Conclusion United Methodist congregation, and I’ve told you parts of five stories and shared we all know about Methodists—and along the way what I have learned. I want nothing was said that would suggest to conclude with a few final observations. that I should not commune at the table. This is certainly not what all 1. Conflict hovers around theological LCMS worship is like, but the LCMS schools because they operate at a is influenced by the same factors certain intellectual distance from that influence the rest of American the church, and both the church and Protestantism. A congregation that the school are driven by theological wants to reach this culture will store meaning. Theological commitments many of its theological affirmations are intrinsically value-laden and since far from the front door. Acts 15, the history of the church is one in which opposing sides have 3. If Charles Dickens were around to perceived issues worthy of contest. write about my years at Southern Denominational conflict is painful Seminary, he would likely write about because both sides presume they are them as “the best of times” and the fighting from the high moral ground. “worst of times.” Southern was doing They are contending for truth with a many things better in the 1980s than capitol “T,” as Tietjen stated during it had at any time in the twentieth Aleshire. Watching Hope Grow: Distant Reflections on Seminex, June 2009

89 century—but no good counted if the image of the new shoot growing from faculty didn’t have the right answer the stump of the large tree is powerful. about Adam’s belly button or whether I noticed that you incorporated it in the ax head floated. It was as painful the art for this event. The hope that a time as I have ever experienced. I grows slowly is not that the old tree left Southern happy to be able to join will re-grow, but that a new forest the ATS staff and restrict my future will grow around the stump. Tectonic connections to the school side of plates shift; the stress recedes; new theological schools. The church side structures are built, perhaps more had proven very painful. seismically sound than the old ones. However, over the years, I have Denominational conflict, painful as concluded that these painful conflicts it is, is not determinative. It does not are the occasional consequence of have the power to alter the future. an important aspect of theological It may bend the direction, but it schools. Seminary-church conflicts does not change the destination. occur from time to time because These conflicts may retard the work theological schools are deeply of grace for a season, but the grace connected to the church. The church, that is greater than our sins is also in fact, is about the only public that greater than our conflicts. Ministry cares about what goes on in theological continues; people find ways to bring schools. The seminary cannot have a meaning to chaos. Hope does not take viable existence if it only provides a away the memory of the struggle or place where theological disciplines the pain it induced, but it does take are studied for the intellectual joy away the fear that good might not win. of study. The best schools are about Hope is not a sentimental dismissal equipping leaders who serve the of what happened. The Bible’s most gospel by serving communities of ancient image of hope, set in the sky faith and extending God’s mission after the flood, is possible only when for the church in the world. If a the rainstorm is gathered on one side seminary is only good as a school, and the sun is shining on the other. it risks being good for nothing. The Hope comes slowly, I have learned, seminary has to be connected to the but it comes dependably, faithfully, church, even at the risk of occasional and forcefully. painful moments of conflict. The alternative is far worse than the pain “May the God of hope fill you with all joy of the conflict. and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy 4. Most of all, I have learned that hope Spirit” (Rom 15:13). grows slowly. That famous Seminex How My Mind Has Changed

Mark Bangert John. H. Tietjen Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Ministry Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Frankly, it would be much easier to talk 6. Seminex is how God answers those about how my body has changed during who protest the church’s treatment the past thirty-five years, but it’s too pain- of its prophets. ful to go there. At regular and appropriate intervals, For years I believed, and in some respects mostly prompted by mileposts or re- still do believe, that one or the other, engagements with folks from the distant perhaps all, of those answers succinctly past, I have asked myself what that thing account for the experience we know as called Seminex was really all about. Seminex. And even if we cease asking What were the deep passions that drove after the energies zigzagging across our it through unbelievable resistant weather lives that spell Seminex, these descriptors to places no one would have imagined? are adequate and constitute a story that What forces were behind the banners that rings true. evoked salutes from bodies ready to give I believed all those things during up goods, fame, child, and wife? the ’70s and early ’80s, even while dur- The answers that readily come to me ing those years there was, at least in my are nearby; we have heard some of them life, a parallel universe, as it were, taking during these days: shape. Perhaps it might be more accurate 1. Seminex resulted from an internal to say “parallel universes,” since I would Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod guess that for each of us, even for those (LCMS) conflict about biblical in- who entered the experience in the ’80s, terpretation, a conflict that had been a common by-product of our allegiance brewing for several years. was the cost incurred among our personal 2. Seminex is about the gospel—what is universes of family and friends. it, and how does one live by it? But I refer to still another universe. 3. Seminex aims to model an evangelical Consider this: alternative to ecclesiastical structures In the year 1965 the LCMS in its overrun by political machinery with Detroit Convention issued an invitation supercharged high horsepower. to other Lutheran bodies to jointly work 4. Seminex is a small but true witness on a new resource for worship, including to ecumenical stirrings within Lu- liturgies and hymns. In 1966 the first theranism. meeting of the Inter-Lutheran Commis- 5. Seminex is a lifeboat in the midst of sion on Worship (ILCW) was held here ecclesiastical debris leftover from an in Chicago, and LCMS pastor Herbert encroaching wave of fundamental- Lindemann was elected chair. Three ism that overtook society in general years later, 1969, in this very building the during the ’70s and ’80s. entire Commission, together with all the

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Bangert. How My Mind Has Changed

91 presidents of the six churches involved and giving sustenance during those generative publishing house editors, met to consider years? the first drafts of a new Eucharistic rite. Let me suggest some symbiotic rela- Weeks later John Tietjen was elected presi- tionships. dent of Concordia Seminary and several First, methodologies employed for weeks after that, still in 1969, J.A.O. Preus the development of new liturgies and a was elected president of the LCMS. hymn collection, known later as the LBW, In 1970 Contemporary Worship, compelled us to recognize that our roots volume 2, (CW 2) was published for use were far deeper, more distant and more by Lutherans of all bodies—the first com- complex than simply Perry County soil. mon Eucharistic rite ever to be shared by Signing on to such a project freed us to all North American Lutherans. Stop for be far more open to an expansive church a minute and imagine that Lutherans in world and to the Spirit at work beyond 1970 could find enough common ground the small pond known as the LCMS. That about the Lord’s Supper to commit them- these visions surfaced in routines weekly selves to publishing a common liturgy. and daily practiced in worship hastened Three years later, in 1973, came the the overhaul needed for God’s plans. fateful New Orleans Convention of the Second, new liturgies and hymns, to- LCMS (during the last days of which I gether with the fresh visions they brought, was writing my Ph.D. examinations in afforded us palpable experiences of the Paul Manz’s Minneapolis office) and the fresh stirrings of the Spirit, preparing us, death of Arthur Carl Piepkorn. This was perhaps making us hungry, for what that also the year during which the ILCW same Spirit could and can bring to tired, sponsored a theological convocation to even lifeless, systems and structures. find resolution to emerging issues with Third, the process of embracing and respect to CW 2. assimilating new liturgies and hymns Early in 1974 John Tietjen was sus- provided the enterprise of biblical inter- pended, Seminex came into existence, pretation with a necessary context. If I may and the post-Vatican II Roman Missal be so bold, biblical interpretation means was published in English translation. nothing unless it is applied in community; ILCW’s revision of CW 2 appeared it needs purpose and a tradition of piety in 1975, and one year later the Associa- over against which it can be challenged tion of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and tuned. To put it another way, Bible was formed. In 1978 the Lutheran Book interpreters were not subtly invited to of Worship (LBW) appeared, the same year converse both with systematicians and the LCMS withdrew from the project it with all Christians at worship. had initiated thirteen years earlier. Fourth, with the introduction of a Additional items could be added to three-reading lectionary and of a preferred these imaginary columns tracing parallel pattern of Eucharistic prayer, talk about the histories, but this is enough to prompt centrality of the gospel and of its essence some musing, maybe even a change in and use had to reckon with the gospel at mind. work in ways not experienced before. New Were the parallel universes just de- liturgical practices, more importantly the scribed coincidental or are there heretofore theology behind them, called for new or unrecognized connections that helped to renewed understanding of how the gospel birth Seminex, or at least infuse it with life- works. Theology was brought from the Bangert. How My Mind Has Changed

92 classroom to the altar and vice versa. The and experiencing churchly unity. In the altar increasingly served as the crucible in more restricted sense, the LBW led to the which passions were ignited. formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Finally, the new book and its develop- Church in America, but it also led us ment provided a tangible site for seeking to brothers and sisters across the whole church. It provided us with the language and structures for conversing with and praying with all the fellow baptized. Per- haps it made us blessedly impatient as we f my mind has hungered for tangible encounters with the been changing family we knew was ours since baptism. I If my mind has been changing over the years, it is in this growing recognition over the years, it that the Seminex experience was far more complex than the tired reductionistic is in this growing explanations we are prone to produce. Reality check. The LBW is history, recognition that the retired mostly from pew racks and ushered to dusty bookshelves. Seminex is history, Seminex experience though in spirit operative in many and various ways, not the least of which is in was far more the Evangelical Lutheran Worship. If any religious upheaval is worth the complex than the Spirit it claims as its author, then look for that Spirit mixing it up in liturgy and song. tired reductionistic Beware the prayers of the day for Advent. When we pray for the Lord to stir it up, explanations we are such will happen everywhere, beginning with perhaps, but surely along with, the prone to produce. worship of the church. The Afterlife of Exile

James P. Wind President, Alban Institute

What a privilege it is to gather to reflect shared story does not allow those natural on an experience that changed all of our continuities. Instead, the Seminex story lives. Our shorthand for that experience is is about dispersion into other institutions one word, one name: Seminex. Now from and absorption into other narratives. a vantage point informed by thirty-five Initially, we entered the narratives of the years of hindsight, we have a rare oppor- Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago tunity to remember (literally to put back (LSTC) and other Lutheran seminaries together) our lives, or portions of them, in and then became part of the narratives of the presence of each other. Together we can the Association of Evangelical Lutheran call back into our midst sainted ones like Churches (AELC) and the Evangelical Tietjen, Bertram, Graesser, Caemmerer, Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Von Rohr Sauer, Weyerman, Piepkorn, But over thirty-five years the Seminex and many others. We can and will recall Diaspora has gone much further. turning points and then see how our many On February 19, 1974, when we stories have turned out. This is our time to left the campus of Concordia Seminary see what happened to our classmates and at 801 DeMun, we embarked on a series teachers, to ask, “Have you heard from of migrations that continues. The guiding Kenn, or Lee, or Aaron?” and to catch up metaphor we chose that day—we would on families, careers, and personal journeys. be a seminary in exile!—was a signal that Admittedly, we begin—and will we were setting out for unknown territory. end our time together—with an incom- Nevertheless, even that name carried hints plete picture. Most alumni gatherings of return, the possibility that one day we of colleges, universities, and seminaries, would go home, back to a familiar place. particularly when the anniversaries start However, for most of us, history carried us climbing into the 20s and 30s, have beyond the metaphor. Instead of return- built-in structures of continuity. The ing home from exile as Nehemiah or Ezra alma mater provides a central reference did when they brought the Jews who had point. For those who graduate from major been exiled in Babylon back to Jerusalem, universities, anniversaries take you back we blended into other stories, leaving to the same spot; cohorts of graduates behind even our temporary names like frequently follow five-year rhythms of Concordia Seminary in Exile and Christ reconnection. Elite schools occasionally Seminary–Seminex. We are a scattered hear from a class historian, and alumni, bunch. So our reunion has many missing if for no other reason than the voracious faces—some due to death, but others are fundraising needs of their schools, can not with us because of an inability to be count on a discrete alumni organization present, or an ambivalence about marking that tracks the graduates. That is not true this occasion, or because we do not know for us. The institutional upheaval in our what happened to them.

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

94 So what became of those of us who story into view here. Instead, I want to lift stepped into exile thirty-five years ago? up a short list of things we did that might That is the work of these three days, to elicit a “you did what?” response from my discern our early legacy. son and daughter. It is my hope that as How to begin? We do have a good I share just a few recollections from my story. As I prepared for this presentation, student experience, that the doors of your I mentally retraced many of the steps that memory vaults will swing open and that we we took back in 1974. And as I did that, I will hear your parts of the story in the days wondered how often each of us has had the ahead. Consider these audacious events: opportunity to tell our own story. My now • Because the President of the Lutheran grown children, Joshua and Rachel, have Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), chided me about how little they know of the Reverend Doctor J.A.O. Preus, the Seminex story. They know something violated the ground rules of a meeting very important happened to me—and to with the soon-to-be graduating class of Kathleen, their mother—back there in Concordia Seminary (1974) when ten- St. Louis. But they do not know the rich, sions were at their peak about the future intricate story that changed our lives. Are of the seminary, its President, John H. we like the vanishing generation of GIs, Tietjen, and our pending calls into the who returned to the U.S. after World War ministry, several of my classmates and I II and kept the powerful stories they were walked out of our first face-to-face meet- part of to themselves? ing with the head of our church body. It would be presumptuous, and impos- sible, for me to attempt to bring our whole • On January 21, 1974, in response to the jury-rigged suspension of Dr. Tietjen from his position as president of our seminary, 274 students (a population that is larger than the total student population of many seminaries today) declared “a moratorium on all classes until such time as the Seminary Board of Control officially and publicly declares which members of the faculty, if any, are to be considered as false teachers and what Scriptural and Confessional principles, if any, have been violated.”1 • Less than a month later, on February 19, 1974, at 11:10 a.m., we adopted a resolution that ended our moratorium (or did it become eternal?). While our beloved faculty members who had risked

1. “A Student Resolution by Students of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri” is produced in full in Frederick W. Danker, “Exiled” on doors of seminary, Seminex walk- No Room in the Brotherhood: The Preus-Otten out, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. Purge of Missouri (St. Louis, Mo: Clayton ELCA Archives photo. Publishing House, 1977), 198–199. Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

95 and lost their jobs as they honored the the United States to tell our story to student moratorium looked on, we de- the church. clared that “we will continue to pursue • We moved the Faculty Majority and our calling as students in preparation all their books and worldly goods out for ministry in the Lutheran Church— of their offices and campus homes in a Missouri Synod under the (recently) matter of weeks. terminated faculty.” Further, we stated that “we believe they are innocent of • We reorganized our student government any charge of false doctrine and, in fact, to deal with a fully engaged student are faithful to the Holy Scriptures and body that needed to raise a lot of money, the Lutheran Confessions.” Then came respond to the media, handle rumors, the punch line: “We therefore resolve and deal with the anxieties of protest to resume our theological education in and risk. exile, trusting in the grace of our Lord • The entire student government (aka, the 2 Jesus Christ.” Moratorium Coordinating Committee) • From the seminary’s Field House where traveled to Chicago to interrupt a meet- we had met on the morning of the ing of the Missouri Synod’s Council of 19th, we immediately marched across Presidents and lay the students’ concerns the seminary campus, planted crosses about their seminary and their futures with our names written on them in individually before each of the District cemetery-like rows in the quadrangle, Presidents. and proceeded to the arched entrance Those were our collective acts. Individually, to the campus, which was closed with we did all kinds of other things. We told two black panels that read simply “ex- spouses and parents that we were risking iled.” Then as the bells of Luther Tower our futures—and why that was necessary. tolled in the background, we walked off Many of us moved out of student hous- the campus and were welcomed into ing. Almost all of us risked losing precious exile by Eden Seminary Dean, Walter financial aid. And all of us talked with each Brueggemann. other—endlessly. • The next day we began classes on the Most of these individual things went campuses of St. Louis University, a on out of public view. Some were tragic. Roman Catholic School, and Eden Some were funny. I recall a mission I was Seminary, a seminary of the United given on a Saturday in February during Church of Christ. Diaspora had begun. the height of the crisis, one that I have Those were the headline-making things we never mentioned publicly, but do so now did. Before, during, and after these pivotal trusting that the statute of limitations has moments we did many other things: expired. Robert Bertram, chairman of the Faculty Advisory Committee, had given • We wrote documents—many of them, me the faculty’s response to President Preus’ debated them endlessly, signed them as “Message to the Church,” an inflammatory if our lives depended on them. document that attempted to offset the • We organized Operation Outreach and public relations impacts of the morato- sent student representatives all over rium. My mission: take the document and deliver it to President Preus. Clutching the 2. “The Seminex Resolution” is repro- precious document to my chest, I drove to duced in ibid, 317–318. Synod headquarters then located at 500 Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

96 North Broadway in St. Louis. Since it was We were taught superbly by a faculty and Saturday, the building was closed. So I did administrative staff that had been under the logical thing. I tried every door until I fire for years and repeatedly gave honest found an open one. After 15 minutes, I had testimony about what it believed. In their classrooms, publications, and corporate documents they kept challenging us—and the wider church—to discover the gospel he point of my and trust it. Their brave teaching and moral integrity during unfair inquisitions, little confession distorting misrepresentations, and cruel T actions of condemnation and termina- is that what we did tion undergirded all that we did. When the time was ripe, they created with us a in those days was seminary in exile, one that partnered in an unprecedented way with a Jesuit Divin- very human, full of ity School, a liberal Protestant seminary, and LSTC to give fully accredited degrees contingency, foibles, backed by the Association of Theological Schools. No one but Seminex’s intrepid and “plan Bs.” Academic Dean John Damm knows what all it took to pull that off. Beyond the faculty, a significant group of people, first in our own denomination reached my goal, and I carefully placed the and then quickly beyond it, organized sup- faculty document on the President’s desk. port for us. They created new institutions. Then I retreated as quickly as I could. I First came ELIM (Evangelical Lutherans phoned Bob Bertram to report successful in Mission). A few years later the AELC completion of my assignment. There was became a temporary denominational a pause. When he heard that I had placed home. The people at work in ELIM and the document on a desk in an office that the AELC raised money. And they did was closed for the weekend, Bertram everything they could to produce place- advised that we needed to get it to Dr. ments for seminarians who suddenly faced Preus right away since the media would prospects of “no calls.” soon find out about it. So I went back into We also did deeper things: the building, got the document and then • We became a worshiping community hand-delivered it to Preus’ apartment in the of great power and beauty. No one will Mansion House Towers. In the media the forget the worship services that provided next day, President Preus complained that the animating spirit of all that we did. the document reached him only an hour before the press called him for comment. • We became a community of teaching It could have been worse. and learning about ministry that tran- The point of my little confession is scended the barriers of classrooms and that what we did in those days was very textbooks. human, full of contingency, foibles, and • We practiced a type of shared leader- “plan Bs.” ship and responsibility that called for Clearly, we students did not act alone. each of us to act and to be open to the Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

97 leadership of others. laity—from the wide educational rivers • The challenges of crisis created an open- flowing through America. We learned ing for us to know each other much more that there were more ways than one to fully than faculties and student bodies read the Bible, to celebrate the Eucha- normally know each other. Warts and all. rist, to view complex moral issues. This stunning flow of new knowledge into the • In many ways, the moratorium and exile LCMS broke the doctrinal and cultural experience was an ongoing experiment consensus that the denomination had in practical ecclesiology. As we argued so carefully constructed. endlessly, improvised like mad, and sang like angels, we were learning what • In the 1960s and ’70s, American cul- it meant to speak “with one voice” and ture was in a period of great social and to “be the body of Christ.” political upheaval. Issues of race, Viet- nam, sexuality, political malfeasance, • We were learning the important lesson and poverty were in our living rooms that it was possible to be faithful and every night. critical members of the church. • American pluralism was deepening. It • We did not know it then, but we were permeated the daily life of all Americans taking steps beyond the denominational (including those of us within the Mis- way of organizing religion. souri Synod) as we moved to suburbia, Why did we do these things? There were began to climb career ladders, and so many reasons, obviously. Let me offer encountered more and more differences a few more general factors that shaped in our neighbors. our story: • All of our institutions were being tested • Collectively we were the progeny of a by new social, political, and economic German Lutheran tribe that came to realities. Hugh Heclo’s book, On Think- America in the nineteenth century to ing Institutionally, has a four-page list create its own Zion on the Mississippi. In of American political scandals that took the twentieth century that tribe, which place at the federal government level had organized itself into the Lutheran from the Eisenhower administration Church—Missouri Synod, met the fate down to the present moment. Our of all immigrant groups who come to institutions became simultaneously the United States. It became American. more powerful, more bureaucratic, and In the years leading up to Seminex, the less trustworthy. Including the church.3 close family and ethnic culture that held Missouri together was being stretched • America was in the early phases of its by the boom of post World War II culture wars as conservatives and liberals Protestantism. What I only discovered squared off on everything from abortion in retrospect was that from infancy on, I to prayer in the schools to the use of had been groomed to be part of a clergy new medical technologies. America’s elite (let’s call them Herren Pastoren) denominations were beginning to come for a church and sub-culture that were apart over these issues—and that trend moving toward a different model of continues with a vengeance today. religious community and leadership. 3. Hugh Heclo, On Thinking Institu- • We carried a heritage that valued learn- tionally (Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publish- ing and drank deeply—both clergy and ers, 2008), 17–22. Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

98 These powerful dynamics roiled the waters bound. So we acted. in the Missouri Synod’s congregations and Let me push into this larger set of classrooms. Deep conflict crystallized in cultural realities (we used to call them the 1960s and the flashpoints became modernity) in a different way. I want to the questions of biblical interpretation step outside our own story for a moment and relationships with people of other and draw on a new book by James Car- denominations and faith communities. We roll, called Practicing Catholic.4 Carroll is happened to be the lucky few who were at a widely published Catholic writer who Concordia Seminary when the denomi- happened to be a Paulist Priest who left nation could no longer hold the tension. the priesthood in 1974. The explosion became our learning op- In his memoir, Carroll recalls growing up in an ethnic enclave: Irish Chicago. He tells of entering an intact Catholic world of piety and patriotism. As he recounts e were his coming of age and preparation for the priesthood, he ponders his youthful rethinking encounters with the American military W (his father was a general who advised De- our role in the fense Secretary Robert McNamara about Vietnam bombing strategies). He recalls world, our racism, the impacts of the Kennedy election—on American Catholicism and on the coun- sexism, and assumed try. He was in college when Kennedy was assassinated and when John XXIII Protestantism. convened the Second Vatican Council. Those two episodes—the Kennedy era, …We were in the which signaled Catholicism’s arrival at full citizenship in the United States—and midst of a century of Vatican II, which attempted a full reform of the Catholic Church, pulled him past revolution. his parochial beginnings. Soon, he was a seminarian in the portunity as we asked in existential ways mid-60s, watching his church deal with what it meant to be Lutheran in a world new knowledge—about the liturgy, about of intensifying conflict, new knowledge, the Catholic Church’s deep complicity in and many options. Drawing on American centuries of anti-Semitism, about how its traditions of democracy and our own Lu- claims to political and theological superi- theran confessional understandings of the ority had overwhelmed everything else it centrality of the gospel and the freedom/ valued, about the Scriptures themselves— and how they, too, carried prejudices duty of a Christian to protest wrongs in against Jews and women, about the truth the church, we came to a conclusion that contained in other religions, about the gifts our consciences mattered, that authority of conscience, science, and modernity itself. could and at times should be challenged, that ethics (how you treat people) revealed 4. James Carroll, Practicing Catholic character, that new knowledge was not the (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, enemy, and that the gospel should not be 2009). Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

99 Those discoveries were soon followed by had just proposed a total reformation. cascading and crushing disappointments Our country was going through a that began with the assassinations of Martin similar time of trial. We were rethinking Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, but our role in the world, our racism, sexism, went on to include Roman Catholicism’s and assumed Protestantism. The world was retreat from its Vatican II breakthroughs witnessing the collapse of one totalitarian- beginning with the promulgation by Pope ism after another. Recall the Velvet Revolu- Paul VI of Humanae Vitae in 1968 and tion in Eastern Europe and the overthrow gaining momentum through the papacies of apartheid in South Africa. We were in of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. the midst of a century of revolution. Carroll’s formative years, which Carroll concludes his book with a overlapped with ours, were filled with quote from Pope John XXIII’s opening exciting new voices—Thomas Merton, address to the Second Vatican Council. “In William Sloane Coffin, Daniel Berrigan, the daily exercise of our pastoral ministry, etc. His first call as priest was as a campus and much to our sorrow, we sometimes minister—most of his time at Boston listen to those who, consumed with zeal, University was spent counseling consci- have scant judgment or balance. To such entious objectors to the Vietnam War. ones the modern world is nothing but As he watched his church retreat from its betrayal and ruin. They claim that this age breakthroughs, he found a new vocation is far worse than previous ages…. Today, as a writer and left the priesthood in 1974, rather, Providence is guiding us toward a our year of exile. Then as a practicing new order of human relationships, which, Catholic layman he devoted his life to a thanks to human effort and yet far surpass- critique of papal absolutism, to its abusive ing human hopes, will bring us to the system of celibacy, and most recently to realization of still higher and undreamed Catholicism’s pedophile scandal, both its of human experiences.”6 10,000 known victims and the church’s At bottom, I think that what we massive cover-up. were participating in when we created As I read Carroll’s memoir, I saw our Seminex is what John XXIII spoke of story differently. Although we were a small as God’s “guiding us to a new order of group in a corner of world Lutheranism, human relationships.” Inside the church, we were participating in something much outside it in secular society, the Spirit of bigger than we could grasp at that time. God was moving the world to a new order. As Carroll’s story reminds us, the whole To be sure, we have not fully arrived, but Christian church was going through it was that great movement that we were sweeping change, as Paul Tillich said—a participating in. shaking of the foundations5. Every part of So, what’s happened since? If I had the church’s life was being debated—its unlimited time and money I would de- worship, scriptures, doctrine, polity, place ploy a phalanx of LSTC’s seminarians to in society. We were participating in a great interview all of those who participated in global argument about what the church the Seminex story. If they asked the right was. The largest part of the global church questions, we would have quite a story about God’s re-ordering work. 5. The phrase was the title of an But since I cannot do that, let me oft-cited sermon by Paul Tillich. See Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations (New 6. Carroll, location 4411–4415 York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948). (Kindle). Wind. The Afterlife of Exile

100 answer my “what happened” question this • Confessing movement apostles like way. In the world of chaos theory there is Edward Schroeder have crossed the a technical term, “the butterfly effect.” Its globe to connect with others who seek basic idea is that “small variations of the to live gospel-centered lives. initial condition of a dynamic system may • A new Lutheran hymnal has Seminex produce large variations in the long term fingerprints on it and a new generation behavior of the system.” One butterfly’s is learning to sing with one voice. unusual wing flap in Brazil could set off a tornado in Texas.7 • A number of Seminex graduates now If we could track the Seminex but- serve as bishops of the ELCA, working terflies, here is some of what we would in a time of denominational decline to find: build up pastors and church leaders for a new order of relationships. • The AELC catalyzes the formation of the ELCA. A lot of wings are flapping. What are all these wings doing? Einar Billing, a Swedish • Many Seminex graduates become Lutheran bishop, once wrote that “my call pastors of ELCA congregations and is the form my life takes as God organizes through countless pastoral actions set it around the forgiveness of sins.”8 off new dynamics in congregations Organizing life around the forgiveness across the country—and in thousands of sins is not a bad answer to the “what of individual lives. Other graduates do happened” question. The story of Seminex the same within the LCMS. is not finished. Most of it has gone un- • Faculties of Lutheran seminaries and noticed. However, what happened in the universities have felt the impacts of Seminex events of 1974 has had and will Seminex wing flaps as Seminex faculty have long-term consequences. Come to and graduates joined their ranks. Their think of it, what we did was set in motion scholarship has created new knowledge by something less visible than a butterfly used around the world, yielding world- wing, a single breath of new life in a gar- class publications and new scholarly den outside of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. debates. Remembering the gospel released there • Not-for-profit organizations like Bread and its stunning afterlife we press on in for the World have been led by Seminex our faithful, critical callings. graduates, and their efforts have changed laws, fed people, and altered economic realities. Other graduates have changed the conditions of dying people, prison- ers, and health care providers through chaplaincy ministries.

8. Einar Billing, Our Calling, Conrad 7. “Butterfly Effect,” www.wikipedia. Bergendoff, tr. (Rock Island, Ill/: Augustana org/wiki/Butterfly_effect. Book Concern, 1947), 11. How My Mind Has Changed

Paul F. Goetting

Several years ago, our family gathered in certainly affected my career path. St. Louis for a reunion. Before their arrival, I joined the Concordia Seminary I had opportunity to spend some time in faculty in 1969. Three years prior to the library of Concordia Seminary, where I joining the faculty, I completed an have studied. I was especially interested in S.T.M. at The Lutheran Seminary, obtaining a copy of the January 1955 issue Philadelphia and spent the next three of The Seminarian, the student monthly years in an ecumenical “action/research” publication. I had written an article in program. I was called to the program by that issue only months before graduation, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and a copy was no longer to be found (LCMS) Mission Board; the project was in our household. The librarian quickly generated by the New Delhi Assembly retrieved the issue and provided me with of the World Council of Churches. Both a photocopy. As I examined the table of my S.T.M. and the “think tank” were contents, I experienced an elevated level centered on restructuring the local con- of hubris. I was astonished! My article was gregation for a more effective ministry surrounded by those of fellow seminar- by the laity in engaging issues of social ians who later went on to distinguished justice. My call to the faculty included academic careers (Robert Smith, Everett developing programs that were similar. Kalin, and Martin Marty). I never realized Much of what I had hoped to accom- I had been surrounded at that time by plish at the seminary had to be placed individuals of such quality! I was thrilled. on “hold” because of an intense conflict Then I read my article, and my ego that raged between the leadership of the began to deflate. On a quick reading of the LCMS and the seminary, a conflict that article, it felt as though I had not grown. brought major adverse changes, affecting The article focused on the Christian faith every sector of seminary life. Many goals interacting with politics and government, were never achieved. However, Profes- especially in the life and ministry of the sor Robert Bertram and I were able to laity. As I read, I asked myself: Am I stuck develop an important program, titled in the past or was I way ahead of my Theology in Metropolitan Experience time? What I had written in 1955 was (TIME QT) which I still consider a not much different from what I believe major accomplishment. now. The only response to the article that My commitment to this subject I remember was that of a classmate who has indeed grown through these years. told me, “Your article does not belong in I have particularly sought clarity on a theological journal.” Later, however, I the necessity of connecting Luther’s realized the article was a factor in leading insistence on faith active in love with a faculty committee to recommend me to the Christian’s engagement in issues teach social studies at Concordia College, of justice, especially carried out in the Milwaukee, following graduation, which context of multiple offices and callings.

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102 Christian faith reaches deep into God’s common call of all Christians to offer our word for insight, courage, and strength whole lives as a living sacrifice to God in in struggles against evil and corruption. view of the mercies given in Christ. We At the same time, we need to learn to may properly teach that the call of the pursue justice with reason and our senses, pastor through the congregation (a very distinguished from the reality of faith, human process) should be accepted as a while also maintaining the inseparability call by God to a specific office, the office of the two in the Christian life. of public ministry (though this is not the pastor’s only calling since he or she is also father and mother, husband and wife, son and daughter, citizen, etc.). At the same he church’s time, we need to teach that such a process is in effect similar to the calls received by process of each lay person, calls by God, through very T human channels, to particular ministries, calling a pastor whether that of a garbage collector or an executive or a pastor. For both clergy ought to be a public and laity, the call is a call to witness to Christ’s redemption and the promise of model for the laity the resurrection and to engage God’s world creatively. We are to shape the present in approaching their world toward the better world that is not yet here, the better world for which God various callings, calls us to work even now, hindered as we are amidst the fog of a fallen world (even offices, and stations as we await “The End”). The church’s process of calling a pastor ought to be a in life. public model for the laity in approaching their various callings, offices, and stations in life. All this has led me to insist that we This piece, originally presented at the need to review our public expressions of Seminex 35th Anniversary celebration,, has the meaning of ordination and clarify for been excerpted from a book, now completed the public that the grounding of all min- by Goetting and awaiting publication, titled istry lies in holy baptism, that the call to Bottom Up, The Inverted Church. public ministry is not separate from the Building on the One Foundation— Bible: Book of Faith1 Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Seminex Reunion, June 24, 2009

Edgar Krentz Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of New Testament Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago 1 It was about the Bible—but not only in the church, the relationship of the Bible about the Bible. The issues that led to to theology, and the priority of gospel to Christ Seminary–Seminex, to Evangeli- the Bible in the life and work of the church. cal Lutherans in Mission (ELIM), to the It was about the Bible, but not about Association of Evangelical Lutheran whether the Bible is authoritative. Every- Churches (AELC), to families divided, and one agreed about that, strange as it may to questions of personal and communal sound. We had all taken our ordination identity were more serious than debates vows seriously, and so we recognized the about the Bible. Our common experience, Scriptures as “the sole rule and norm of which brought us here today, has infinite faith and life.” variety in our memories, takes us to dif- It was about the Bible, about how ferent physical locations, recalls different faith reads the Bible, about the way the faces and conversations, and inevitably Bible relates to our faith, about how it “says leads to different ways of thinking about 2 what God wants it to say and does what “the Missouri War” of 1973 ff. God wants it to do.” That formulation It was about the Bible, to be sure, but comes from a statement adopted by the not just about whether historical criticism faculty titled “The Form and Function of was a legitimate mode of interpretation. the Holy Scriptures” many years before. That exercised the ultra-conservative right, not the faculty. Rather, the basic issues were I. The Bible, Book of the relationship of the Bible to authority Faith? 1. Revised and shortened version of the 1.1. We are not here simply to relive paper as delivered. the past, as significant as it was and 2. In April and May 2003, John is. Rather we are here to think about Tietjen spoke in Texas about four differ- Scripture’s place in ministry today. The ent themes. His first topic was the Bible title given to this presentation reflects in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod the emphasis on biblical knowledge in (LCMS) wars. All four were recorded and are available on DVDs. They are the only a five-year program of the Evangelical oral record the author has of John’s speaking. Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He stressed that the gospel was the key to Certainly that program is needed. Go the Bible. into any bookstore and look in the

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

104 religion section. You will find Bibles to one another than to interpret a text in many different translations, niche as part of a larger document. Pastors too Bibles aimed at special groups: newly often interpret a text without betraying married, teen-agers, college students, knowledge of the stresses that a particular ultra-conservatives; name a group and New Testament book has. I hear more there will likely be a Bible for them. sermons than I preach, and I find that a 1.2. Yet, there is an amazing amount major problem with many sermons that of biblical illiteracy abroad in the land. I hear, often even in seminary chapels, is Entering seminary students often need to the tendency to harmonize or complete use the index to locate a biblical book. what a text “lacks” from elsewhere in the Teach an adult forum on almost anything New Testament. In Year B some preachers in the Bible and discover the bizarre ideas read a text from Mark and then import people have—not just on the Apocalypse Matthean, Lukan, or Johannine material of John. There is an appalling lack of as if it were all of a piece. The result is biblical knowledge, though, as Matthew that in the year of Mark, sermons often reminds us, it is not smarts or IQ that massacre Markan themes. are the precondition for the revelation of Take another reality into account. We God’s mercy (Matt 11:25–30). Lutherans sometimes feel that preaching the gospel involves a simple reference to the cross as the place where sins are removed and power is given. Two results n short, there is follow: 1) We lose the specific stress of a biblical text or book and run the risk of a famine in the foreshortening the riches of the Bible. I 2) We [please notice I say “we” and not land, a famine of “you”] miss making the tie between the good news and whatever we are urging hearing the word people to do or to be, that is, we may fall into simple moralism. Before you get of God. too angry I confess that I am overdoing this analysis of Lutheran preaching. But I also say that I have heard sermons from The liturgical reading of biblical texts Lutheran pulpits that did not even have compounds the difficulties. What the that truncated gospel. Pure moralism lectionary compilers have done, without replaces gospel proclamation; American intending to do so, is create a canon within love of the self-made person becomes the the biblical canon. Though unintention- model for success in church and ministry. ally, they have taught people to read In short, there is a famine in the land, a individual stories from the Gospels, or famine of hearing the word of God. smaller sections of Acts and the epistles as if that is the way one should read and II. The Bible, Book of hear biblical texts. Most people never Faith read any biblical book from beginning to That title is ambiguous. Does it imply end, let alone in one sitting. Pastors—not that the Bible causes faith? Defines faith? Seminex grads, I’m sure—are often more Judges the content of faith? Is it, to use concerned to relate the liturgical readings the old Latin formulation, concerned Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

105 with the fides qua creditur or the fides the table of contents Luther listed and quae creditur? What is the relation of the numbered 23 New Testament books, then Bible to faith, however defined? left an inch or so of empty space and listed 2.1. And which Bible? We are com- four more—Hebrews, James, Jude and mitted to the prophetic and apostolic Revelation—which he left unnumbered. scriptures at our ordination. But as a Lu- In his prefaces to these books he inter- theran I have no list of what is included in prets that decision. Hebrews was written those prophetic and apostolic writings. The long after the Apostles. “It flatly denies Reformation insistence on sola scriptura and forbids to sinners any repentance after did not lead to an adoption of a canon baptism….This seems, as it stands, to be list. Rome adopted such a list at Trent in contrary to all the gospels and to St. Paul’s 1545, including the deutero-canonical epistles.…However that may be, it is still Old Testament books, and canonized the a marvelously fine epistle.…Therefore we Latin text.3 In response, the Reformed should not be deterred if wood, straw or tradition adopted the Protestant 66-book hay are perhaps mixed in with them [i.e., canon, expressly rejecting the apocryphal gold or silver].” Luther does not like James: books in the Second Helvetic Confession in Switzerland, the synod at Dordrecht in “…it is flatly against St. Paul and all the Holland, and the Westminster Confes- rest of Scripture in ascribing justification sion in England. The Anglican Church to works. …It does not once mention the included the apocrypha in their English passion, the resurrection, or the Spirit of translations, beginning with Coverdale in Christ. Therefore St. James epistle is really 1535. Luther also included the apocrypha an epistle of Straw.” Jude is copied from in his 1534 complete Bible.4 Luther even 2 Peter, but apostles don’t copy. (Luther interrupted his translation of the Old is wrong on this one; 2 Peter borrowed Testament to publish a translation of the from Jude.) Of the Apocalypse Luther says Wisdom of Solomon as instruction for the that apostles write clearly, but this book German princes. And “Now Thank We All is obscure. His spirit cannot find a place Our God,” the hymn we sang yesterday, to rest in this book. He did not comment is based on Jesus ben Sirach 44–50. on it, though he did base one hymn on it, In my opinion, first generation Lu- “Dear is to me the glorious maid,” based therans consciously decided not to adopt on Apocalypse 12 applied to the church. a canon, under the influence of Martin Luther prized books that urged Christ on Luther. Luther’s view of the Bible was the reader. Was Christum treibet became the surprisingly open. In September, 1522, touchstone for evaluating biblical books. he published his German New Testament. Luther has a christological criterion by Luther followed Jerome and Erasmus in which he passes judgment on books in publishing a preface to the New Testament the canon. and to many of its individual books. In It is significant that the Formula of Concord, written after the Catholic and 3. See Johannes Leipold, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons (Leipzig: J. C. Reformed canon decisions, speaks of “our Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1907), Zwei- adherence to the prophetic and apostolic ter Teil: Mittelalter und Neuzeit, 43–51. writings…as to the pure, clear fountain 4. See The Apocrypha in Ecumenical Per- of Israel, which alone is the one true spective, ed. Siegfried Meurer (Reading and guiding principle, according to which all New York: United Bible Societies, 1991). teachers and teaching are to be judged and Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

106 evaluated.”5 But nowhere does the Formula argues that such inconsistencies came in of Concord take up the canon question! the transmission of the text. That hardly We are left with an undefined canon, an gives us an inerrant Bible now, and it is example of the genius of Lutheranism incapable of demonstration. A frequent, continuing an emphasis from Luther. consequent error here is to regard the Bible as authenticating Jesus and the The Bible on Itself gospel, an inversion of early Christian 2.2. Why is that? One way to answer that biblical interpretation. People who hold question is to look at the Bible itself. When this view often regard the Old Testament one does that carefully, paying attention to as providing anticipations of details in the details of the text, one discovers a number life of Jesus. Now it is true that one cannot of things. The first is that the Bible is not understand the New Testament without a unified whole, a perfect book without the Old. Augustine’s old formulation is contradictions or problems. Indeed, one valid: Novum testamentum in vetere latet; medieval Jewish scholar argued that the vetus testamentum in novo patet; “The New very fact that the Bible contains errors Testament lies hidden inside the Old; is proof of its divine origin.6 Only God the Old Testament is made clear in the could have the chutzpah to put forward New,” to give a rough paraphrase.7 The a sacred text full of errors. Any human editions of the Greek New Testament by would make certain that there would be Eberhard Nestle used to have the Latin no contradictions in the sacred book. The epigraph from Johann Albrecht Bengel: Bible is a library, not a single work. It con- Te totum applica ad rem; rem totam applica tains ancient works of history, poetry, and ad te (Preface to his manual edition of the mythology; short stories; letters; sermons; Greek New Testament of 1734). Put the and much more. These books have differ- two Latin mottos together and you have ing stresses and theologies that confront a terse hermeneutic. a variety of life situations. Imagine how 2.4. Another unsatisfactory solution confused the hearers would have been if was either to settle on one gospel, a la Mar- Paul had dictated Galatians and Philip- cion [an edited Luke], or to try to harmo- pians on the same day and told his scribe nize the gospels—or Samuel-Kings with to send them off, and the scribe mislabeled Chronicles—into one coherent account them, sending Galatians to Philippi and (à la Tatian’s Diatessaron). Take one ex- Philippians to the Galatians. ample, the account of the raising of Jairus’ 2.3. What are the effects of this daughter in Mark, the earliest Gospel, and insight? One recognizes the various ways in Matthew’s parallel account. In Mark that people have dealt with that variety. Jairus approaches Jesus with the request The ultraconservative or fundamentalist that he come and heal his sick daughter. On the way, Jesus stops to speak with the 5. Rober Kolb and Timothy Wengert, woman with the twelve-year menstrual eds. The Book of Concord (Minneapolis: For- period. Then Jairus’ servants come with tress Press, 2000), Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Preface, Binding Summary 3, 7. Augustine: “The NT lies hidden in p. 527. the Old; the Old is unveiled in the New,” 6. Hermann L. Strack and Paul Biller-Biller- Catechism § 129; cf. Dei Verbum § 16. beck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Reference from p. 33 in Jay Scott Newman. Talmud und Midrash (München: C.H. Beck, “The Church’s Book and the Sacred Liturgy,” 1924–1961), vol. VI. Lutheran Forum 40 (2009): 29–35. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

107 information that his daughter has died; proclamation. so he should not trouble Jesus—whose Paul reminds the Corinthians of the response to Jairus is “Keep on believing!” gospel that he preached in 1 Cor 15:3–5, Both with the woman and Jairus the story citing an early Christian creed. That gospel stresses that there is no boundary to what stressed the death of Jesus on behalf of sins. faith anticipates. The stress disappears in Paul refers back to that in 1 Cor 15:17, Matthew; there an unnamed ruler asks where he says that “If Christ is not raised, Jesus to raise his dead daughter; and the you are still in your sins.” But those two woman is not healed until Jesus spoke to passages and Rom 4:7, a citation of the her. The daughter cannot be both dead and Old Testament, are the only three times 8 alive at the time the request is made. In he uses hamartia in the plural. Paul uses the sixteenth century Andreas Osiander, hamartia in the singular forty-seven times unable to harmonize the three accounts in Romans, twice in 1 Corinthians, three (the story is also in Luke), held that Jesus raised her from the dead three times. Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum he (Lucretius, De rerum natura 1. 101). 2.5. Much more satisfactory is to rec- proclamation ognize how the New Testament came into T being. The proclamation of the crucified of the crucified and and risen Christ preceded the writing of the Gospels by decades. The oral procla- risen Christ preceded mation came first. Paul’s letters, the oldest texts in the New Testament, are all ad hoc the writing of the documents, drawing out the implications of the earlier proclamation. Take the oldest Gospels by decades. text of all, 1 Thessalonians, as evidence thereof. Paul reminds the Thessalonians The oral proclamation how they had received his proclamation, how they “turned from statues to serve a came first. God who was authentic and alive, and to await his son, whom he raised from the dead, the one who rescues from the wrath times in 2 Corinthians, three times in that is on the way” (1 Thess 1:9–10). Paul’s Galatians, and once in 1 Thessalonians letters, like all early Christian in-house (i.e., fifty-six times in the singular).9 Paul proclamation, are anamnēsis, recall to does not speak of forgiving singular sin, memory; for example in the Lord’s Supper, since it is a slave master that holds people in 1 Cor 11:25:“‘Do this, as often as you do bondage. You don’t forgive a slave master; it for remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you 8. The plural does occur in Eph 2:1, Col proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1:14, and four times in 1 and 2 Timothy, all The memory there is the tie to Jesus’ death; in my opinion deutero-Pauline letters. it has nothing to do with the recitation of 9. Kurt Aland, Vollständige Konkordanz the dominical words. Nils Dahl reminded zum griechischen Neuen Testament (Berlin, us of that when he distinguished anamnēsis New York: De Gruyter, 1978-1983). Band from kērygma, the latter being missionary II: Spezialübersichten,16. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

108 you redeem or liberate the slaves from the for service in the world. master. Think of Rom 8:2: “For the law 2.03. This church accepts the canonical of the Spirit of life in Christ has freed you Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- from the law of sin and death.” Sin, the ments as the inspired Word of God and law, and death are the unholy three in the authoritative source and norm of its Paul, not “sin, death, and the devil,” as proclamation, faith, and life. my father taught me in confirmation class. 2.07 This church confesses the Gospel, Paul’s proclamation about Jesus and/or recorded in the Holy Scripture and the early Christian homologiai (confessions) confessed in the ecumenical creeds and found in the New Testament came first. Lutheran confessional writings, as the His writings followed later. Paul never read power of God to create and sustain the a gospel. For him “Gospel” always meant Church for God’s mission in the world. proclamation, good news about Jesus. That too has Nachklang! It reverberates through This formulation agrees with Martin history, especially in Luther. The ELCA Luther’s view of the Bible. Think of the constitution is on target in its unalterable fourth stanza of Ein Feste Burg: doctrinal article. The Word of God is first a Das Wort sie sollen lassen stahn person, Jesus, then the proclamation about Und kein Dank dazu haben. Jesus, and only in the third place the written Er ist bei uns wohl auf den Plan Scripture which testifies to Jesus. I cite the Mit seinem Geist und Gaben relevant article: 2.02. This church confesses Jesus Christ Did you hear it? Das Wort, the word (line as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as 1), is a person, Christ. Er [he] ist bei uns the power of God for the salvation of wohl auf den Plan (line 3). Evangelical all who believe. Lutheran Worship repeated the transla- a. Jesus Christ is the Word of God tion of The Lutheran Book of Worship incarnate, through whom everything that badly mistranslated this and thus was made and through whose life, obscured what is for Luther essential. death, and resurrection God fashions That “Er” refers to Jesus, a person, and a new creation. not to a written text. b. The proclamation of God’s message to Luther stressed that the word is first us as both Law and Gospel is the Word and foremost oral! Read his Epiphany of God, revealing judgment and mercy sermon of 1522, i. e., early on in his life through word and deed, beginning with as reformer (I have the key phrases in the Word in creation, continuing in boldface). the history of Israel, and centering in Christ has two witnesses of his birth all its fullness in the person and work and rule. One is the Scriptures or the of Jesus Christ. word spoken through the mouth. c. The canonical Scriptures of the Old Saint Paul (2 Cor 4:4) and Saint Peter and New Testaments are the written (2 Pet 1:19) call that word a light and a Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit lamp. Now the word is not understood speaking through their authors, they until the light goes on. For the prophets record and announce God’s revelation are opened up through the gospel…. centering in Jesus Christ. Through them For in the New Testament preaching God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and should be oral with a living voice and sustain Christian faith and fellowship bring to our ears in language what was Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

109 earlier hidden in letters and unclear face. now been brought to light, even though The NT is nothing else than an opening some passages which contain unknown and revelation of the OT. words remain obscure.10 That’s why Christ himself did not Or consider what Luther says about the write down his teaching, as Moses did, church and the oral gospel: he gave it orally and ordered it to be For, prior to Lord’s Supper and Baptism passed on orally and gave no command the Gospel is the one most certain and to write it. The Apostles wrote little, and not all, but only Peter, Paul, John preeminent mark of the church. For only and Matthew.… Therefore it is not through the Gospel is she conceived, at all the NT way to write books of formed, fed, born, raised, cradled, Christian doctrine, but without books clothed, adorned, strengthened, outfit- in every place there should be good, ted and protected. In brief the entire life learned, spiritual, diligent preachers, and nature of the church consists of the When I speak of the who draw the living word out of the word of God.… Gospel, I understand in that the oral Old Testament and act as the apostles 11 did. For before they wrote, they had word, not the written word.… with their bodily voice preached and Luther calls Scripture Christ’s swaddling converted the people, which was their cloths: true apostolic work.…That one how- ever has to write books is already a Therefore dismiss your own opinions great falling away and a breaking of and feelings, and think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, the Spirit, that necessity has compelled as the richest of mines which can never and not the manner of the NT. be sufficiently explored, in order that Think again of Luther and the Confessions: you may find that divine wisdom which I certainly grant that many passages in God here lays before you in such simple the Scriptures are obscure and hard to guise as to quench all pride. Here you elucidate, but that is due, not to the will find the swaddling cloths and the exalted nature of their subject, but to manger in which Christ lies, and to our own linguistic and grammatical which the angel points the shepherds ignorance; and it does not in any way (Luke 2:12). Simple and lowly are prevent our knowing all the contents of these swaddling cloths, but dear is the 12 Scripture. For what solemn truth can treasure, Christ who lies in them. the Scriptures still be concealing, now The Holy Scriptures are God’s word, that the seals are broken, the stone rolled away from the door of the tomb, and 10. Martin Luther. On the Bondage of the greatest of all mysteries brought to the Will. A new translation by J. Packer and light—that Christ, God’s Son, became O. R. Johnston. (Westwood: Fleming H. man, that God is Three in One, that Revell, 1957), 71. Christ suffered for us, and will reign 11. Ad librum eximii Magistri Nostri forever? And are not these things Magistri Ambrosii Catharini, 1521. Weimar known, and sung in our streets? Take Ausgabe (WA) 7,721,9ff. Christ from the Scriptures—what 12. Helmut Lehmann and Jaroslav more will you find in them? (Tolle Pelikan, eds., Luther’s Works, 55 vols. Christum e Scripturis; quid amplius (Philadelphia: Fortress Press; St. Louis: invenies in eis?) You see, then, that Concordia Publishing House, 1955–1986), the entire content of the Scriptures has Vol. 35, p. 236. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

110 written (as I might say), put into letters or to do something; rather she be and spelled, just as Christ is the eternal founded, ordered, and made [through word of God, concealed in human form, the word].15 and just as Christ is contained and acted Thus Luther stresses again and again the in the world, so it also goes with the priority of the proclaimed gospel over the written word of God.13 written Scriptures. In Gal 1:6–9 Paul stresses that a speaker, 2.6. Read the New Testament care- even if he himself or an angel from heaven, fully and you will understand what faith does not authenticate the gospel. It is the really is. For Paul faith is not something content that matters, not the speaker. The with precise content, not fides quae. It is true mark of Scripture is whether it urges rather fides qua, even when Paul speaks of Christ, as Luther’s Preface to James in his the pistis Christou. This is one of the hotly September Testament makes clear: debated items in current New Testament For the task (office) of a true apostle scholarship. I agree with those who argue is that he preach of Christ’s suffering, for a subjective genitive and translate the testing, and office and lay the foun- phrase as “Christ’s fidelity [to God].”16 dation of Christian faith.…And all The parade exemplar of faith is Abraham correctly operating books agree that in Romans 4. Paul begins with the call they all preach and urge Christ. That of Abraham. Abraham was not a believer is the true test, by which to judge all when God called him. But he “believed books, when one sees whether they on the God who justifies the ungodly, urge Christ or not, since all Scripture and that faith was put on the positive shows Christ.14 side, i.e., for righteousness, dikaiosynē.” Thus the gospel creates the church, not the (Rom 4:5) Thus faith is setting one’s self church the gospel. The church iscreatura before God as a pagan. But Paul goes even verbi, not creator verbi: further. Abraham “became the father of us all, Jew and Gentile alike, as it stands For the church is born out of the written, ‘I destined you to be the father word of promise through faith, and it is nurtured and preserved by the of many gentiles,’ because he believed on same word, that is, the church is God who makes the dead alive and calls constituted by the promise, not the non-existent things into existence.” (Rom promise of God through the church. 4:16–17) Faith believes on the creator The word of God is without compare God; in faith one puts one’s self before God over the church, over which word of as the dead thing that needs resurrection, God the church as a creature has no as the non-existent thing that needs to be power, to found something, to order made alive. It is striking that Paul says all of this without reference to Jesus in Rom 13. WA 48,31. See also Ralph Klein. 4:1–23. Only in vv. 24–25 does he refer to “Reading the Old Testament with Martin Luther—and Without Him,” Currents in 15. WA 6, 560, 33–561, 2. Theology and Mission36 (2009): 95–103. 16. The alternative is to translate it as 14. WADB 7, 384,22-386,2 (1522) an objective genitive, “faith in Jesus.” I find =385,22-387,2 (1546): See Werner, Georg this is rarely, if ever, what Paul means. See Kümmel, “The Continuing Significance of Richard Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ: An Luther’s Prefaces to the New Testament,” Investigation of the Narrative Substructure Concordia Theological Monthly 37 (1966): of Galatians 3:1–4:11 (Chico, California: 573–81. Scholars Press, 1983). Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

111 Jesus’ resurrection as the ultimate evidence account of the cross the power of God. It is that God is the creator God. by the stupidity of a proclamation that God 2.7. Such faith is always a response decided to save those who believe. So Paul to the good news, whether in the Old says, “We preach Christ as crucified…the Testament, as in the case of Abraham, or power and wisdom of God.” The passage in the New, in response to the gospel in became a key text for the development of particular, not in general. From beginning the theologia crucis, so prized by Lutherans to end the Bible relates its good news to after Blessed Martin. Paul caps those words people in specific situations. Second Isaiah in 1 Cor 2:1–2: “And I came to you not with is concerned with Israel in exile, not the excellence of argumentation or wisdom as Israel of the eighth century B.C.E. “Make I announced the mysteries of God. For I straight in the desert a highway for our decided not to know anything except Jesus God” would have made little sense in the Christ as crucified.” That determined much eighth century, but much when Israel was theology, and beautifully too. In the face in exile, not in the land. of false security Paul points to the fragile, Qumran took this literally and went deadly cross as the key to God’s wisdom out into the Judean desert. There they and powerful action for people. built the highway by studying the Torah. But 2 Corinthians almost completely They took Second Isaiah’s words seriously, reverses this language in the face of a new 17 literally in so far as the desert was named. situation. Now people had come to Corinth John the Baptist did too; Matthew says he suggesting that Paul was a second-rate came into “the desert of Judea, preaching a apostle. He had no letters from the Jeru- baptism of repentance” as the preparation salem church. And they likely suggested of the desert highway. And he made it very that he had no contact with Jesus during specific. See Luke 3:7–14 for the details. Jesus’ lifetime, and hence had no contact The two Corinthian letters are good with the cross. Look how Paul responds illustrations of this situation-related preach- in 2 Cor 13:3–4: “Since you seek proof of ing by Paul. In 1 Corinthians Paul confronts Christ who speaks in me, who is not weak a false interpretation of baptism which led for you, but strong in you. For he was also to division, to false security (1Cor 10:1–16), crucified out of weakness, but lives out of to sexual immorality (1 Cor 5—6), and to God’s power. For we too are weak in him, stress on the powerful presence of the Spirit but we live with him out of God’s power that gave the Corinthians confidence, cer- for you.” Now Paul denigrates the fleshly tainty, and deliverance from slavery to the Jesus: “So from this moment we know no body. Paul deals with that by stressing the one according to the flesh; if in point of death of Jesus. Paul is glad that he did not fact we have known Christ according to the baptize many in Corinth: “For (as he puts it) flesh, we know him in that way no more. So Christ did not send me out to baptize, but then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a to proclaim good news, not in the wisdom new creation. Old things have gone away; of argumentation, in order that the cross of behold they have become new” (2 Cor Christ might not be nullified” (1 Cor 1:17). 5:16–17). Paul here puts the earthly Jesus Paul goes on in 1 Cor 1:18–25 to call the under the old creation! He now stresses the 17. 1QS VIII.11–16. See Geza Vermes, Spirit that he had tamed, if not put down, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, rev. and ex- in the first letter. Read 2 Corinthians 3. It is tended 4th ed. (New York: Penguin Books, the Spirit that opens up the Old Testament. 1995), 81. The letter kills, the Spirit makes alive (3:6). Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

112 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where until he left for the University of San the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” Francisco, once formulated his definition (3:17). The Lord Jesus is now identified of gospel as “good news for people in bad with the Spirit that makes alive. All of this situations,” and I would add only “because is language that would have been affirmed of Christ.” He had to defend himself against by the pneumatikoi in 1 Corinthians. It an attack; he refused to identify the gospel provides the proof of Paul’s apostleship. A with the “forgiveness of sins.” His attacker(s) new situation demands new language, new accused him of being un-confessional, even stresses, new points of contact with Jesus! heretical, since the Formula of Concord The cross occupies very different places in defined the gospel as the forgiveness of sin. Paul’s thought in these two letters to the They were wrong. Let me be clear. There same church. is no doubt that one comforts those with This has very practical implications. guilt on their consciences with the assurance Proclaiming the gospel does not mean of God’s forgiveness on account of Christ. repeating old formulations, as good as But guilt feelings are not characteristic of they may have been in their day. Paul dem- the American psyche, as far as I can tell. onstrates what many of us in this room, People today are more likely feeling that life who had our preaching ability honed by is futile; that they are under the control of Richard Caemmerer, learned from him. I powers over which they have no control, a listened to him expound the Bible and lead declining economy, a mortgage that they table devotions at Camp Arcadia from the have difficulty paying off, the cost of college time I was a second grader; I knew him or university or seminary education for their well before I entered the seminary in 1947. children; that they are only a nine-digit There I had him as a teacher of homiletics number to their government as April 15 both in my first and last years. I recall him rolls around. The gospel for them is the saying that “You cannot preach the gospel assurance that God knows them by name, in general, but only in particular.” That gives meaning to life, and liberates them means you cannot reduce the gospel to a for joyful living and service. single formulation. 2.8. Let me say it again! One implica- Western Christianity observes the tion of this diversity in the Bible is that 900th anniversary of the death of Anselm any attempt to impose a single formulation of Canterbury this year. His Cur deus of the biblical gospel on the Bible loses homo strongly influenced western theol- much of what the Bible has to offer. I am ogy to think of the effect of Jesus’ death a committed Lutheran; I love the Lutheran as a juridical transaction: Jesus’ death Confessions. One effect of the Missouri removed human sin. Anselm has had a Wars of the seventies was to drive many huge influence on our interpretation of of us to the Confessions, above all to the Jesus, stressing his death. But to insist on Confessio Augustana and Melanchthon’s one formulation, even Robert Bertram’s Apologia of it. Apology 4 formulated its wonderful “sweet swap” interpretation criteria for the gospel: it “illuminates and of the death of Jesus, as the way, the only magnifies the honor of Christ” Ap( 4.2); it way, to interpret Jesus’ significance is too is propter Christum, “on account of Christ” narrow to encompass all that Jesus means. (Ap 4.44 et semper). We might add that The Bible as Book of Faith is too rich to the biblical gospel always makes Christ be so tied to one explanation. necessary and gives glory to God. Jack Elliott, my colleague from 1964 This last formulation deserves stress. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

113 Lutherans are often in danger of becom- of Hebrews and Mark, were all directed ing second-article-of-the-creed Christians. against what Christian communities, Some thirty years ago Nils Dahl wrote churches, thought and confessed. In this an article titled “The Neglected Factor in sense the Bible does indeed function as New Testament Theology.”18 He pointed critic of our life together (lex semper ac- out that most published New Testament cusat) and also of what we formulate. I am theologies contained little about the God struck again by some of Paul’s manner of and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you thinking. The gospel becomes a criterion read the oldest text in the New Testament, of action. Paul accused Peter, “But when 1 Thessalonians, carefully you will note I saw that they were not living correctly that in that letter Paul identifies the gospel (walking straight) with reference to the he preached to them as a gospel about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas….” “authentic and living God, who raised his (Gal 2:14). Or take Romans 2:16, where son from the dead, Jesus, the one who Paul says, “…on the day when God judges rescues us from the wrath that is on the the hidden things of people according to way” (1 Thess 1:9–10). In 1 Thess 2:2 my gospel, through Jesus Christ.” This Paul says, “We took courage in our God is often mistranslated by moving “ac- to proclaim to you the good news about cording to my gospel” to just after the God,” and 1 Thess 2:8 he states, “We de- word “when.” Kata with the accusative cided not only to share with you the good is the normal phrase for a criterion of news about God, but also our own lives judgment in early Greco-Roman ethical because you were beloved by us.” I rarely theory, which is how it is used here. In hear sermons or teaching that speak about Rom 1:16–19 the revelation of the gospel God, that call for faith in God because of is also a revelation of the wrath of God on Christ, that do what Jesus did. Sermons unbelief! Rejection of the gospel brings about God, if preached at all, are usually down judgment on one’s idolatries. Note preached on Trinity Sunday (Pentecost 1); the parallel structure between verses 17 then they usually deal with God as triune. and 18; the righteousness of God passes 2.9. The Bible against the church.19 this judgment on idolatry. Once again The Reformation taught us that the Bible Luther helps us out. is often also against the church. In the old In 1536 Luther set the following days we always recalled on Reformation thesis for his doctoral candidate Nicolaus Sunday that sola scriptura and sola fide were Medler to defend: “Scripture must not formulated against the Roman Catholic be understood against, but for Christ; Church. Now it is more difficult, for we therefore it must either be referred to at times need to recognize that the Bible Christ or not regarded as true scripture. is against us. It was so already in the New If our adversaries argue the scriptures Testament. Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, against Christ, then we will argue Christ Colossians and Ephesians, to say nothing against the scriptures.”20 Christ against the scriptures puts sola scriptura in its proper 18. Nils A. Dahl, “The Neglected Fac- location for Luther. tor in New Testament Theology,” Reflection Luther spoke out against practices 73 (1975): 5–8. in the church of his day because he was a 19. I owe this formulation to Leander Doctor in biblia. He did not choose this Keck, The Bible in the Pulpit: The Renewal role; it came to him with his professor’s of Biblical Preaching (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1978) 90. 20. These von 1535, WA 39.1.37. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

114 chair. That is still true today. The Bible ment scholar. I heard more Luther from impels a critique of the church. It is against him in 1963 and 1964 than I heard in four the church whenever the church becomes academic years at Concordia Seminary. He the guarantor of the gospel; whenever the would often come out of his lecture and church does not carry forward the concern say to me, “Nah ja, Herr Krentz, heut’ war of Jesus for the poor, the marginalized, and ich ganz Lutherisch, nicht?” He was truly the non-people around it. Lutheran, along with espousing radical, critical views. III. An autobiographical 3.2.2. The Missouri war led me to postscript read more widely in Luther and the Tap- 3.1. How does the Bible relate to faith? I pert edition of the Confessions. I wrote can answer this question biographically The Historical Critical Method in the year and then ratify that biographical un- that Seminex was born. Two or three years derstanding textually and theologically. later, my eldest son, a graduate student in Quamqum animus memisse horret luctuque ancient history said to me, “If you cannot refugit, incipiam.21 “Although my mind study the history in the Bible the same shrinks from the memory and flees from way I study other ancient texts, it is not a sorrow, I shall begin.” I grew up in a history worth bothering about.” He was Lutheran parsonage, attended a Lutheran right; but it is a history worth bothering grade school and the gymnasium in Fort about. More important, it concerns the Wayne, from which I graduated in Janu- gospel, which is the core factor in our ary 1947. I had my first non-Lutheran faith. The Bible is important because of educational experience in 1947 in the the gospel that calls forth faith. Indiana University extension in Fort The discussion of theological and Wayne, where a two-semester course in social issues regularly leads appeals to the American literature opened my eyes to Bible—and to hermeneutical issues about the humanist way of reading texts. its authority and proper interpretation. On 3.2. The insistence on the inspired, every side we hear appeals to the Bible. The inerrant Bible in the LCMS made me read use of the Bible raises incendiary issues the biblical texts carefully as a student. in every church body today, as the huge That became a necessity when I began divisions in Anglicanism make clear.22 teaching at Concordia Seminary in the So what have I learned since 1973? fall of 1953. It led to two discoveries: Has it been “change and decay”? Or is it 1) Reading the Bible made me aware of “growth and maturation”? I think it is the the immense variety in the Bible, and 2) latter, but you can decide for yourselves Graduate study in classics taught me that which it is after you hear me out today. I I did nothing different there than I did in can list some of the changes in my think- interpreting the New Testament. These two ing, which I think are growth. discoveries led me to think about biblical hermeneutics. 22. The Hein-Fry lectures for 2006 3.2.1. On a sabbatical in Germany, by Donald A. Hagner of Fuller Theological I listened to and learned from Prof. Ernst Seminary and Donald Senior of the Catholic Käsemann, a radical, critical New Testa- Theological Union, published inCurrents in Theology and Mission 35,1 (February, 2008): 21. Vergil, Âeneid 2:12–13. See http:// 6–44, are good orientations to the present nodictionaries.com/vergil/aeneid-2/3–39. state of biblical studies. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

115 IV. Building on the One Klein’s lecture on Luther as interpreter of Scripture and read Luther’s “On how to Foundation read Moses” in vol. 35 of the American 4.1. That formulation implicates the ques- edition. He consistently read the Bible tion, just what is the foundation? Well, through the lens of the gospel. like you, I learned that the Reformation’s 4.2. Implications and conclusions. sola scriptura affirmation is ambiguous at What conclusions come with that method? best and dangerous at worst. Sola scriptura, Quite a number, in fact: sola gratia, sola fide. Shibboleths of the Reformation. But not in that order! It is all 1. Properly understood, the Bible defines summed up in solus Christus. I have come what faith really is, standing before God to appreciate Luther and the confessions as the impious non-Christian who be- more and more. lieves on God who justifies the ungodly Let me illustrate. 1972 was the 450th (Rom 4:5) and who calls non-existent anniversary of the publication of Luther’s things into being. September Testament. I wrote a letter to the 2. The resurrection of Jesus authenticates general manager of Concordia Publishing his “God and Father” as the God of House (CPH) suggesting that one way to life and justification who opens up observe the anniversary would be to pub- the future. lish a true Luther New Testament, with 3. The immense variety within the Bible his introduction to the New Testament, resists every attempt to impose a unify- with the prefaces to the individual books, ing reconstruction on its variety. Indeed and with the books arranged in the order its variety is a major resource for calling he put them in his September Testament. people to faith. The general manager responded that CPH did not print its own Bibles; it would 4. There is no one formulation of the be prohibitively expensive to print. He gospel that captures the fullness of the proposed an alternative. If I would write biblical resources. a brief introduction, he would print these 5. The Bible, interpreted from its center, prefaces as a separate paperback. I did, and the gospel, is both source for and judge he did. He sent a copy to every pastor on of our witness to Christ. the LCMS roster. It appeared late, in May of 1973, shortly before the New Orleans 6. I have learned that asking the right convention. There irate conservatives questions is all-important. accused me of using Luther to support 7. One final, very ad hoc implication. Like radical, critical study of the Bible. It was Paul “I am not judged by any person; Luther’s words, not mine that disturbed I do not even judge myself” (1 Cor them, to put it mildly. 4:1ff). Rather, like Jesus in 1 Peter 2, I Luther confessed at Worms that he refer my cause to the God who judges could not and would not recant unless he justly. And so I have no interest in was persuaded by clear Scripture and/or asking the LCMS for an apology, for sound reason. Luther’s view of the Bible was ambiguous. Take his view of the tion?” in Tuomo Mannermaa, Anja Ghiselli, inspiration of the Bible.23 Or read Ralph and Simo Peura, eds. Thesaurus Lutheri: auf der Suche nach neuen Paradigmen der Luther- 23. See Miikka Ruokanen, “Does Forschung (Helsinki: Finnische Lutherische Luther Have a Theory of Biblical Inspira- Literaturgesellschaft, 1987), 259–278. Krentz. Building on the One Foundation—Bible: Book of Faith

116 their recognition of me as a legitimate About fifty-two years ago William Lutheran, for reinstatement in their F. Arndt of Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich fame clergy, or for vindication by a resolution was speaking at his retirement dinner. of an LCMS synodical convention. I am When he responded to the ovatio in his vindicated by God’s good news, not by honor, he took as his theme a Latin phrase any human activity. borrowed from F. W. Farrar, fides manet 4.3. In 1546 Luther edited his German immota, “Faith remains unmoved.” That translation of the New Testament for fits me too, after fifty-six years of seminary the last time. The title page pictures teaching. Christ on the cross, with Luther kneel- And so, soli deo Gloria propter Chris- ing to the right and his elector, Johann tum et beneficia eius. Friedrich, kneeling to the left. At the very top stands a hand-written black ink superscription: ORAVIT, DOCVIT CHRISTUS, FIT VICTIMA, VICTOR, and at the bottom, Doct: Mart: Luth: (in red) Wite- berg. Gedruckt durch Hans Lufft. 1546. Below that, in red ink is the follow- ing subscription: VETUS NOVUM (in two columns) testamentum est FONS LVX (again in two columns) and then in partly obliterate letters nostrae vitae (my conjectured restoration).24 Luther concerned himself with the illustrations in his editions of the Bible. I pre- sume he approved the title page illustration showing the two kneeling figures at the foot of the cross, both subservient to the crucified Christ. I do not know who wrote the two handwritten inscriptions, interpretations of the illustration.

24. Dietrich Steinwede, Reformation: A Picture Story of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), 52. Title page from the Lutherhalle, Wittenberg. How My Mind Has Changed

Kurt K. Hendel Bernard, Fischer, Westberg Distinguished Ministry Professor of Reformation History Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

I joined the faculty of Concordia Seminary gift, of course, but God used the faithful in July 1973. Hence, I was not subjected men—and they were all men—who taught to the interviews, the accusations, or the me at Concordia as God’s means through personal and corporate attacks that my whom the gift was given. My love for the former teachers and then my colleagues biblical languages, for the critical study had to face. My family and I moved into of Scripture, and for the gospel had been #3 Seminary Terrace very shortly after awakened at Concordia Senior College, the New Orleans Convention, and it but it was nurtured and truly blossomed was immediately, tangibly evident that at the seminary. My new attitude toward the life of the seminary community had other Lutherans, even other Christians, changed radically since I graduated three was formed by the ecumenical perspectives years earlier. While I missed the faculty of my teachers and of the leadership of the interrogations, I was present when the con- Missouri Synod. My growing conviction flicts within the seminary and the church that women should be pastors was not body reached their high point; when John simply a visceral response of someone who, Tietjen was suspended from office; when after twelve years of doing so, was tired of the students called a moratorium; when going to classes only with males. Rather, Martin Scharlemann, who asked for the it was due to new scriptural insights that initiation of a fact-finding process during I had gained; to a clearer understanding my senior year at Concordia Seminary, and experience of the freedom of the became interim president; and when I, gospel; and to a growing awareness that like my colleagues, had to decide whether I women had always been important lead- would honor the student moratorium and, ers in the church, albeit often behind the shortly thereafter, whether I would submit scenes, without the public support of the to the Board of Control’s dictum that the institutional church and without the grate- faculty resume teaching on the campus of ful affirmation of the men who exercised Concordia or face dismissal. My presence leadership in the church. While we had here and now indicates the choices I made a strong faculty advocate of the Vietnam in consultation with my family. War on campus, most of us had opposed I felt that I had very good reasons that war from the beginning as we watched for making these decisions. My seminary friends and former classmates going off to studies, which I had completed only three fight for a cause that we, and many of them, years before being invited to return to could not support. There were very few Concordia to teach, had been a wonder- African-Americans enrolled at Concordia fully enlightening, affirming, and freeing Seminary, but my seminary graduating experience, intellectually, theologically, class, impressed by the bold, yet peaceful, and spiritually. That was ultimately God’s witness of Martin Luther King Jr., refused

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Hendel. How My Mind Has Changed

118 to attend a graduation banquet sponsored ership, and I knew that Christians, even by Concordia Publishing House until this Christians who disagreed with one another institution of the church promised to hire about important matters, should treat one African-Americans, not only as dock work- another with respect and love. I realized ers and janitors, but also as white-collar that the use of the historical critical method employees and administrators. They did did not destroy biblical authority. Rather, make that promise, and our graduating at least in my case, it enhanced my love for class participated in the banquet, eagerly Scripture and its significance in my spiri- anticipating the ministries to which we tual journey. I rejoiced that the ecumenical would be called. spirit had also manifested itself in North American Lutheranism and that even the Missouri Synod, long an opponent of anything that it considered to be syncre- tism and unionism, was eager to explore t was finally new relationships with fellow Christians, and ultimately at least with fellow Lutherans. I trusted I that the Holy Spirit was leading women to pursue pastoral ministry and that this about the gospel, same Spirit had moved the church to af- firm the call to ministry that inspired these and all of those other courageous and faithful sisters in Christ. The policies of the Nixon administration crucial concerns confirmed for me that my opposition to were reflections and the Vietnam War was entirely justifiable. The martyrdom of Martin Luther King inspirations of Jr. made it unmistakably clear that both the church and our United States society the gospel. had to repent of its racism and affirm the struggle for equality of all races. These were all convictions inspired by a new Since my seminary career was such a understanding and appreciation of the formative time for me, primarily because freeing power of the gospel through which of the faculty who taught me, it was quite God restores not only the divine-human evident to me whom I had to support in the relationship but also opens up new pos- conflict between the seminary and the church sibilities for our dealings with one another and between the majority and minority of and with the whole creation. the seminary faculty. I had to stand together These were the reasons why I joined with the majority of my teachers because I that band of exiles as we sang “The Church’s agreed with their stance and because I knew One Foundation” and then followed the them to be faithful servants of the church. processional cross down the hill to De- I was also deeply offended by the way they Mun Avenue and eventually to St. Louis were treated by the community of faith they University and Eden Seminary. For these loved and served. reasons, I was convinced that Concordia Hence I became part of the Seminex Seminary in Exile and eventually Christ community. I was concerned about the Seminary–Seminex needed to exist as long unethical behavior of the church’s lead- as God willed, and it is because of these Hendel. How My Mind Has Changed

119 convictions that I was deeply grateful that not and whether we manifest that unity or many people agreed and expressed their not. The gospel clarified that the Eucharist agreement with generous gifts of support. is truly God’s means of grace that is not But I have changed my mind or, bet- an ecclesiastical sign of dogmatic unifor- ter, it has become clearer to me why I did mity but a gracious divine gift. It is a gift what I did and why God called Seminex through which the Holy Spirit heals our into being. It was about exegetical meth- brokenness, enables us to transcend our odologies, ethics, ecumenism, racial and differences, inspires us to address what gender justice, war and peace. However, it divides us, and gives us the wisdom to was finally and ultimately about the gospel, welcome the stranger and to celebrate our and all of those other crucial concerns were diversity even as we give grateful thanks reflections and inspirations of the gospel. that we are all one body of Christ. It was After all, it is not a particular exegetical the gospel that enabled us to see particular method that unlocks the Scriptures for scriptural texts with new eyes, to evaluate us and points us to Christ so that we are long-standing traditions in critical ways nourished, enlightened, and enlivened and to transcend traditional boundaries by God’s word. Rather, it is the radical that discriminated against women and good news that God is gracious and that prevented them from serving God’s people God grants us all the gifts that we need, as pastors of the church. Even our concern not because of who we are but in spite for justice and for ethical behavior in of who we have become, not because we the church was ultimately a fruit of the merit God’s grace or do just enough to tip gospel because we recognized that unless the scale in our favor but because of what our ethics are shaped and inspired by the Christ has done for our sake. Hence, it is gospel ethic of faith active in love, both finally Christ, revealed in the gospel, who our personal and our communal ethics opens and explains the Scriptures for us will likely be legalistic, eudaimonistic, and enables us to see God’s saving activity synergistic, or shaped by whatever is cur- in human history. It is Christ who inspires rent political correctness. The gospel also us to be agents of grace, peace and justice clarified for us that while the quest for in our world. As the Lutheran Church— justice dare never be equated with justifi- Missouri Synod leadership accused the cation, it is a natural consequence of the faculty of being gospel reductionists, they alien righteousness that is God’s gracious forgot that the gospel really is the key to gift to us for Christ’s sake. It was the gos- understanding Scripture and the ultimate pel that freed us to be theologians of the reason for the church’s existence. cross rather than theologians of glory, to Thus it was the gospel that freed us to let God be God, to call the thing what it study Scripture with critical insight and to really is and to recognize the paradoxical look for Christ rather than for proof texts nature of God’s saving work. for a particular theological perspective. It So, I have changed my mind. The was the gospel that helped us recognize Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod lead- that faith is not rational assent to a specific, ers were right about one thing. We were scholastic dogmatic tradition but fiducia, gospel reductionists in the best possible the ability to trust God’s surprising, radical sense of that word, and I hope that we promises. It was the gospel that inspired still are, for that is precisely what it means us to be ecumeniacs; to recognize that we to be faithful to our Lord and faithful to are one in Christ, whether we admit it or our calling. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library: From Concordia Seminary in Exile Library to Seminex Legacy Collection

Susan J. Ebertz Director of Reu Memorial Library and Assistant Professor of Bibliography and Academic Research, Wartburg Theological Seminary

Today it is not unusual for a woman to and joined them.2 She left her library, her be the director of a seminary library. But position, and her salary, sacrificing them in 1962, when H. Lucille Hager was for what she believed was right. But she appointed the director of the Concordia did not leave her commitment to being a Seminary library, there were very few librarian: to serve the academic resource female library directors and even fewer needs of the students and faculty. female seminary library directors. Not Hager wasn’t the only librarian to leave only was Hager the only female faculty 801 (the name given to the Concordia member at Concordia, but she was also campus by Seminexers). Tom Rick, tech- tenured. She participated fully in the life nical services librarian; Thelda Bertram, of the seminary as a faculty member and cataloger; Ann Constable, part-time had an equal vote in faculty meetings. Her cataloger; Ellie Sauer, reference librarian; competency can be seen by her successful and the secretary all left with Hager to tenure evaluation and her appointment serve the students and faculty in exile. as the library director despite her gender Three of them, Bertram, Constable, and in a denomination that does not ordain Sauer were faculty spouses whose husbands women. She was an extraordinary woman also left. Betty Danker and Mary Bischoff like the other extraordinary library staff remained at the 801 library.3 Danker was and supporters connected to the Seminex in charge of circulation and was a faculty library. spouse whose husband went into exile. When the Concordia Seminary Board Bischoff was the acquisitions librarian of Control voted on the faculty members and cataloger. Bischoff recalls that she in 1973, they chose not to vote on whether thought the 801 administration would Hager should be commended or correct- soon be negotiating with those that left. ed.1 She could have stayed at the Concordia She remained at the 801 library to keep library, but, because of her convictions, she it running in expectation that the others voted with most of the faculty members to go into exile. On the day in February 2. Mikail McIntosh-Doty, “Hager, H 1974 when the faculty marched off cam- Lucille, 1924–2004.” American Theological pus, Hager put on her academic gown Library Association Summary of Proceedings 59, (January 1, 2005): 283. 1. John H. Tietjen, Memoirs in Exile 3. Mary Bischoff, e-mail message to (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 123. author, December 14, 2010.

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Ebertz. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library

121 would be back shortly.4 the walkout, in January 1975, the 801 Hager put together a small library in administration banned Seminex students the tight quarters of the refectory at St. from entering the 801 library. Perhaps the Louis University. The library was in the administration finally realized that the corner of what was called the Commons Seminex students were still using it. At with a desk for circulation and reference, that point, Danker and Bischoff left the chairs for the staff, and book shelves con- 801 library. Danker began working for taining books on loan from several faculty the Seminex library, but Seminex could members.5 The resources were meager, but not afford to hire Bischoff right away. Concordia Seminary in Exile had a library, It was a year and a half later, in August a symbol of the educational mission of the 1976, that Bischoff began working for the exiles and of the assistance of those who Seminex library.8 The same dedication of saw the library’s importance. the librarians who left in the walkout can Since the Seminex library in the be seen in the two that remained. Bischoff Commons was not adequate for all the and Danker stayed to help the Seminex research and study needs of the students students and then left when they could no and faculty, arrangements were made for longer help Seminex students at the 801 the use of the libraries at both St. Louis library. Bischoff left even though she had University School of Divinity and Eden an uncertain professional future. Seminary. Additionally, Fontbonne Col- Friends helped the fledgling Seminex lege helped with cataloging. The consortial library to grow by providing books. Approx- and supportive relationships of these other imately 10,000 volumes were donated by libraries helped sustain the Seminex stu- the widows of Concordia Seminary faculty dents and faculty enormously. members Paul Bretscher, Carl Meyer, and Another unexpected library resource Arthur Carl Piepkorn. The Piepkorn collec- was the 801 library. Since she remained tion was the largest and included some rare behind, Bischoff was appointed the acting books and books on systematic theology, director and allowed the Seminex students liturgics, and American religious bodies, to use the 801 library.6 They were, in a way, Piepkorn’s particular area of interest. The still Concordia students—just in exile; it Meyer donation included mainly church made sense that they should be allowed to history books.9 These donations helped continue to use the library. Gwen Sayler, to broaden and deepen the scope of the a Seminex student in her last semester library collection, providing much needed when the walkout occurred, remembers resources for the students and faculty. continuing to study in the 801 library. It The growing size of the library col- was closer to where she was living than lection added to the space concerns in the the Seminex library or the Eden Seminary Commons at St. Louis University. About library.7 This library resource, however, six months after the exile began, in August did not last long. Less than a year after or September 1974, the library and the administrative offices moved to another 4. Bischoff, e-mail message to author. location. While the new location provided 5. Tietjen, Memoirs in Exile, 219. more space for the small library, it was 6. Bischoff, e-mail message to author. not ideal. Since most of the classes were 7. Gwen Sayler, interview by author. Tape recording. Dubuque, Iowa, December 8. Bischoff, e-mail message to author. 16, 2010. 9. Ibid. Ebertz. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library

122 still being held at St. Louis University, Jesuit-Krauss-McCormick (JKM) Library the library was not readily available to the on the LSTC campus. They no longer students. The Seminex library collection needed all their book shelves. So one of could not serve the students well in this the Seminex librarians, Tom Rick, drove a new location. rental truck to Chicago and brought back Those in exile were still sojourners. the shelves. Volunteers helped to assemble The library moved again, about a year the shelves in the Seminex library’s new later, in August 1975. This time it moved quarters in the ballroom.11 The donation of with the entire seminary. The library could the shelves as well as volunteer time were once again be a part of the seminary com- invaluable in helping the library continue munity and better serve the students and in its mission to serve the resource needs faculty. The new library was originally of the students and faculty. on the twelfth floor of the building but The life of the library settled down into later the seminary leased more floors and the more or less normal routine of a library: the entire library moved to the thirteenth acquiring resources, circulating books, and floor. In the new thirteenth floor library, providing research help. Problems with the the ballroom became the stacks. The refer- building and the owners came to a head ence and study areas moved to the former when a new trouble emerged. In January dining room and the circulation desk to 1982, the pipes froze one weekend, and the lobby area. The technical services area when the heat was turned back on they and archives also were relocated to the 10 burst. When staff, students, and faculty thirteenth floor. The easy access to the arrived on January 12, they found the classrooms and offices aided the library in building filled with water. Library books serving the students and faculty better. were soaking wet.12 Interestingly, the best Moving a library is not simple. It way to save wet books is to freeze-dry takes skill and planning by the library them. The subzero weather and the lack staff and a lot of willing volunteers to of heat in the building probably aided in help. The move to the thirteenth floor the recovery of many of the books. Two ballroom was the third move. Moving the days later Seminex rented the building library offices would be similar to moving across the street and moved to the new any administrative office. However, when one moves library books, the movers must quarters. The weather was again kind make sure to put the books back in call when a snowstorm which dumped over number order. The first move was probably 20 inches in St. Louis held off until after not as difficult as the subsequent moves Seminex had completed their move. This when the collection was larger each time. move for the library, like the others, took a The Seminex library was again indebted lot of coordination and committed helpers. to the dedication of the library staff and The collection had grown to about 30,000 the assistance of others. books so the move was more complicated. More book shelves were needed. The book shelves also had to be moved. So Again the help of others filled this need. as the shelves were emptied, they needed to The McCormick Theological Seminary be taken apart, moved to the new location, Library in Chicago was joining the Jesuit and reassembled in time for the books to seminary and the Lutheran School of The- be put on them. The books were loaded ology at Chicago (LSTC) libraries to form 11. Ibid. 10. Ibid. 12. Tietjen, Memoirs in Exile, 289. Ebertz. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library

123 on book carts, pushed to the new building be a part of the Luther Seminary Program then unloaded after the shelves were reas- in the Southwest (LSPS) which was a part sembled.13 All activities were necessary to of Wartburg Theological Seminary (WTS). retain call number order, of course! The library collection would be housed in Because of the upcoming possibility the library of the Episcopal Theological of merger of several Lutheran denomina- Seminary of the Southwest (ETSS now tions, the negotiations for the deployment Seminary of the Southwest). Hager would of Seminex’s resources to other seminaries have her office in that library. The move were beginning about this time. What was took place in August 1983. According to a to happen to the library collection and the story, Hager visited the Episcopal seminary staff? When Seminex was split up, where library and made exacting measurements would the library collection go? Whom of where the books would go and how would the library serve if there were no much space she had. She then had the “Seminex” students? The faculty would be books packed up on a Tuesday and sent to sent to other seminaries. Would the library Austin. The books arrived on a Thursday, collection be sent with them? Where could and by Monday morning everything was the library continue to serve? in place in Austin!14 Though still a Semi- It was decided that the library and nex faculty member, Hager served not the director of the library, faculty member only the students of LSPS but of ETSS Hager, would be sent to Austin, Texas, to 14. McIntosh-Doty, “Hager, H Lucille, 13. Bischoff, e-mail message to author. 1924–2004.” 285.

Seminex crosses, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. ELCA Archives photo. Ebertz. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library

124 as well. And the Seminex collection not kail McIntosh-Doty, an ETSS librarian, only served Lutherans but Episcopalian became the acting director of the LSPS students and faculty as well. The library library and later the LSPS liaison. McIn- was reaching out beyond its small begin- tosh-Doty remembers how Hager was a nings in a Jesuit divinity school refectory mentor to her. McIntosh-Doty presented at St. Louis University and continuing its the memorial tribute of Hager at the 2005 ecumenical service. American Theological Library Association The Seminex library consisted of annual meeting. She noted in her tribute not only its collection but the staff who to Hager that “so often she did the right served in it as well. Those who had worked thing, not the easy thing.”16 How true together with dedication to provide library that was. She left the Concordia library resources for the Seminex students and because of her convictions and became a faculty were dispersed to serve in other sojourner, making a library for students arenas. The reach of the Seminex library and faculty wherever she was. When the continued through them. Some contin- pillar of cloud or pillar of fire rose up and ued to serve within the Lutheran family. went ahead, she followed with her library Constable went to Austin with Hager. no matter where it went. Bischoff became the assistant director at Beginning in 2004, as director of the the Graduate Theological Union library WTS library, I worked with LSPS Direc- which served Pacific Lutheran Theological tor Wayne Menking and the ETSS Library Seminary. Others no longer worked for a Director Rob Cogswell to determine the Lutheran library. Danker’s faculty husband most suitable way to provide services was sent to LSTC, but she did not work for the LSPS students and faculty and in the LSTC library (JKM library). Rick, to honor the tradition of the Seminex Bertram, and Sauer stayed in St. Louis.15 library. The hard questions were: How On December 31, 1987, Seminex was much library do twenty or so students officially no longer an educational institu- need to support their academic research tion. The library collection was given to and study? Was the aging LSPS library col- Wartburg Theological Seminary. Hager lection necessary for the mission of LSPS? became a faculty member of WTS serving How do we honor the sacrifice of the in Austin at LSPS. The rare books, almost donations of books, shelves, assistance, 400 volumes, were already in Dubuque, and the good will of other libraries in St. Iowa, at WTS, having been sent there in Louis while still best serving the faculty the summer of 1983. These books, now and students? How do we, with budgetary called the Seminex Collection, reside in the constraints, provide library staffing for Rare Book Room at WTS. The remainder the LSPS library and the LSPS students? of the Seminex library stayed in Austin One of the results of this discussion was and became the LSPS library, continuing that in 2006, I was appointed the LSPS in its service to LSPS and ETSS students library director as part of my responsibili- and faculty. The Seminex library’s mission ties as the WTS library director. I worked to provide library resources for students with the ETSS library director and LSPS and faculty continued even though the liaison to continue to provide services for ownership and name changed. the LSPS students and faculty. Hager became part-time in 1990, On June 30, 2009, the discussion retired in 2002, and died in 2004. Mi- 16. McIntosh-Doty, “Hager, H Lucille, 15. Bischoff, e-mail message to author. 1924–2004.” 286. Ebertz. Christ Seminary–Seminex Library

125 that began in 2004 ended when the LSPS indeed, be a legacy collection to remind library collection was turned over to the us of those who “did the right thing, not Episcopal Theological Seminary of the the easy thing.” Southwest. In turning over the collection, The Seminex library was a sojourner LSPS no longer provided remuneration to in this world, staying here as long as it was ETSS for library staffing. This decision needed for the preparation of ministers was reached because the LSPS program of the gospel. It moved many times and suspended the MDiv degree program when it was no longer needed as a library, it and focused on the TEEM program. The separated into different parts. It now serves TEEM program is an alternative route the same mission it once did but is now in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of known by different names. As its name America to prepare women and men for changed from Concordia Seminary in rostered ministry. The library resources Exile library to Christ Seminary–Seminex were no longer as critical to the mission library to Lutheran Seminary Program in because of the needs of the TEEM cur- the Southwest library to Seminex Legacy riculum. In determining what to do with Collection and a part of the Seminary of the Seminex library collection, the cost of the Southwest library, it was still essentially separating the collection from the ETSS the same in its mission: to provide the library, both physically and digitally in academic resources for preparing women the catalog, and the cost of moving them and men for ministry in Christ’s church.17 and making space for them at WTS in Dubuque, Iowa, were prohibitive in a time of economic restrictions. It was decided 17. Finding information about the that the majority of the Seminex library Seminex library was more difficult than I collection would be donated to ETSS. had imagined. Not much is written about At the time of the transfer of ownership, it. My student assistant Kirk Wilkie, Mary Bischoff who worked at the Seminex library, there were over 40,000 volumes, includ- and Mikail McIntosh-Doty who was at ing periodicals. Most of these were books the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the and bound periodicals from St. Louis. Southwest aided me considerably. Almost New acquisitions were at a minimum all of the information about the Seminex during the last years of the LSPS library. Library in St. Louis comes from an e-mail Many of the periodicals included in the from Mary Bischoff, as well as from the 40,000 volumes were donations to LSPS book by John H. Tietjen, Memoirs in Exile. in exchange for subscriptions to Currents McIntosh-Doty in her memorial tribute of in Theology and Mission. H. Lucille Hager and in her e-mail to me As a part of the transfer of ownership, helped me to know Hager better. Gwen Say- ler, former Concordia and Seminex student, the Seminex Legacy Collection would be and Norma Cook Everist, former Seminex created and sent to Wartburg Seminary board member, helped me understand the in Dubuque, Iowa, where it would be context of the Seminex times. Both of them housed in a separate part of the library. are my colleagues at Wartburg Theological The collection would include those books Seminary and so graciously allowed me to which have the most historical value to interview them. the remembrance of Seminex. It would, How My Mind Has Changed

Ralph W. Klein Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

“The religion that ceases to change ceases that the final form of the text also has an to remain the same.” So said Lutheran important meaning, even if we can detect Old Testament professor George Men- stages through which a text has passed in denhall, who served most of his career at oral tradition or literary redaction. We the University of Michigan. Mendenhall have also all been impacted by feminism, meant that as societal, historical, and womanism, and post colonial criticism, other factors change, religion must react and we are keenly aware that the social in ways appropriate to those challenges, location of the biblical interpreter—and or it will not have the same attractiveness, even of the biblical author—must be taken effectiveness, or believability it once had. into account as we try to understand what If the central question Luther wrestled texts meant then and what they mean now. with in the sixteenth century was, “How I am much more aware now than I was in can I find a righteous God?” the central 1974 about how pervasive patriarchy was question for many of us in the twenty-first in the biblical world and the biblical text. century is, “How can I find God at all?” It colors its view of the human situation For me the definition of the gospel as and of God. God’s good news for our bad situations is In the 1960s Krister Stendahl pub- quite congruent with Mendenhall’s thesis. lished his famous essay on “biblical theol- My training as a seminarian at ogy, contemporary,” and penned his classic Concordia and as a doctoral student at statement that the biblical interpreter seeks Harvard was as a historian or as a philo- both what the text meant and what it logian. I remember meeting one of my might mean today. I still find that distinc- older daughter’s first dates, and he asked tion profoundly meaningful today, even me what I did for a living. He added, if Stendahl’s naiveté about what the text “Martha tells me you are a historian.” meant has come in for severe criticism. She was probably embarrassed to admit Stendahl believed that a Christian, a Jew, I was a seminary professor, but in many and an empathic agnostic reading the respects she was right. But my training New Testament should be able to come to was also in languages—German, French, some consensus about what Paul meant. Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian, Ugaritic, There is some truth in Stendahl’s hope. Syriac, and Arabic. The disagreements in discussions in the I still use my historical and linguistic Society of Biblical Literature are usually training as primary research tools, but not denominationally based. Lutherans, all of us have been affected by the many Catholics, and Jews may find themselves new methodological approaches, such as on both sides of the argument. Where narratology, social scientific criticism, and Stendahl erred was his downplaying of the the like. We recognize more and more social location of the interpreter (including

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127 his or her religious convictions) and of the When I was in my 20s, I knew no one alleged objectivity of historical criticism or who admitted they were living together even in his hope that texts have singular outside of marriage. Pastor friends today meanings. tell me that 80 percent of the couples they The mantra of the Evangelical Lu- marry are already living together. At the theran Church in America (ELCA) has same time the ELCA has been plagued by been diversity and multiculturalism. De- hundreds of cases of sexual impropriety by spite great efforts this has not translated clergy and by bishops. It has not all been into much of a change in our demographic progress. 2) The ELCA has moved ahead profile—we are still primarily a church with full communion with Reformed and that is over 97 percent Northern European Episcopalian bodies. United Methodists in background. But how we have profited will join the circle this summer, and there in the ELCA and in its seminaries from was major progress in the joint statement the voices and leadership of women, on justification with Roman Catholics. African-Americans, Latinos/Latinas, and Of course we have a very long way to go others. Those voices were beginning to in living out these decisions, and I still be heard already at Seminex, but their wince in our LSTC chapel when preachers presence has dramatically increased in presume that everyone in the audience is the subsequent era. Lutheran, when they are clearly not. Nor One of my discoveries at the Lutheran is the faculty entirely Lutheran. 3) The School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) Bible. The ELCA is not bothered about and in the ELCA is the great variety of the inerrancy question, Adam and Eve, ways there are to be faithful as Lutherans. Second Isaiah and all the rest. But it faces That can already be seen in worship styles, two biblical challenges illustrated by the which are usually derived from different Bible: Book of Faith initiative. The ELCA theological perspectives, but it can also be is still trying to break out of its own ver- seen in renewed appreciation for the first sion of fundamentalism or the assumption and third articles of the creed. The theology that what the Bible says on controvertible of Seminex at times was Christomonism. ethical questions is clear (it usually is not) Much more could and should be said or valid for all time (in the Bible people here, but the ELCA is being challenged got married at 14 or 15 years of age, and to redefine for itself what it means to say thanks to decisions made by the couple’s that our unity is in the gospel or in one parents. Patriarchy predominates in al- Lord, one faith, and one baptism, even most all of the Bible’s statements about when our beliefs, ethics, and worship styles sexuality). A second ELCA problem is differ radically in detail. widespread biblical illiteracy among its What has changed most, in my members and, dare one say it, a relatively opinion, are the questions. We were faced low level of sophistication in biblical in- with the question of inerrancy, which we terpretation among its pastors. Questions tried to change into the question about about sexuality, ecumenism, and the Bible the sufficiency of the gospel. Let me men- have changed! tion three challenges faced by the ELCA So let me end as I began: The religion today: 1) Sexuality. The proposed Social that ceases to change ceases to remain the Statement on Sexuality and the Recom- same. mendations for Changes in Rostering indicate in part the change. Think of it. Seminex: A Spiritual Journey

Paul Bauermeister . Hymns, Lessons and Story FEAR Hear now a lesson written in Jeremiah, the PRELUDE first chapter, verses 4-10 (NRSV). Now the word of the Lord came to me Prelude: “Aria” P. Manz saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were Hymn of Invocation: “All Glory Be to born I consecrated you; I appointed you God on High” ELW 410 a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the do not know how to speak, for I am love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy only a boy.” Spirit be with you all. But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to C: And also with you. all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not Allow me a brief history lesson: Thirty-six be afraid of them, for I am with you to years ago the Lutheran Church—Missouri deliver you, says the Lord.” Synod (LCMS) Convention passed a Then the Lord put out his hand and resolution requiring every pastor to be a touched my mouth; and the Lord said biblical literalist. The losers asked permis- to me, “Now I have put my words in sion to record their dissenting votes and your mouth. See, today I appoint you to sing one stanza of a hymn. The lines over nations and over kingdoms, to were long and they sang stanza one over, pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and over, and over until all had recorded and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” their dissenting votes. Tied up the whole convention, and gave us our song. Here ends the Lesson. “The Church’s One Foundation”ELW 654 (Stanza 1 only, sung three times, the “God, My Lord, My Strength” ELW 795 first time solo, second and third repeats of stanza 1 sung by all) When God first called Jeremiah, the young When Mark Bangert invited me to man shuffled his feet in the sand, grinned, preach at this service he told me we had hung his head and mumbled, “Shucks, I four lessons and that I could use any or can’t do that. Look at me, I’m just a kid. all of them. He further told me that I Nobody listens to a kid.” could preach once or often. He gave me The psychologist in me hears fear. so much freedom that I decided not to Over fifty years ago, when I was ordained, preach at all. Instead, I will tell you the I looked like a small 17-year-old. Many story of Seminex as a spiritual journey. times, I said, “I wish I had some white hair

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129 so somebody would listen to me!” For the TRUST record, white hair doesn’t help—much. Let’s sing Psalm 46 responsively with the God was calling! And God did not choir. let Jeremiah or me or Seminex off the 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very hook, no matter how many lame excuses present help in trouble. we cooked up. Remember, faculty people were being called away from a regular 2. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved and though the paycheck, a tenured professorship, a mountains shake in the depths of the sea; vocation. Staff, students, and faculty were all being called away from a health 3. though its waters rage and foam, and plan, a pension, a guaranteed future, and though the mountains tremble with its a beautiful campus. Some were even be- tumult. ing called away from the very house they 4. There is a river, whose streams make called home. glad the city of God, the holy habitation Students were being called away from of the Most High. a vocation, a comfortable dorm room and 5. God is in the midst of the city; it shall a bountiful dining hall, from a system not be shaken; God shall help it at the that promised them an internship in a break of day. congregation, where each student could pick out a rich and comely spouse. After 6. The nations rage, and the kingdoms graduation, a churchly call was part of the shake; God speaks, and the earth melts deal. All of us were walking away from a away. sure thing. Nevertheless, the LCMS could 7. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God no longer love us, so it was time to leave. of Jacob is our stronghold. God was calling us. 8. Come now, regard the works of the February 19, 1974. We followed Lord, what desolations God has brought God’s call and walked away from 801, upon the earth. following a processional cross, singing our hymn that defined us. It was a mag- 9. Behold the one who makes war to cease in all the world; who breaks the bow and nificently stirring event, experienced by shatters the spear, and burns the shields many with tears in their eyes, and but- with fire. terflies in their stomachs. That was the day we began seriously learning about 10. “Be still, then, and know that I am fear, sleep-robbing fear that won’t go God; I will be exalted among the nations; away, fear that makes food uninteresting, I will be exalted in the earth.” or too interesting. 11. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God We had fear about our future! Our of Jacob is our stronghold. future had been certain, solid, locked in, but now was swinging in the wind. It was We had more than fear to learn. We also the same fear that was felt by everyone began slowly to learn to trust, first each who participated in Seminex. other, then our friends, a fledgling outfit “Have No Fear, Little Flock” helped called Evangelical Lutherans In Mission us focus our fears—and our comfort. (ELIM), the Jesuits at St. Louis Univer- sity, the people at Eden Seminary and the “Have No Fear, Little Flock” ELW 764 Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Bauermeister. Seminex: A Spiritual Journey

130 (LSTC), as well as many, many saints who hymn reminds us of the beauty and sim- became our generous supporters. plicity or our call, a call to go we know We were learning how shared fear not where, only to follow Jesus. We sing mixed with shared trust pulls a commu- “Pescador de Hombres.” nity together. This new community was palpable—in the chapel, in the classrooms, “You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore” in the hallways, in the Commons, in ELW 817 every faculty gathering. We were coming together. It was like when a choir gets past Though we had been doing our best to being a collection of individual voices and take Scripture most seriously, those who begins to blend. hated us called us “Bible doubters.” “Not At the same time we were learning to be tolerated in the church of God!” to trust another—yes, God!—like never That too came out of the 1973 LCMS before. That was such a good psalm. Let’s convention. We needed to examine our sing it again, in hymn version. call from God. Ah! But those who loved us called “God Is Our Help and Constant Refuge,” us—heroes. Now doesn’t that just feel p. 4 of the Worship Folder good all over! Let me tell you a story of two wanna- God is our refuge and strength, a very be heroes from the Gospel of Mark, the present help in trouble. Yes! tenth chapter. The psalmist’s poetic hyperbole be- First comes the set up: Two disciples came our reality. The earth at 801 indeed peel away from the others and position had been moved from beneath our feet. themselves between Jesus and the other The mountains of oppressive control over disciples. They face Jesus, but their backs us by the 801 Board of Control were car- are to the other disciples. These two speak ried into the midst of the sea and troubled in hushed voices. “Jesus!” James whispers. us no more. Instead, the waters of the sea “Can we make a deal?” (wink wink, smile raged and made foam. And the great high peaks of ecclesiastical power of the LCMS smile) “You know, Jesus, administration trembled. Those leaders John continues, knew they had pushed too hard, too far, how hard we work for you, and how too fast, and too rudely. Now they had to much we gave up for you. We left Mom tremble and ask themselves, “Just how far and Dad and all those fine fish….” might this rebellion spread??” James says, “Can we make a deal, And we? We were wading the river Jesus? We’re not asking much. Just whose streams make glad the city of God! promise to make one of us Secretary of And its waters were sparkling and warm State, and the other Attorney General, to our feet. you decide which. Don’t do it now, later when everything gets all sorted SERVANTS out—and you (smile smile) are fully in But we still had more to learn. When charge.” soldiers in foxholes are under enemy fire, John concludes, “How about it, they repeatedly ask themselves a question, Jesus? Deal or no deal?” You do see how “What on earth got me here?” We at Semi- it is with heroes. Heroes have earned a nex did a similar thing, we examined and reward, a payoff! re-examined our call. This lovely Latino Jesus slams down the little box over Bauermeister. Seminex: A Spiritual Journey

131 the big button and shouts, NO DEAL! their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord And then in harsh, choppy language Jesus knows the thoughts of the wise, that tells them who they are to be—servants!! they are futile.” Not heroes. “For the Son of Man came So let no one boast about human lead- not to be served, but to serve, and to give ers. For all things are yours, whether his life for the freedom of others!” Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world When somebody calls you a hero, it or life or death or the present or the fu- is hard not to puff up and strut like one. ture—all belong to you, and you belong Nevertheless, we learned, we learned, we to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. learned. We are servants, served by the Chief Servant. Not an easy lesson. Here ends the Lesson. We sing this song and remember We sing a lovely new hymn that the magnificence and magnitude of the describes the One who has called us. The mission to which we are called. music was written by Robert Buckley Farlee. “Lift High the Cross” ELW 660 “Holy God, Holy and Glorious” ELW 637 FOUNDATION Hear now a Lesson written in 1 Corin- How might one describe “Foundation”? thians, the third chapter, verses 11-23­ Remember when you were first learn- (NRSV). ing to swim a little dog paddle, and you For no one can lay any foundation found yourself in deep water? Frantically other than the one that has been laid; you reached down with all ten of your that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if little toes and found—only more water. anyone builds on this foundation with You thought you might die, or worse yet, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, that you might have to call for help and and straw, the work of each builder will be embarrassed for the rest of your life. become visible, for the Day will disclose Your breathing and heart rate shot up, it, because it will be revealed with fire, your toes stabbing downward with all and the fire will test what sort of work your strength. Then one single little toe each has done. If what has been built touched something solid—Foundation!! on the foundation survives, the builder Changed everything! will receive a reward. If the work is St. Paul instructs us, “Make no burned up, the builder will suffer loss; mistake, your foundation is Jesus Christ, the builder will be saved, but only as not Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas.” Not through fire. Augustine, not Luther—not Damm, not Do you not know that you are God’s Tietjen. Jesus Christ is the only one strong temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in enough to be your Foundation. you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, The time has come to sing all of “our God will destroy that person. For God’s song.” Our song that tells us who we are temple is holy and you are that temple. and how we got that way and where we Do not deceive yourselves. If you are going. Sing and rejoice! think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you “The Church’s One Foundation” ELW 654 may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For An 800-pound gorilla still sits in this room. it is written, “He catches the wise in Does-Seminex-make-any-difference? Bauermeister. Seminex: A Spiritual Journey

132 Of course it does! It is a two-step the brightness of your only begotten process, and still going on. Step one, Son, you daily deliver us from dark- Seminex makes a difference for Seminex ness and lead us into the community people. Our spiritual journey took us of your servants. Hear our thanksgiving through Fear to Trust to Community to for Seminex and for the miraculous Service. God was mightily at work in that goodness your many saints showed us journey, forming us as followers of Jesus, in our times of need. with Jesus Christ as our Foundation. A You Lord, sustained us, giving us cour- process that continues to this day. age enough to contain our fears, an expanding community built on trust to heal our wounds, opportunities enough to challenge our service and od was leaders blessed enough to frustrate the mightily Devil’s own chaos. G Through yesterday, today, and forever, you give us a Foundation like no other, at work in that even Jesus Christ, our Lord. By your Spirit, make strong our hands, make journey, forming us swift our feet, make clear our minds and voices for the great work you place as followers of Jesus, before us. Let us be servants worthy of the gifts you give. Teach us day by day with Jesus Christ as to discover anew the deep joy of serving our Foundation. your people. C: Amen. There is more. Step two, Seminex people went out into the church, to serve L: The Lord bless you and keep you. in every kind of ministry. They went carry- The Lord make his face shine upon you, ing with them the answer to the church’s central, most crucial question. “How and be gracious to you, does the church become the church?” The The Lord look upon you with favor, answer: “The church’s one Foundation is and give you + peace. Jesus Christ her Lord.” Oh, yes, there must be preaching and teaching, worship and singing, programs and organizing, but in, C: Amen with, and under each of these must be the Foundation, Jesus Christ. Yes. Seminex Sending Hymn “Oh, That I Had a Thou- makes a difference—to quote a prominent sand Voices” ELW 833 national politician, “You betcha!” So we can say good-bye to the L: Go in Peace. Serve the Lord. 800-pound gorilla. Go on! Ged-ouda- heah!! C: Thanks be to God!

L: Let us pray. Postlude Blessed are you, O Lord God, for by Let me see! Lessons for the Commemoration of Renewers of the Church, Jer 1:4–10; Mark 10:35–45

Everett R. Kalin Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of New Testament Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

Wow! What a sight! How wonderful and ourselves and at God’s work. It is vital amazing it is to see one another again. And that we make neither too much nor too the phrase “What a sight!” is not really a little of ourselves. throw-away line, since the homily is in First, too much. A week or so ago part about seeing. on National Public Radio there was a As I started thinking about this hom- discussion about being a celebrity, about ily some time ago, I was looking at the having your fifteen minutes of fame and lessons for last Sunday. Then two weeks how best to deal with it. The guests, Ted ago, I got a mock up of this service from Koppel and Henry Winkler–the Fonz, said Mark Bangert and saw instead the lessons that the key was not to believe the hype, from Jeremiah and Mark, the lessons for not to take yourself too seriously. the Commemoration of Renewers of the Don’t make too much of yourself, Church. like the two in today’s gospel who ap- Seminex, a renewer of the church? Is proached Jesus with a request. “What that what that is meant to mean? But aren’t do you want me to do for you,” he asked the Renewers of the Church and Renewers them. “Right- and left-hand places; we’re of Society on the Evangelical Lutheran big stuff.” “Can’t do it,” said Jesus. “That’s Church in America (ELCA) calendar all the way the world’s big shots act—not you dead, most of them for a long time? And who are with me.” didn’t someone else, not they themselves, Paul said, “For we do not proclaim put them on the list? ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord Has Seminex been a renewer of the and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ church? By the grace of God, yes indeed, in sake” (2 Cor 4:5). And he said, “I realize that, and to the extent that, we have been how kind God has been to me, and so I faithful to our calling, faithful to our Lord; tell each of you not to think you are bet- in that, and to the extent that, we have ter than you really are” (Rom 12:3 CEV). proclaimed and lived the gospel. What a Renewers of the church do not need to blessed and wonderful gift we have been divide the church or the world into the given, in what has been for you and me a angels of light and the axis of evil. We dare life-changing event like few if any others not make too much of ourselves. in our lives. We have been, are and hope On the other hand, we dare not make to be renewers of the church. too little of ourselves. As we look to the But to make that designation fit past, but especially as we look to the fu- depends upon how you and I look at ture, as we look at the hurt in the church

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Kalin. Let me see!

134 and the pain in the world right now, dare What is the heart of God’s work? we say, “Who me, a renewer, an agent of Serving the world and redeeming it. Jesus change, one who can make a difference?” embodies God’s work: “For the Son of Man If we say or even think that, all the while came not to be served but to serve, and hanging back in the shadows, then the to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark tagline “God’s work. Our hands.” has 10:45). [An aside: During my examination become just “God’s work,” and the hurt by the committee investigating each faculty in the church and the pain in the world member back at Concordia Seminary, I are still there. As Gandhi said, “Whatever was asked about the connection between you do will be insignificant, but it is very Jesus as a ransom in Mark 10:45 (the Greek important that you do it.” word is lytron) and what Paul says about Let us not presume to say with Jer- Jesus as a ransom. The committee thought emiah, “I’m not a good speaker, Lord, (perhaps hoped) I might say that Mark got and I’m too young” (Jer 1:6 CEV). Come the words about Jesus being “a ransom to think of it, when I look around, I see (lytron) for many” not from Jesus himself there’s not much danger of our playing but from Paul. In the course of my answer the youth card. But we dare not replace I said that it would be strange for Mark to it with a geezer card, “I’m too old [and get the use of that word from Paul, since let me rattle off my aches and pains].” “Paul never uses the word lytron.” When I For God says to us as to Jeremiah, “If got a typed copy of the interview, taken off I tell you to go and speak to someone, the tape by a secretary, it had me saying, then go! And when I tell you what to say, “Paul never uses the word ‘Lutheran.’” don’t leave out a word! I promise to be Now you know why we got fired!] with you and keep you safe, so don’t be The central section of Mark’s gospel afraid” (1:7–8, CEV). invites us to see what is at the heart of We are called to be renewers of the God’s will and work, the way of the cross church and to do God’s work. And what for Jesus and his followers. So Mark says is the heart of God’s work? Today’s gospel, about Bartimaeus after Jesus’ word of heal- Mark 10:35–45, is eager to answer that. ing: “Immediately he regained his sight And that brings us to a focus on seeing, and followed Jesus on the way” (10:52), as I mentioned at the beginning. the way of the cross. Mark 10:35–45 is the very end of The way to be a renewer of church the central section of Mark’s gospel. It is and society is to proclaim and follow followed by the story of Bartimaeus. Jesus the Crucified One. In the church his addressed to him the same question he all-embracing love excludes no one from asked of James and John, “What do you its life and ministries; in the world his want me to do for you?” His answer, so servant love battles hurt and pain. And much better than theirs, was simply “Let there is so much pain. Sometimes only me see!” the young can see it. Jim Wallace’s son It is supremely important to Mark Jack prayed one evening, “And God, there that his readers see the message in the are a lot of poor people, hungry people, central section of his gospel, so he places and homeless people—any questions or the healing of a blind man just before it comments? Amen.” Since it is so very hard and another here, just after it, framing its for us really to look at the world’s pain we message, about which we are to get sight, need each other for support. It is hard to to get insight. fight the world’s evil; we can only do it Kalin. Let me see!

135 together. Resisting the world’s evil and their arms around one another, holding renewing the church are joint projects. on for dear life as they look at the graves. The only way Seminex happened is that The only way to confront such evil, or we all worked together, students, staff, even to look at it, is together, supporting faculty, and supporters—those wonderful one another. generous supporters. Image two: After this unspeakable Servant renewers, I’ll close by illus- evil, the indigenous residents of the town trating our need for one another with two immediately demanded that the army images from Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, base be removed. The government at first a town of thousands of indigenous inhab- refused. So, against the will of the govern- itants, almost all Roman Catholic. Let me ment and its mighty army, the residents set up the two images this way: In the organized nineteen squads of townspeople. ’80s, during the civil war in Guatemala, Each night, from sundown to sunup, the Guatemalan army set up a base on one of these squads marched around the the outskirts of town, alleging that the perimeter of the town, preventing any peaceful townsfolk were supporting the soldier or any guerilla from entering. guerillas. One evening in December Their equipment: a stick on which to 1990, some drunken soldiers harassed carry a bag with their bread for the night the townsfolk one time too many. In the and a whistle, to summon one another if middle of the night, a group of several necessary. Within a few weeks, the army thousand people, peacefully and totally base was removed. The way to defeat great unarmed, gathered at the entrance of the evil in church or society is to take bread base and demanded redress. The army’s for the journey and a whistle, to summon response was to open fire, killing thirteen one another for support. AMEN. people, some of them children. [A brief postscript: After I preached Now image one: I sometimes took this sermon, Ed Schroeder commented on seminary students with me to language this final image from Santiago Atitlan by school in Guatemala, and we usually saying that for us, on our way, the whistle went to the makeshift cemetery in San- could well be intoning “The Church’s One tiago Atitlan, where thirteen rough-hewn Foundation” and that the bread would crosses bore the martyrs’ names. On my surely be the Bread that nourishes us desk at home, I have a picture of two of Sunday after Sunday at the altar. Thanks, these seminarians, Todd and Doug, with Ed. I wish I had thought of that.] Camelot

Joan Beck Cornelsen Director of Spiritual Formation and Pastor of the Community Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Donna Herzfeldt-Kamprath Pastor, West Linn Lutheran Church, West Linn, Oregon

This sermon was delivered by the Rev. The Lord be with you. Donna Herzfeldt-Kamprath (her portions are in regular print) and the Rev. Joan And also with you. (Lundgren) Beck (her portions are in italic print) at the closing worship of the 35th Let us pray. Builder God, we marvel at your Seminex Reunion at LSTC, June 25, 2009. plan from of old. We commend our lives, our One evening during the 1971 Lu- work, our church, our world into your wise theran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) design. Let your Spirit speak and inspire Milwaukee Convention Doc Caemmerer hearing in this word. Amen. said to John and Ernestine Tietjen and Arthur C. Repp, “The two views about This invitation to preach is like an invita- Lutheranism that are in contention right tion to “touch home base.” I was one of now are as different as a box is different those in the field when Seminex deployed from a platform. The Preus people think in 1983. My internship year was spent in of Lutheranism as a box. You have to be Evansville, Indiana. I was engaged to Tim, who was serving in his first year in southern in the box to be a Lutheran. The box tells Manitoba in a two-point Lutheran Church you what you can believe and what you in America (LCA) parish as a pastor/intern. can’t believe. If you don’t agree on the This sermon feels a little like a fourth-year truth in the box, you have to get out. But project for the year I never got to complete Lutheranism is really a platform on which with all of you! In that sense, Seminex has to stand. The Scriptures and the Lutheran always been “out there” for me, like an Confessions that witness to what they teach elusive “Camelot”—a memory, a dream, are the ground of our life together. They a hope that still exists, and can never die. are the platform on which we stand to wit- I remember being in high school in the ness to what we believe. As rule and norm early 1970s, listening to the sound track the Scriptures help us make sure that we of “Camelot” over and over again. The speak the Word of God when we witness. story of King Arthur and the knights, The Confessions free us up to witness to Queen Guinevere, and the round table is what is the heart of our faith, Jesus Christ, so romantic. The ending is so poignant. and the good news that we are justified After all the love and struggle, betrayals and by faith in him.” (from Memoirs in Exile, high hopes, the time comes for the reality Tietjen) to change and fade away, and the work of

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Beck and Herzfeldt-Kamprath. Camelot

137 telling the story to begin. King Arthur—in ing in the footsteps of Dr. Tietjen and the midst of the battle that finally brings other great leaders who had braved the down the court he has built up—calls to battles and shown the Lutheran church a the young boy page and commissions him new path! I wanted to find my place at that to go and tell: “round table” where I imagined women Ask ev’ry person if he’s heard the story, and men shared equally in ministry, and tell it strong and clear if he has not, where people coming from other careers that once there was a fleeting wisp of glo- instead of through “the system” were fully ry called Camelot…Don’t let it be forgot respected, where laying down one’s life for that once there was a spot for one brief those who were poor and victimized in this shining moment that was known as world was expected. I entered Camelot—I Camelot. mean, Seminex—in 1980.

In 1974 I was a sophomore at Northwest- ern University. I had been invited to the Lutheran Campus Ministry Center where wanted to find an LCMS congregation shared a home with an American Lutheran Church/ my place at that Lutheran Church in America (ALC/LCA) I congregation, each with their own pastor, “round table” where I membership, worship, and activities. Who would have thought there were other Lu- imagined women and therans out there?! Not a young LCMS girl from Sheboygan, Wisconsin! And conflict men shared equally in in the church? What was that all about?! Well, we had visitors who came and told ministry… us what it was all about. Young, energetic seminary students on Operation Outreach who were in the thick of the conflict and By 1980, the glory of Camelot had passionate about what God was doing in definitely faded for me. I remember getting the church came to tell the story. I don’t fired up by Operation Outreach. I headed remember a lot about what they said, but I out with other students and a faculty member remember the story was told with fervor and to Iowa and one of the Dakotas. I was eager that this story was having real consequences to tell the story, too. Our public story emit- in some of my new friends’ families (such as ted an energy that people wanted to gather the Krentz family). around; but my personal story with Seminex When the time came for me to discern was dying down. It didn’t take long before I my call into ordained ministry in the late felt like an ember that somehow got kicked 1970s, Seminex had been operating in St. away from the fire and would soon lose its Louis for about five years. It was my first spark. Part of this happened when I was choice for the seminary I wanted to attend. sexually harassed by a teaching assistant at Deep inside I believe I wanted to be a part the seminary. I was really burned! Another of the passion, the calling to proclaim the part happened because of my involvement true gospel word, the “fleeting wisp of in “field work” in a congregation. When the glory.” Oops, did I say “glory”? district president found out, he came to tell OK, maybe a little bit of glory—walk- me that I could not serve in any pastoral Beck and Herzfeldt-Kamprath. Camelot

138 role because I was a woman; to do so was were sturdy; some were precious; some have a clear “violation of scripture.” In that already disintegrated. Is there a foundation moment, face to face with his critique, the there, one that will hold what we now have Spirit ignited me and boldly I proclaimed, to build for the twenty-first century church? “I have the call to preach the gospel,” and my Prophets such as Justo Gonzalez challenge us challenger, respecting the doctrine of call, sat with questions like, “Where will you be when back in silence. Nevertheless, in 1976 after western capitalism collapses?” We cannot see my vicarage, I found myself heading out of and know what is coming. When the people of the Seminex camp to finish my training at Corinth were scrambling to build on founda- a different Lutheran seminary. tions of courageous leaders, wise doctrine, or At this reunion, many stories have been worldly power, Paul warned them of fire, fire expressed, not all easy to hear or receive. that would test and fire that would reward. We know there are many other stories out But only One could use that fire properly; there—maybe as many as 243—that we only One could control that fire. The day of don’t even know how to discover. Expres- disclosure will come for everyone and every sions of pain make us uncomfortable; our institution. Fire and smoke. indiscretions burn bridges between us; our Fire and smoke and fear. The story is emptiness snuffs out light and life. As James played out every fire season, particularly Wind said, “What we did those days was across the dry, dry West. A few years ago very human.” the Biscuit Fire took hold in southwest Camelot in crisis. What happens Oregon, eating its way through thousands when the castle crashes, the round table is and thousands of acres of forest and cracked, and human frailties break bonds wilderness. The fire had to do its work, of friendship and trust inside the walls even though humans tried to manage it. we’ve constructed to protect ourselves and One of the places engulfed in smoke and to identify ourselves in the world? We’ve debris during this fire was the small town been talking about breakdown, conflict, of Cave Junction. Our cluster colleague, and brokenness in the LCMS on this Pastor Peg, and the people were fatigued. 35th anniversary as if we were standing Smoke was in their eyes and lungs. They around a bonfire, enjoying the warmth and were living moment to moment, on the stories. But what if, instead of throwing edge of life and death. Peg prepared, more LCMS logs on the fire, we admit, along with the congregation and com- we acknowledge, we confess that there are munity folks, to be ready to evacuate logs of our own conflict, breakdown and at any moment. In all her ministry she brokenness that need to be thrown on the had never done this before, but she told fire too? God requires, invites, demands a us that she had put in the trunk of her day to disclose the quality of our work, to car the bread and the cup, the cross and reveal it with fire. Do you want the whole the Bible, ready to go whenever the fire story or will we be satisfied with fleeting dictated, and wherever the people would glimpses of glory? go. These were the things she trusted and Speakers in this anniversary celebration knew would draw the people together in have challenged us to look over the walls the face of the fire and sustain them even and out of the turrets to understand what if homes, businesses, church building and materials from the culture of the sixties all the structures of the community were and seventies may have contributed to the destroyed. The people, the Word, and the building of Seminex. Some of the materials Sacraments. The church. Beck and Herzfeldt-Kamprath. Camelot

139 When is fire good news for the people of —connect believers on a common network of God, and for our world? God, the one true texts, tweets, and twitters that rally them builder, knows the durability of the founda- for faithful action! tion, for this builder has laid it from the very —be the mat carried in our pockets and beginning. This One knows what fire will unfolded and laid out on the gymnasium cleanse; what fire will clear away and reveal; floor with a labyrinth pattern inviting what fire will test, mold, and transform. Fire youth and children and adults to wander in the toolkit of this builder is good and neces- and pray, guided by the Spirit! sary. Fire is good news when it reveals the true foundation—“that foundation is Jesus Christ.” Christ, who chose to suffer loss for our sake, This space has been ringing and alive with who burned with love that would be hidden the voices, stories, and songs of Seminex. but not extinguished. Christ, who holds out for We are grateful for the hospitality of the us to drink the cup of his own baptism with Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, fire. Will you take? Will you drink? Will you our Chicago brothers and sisters, and one be consumed with this burning love? another. Whenever your story may have The walls, table, and community begun with Seminex and whatever stories of Camelot were destroyed; what came we have yet to discover and share, we know through the firestorm were the story and that this time together is a temporary the song, carried out into the world in structure for the life we have lived and the voices and lives of people, people tell- celebrated. Think of it as a platform or ing the whole story. Paul says the whole launching pad for the lives and ministries story of God belongs to you, shapes and we are called to build up, remodel, and informs your whole life: “… whether the portray in the world. world or life or death or the present or the For a 1981 Advent prayer book pre- future—all belong to you, and you belong pared by Seminex students, John Tietjen to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” wrote these words that now send us out: We are a people who have learned to evacuate before, who have survived all You still need messengers, don’t you, Lord, kinds of fire and storms, and who trust in to speak your truth to the world the builder of all firm foundations. We can to prepare the way for your Christ. evacuate now. We can help the church around You still use strange people, too! us let go of structures and systems when their Why should we find it strange inferior quality is revealed. Respect the power that you should choose to use us? of the fire, fear the one who yields the fire, but follow the one who knows the way through In the desert of our lives, Lord, the fire! Come, Holy Spirit, come! stiffen our backs Wonder of wonders, we have the foun- breathe life into our bones dation that will travel with us! Doesn’t that to speak your truth sound more than a little foolish?! Look! This to point to your Christ foundation can no matter what the cost. —rise up from the water to meet our toes dangling in dangerous depths! Amen and amen. —be the tablecloth spread out on the ground to hold the meal that sustains us in the midst of our enemies! Valid, Etc.

Everett R. Kalin Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of New Testament Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Psalm 119 and Matthew. These I narrow September 23, 2009 to two, Matthew and Ephesians. The psalm Founders’ Day and Seminex Celebration we sang, and psalms are for singing. All I’ll do with Ezekiel is make the rather perverse Lessons for Matthew, Apostle and observation that in God’s call to swallow Evangelist: the scroll we finally see the origin of the Collect for Holy Scripture, which invites us Ezek 2:8–3:11, Eph 2:4–10, to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. Ps 119:33–40, Matt 9:9–13 For all these topics, from these two texts, one double theme: a) God’s grace/ Matt 9:9–13 As Jesus was walking mercy/love that embraces us in Jesus along, he saw a man called Matthew Christ, the crucified one, and b) the grace/ sitting at the tax booth; and he said mercy/love we are therefore freed to live to him, “Follow me.” And he got up out in the world with this crucified one. and followed him. 10And as he sat at But still the embarrassment of riches. dinner in the house, many tax collec- Today’s texts from Matthew and Ephesians tors and sinners came and were sitting use all the terms I just used, grace/mercy/ with him and his disciples. 11When love, and more, to speak of both halves of the Pharisees saw this, they said to his the double theme, God’s love for us and disciples, “Why does your teacher eat God’s life through us. I want to make with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But it simple, as Rabbi Marc Gellman was when he heard this, he said, “Those who quoted as doing in an article called “The are well have no need of a physician, Right Way to Pray?” in last Wednesday’s but those who are sick. 13Go and learn New York Times (printed, the article was what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not eleven pages long). The Rabbi said, “… sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not when you come right down to it, there are the righteous but sinners” (NRSV). only four basic prayers. Gimme! Thanks! Oops! and Wow!” “VALID, ETC.” I need and have found a simple So many topics; so many texts; so little phrase like the Rabbi’s that covers both time. I was tempted to add, “and miles to God’s love to us and God’s love through go before I sleep,” but decided it was not a us. I found it neither in Matthew nor in good idea to begin a sermon with the word Ephesians but in the words you see as you “sleep”! So many topics: PLTS Founders’ go through a Bay Area bridge tollbooth Day; Seminex at 35; the call of Matthew; using FasTrak, the automatic toll collector and one more, which I’ll save until the end. attached to your windshield. A sign just So many texts, from Ezekiel, Ephesians, beyond the tollbooth flashes these words

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Kalin. Valid, Etc.

141 as you go through: “VALID ETC (“ee- learn what it means, ‘I desire mercy and tee-cee”), which means “Valid Electronic not sacrifice.’” Jesus’ followers are to be Toll Collection.” But before I knew that, just as welcoming, just as barrier-crossing I had always read it as VALID ETC. (“et and just as merciful as he. “Go…and make cetera”) and saw a sermon theme in there disciples of all nations” is the command somewhere. And you are in luck, dear with which this gospel ends. friends, for here is that sermon, in which Ephesians 2 is much more articulate VALID ETC. means: a) because of God’s about the VALID part than Matthew: God love in the crucified one, we are VALID, is rich in mercy, acts out of great love, by validated, justified, every day anew and b) grace, through faith, not the result of works. every day anew the Spirit impels us to live However, the ETC. is not far behind–the out the ETC. life of service that flows from “not of works” in verse 9 is followed by faith’s reliance on our gospel validation. the assertion that in Christ Jesus we were Theme one, the call of Matthew. created for good works. And if today’s Whatever this tax gatherer had done or Ephesians lesson had not been cut at verse been, with no prerequisites, today’s gospel 10, we would have come to one of the most says he was called with these unadorned barrier-breaking, reconciling passages in words, “Follow Me.” This was not, in first the whole Bible, in which, through the instance, a call to be one of the twelve cross, through his flesh, Jesus has broken apostles, but a call like ours, to be Jesus’ down the barrier between Jew and Gentile follower, to follow his way to the cross. It “that he might create in himself one new is through Jesus’ cross that Matthew and humanity in place of the two, thus making we have been validated. Matthew’s gospel is peace” (v. 15). by no means devoid of this VALID-half of Sadly, as James Carroll shows in our double equation: it tells us that Christ Constantine’s Sword, the church often has come to give his life a ransom for many made the cross a sword, a weapon of and that his blood is poured out for the warfare, of superiority. Whatever was not forgiveness of sins. But Matthew majors the church became no-thing, especially if in the ETC. In today’s gospel, when Jesus it was Jewish. The church, with its sword- is challenged about his and God’s barrier- cross, became the ecclesiastical equivalent breaking inclusiveness, Jesus says, “Go and of Chevy Chase’s self-introduction on VALID ETC Kalin. Valid, Etc.

142 Saturday Night Live: “Hi, I’m Chevy on a hill, and voilà, a seminary in and for Chase—and you’re not!” Thank God for the West. the cross that unites rather than divides, PLTS has had a wonderful blending creating one new humanity! of the VALID and the ETC., with an Theme two, on Founders’ Day, the evangelical center and a reach beyond Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary itself. Of the four orienting perspectives (PLTS) story. PLTS had two main cata- of PLTS, Lutheran Identity seems to lysts, the Holy Spirit and James Prince focus most specifically on the VALID, Beasom. Beasom, president of the Califor- the evangelical core. It reads, “A shared nia Synod of the United Lutheran Church passion for the biblical story, centered on in America (ULCA), was an incredibly God’s sheer love in Jesus Christ, which energetic, mission-oriented pastor. Before forms us as a community of worship, study, and service, rooted in the Lutheran confessional tradition.” The other three perspectives, Reli- n February gious Pluralism, Multiculturalism, and Public Sphere, flow from this evangelical 19, 1974, core into various aspects of the ETC. In O today’s gospel Jesus speaks of God’s desire we processed off the for mercy in the context of warning against saying no to those to whom God says yes. campus to be met by And so PLTS became a Reconciling in Christ seminary. Walter Brueggemann, Its ecumenical and inter-religious setting in the Graduate Theological then Dean of Eden Union (GTU) is a logical extension of its Lutheran heritage, not a denial of it. So is Seminary, and the seminary’s commitment to justice and peace. Maybe in the ’60s it was accused of representatives of being the Berkeley city council at prayer. To which two brief remarks: 1. I learned Jesuit-run St. Louis in the Beasom booklet that the seminary is not actually in Berkeley, the property line University, who gave putting it almost entirely in Contra Costa County. So, seminarians, if necessary, a us classrooms and quick note home to the family in Peoria or St. Cloud–“Guess what, Grandma, I am took us in. actually not going to school in Berkeley!” 2. A passion for peace and justice did not first spring up on Sproul Plaza on the Cal there was a PLTS, Beasom went each year campus or on Telegraph Ave. It is at the to the Lutheran seminaries in the East to heart of Jesus’ message, and he, in turn, recruit promising pastors for the West. found it in the books he called Scripture. He was so successful that these Eastern Theme three, on its 35th anniver- seminaries said, “Don’t come back.” And sary, the Seminex story. In January of so, he and others bought two mansions 1974, the Board of Control of Concordia Kalin. Valid, Etc.

143 Seminary in St. Louis suspended the of the ‘Gospel’ rather than on the teaching seminary’s president, John Tietjen, alleg- of Scripture as such.” On the ordination of ing that he was harboring false teachers women, we found the gospel a wonderful on the faculty. The students declared a guide to keep us from saying no where moratorium on classes until the issues God was saying yes. were resolved, and the faculty majority These are the stories of Matthew’s (all but five of the forty-plus professors) call, PLTS, and Seminex. There is one honored the moratorium. A month later, more story—by far the briefest of all, with nothing resolved, the faculty was but, if John Steinbeck is right, the most ordered to teach or be fired. The students important of all. In East of Eden he said, and the faculty majority then voted to “If the story is not about the hearer, he[/ continue seminary education as Concor- she] will not listen.” This VALID ETC. dia Seminary in Exile (later called Christ stuffis our story, yours and mine. Seminary–Seminex). On February 19, Last week my wife, Clara, and I rushed 1974, we processed off the campus to be to the home of a neighbor to help the met by Walter Brueggemann, then Dean infirm husband, who had fallen. An hour of Eden Seminary, and representatives of later he fell again, and 911 was called. As I Jesuit-run St. Louis University, who gave sat with the wife, herself infirm, we spoke us classrooms and took us in. In 1983, in about their adult daughter, who lived at anticipation of Lutheran merger, Seminex home with them and sacrificed her own deployed its remaining faculty to other life to meet their every need, and then Lutheran seminaries, and four of us came some. The mother said of the daughter, here (Carl Graesser, Bob Smith, George “She does not think she has done nearly Hoyer and I). enough and thus believes that when she Here are the Seminex issues, in an dies she will not go to heaven, at least not abridged Gimme! Thanks! Oops! and right away.” Wow! version. On the issue of the VALID, Thanks be to God there is a different both sides wanted to uphold the gospel. way to think about deeds of love and God’s Our accusers sought to do that by insist- eternal embrace. The VALID ETC. story ing on a particular understanding of the is our story. From the baptismal get-go, scriptures. They insisted we affirm, for because of Jesus Christ, we are VALID, example, “the historicity of every detail validated in the sight of God. To these in the life of Jesus as recorded by the waters, this VALID, we are called back evangelists.” We found the gospel as the every day, only to be sent out on the Fas- center of the scriptures by methods that Trak of the ETC., to show filial, parental, differed from, and were not helped by, the neighborly, and every other kind of love. ones they insisted on. On the issue of the It does not get any better than that! And ETC., here is one example. Our detrac- so, to end this sermon, all I need is one of tors declared, “a decision on…ordaining Rabbi Gellman’s very brief prayers: Wow! women…[cannot be] made on the basis Amen. Tribute

Ralph W. Klein Christ Seminary-Seminex Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

We Remember • The notes from the board under our doors With Joy and • Exile Thanksgiving Through it all John was meeting with the Deans of • LSTC • St. Louis University • Eden Seminary

When Exile hit, we had • places to hold classes • the aura of accreditation • an institution to grant our first degrees

For the first year John was our acting president. February 14, 1975—completion of acting presidency Our First Dean We have learned again that our God is the John S. Damm God of infinite surprises…. But learning 1974-1981 to appreciate and savor this God of sur- prises—this is a life-long task. And we weren’t prepared for the quick succession of The 1973-1974 Academic Year surprises God had in store for us this year. • The early “Retirement” of seven col- leagues Remember that snowy morning on the • Barnstorming the country in the week nineteenth of February as we sat in the after the Saturday night massacre Fieldhouse and Richard Caemmerer talked • Casey Jones wearing a clerical collar every to the whole community about faith. God day in support of John Tietjen gave us the power to do what Rachel and • The death of Arthur Carl, his funeral we had such a hard time doing, giving and burial up our little vest pocket deities, our little • The suspension of John personal idolatries, and rediscovering again • The student moratorium how to put our whole confidence and trust • The faculty’s own decision in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. • The daily faculty meetings

Currents in Theology and Mission 38:2 (April 2011) Klein. Tribute

145 John S. Damm Carl Volz • Pioneered a study for curriculum renewal Walter Wegner (TERC) Andrew M. Weyermann • Was a member of the student-elected Leonhard C. Wuerffel pastoral staff • With his mother Lillian was “given to hospitality” We Remember • Was godparent to at least sixteen children With Joy and • Preached at ordinations, installations,

and weddings at least ten times a year. Thanksgiving • Extensive counseling of students, their The eight district presidents and the presi- spouses, and partners dent of Evangelical Lutherans In Mission • 1981–1991 senior pastor at St. Peter’s in New York District Presidents • Loving care, liturgical excellence, and Herman Frincke articulate preaching Harold Hecht • Encouraged development of the Mo- Paul Jacobs mentum AIDS dinner program Emil Jaech • Remains active in the parish and in New Waldemar Meyer York City Herman Neunaber • Severe health challenges Rudolph Ressmeyer Robert Riedel President of Evangelical Lutherans in We Remember Mission With Joy and • Samuel J. Roth Thanksgiving

Our faculty sister and brothers who have We Remember died in the Lord With Joy and Robert Bertram Thanksgiving Herbert Bouman Richard R. Caemmerer The students at Seminex 1974-1983 William J. Danker • For their creative action the morning Alfred O. Fuerbringer after John was suspended Carl Graesser • For Operation Outreach Robert Grunow • For their courage in facing agonizing H. Lucille Hager decisions Paul G. Lessman • For those who were alienated from their Erwin L. Lueker families Herbert T. Mayer • For those who never received a call Arthur Carl Piepkorn • For those who have died in the Lord Arthur C. Repp • For those who are here Alfred von Rohr Sauer • For those who wish they were here Robert H. Smith Gilbert A. Thiele John H. Tietjen Klein. Tribute

146 800

700 Total Seminex Graduates (750) 600 Rostered in the ELCA (372) 500 Rostered in the LCMS (110) 400 Rostered in other churches (13) 300

200 Unknown (243)

100 Deceased (12)

0

Now Thank We All Our All praise and thanks to God the Father God now be given, The Son, and Spirit blest, who reign in Now thank we all our God with hearts highest heaven, and hands and voices, The one eternal God, whom earth and who wondrous things has done, in whom heav’n adore; this world rejoices; For thus it was, is now, and shall be ev- who, from our mothers’ arms, has blest ermore. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship us on our way #839) with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us, and keep us all in grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all harm in this world and the next. A Week of Renewal at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary June 20-24, 2011

You are invited to a week of renewal of classes, worship, stimulating conversation and restorative time in the company of old and new colleagues in the wonderful setting between the Bay and Tilden Park. The Week of Renewal at PLTS offers stimulating classes in the morning and more, including: • Daily worship • Continental breakfast • Opportunity for spiritual direction • Evening conversation around wine and cheese • Daily case conference on difficult pastoral situations • All the benefits of San Francisco by BART For more information about classes offered, costs and to register, please visit www.plts.edu/summer_session.html. Summer Greek at PLTS July 11– August 19, 2011

Learning Greek in an intensive, concentrated setting has many advan- tages. People learn to read Greek by reading Greek. After an intro- duction to the basic elements of Greek grammar, students are soon learning by reading the Greek New Testament itself, building vocabu- lary while honing grammatical skills. Extensive portions of the Gospel of John will be read during the course. For more information, please visit www.plts.edu/biblical_greek_program.html. RECENT BOOKS FROM EERDMANS

TIGHT FISTS OR OPEN HANDS? Wealth and Poverty in Old Testament Law David L. Baker “In this remarkably comprehensive book David Baker brings together the fruit of many years of mature biblical scholarship with his experience of living and teaching in the context of poverty. . . . This book makes a signifi cant and vigorous contribution to the discipline of Old Testament ethics.” — CHRISTOPHER J. H. WRIGHT ISBN 978-0-8028-6283-9 · 435 pages · paperback · $36.00

AT THE SCENT OF WATER The Ground of Hope in the Book of Job J. Gerald Janzen Foreword by Patrick D. Miller “Ideally, to write on Job, you need to be an accomplished Hebraist, an Old Testament theologian, an amateur phi- losopher, a person who appreciates poetry, and one who has lived with some of the issues the book wrestles with. In this book Gerald Janzen shows himself to be such a person.” — JOHN GOLDINGAY ISBN 978-0-8028-4829-1 · 152 pages · paperback · $16.00

THE PSALMS AS CHRISTIAN WORSHIP A Historical Commentary Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston This collaboration by two esteemed evangelical scholars blends a verse-by-verse exposition of select psalms with a history of their interpretation in the church from the time of the apostles to the present. ISBN 978-0-8028-6374-4 · 638 pages · paperback · $28.00

At your bookstore, or call 800-253-7521 9520 www.eerdmans.com Book Reviews

149 tail after detail of his account with 50 pages of Book Reviews footnotes, including extensive interviews with many of the principal characters and the use of archival papers from the chief figures. Burkee observes that in order for this Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod: form of conservatism to thrive, it necessitates A Conflict that Changed American an identifiable enemy. Once the bogeyman of Christianity. By James C. Burkee. liberalism had been eliminated, this meant Minneapolis: Fortress, 2011. ISBN-13: that the fragile coalition of conservative fac- 978-0800697921. xi and 256 pages. tions began to turn on one another. Near the Cloth. $29.00. end of his narrative, the author concludes: “Jack Preus gained and lost allies because In the history of the church when Jesus of his pragmatism. Hermann Otten, con- Christ meets Machiavelli, very soon there will versely, gained and lost allies because of his be a crucifixion. In this cautionary tale the I-am-right-at-all-costs posture. Both entered chief protagonists are Herman Otten Jr. and a new decade in 1981 considerably less in- Jacob A.O. Preus, who together helped to fluential and more unpopular than they had orchestrate the purging of theological liber- been in 1969. The church they left behind alism from the Lutheran Church—Missouri was divided, dwindling, and more discour- Synod (LCMS) in the 1960s and 1970s. The aged than it had been at any time since its story culminates in the cleansing of Con- beginnings in 1839, when founding bishop cordia Seminary, leading to the walkout of Martin Stephan was excommunicated for the majority of the faculty in 1974 to create sexual misconduct and embezzlement” (175). Seminex (Seminary in Exile). The historical Herein lays the tragedy. Power politics leaves background for this struggle includes the the church inevitably weakened, as its witness specter of the civil rights movement and the to the gospel of Jesus Christ is compromised war in Vietnam. The drift to liberalism in so- by fear-mongering, false innuendo, fallacious ciety had begun to infect also the policies and accusations, self-serving leadership, and oth- programming of the church by giving prior- er hypocrisy. In the words of the great Pete ity to economic justice, racial equality, and Seeger song: “When will ‘they’ ever learn?” women’s rights. Especially blameworthy for Indeed, when will ‘we’ ever learn? these developments were theology professors, whose use of historical criticism for interpret- Craig L. Nessan ing the Bible resulted in revisionist teachings Wartburg Theological Seminary that undermined traditional authority. In combating such an enemy, the ends justify the means. For Otten, a graduate of The Power of Forgiveness. A Film by Martin Concordia Seminary who was refused en- Doblmeier. Journey Films. 2007. DVD. dorsement for ordination in the LCMS, the $24.95. means included the publication of the Chris- The Power of Forgiveness: Based on a Film tian News, a tabloid journal that sniffed out by Martin Doblmeier. By Kenneth liberalism and attacked its purveyors without Briggs. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, regard for accurate reporting or ethical de- 2008. x and 205 pages. Paper. $25.00. cency. For Preus, who rose rapidly through the ranks of contenders to the presidency of the This film by the renowned director, Martin LCMS, the means included the clandestine Doblmeier (who also directed “Bonhoeffer: Pas- operation of a fine-tuned political machine to tor-Pacifist-Nazi Resistor”), and the companion drive fear into the hearts of the laity, in order to book by Kenneth Briggs (former religion writer persuade them to elect, by means of published of Newsday and religion editor of The New York lists, the candidates for office that ensured a Times) are exceptional resources for congrega- conservative takeover. Burkee documents de- tional and other educational use. In this age of Book Reviews

150 extraordinary violence, where many people have Kindling Desire for God: Preaching as been harmed by others, the topic of forgiveness is Spiritual Direction. By Kay L. North- not only a classic Christian theme but a challenge cutt. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009. with which we struggle in both our personal and ISBN-13: 978-0800692639. ix and 160 corporate lives. Genuine forgiveness is never easy. pages. Paper. $13.49. Forgiveness is a process that is facilitated by par- This work cuts across denominational ticular conditions that aim, insofar as possible, boundaries in drawing together matters of toward reconciliation between the estranged counseling, spiritual direction, education, parties. This film and book prompt reflection sacraments, and homiletics. Northcutt offers on those conditions and encourage viewers and a blend of these themes to discuss her empha- readers to engage in the process that can lead to sis on “the spiritual life of the preacher and forgiveness and reconciliation. the aim of preaching itself” (101). Building The film features commentary and in- on the concept of spiritual formation, chap- sight from well-known figures, including Elie ter titles reflect this concern in forming the Wiesel, James Forbes, Sr. Helen Prejean, Thich preacher’s inner life as well as the lives of the Nhat Hanh, and Thomas Moore. It takes listeners. The reader will need to decide if this viewers to places that face acute challenges blend of Protestant and Roman Catholic his- to the very possibility of forgiveness: Ground tories succeeds and to what extent it enhances Zero, Northern Ireland, the Amish country- the preaching life. side, and the Middle East. Both the personal and the societal dimensions are addressed in Susan K. Hedahl ways that encourage reflection and discussion Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary about the meaning of forgiveness in concrete situations. The companion book assists the reader in exploring particular topics related Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postco- to the process of forgiving: forgiveness and lonial Times. By Joerg Rieger. Minne- religion, the relationship between forgiveness apolis: Fortress, 2007. ISBN: 978- and health, the impossibility of forgiveness, 0800620387. x and 334 pages. Paper. forgiving oneself, the question about justice, $22.00. mutuality in forgiveness, social challenges to forgiveness, and forgiveness as a journey. In the last twenty years, there has been a While this film could certainly be growing interest in the role of empire upon viewed apart from the book with great ben- the development of Christian theology and efit, many points would be lost on one-time praxis. In Christ and Empire Joerg Rieger, a viewers without the analysis that the book systematican at Perkins School of Theology, provides. Conversely, while the book could has provided an ambitious series of analyses be used with good effect apart from the film, using the methodologies that have evolved in the advantage of the book is in exploring at this multidisciplinary effort. With a focus on greater depth the particular issues dealt with one figure or issue, Rieger moves through the in the film. In combination, one receives millennia. He begins with the New Testament both the powerful images and narratives of (Paul) and then travels through the coun- the film and the identification of core issues cil of Nicea (language of “co-equality”), the and keen analysis of the book. I can imagine early medieval period (Anselm), the missions congregations and educational institutions that accompanied the discovery of the “New incorporating The Power of Forgiveness into World” (Las Casas), nineteenth-century im- a variety of settings and thereby offering the perialism (Schleiermacher), neo-colonialism opportunity to investigate new paths toward (Aulén), and the late twentieth-century inter- a reality for which we all yearn. est in the “cosmic Christ” (Matthew Fox). What is fascinating in this work is not Craig L. Nessan only the historical range and variety it offers, Wartburg Theological Seminary but also the way Rieger approaches these case Book Reviews

151 studies. Rather than taking sides as has often breaks all the expectations of a Festschrift—as been the case in this field of study (either Paul Walter Wink, the honoree, so often broke sells out to empire or resists it), Rieger under- the categories imposed by the expectations stands how difficult it is for anyone to escape of scholarship. The contents of this volume the influence of empire (if it is one’s cultural reflect what happened at a “party,” as it was context) while, at the same time, he recov- informally called, on his retirement as Profes- ers the “christological surplus” of each of the sor of New Testament at Auburn Theological figures/issues under review that may provide Seminary, New York, in May 2005. The first churches today with resources to reflect over eight contributions (3–54) discuss Wink as and address the complicated power dynamics scholar and active churchman. Wayne Rol- that come with globalization. lins gives “An Overview of the Work of Walter Given the range of the study, one can Wink,” focusing on The Bible in Human Trans- quibble with the accuracy of some of the his- formation (1973), Wink’s interest in the “Pow- torical details as presented. It is also clear that ers” (1973–2002) both in the Bible and the Rieger has a thesis to defend and will, at times, contemporary world, and in the significance find ingenious readings of his source material of The Human Being (2002).There follow to do so. His United Methodist theological brief discussions of Wink’s biblical scholar- ethos informs his sense of the ethical mandate ship (Bruce Chilton, 15–21), hermeneutics (J. upon the contemporary church, as it should. Harold Ellens, 22–27), theology (Henry Mot- All in all this is a fine balanced introduction tu,28–32), pedagogy( Sharon Ringe, 33–38), to current and important thinking being done philosophy (D. Seiple, 39–44), peace theology in theological faculties concerning the effects (Ted Grimsrud, 45–48), and psychology (Hal of imperial ideology upon Christian theology, Childs, 49–54). A glance at the bibliography from Rome to the United States of America. of Wink’s published words (127–136) expands one’s appreciation of his wide-ranging scholar- Erik M. Heen ship and churchly concerns. The Lutheran Theological Seminary The last two sections of theFestschrift are at Philadelphia much more personal in nature. Section two, “Testimonials and Toasts,” contains varied contributions: a Prayer, a Toast, a Letter, an Enigmas and Powers: Engaging the Appreciation, an Inspiration, a Partnership, a Work of Walter Wink for Classroom, Testament, a Recollection, an Envoi, and a Church, and World. Edited by D. Final Toast, all very personal memories and Seiple and Frederick W. Weidmann. testimonials, witnessing to Walter Wink’s im- Princeton Theological Monograph Series pact in various areas of life. The final section, 79. Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publica- “Enigmas of the Future,” contains five reflec- tions, 2008. xxviii and 139 pages. Paper. tions on the effects Wink’s work may have on $19.00. ISBN-13: 978-15546352904; future thought and activities. The last piece is ISBN-10: 1556352905. a “Parting Prayer.” This is an unusualFestschrift , not made Frederick W. Weidmann begins the “Intro- up of scholarly articles somewhat related to duction” to this Festschrift in honor of Walter themes of the honoree’s work. These varied Wink as follows: “You hold in your hands an papers and contributions show in very per- unusual book. In it you will find essays, let- sonal terms how Wink has influenced the ters, speeches, prayers, toasts, reminiscences, contributors. It enables the reader to gain arguments, footnotes, and open-ended con- some appreciation of the person of Walter versation” (xvii). He later writes, “Taken as Wink, and not just of his scholarly work. a whole or even in its individual parts, what follows is not easily categorized or situated Edgar Krentz within accepted disciplinary categories.” Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago How true these words are. This volume Book Reviews

152 Homilies on the Gospel of John 1–40. is how the post-Jesus faith moved from Jeru- Translated by Edmund Hillo, O. P., ed- salem to the Hellenistic world. The Aramaic- ited with an annotated introduction by speaking community in Jerusalem, the so-called Allan D. Fitzgerald, O. S. A. The Works apostles, who were eventually led by James, of Saint Augustine Part III–Homilies appointed seven Greek-speaking deacons. Ac- I/12. (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, cording to Dunn’s reading, the seven changed 2009. ISBN 978-1565483194. 604 the language of the faith to Greek; essentially pages. Cloth. $59.00. rejected the center of the world by disregarding the temple; and acted as evangelists rather than This latest publication of the New City Press’ deacons by carrying the new faith to Antioch. edition of Augustine’s sermons is the first of He admitted his reflections on this complex pe- two volumes on John’s Gospel. It presents the riod still left us on “shaky ground.” first forty of 154 sermons. These homilies are A second major problem arose with sev- the only commentary on John from the Latin eral conflicts that occurred in Antioch. The patristic tradition; they are of immense inter- famous meal involving Paul, Cephas, and men est, therefore, informed by the Donatist here- from James resulted in Paul’s going beyond sy that Augustine opposes. Augustine devotes even the Antioch Hellenists to take the gos- six homilies to John 5:19–30, interpretations pel to non-Jews (Gentiles). Like most others, that differ in stress on Jesus as Son of Man in Dunn found it impossible to reconcile Paul’s the earlier set, but stress him as the humble meal narrative with several Lukan narratives in Word of God in the three later homilies. This Acts (e.g., chapter 15). Nevertheless, he saw in is a valuable addition to a very good transla- this material (Galatians and Acts) the dimin- tion of Augustine’s works. ished influence of the Jerusalem Christians as well as that of Peter. So from thereon he de- Edgar Krentz scribes the emergence of Paul and his function Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago as the apostle to the Mediterranean world. In a study so incredibly extensive the av- erage reader might easily find disagreements. Beginning from Jerusalem. By James D. G. For example, some might not see four sepa- Dunn. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009. rate letters in 2 Corinthians, as does Dunn. ISBN-13: 978-0820839329. vii and However, he knows the problems, even rec- 1347 pages. Cloth. $80.00. ognizes three or five letters might be more correct. In other words, Dunn describes the This work is volume 2 (of an anticipated 3 first generation well, but certainly includes volumes) in the series titled Christianity in the difficulties involved. the Making. The first volume, of nearly equal length, titled Jesus Remembered focused on Graydon F. Snyder the person to whom the origins of Christian- Chicago ity can be traced. This second volume covers the period from approximately 30 to 70 ce, the first generation of the Christian move- Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching ment. Dunn, or Jimmy as most of us know Fresh. William H. Willimon. Nash- him, has shared with us a remarkable under- ville: Abingdon Press, 2009. ISBN- taking. As known from his many prior books 10: 142670013X. ISBN-13: 978- and articles, he writes with careful consider- 1426700132. xi and 116 pages. Paper. ation of all the issues involved. At the same $14.00. time, even when dealing with complex issues, his presentation is most readable. That makes Willimon draws upon an eschatology of Eas- this work an outstanding textbook for college ter to deliver nearly 120 pages of pastoral care and university classes. to preachers who doubt their preaching vo- As the title indicates, the primary problem cation. However, his book has very little to Book Reviews

153 do with the Lent/Easter season that its title of the leading Catholic biblical scholars in the claims as its focus. world. This commentary on First Corinthians Willimon laments “Neophilia,” an un- is Fitzmyer’s most recent contribution to The healthy obsession with the new that infects Anchor Yale Bible commentary series. He has preaching: pastors grope for new ideas in order written some of the best volumes in the Anchor to sate an insatiable public. Willimon exhorts series on the Gospel of Luke, Acts, Romans, preachers instead to cherish the “eschatological and Philemon. This volume reflects the same newness” of repeating Christ’s story. Willimon in-depth historical-critical exegesis evident in considers this work to be a conversation with previous volumes. There is a seventy-page intro- Barth, and ultimately he must confess, “Only duction that begins with a detailed discussion Christ can preach Christ. And he will preach.” of the city of Corinth and includes a helpful (67) Willimon’s chief contact with Easter summary of Pauline teaching in 1 Corinthians. throughout the book is with what he calls “the One of the main strengths of the commentary truth of the resurrection,” that upon which all proper is that on any particular interpretive is- preaching depends. (29) The resurrection has sue Fitzmyer typically presents all the options changed the rules. We no longer play by the before making his own case. Fitzmyer also pro- world’s time—secular holidays that mark the vides superb philological analysis. This is surely passage of time until we die—but by the rules one of the better commentaries on 1 Corinthi- of the God who is truly in charge. ans. However, at more than 600 pages it will The chief shortcoming of this book lies serve primarily as a reference work for detailed in Willimon’s caricature of Rudolf Bultmann exegesis of particular passages. as a denier of the resurrection. It seems Wil- limon needed an “anti-Barth” and that Bult- Raymond Pickett mann fit the role well enough. Willimon re- Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago ally did not need to go after Bultmann, and the book stands on its own without the two pages of misguided attack. The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s The book’s chief strength is its being a Gospel. By Craig Koester.Grand Rapids: strong dose of pastoral care for preachers. All Eerdmans, 2008. xiv plus 245 pages. of Willimon’s emphasis on the truth of the $21.00. ISBN 978-0802829382. resurrection and the central role of Christ in preaching serves to soothe the nerves of pas- Koester, professor of New Testament at Lu- tors who feel that they have run out of ideas. ther Seminary, offers this fine contribution to Preachers repeat themselves. That is what the many attempts to describe the theology they are supposed to do, because the good of John’s Gospel. He focuses on the text it- news in Christ bears repeating. It is a strong self with few references to first- and second- message of pastoral care to those who preach. century social contexts or literature. After a summary of the history of interpretation, Timothy Andrew Leitzke he organizes John’s theology into traditional Philadelphia, Pa. categories: God “The World and Its People” (Anthropology), Jesus (Christology), Cruci- fixion (Soteriology), the Spirit “Faith, Present First Corinthians: A New Translation with and Future” (Eschatology), “Discipleship in Introduction and Commentary. By Jo- Community and World” (Ethics). seph A. Fitzmyer. The Anchor Yale Bible The strength of Koester’s proposal is its 32. New Haven: Yale University Press, close reading of the text and clear presenta- 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0300140446. 688 tion. He presents major interpretive options pages. Cloth. $55.00. clearly and concisely without naming scholars and the details of their debates. For example, Joesph Fitzmyer, S.J., is Professor Emeritus at he refers to unnamed “interpreters” who dis- the Catholic University of America and one tinguish the Spirit’s role in the first half of the Book Reviews

154 Gospel as “giving life” from the second half’s edged as such by his disciples in Galilee. After a emphasis on “abiding presence, teaching and brief overview of scholarship, Barnett has chap- witness.” In contrast, he emphasizes the theo- ters on the various sources for this “historical logical unity of John within its literary unity: Christ”: the canonical Gospels, non-Christian “the various Spirit passages are interconnected sources (especially Josephus), Acts, Mark (writ- and create a web of meaning” (p. 134). ten in collaboration with Peter), Luke’s sources The focus on the text alone is also the (Mark, Q, and L), the Gospel of John, and book’s greatest weakness. By taking the text out Paul’s letters. His final chapter is an argument of its first-and second-century context, Koester for the general historical credibility of virtu- minimizes the impact of some scenes. Koester ally all of the sayings and narratives of Jesus in minimizes the importance of Old Testament al- Galilee. Barnett mounts a serious scholarly ar- lusions, such as the role of Zech 14:20–21 (“there gument, but he writes in a manner accessible shall no longer be traders in the house of the to anyone who is interested in this question. LORD of hosts on that day”) which helps under- He makes a good case for the general historical stand John’s sense of the “cleansing of the temple” reliability of the New Testament information (esp. John 2:16; see Koester, 152–153). He mini- about the pre-resurrection Jesus. However, his mizes the juridical social context indicated by the case for a pre-resurrection Christ in the sense of blind man’s trial before the council and Jesus’ Jesus’ own self-consciousness will not convince trial before Pilate (e.g., the too brief discussion of skeptics. Barnett makes unproven assumptions, the “courtroom” setting for the Spirit, 157). Yet, such as his repeated insistence that the Gospel Koester’s reading of John is not independent of writers would neither alter nor omit any say- a context. Anachronistically he portrays John as ings of the Lord. Barnett makes a plausible having an “egalitarian vision” of Christian com- case, but it is an open question as to whether munity (203) despite the privileged roles given to the sources, all written from the point of view Peter and the Beloved Disciple. of post-resurrection faith, can provide reliable The Word of Life is suited for the pastor historical evidence of Jesus’ self-consciousness. and seminary student, but is accessible to the This book may be useful to pastors, students, informed lay person. If a study guide could and anyone interested in what ‘biographical’ in- be written, it could easily be used in an adult formation we can know about Jesus. However, Bible study. its conservative findings are not going to con- vince everyone. Peter S. Perry Chicago, Ill. David W. Kuck United Theological College, Kingston, Jamaica

Finding the Historical Christ. (After Jesus, volume 3). By Paul Barnett. Grand King and Messiah as Son of God: Divine, Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009. ISBN-13: Human, and Angelic Messianic Figures 978-0802848901. xi and 299 pages. in Biblical and Related Literature. By Paper. $22.00. Adela Yarbro Collins and John J. Collins. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, This is the third volume of Barnett’s trilogyAfter 2008. v and 261 pages. Paper. $28.00. Jesus. The previous volumes covered the devel- opment of Christianity in the first twenty years This useful and informative volume presents after Jesus and in Paul’s mission. In this final a series of essays that trace the function of the installment he focuses on the New Testament titles Son of God, Son of Man, and Messiah documents as sources for “the historical Christ.” in biblical literature and some related sources. The title reveals his primary argument: there is Adela and John Collins, both on the faculty of no dichotomy between the “Jesus of history” Yale University, have combined their extensive and the “Christ of faith,” for Jesus understood knowledge in Hebrew Scriptures and New Tes- himself to be the Messiah and was acknowl- tament to create a historical development not Book Reviews

155 easily matched by any other pair of authors. The study begins with short discussions of Briefly Noted royal ideology in Near Eastern contexts: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and ancient Canaan. They show how divine kingship was adapted by ancient Ju- dah, especially as seen in Psalms 2 and 110, yet In Opening up the Scriptures (Eerdmans, did not imply the king was “god.” Eventually 2008. $25.00. ISBN 976-0802860118), five the relationship between God and king became Catholic scholars seek to advance the program covenantal (e.g., 2 Samuel 7, “father and son”), proposed by then Cardinal Ratzinger. Critical of rather than authoritative. The Deuteronomic historical criticism in 1988 he suggested a meth- material reflects this shift from a more militaris- od should combine historical criticism with the tic monarch to a leader like the judges. insights of patristic and medieval exegesis. The The destruction of Jerusalem left the Jews scholars here seek to implement his suggestion, without a king. Consequently, they developed insisting on reading the Bible as faith-conceived an eschatological Messiah. The authors first revelation. An interesting volume. present intertestamental Hellenistic material Edgar Krentz as a sign of that shift. Much is little known to many of us: Septuagintal Psalms; Septuagintal Anthony Thiselton’sHermeneutics: An In- Isaiah (as angel in Isaiah 9); the Dead Sea Scrolls troduction (Eerdmans, $30.00; ISBN-13: (especially 1QS9:1, 4Q174:13, and 4Q246). 978-0802864109) gives students a history of This future Messiah became identified with the hermeneutics and an analysis of contempo- Son of Man and, though the connection may rary trends in interpretation. Based on a deep be complicated, Dan 7:13–14, and bar nasha knowledge of the literature and the issues serve as the source for this important link. In raised (the select bibliography covers twenty- the Gospels “Son of Man” can represent the es- five pages), it is a good guide to the subject chatological Messiah, the dying and rising king, and deserves wide use. or the present person, i.e., “I” or Jesus. Mark’s Edgar Krentz prediction of a suffering Son of Man radically changed the Jewish expectation of a Messiah. Michael F. Bird in Introducing Paul: The The coming Jewish leader will give of himself Man, His Mission and His Message (Down- for the world, not conquer it. This may well be ers Grove, Ill.: IVPress Academic, 2009. 192 the defining point of the Christian faith. pages. $20.00) gives basic information about While Jesus is known throughout the Paul, assuming all letters are authentic. The New Testament as the Son of God , the pri- work stresses that Paul is different from modern mary source for us is the Gospel of John. John people. Useful for parish libraries, it is a quick, the Baptist identified Jesus as the Son of God conservative review of Paul’s life and thought. (1:34), a confession parallel to Jesus as Messiah Edgar Krentz (1:27). The Jesus of the Gospel of John is not an eschatological figure following the fall of Je- Gordon Fee provides a helpful, historically rusalem. Rather he is the divine Logos, present conservative interpretation in The First and from the very beginning, even as a creator. Second Letters to the Thessalonians (Eerd- Starting with Royal Ideology and end- mans, $44.00), a volume in The New Interna- ing with the divine Logos, this work by the tional Commentary on the New Testament. Fee Collins offers a comprehensive approach to knows and uses the Greek text well, but writes biblical Christology. Though the composi- this commentary for the pastor who looks for tion is not excessively complicated, it will help in proclamation and teaching. His notes benefit primarily academic types. It is must contain many references to modern scholarship reading for anyone teaching or writing on the for those interested in pursuing topics more New Testament. deeply. All in all, a helpful aid for pastors. Graydon F. Snyder Edgar Krentz Chicago Wartburg Theological Seminary

Do you know someone who is considering a call to ministry? Here are some options for them to consider: • Attend an upcoming Conference on Ministry November 12-14, 2011 or March 10-12, 2012 • Take our 6-week on-line course Exploring Seminary with Dr. Craig Nessan • Consider our distance/residential degree programs • Arrange a visit to our campus. [email protected]

Luther Academy of the Rockies June 20 - 30, 2011 Meeker Park Lodge Allenspark, Colorado We invite rostered leaders and their families to join us in the beautiful Colorado mountains for Luther Academy of the Rockies, Wartburg Theological Seminary’s premier LifeLong Learning educational program. The daily rhythm of worship, mornings filled with insight- ful scholarly lectures and forums, afternoon free time to explore the incredible scenery, and evening fellowship opportunities will struc- ture our time together. [email protected]

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Seventh Sunday of Easter– Proper 13

Concerning this Column

A pastor I deeply respect once told me that his idea of hell is spending eternity writing the pastor’s page for a congregational newsletter. While I can certainly name worse fates and am keenly aware that many people are living them, I do not think this pastor is alone in his sentiments. Many pastors and other rostered leaders tell me that coming up with a topic and writing the newsletter article is a monthly dread. I often think of the church newsletter article—or this introductory essay—as a topical rather than a text-based sermon. Rather than “reporting” on what we have discovered or heard in readings from Scripture, we need to decide on a topic and then say whatever it is we have to say about it. Sometimes that’s plain exhausting, especially when we’re unsure of what the newsletter article is supposed to accomplish, whether whatever we’re saying matters to the readers or if anyone actually reads the column or simply turns the page to the “news.” As a preacher, I become more and more grateful for the lectionary. I am glad and relieved that weekly preaching is different from monthly newsletter writing in that I do not have to come up with a sermon “topic,” but first listen to Scripture and my faith community to discover what I believe God has to say. I am consoled by the fact that the sermon’s purpose is clear—to proclaim the gospel. Like many preach- ers, I sometimes am befuddled by the lectionary. Yes, while the preacher sometimes brings life to the lectionary, mostly the lectionary brings life to this preacher. The key seems to be discovering the spark or connection between God’s activity in the congregation and world and God’s activity in the readings. This issue’s author of “Preaching Helps” does this well. Arthur Bergren is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He holds his Bachelor of Arts degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. In addition, he is a two-time graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, holding Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees. Currently, Arthur serves First Lutheran Church in Geneseo, Illinois. Arthur is married to Anne and has three children, Laura, Caroline, and Erik. Arthur enjoys walking his twenty miles a week and fishing in the North woods of Wisconsin. I deeply respect Arthur’s passion for both the whole church—in former days I would say that Arthur is a “churchman”— and his emphasis on the church’s mission of sharing the gospel. Arthur’s passion and emphasis are evident in his reflections on the readings for June and July. When I was a full-time parish pastor, it never occurred to me (or I was too afraid) to ask whether people read my pastor’s page in the newsletter, what purpose that column should serve, and whether it’s really necessary. The pastor’s page was a “given.” Truth be told, I can count on one hand the times someone commented on something I wrote in the newsletter—a commentary, perhaps, on the quality of my columns! Now that my synod’s newsletter comes online, I find that I read my bishop’s page less. Are we so bombarded with information that, regardless of their quality, what were once “givens” are simply filtered out? As I conclude my eighth year editing “Preaching Helps,” I genuinely wonder if this page is a “given” and, if it is, what purpose ought it to serve. My aim has been to encourage preachers. As I say in my classes, “We applaud after every sermon in this class because there will be a lot of years when no one will!” Have you felt encour- aged? Should I keep doing this, do something else, or simply provide an introductory paragraph telling you about the author and get on with the “Preaching Helps”? I suppose I could do what LSTC seems to be doing a lot these days and set up an online survey. I’d rather simply invite your thoughts. Do you read this essay? What, if anything, do you find helpful? What direction would you like to see this essay take? Or can it disappear? You’re welcome to drop me a note at csatterl@lstc. edu. I would genuinely appreciate hearing from you.

Craig A. Satterlee, Editor, Preaching Helps http://craigasatterlee.com Preaching Helps

159 Seventh Sunday of Easter these first Christians were focused upon June 5, 2011 Jesus. The good news is that the focus on Jesus made all the difference. As Christian Acts 1:6–14 community grew, it experienced diversity of thought, practice, and culture. What Psalm 68:1–10, 32–35 kept Christian community unified was its 1 Peter 4:12–14; 5:6–11 dedication to Jesus. If it worked for them, John 17:1–11 it will work for us in this generation. First Reading Pastoral Reflections In the Gospel reading, St. John records a One of the qualities I admire about ELCA prayer of Jesus. “Holy Father, protect them presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, is how in your name that you have given me, so he concludes many of his prayers. I’ve that they may be one, as we are one” (John noticed over and over again, he finishes ce 17:11b). By 120 , the Christian com- his prayers by declaring, “In Jesus. Amen.” munity had come to know the tensions I like that prayer conclusion for many between brokenness and unity. reasons. I like the simple confessional na- Unity did not come easily for the first ture of the conclusion. I like the pleasing generation of Christians. Every Christian ring those words possess. But the single community used their own individual biggest reason I like it is because Jesus is canon of scripture. Every Christian com- all we have. When everything is said and munity was constituted of many different done, Jesus is the only thing that matters. cultures with many different sensibilities. When the presiding bishop utters this Many Christian communities began to conclusion, he reminds the entire church experience persecution. Radical ideas of who our source of unity is. the faith were beginning to crop up, some Unity is a great idea that does not heresy and some doctrine. Unity did not fit well into the reality of life. Because of come easily or readily. Sounds familiar, sin, our age-old rebellion, we live more doesn’t it? out of brokenness than unity. Left to In our first reading, we have a scene our own devices, we let slip the dogs of of the very first Christian community. In war in our lives, in our parishes, in our Acts we read, “When they had entered the ecosystems, in our businesses and in our city, they went to the room upstairs where communities. Truth be told, humanity is they were staying, Peter, and John, and very good at brokenness. We might even James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, go so far as to say that we are experts in Bartholomew and Matthew, James son this terrible field. of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, That’s why God gave us the church. and Judas son of James. All these were We need a place to learn a new expertise. constantly devoting themselves to prayer, This expertise, this new proficiency is together with certain women, including unity. Not only did Jesus know what to Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his pray for the human family, he knew that brothers” (Acts 1:13–14). he was quite literally the answer to our In Acts, we have an assembly of a prayer. Like those women and men of diverse group of women and men. We the first Christian community, we need learn that they were centering themselves to gather around Jesus. upon Christ in prayer. In other words, To face brokenness alone leads to Preaching Helps

160 despair. Facing brokenness with Jesus Cynicism is part and parcel of what leads to unity. This idea is not naive, Christians face when they minister in their wishful thinking or false hope. This idea contexts. Jesus experienced this time and is the center of Christian community. time again. Think of the twenty-second A sermon on the contrast between chapter of St. Matthew. Not once but three brokenness and unity allows preachers times, we see our Lord’s opponents attempt- to name the struggles faced within their ing to ask him questions that will trip him own particular communities. But more up. Remember the questions about taxes, than that, such a sermon directs the marriage, and commandments? Interesting preacher to help the listeners to hear the to note, their cynical approach to Jesus failed good news of the unifying presence of and left them wondering about their life Jesus. ACB and commitments. Even when the Holy Spirit presents itself, there are those who are cynical. It Pentecost is something that we should expect and be ready to respond to. June 12, 2011 Pastoral Reflection Acts 2:1–21 Let’s begin with a statistical analysis of Psalm 104:24–34, 35b our own parishes. Please check out your 1 Corinthians 12:3b–13 parochial records. Let’s look at worship John 20:19–23 attendance for Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. What do your numbers reveal? First Reading If your parish is like mine, it will What a moment! The disciples were as- show that Christmas and Easter have sembled. As promised, the Holy Spirit the highest attendance of the year by came and gave them the power to com- far. In my shop, nearly 75 percent of my municate with the international crowd members attend those services. But when who had gathered in Jerusalem. The noise it comes to Pentecost, it may as well be of the Spirit was loud enough to disrupt 5 Epiphany or 2 Advent—just another the busy streets of Jerusalem. Like any day in the liturgical calendar. Judging by good missionary, they seized upon the worship attendance, it’s hard to believe opportunity to speak with those who that Pentecost is the third major festival were bewildered over the events that had of the Church Year. just taken place. As evidenced by our own parochial The author of Acts records the initial records, not only do we find cynicism response of the crowd. “All were amazed outside the church, but we may find cyni- and perplexed, saying to one another, cism inside the church as well. I suspect ‘What does this mean?’ 13But others this may be a prevailing attitude when sneered and said, ‘They are filled with it comes to Pentecost. Here’s what I’ve new wine.’” (Acts 2:12–13). sensed and heard from God’s people over Talk about edgy. There were those the years: “Pentecost is something that who believed this was nothing more than occurred 2000 years ago. It’s not about a few obnoxious drunks emptying out today. The Spirit doesn’t work that way into the streets after an all-nighter. This now. I’d like to get me some of that new is the very definition of cynicism. wine, Pastor.” Preaching Helps

161 I am not asking anyone to embrace these words from the author of Second a literal reading of scripture. I am not Corinthians: “The grace of the Lord endorsing a spirituality that reflects the Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the charismatic tradition. But I am suggesting communion of the Holy Spirit be with embracing the fullness of the Pentecost all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13). In this story in a way that compels the listener reading, we hear God’s name connected to reject a cynical approach to matters of to the centrality of Christian community. the Spirit and embrace the faith journey In the Gospel, we hear these words that expects to see, hear, experience, and from St. Matthew: “Go therefore and participate in the life of the Holy Spirit. make disciples of all nations, baptizing Such a sermon could take on cyni- them in the name of the Father and cism head-on. Consider addressing the of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and ways the evil one seeks to prevent us from teaching them to obey everything that I living Pentecost. The sermon structure have commanded you. And remember, could include individual members telling I am with you always, to the end of the their Pentecost stories from the previous age”(Matthew 28:19–20). In this reading, year. ACB we hear God’s name connected to the mission of the church. These powerful texts connect God’s The Holy Trinity name and us to creation, Christian com- munity, and the mission of the church. June 19, 2011 Could a preacher ask for anything more?

Genesis 1:1—2:4a Pastoral Reflection Psalm 8 Have you ever noticed that it is easier 2 Corinthians 13:11–13 to tear something down than build Matthew 28:16–20 something up? This is true of most ev- erything. From businesses to structures, First Reading from communities to nations, building This grouping of scripture speaks to a something up takes longer than tearing common theme, which, in this pastor’s something down. opinion, is the power of God. What could Spiritually speaking, there are play- be more appropriate for the celebration ers in this cosmic blueprint. There is an of the name of God? architect whose name we honor this day. In the first reading, we hear these The name of God has always been about words from the author of Genesis: “And building up. In creation, community, and on the seventh day God finished the work mission, God is at work. But as we all that he had done, and he rested on the know, there is a demolition expert who seventh day from all the work that he is the architect’s adversary. The name of had done. So God blessed the seventh evil has always been about tearing down. day and hallowed it, because on it God Evil is the enemy of creation, community, rested from all the work that he had done and mission. in creation” (Genesis 2:2–3). In this read- Perhaps the most difficult question ing, we hear God’s name connected to the in all of Christianity is theodicy. Theod- gift of creation. icy asks this primary question: How can In the second reading, we hear there be an omnipotent and good God Preaching Helps

162 in view of the evil in this world? This is was located in the faces of the needy they a question that all thinking Christians encountered in their lifetimes. have asked time and time again over the These two texts from Matthew course of their lifetimes. remind the listener that Jesus is ever These readings and this liturgical day present. He is ever present in the faithful, provide an opportunity to explore this hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and existential question. Such a sermon could imprisoned. The word could not be any explore what God and evil have been up clearer. Jesus is ever present in you and to in your neck-of-the-woods and how those around you. your community can participate. In this Now here is my question. How pastor’s opinion, such a sermon needs might the Evangelical Lutheran Church to conclude with the good news that the in America—or any other denomina- architect’s plans cannot, and never will, tion—look ten years from now if every be destroyed by the demolition expert. bishop, pastor, professor, rostered leader, ACB congregational president, and the other 4.7 million of us saw Jesus in one another and those we encounter on the street?

Proper 8 Pastoral Reflection June 26, 2011 For me, ministry is all about relationships. These relationships are threefold. They Jeremiah 28:5–9 include a relationship between us and Psalm 89:1–4, 15–18 our souls, other people, and God. When Romans 6:12–23 we tend to these relationships, ministry Matthew 10:40–42 moves ahead. When we ignore these relationships, ministry grinds to a halt. First Reading At the heart of these relationships is In his book, Preaching Matthew’s Gospel, a vision. For healthy Christian relation- Richard Jensen writes these words about ships to emerge and grow, we must see the this Sunday’s pericope: “To minister to nature of love in ourselves, one another, the least is to minister to Jesus. We hear and God. Once that vision is clarified we that in both 10:40–42 and 25:31–46. To can grow in our relationships. receive the little ones is to receive Jesus.”1 But so often, this vision of love For reference, Matthew 25:31–46 is blocked by history, grudge-holding, is the parable of the last judgment. The personalities, sin, and a variety of other scene is ferocious. On Judgment Day reasons. When these reasons take center all of humanity is separated into two stage, relationships not only plateau, they categories: the sheep and the goats. The fail. In theological language, we re-enact only distinguishing characteristic between the fall and embody original sin. the two groups is how they treated those This Sunday is an opportunity to in need. Both the sheep and the goats explore how we see ourselves, one another, quickly discover the presence of Christ and God. Such a sermon could explore the nature of relationships and how those 1. Richard A. Jensen, Preaching Mat- relationships get blocked. The preacher thew’s Gospel: A Narrative Approach (Lima, should focus attention on the sinful con- Ohio: CSS Publications, 1998), 99. sequences of blocked relationships—i.e., Preaching Helps

163 the hungry starve. One last note: Perhaps from Ephraim and the war-horse from the best place to start in such a sermon Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be is by looking inward. Who have you cut off, and he shall command peace to blocked out—your soul, your neighbor, the nations; his dominion shall be from your God? ACB sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Yet the greatest example of that theme is found in the life, teachings, Proper 9 healings, death, and resurrection of Jesus. July 3, 2011 Where these attributes are found, it can be assumed that the kingdom of God is breaking in upon the world. These at- Zechariah 9:9–12 tributes can be found among individuals Psalm 145:8–14 and nations alike. Romans 7:15–25a Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30 Pastoral Reflection Over the course of my pastoral career, I First Reading have noticed three preaching strategies in “Psalm 145 consists of a series of short regard to the American celebration of the affirmations that extol the reign and king- Fourth of July. First, the preacher avoids ship of God.”2 There are two attributes the topic altogether. Second, the preacher of the kingdom of God as detailed in embraces enculturation and turns the the appointed verses from this psalm. worship experience into a nationalistic On the one hand, God’s kingdom is rally. Third, the preacher takes a prophetic compassionate (vv. 8–9) and loving (vv. 8, voice and uses the moment to address the 13). On the other hand, God’s kingdom nation’s ills. By means of confession, I is everlasting (v. 13) and powerful (vv. have regularly embraced the first option. 1–12). It is interesting to note how the In this pastor’s opinion, all three fullness of scripture reveals that compas- options miss the mark and lack balance. sion and love are deeply connected to The first option does not take seriously the that which is everlasting and powerful. societal event that so occupies the listen- This contrast is one of the paradoxes of ers’ minds and hearts. The second option the faith. Everlasting power is found in does not take seriously our nation’s sins. compassion and love. The third option does not take seriously We hear echoes of that paradox our nation’s greatness. in the first reading from Zechariah. In I believe there is a fourth way to verses 9–10 we read, “Rejoice greatly, O address the American celebration of the daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Fourth of July. This way takes seriously Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; the attributes of the kingdom of God and triumphant and victorious is he, humble connects them with our nation’s history. I and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal fully realize this is a serious challenge with of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot potential risks. Careful attention must be 2. Fred B. Craddock, et. al., Preaching paid to the line between recognizing our Through the Christian Year, Year A: A Com- nation’s greatness and our nation’s sins. prehensive Commentary on the Lectionary Here’s how just such a sermon could (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, work. An opening proclamation could 1992), 352. include outlining the attributes of the Preaching Helps

164 kingdom of God as detailed in Psalm intensifies as Pharisees begin to debate 145. As previously noted, these qualities with Jesus directly…and plot his (Jesus’) include the paradox of compassion and death. By the end of the chapter, they (the love with everlasting power. With this Pharisees) are painted as representatives scriptural base, a faith-based assessment of ‘this evil generation.’ ”3 of our nation’s history can take place. In The parable of the sower is our Lord’s this section of the sermon, there must attempt to help his disciples understand be a balance of examples that detail both what has taken place and their responsi- our nation’s greatness when we lived up bilities in ministry. Put differently, Jesus to those qualities of the kingdom of God is telling his disciples that even though and our nation’s sins when we set aside the evil one has blocked attempt after those qualities of the kingdom of God. A attempt, God’s will is always realized. closing proclamation could include a call The parable of the sower is the nar- to faithfulness for this and all nations. rative form of the word of the Lord from For the preacher, such a sermon de- Isaiah, “so shall my word be that goes mands careful theological and historical out from my mouth; it shall not return reflection. For the listener, such a sermon to me empty, but it shall accomplish provides a framework to understand the that which I purpose, and succeed in fullness of our nation. For both parties, the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah such a sermon will lead to growth. ACB 55:11). As Jesus said, “Let anyone with ears listen!” (Matthew 9:13).

Proper 10 Pastoral Reflection A few years back, the department for July 10, 2011 Research and Evaluation for the Evangeli- cal Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Isaiah 55:10–13 examined the question of frequency of Psalm 65:[1–8] 9–13 invitation among ELCA members. The Romans 8:1–11 results were unsettling. The average ELCA Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23 member on average invites 1 person every 40 years to their church. First Reading Whenever I share this number, The disciples came to know that life with people laugh. I’m certain they laugh for Jesus wasn’t easy. They ate whatever they a variety of reasons. They laugh because could find on the road. They slept outside they can identify with the truth of the many, many nights. They were often ha- research. They laugh because they are rassed by the local authorities. All in an embarrassed that the department for effort to share the good news that God Research and Evaluation has identified was quite literally before them! their behavior. They laugh because they Richard Jenson helps us get a handle don’t know what else they can do. on Jesus’ life according to St. Matthew. I typically use that moment for pas- After noting that the lectionary has omit- toral instruction. I begin first by remind- ted Matthew 12, Jenson points out that chapter 12 gives context to this Sunday’s 3. Richard A. Jensen, Preaching Mat- Gospel reading. “Matthew 12 is full of thew’s Gospel: A Narrative Approach (Lima, terrible conflicts; opposition to Jesus Ohio: CSS Publications, 1998), 112. Preaching Helps

165 ing them, this isn’t funny. It’s sad. Once in one conflict after another. His teach- the mood of the room shifts, I turn my ings, his ministry, and his disciples are attention to this parable of our Lord. under assault. What strikes me the most is that Whereas the parable of the sower Jesus and his disciples sowed the seed of is all about Jesus’ ministry, the parable God’s Word, despite all their ongoing of the weeds and the wheat is all about troubles as documented in Matthew the big picture of history. Richard Jensen 12. They didn’t make excuses as to why puts it this way, “The Gospel of Mat- this couldn’t possibly work. They didn’t thew is filled with the reality that Jesus try to delineate what is good soil from who brings the kingdom is locked in a the rest. They didn’t attempt to figure struggle with the devil.”4 out the yields of the potential harvest. Jesus goes out of his narrative way They simply went and sowed the seed to make that point. We read, “So when of God’s word. the plants came up and bore grain, then This is personal, isn’t it? Just take the weeds appeared as well. And the a moment and think about your faith slaves of the householder came and said journey. At one point, someone cared to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good enough about you to sow the seed of God’s seed in your field? Where, then, did word in your life. Isaiah points out that it these weeds come from?’ He answered, did not come back empty. As it was true ‘An enemy has done this.’” (Matthew for you, so it is true for your neighbors. 13: 26-28a). Notice Jesus refers to the There are so many people who are empty one who sowed the weeds as an enemy. fields, waiting for a sower-congregation This is strong language for our Lord. to plant the seeds of faith. In addition to revealing the power of This is such an important parable evil, Jesus speaks of the story of human for our own day and age. As your parish history. Good and evil will coexist until prepares for the fall program this year, time comes to an end and God shall sepa- perhaps this mid-summer text could begin rate the righteous from the unrighteous. to frame your fall outreach efforts to sow This theological point is made when we the seeds of faith in your community. hear how two types of seed have been ACB sowed in the field. Resolution will not occur until harvest, when the farmer can separate the weeds from the wheat.

Proper 11 Pastoral Reflection July 17, 2011 I’ll never forget the first time I went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, Isaiah 44:6–8 Illinois. The site is 385 acres with 24 Psalm 86:11–17 themed gardens. It is a vision of beauty Romans 8:12–25 and grace. It’s the way all gardens should Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43 be. When I returned home, I saw my own poor excuse for a garden. It was filled First Reading with weeds and misshaped plantings. As mentioned in my notes for July 10, My garden was a good example of the the context of Matthew 13 is Matthew 12. In Matthew 12, Jesus finds himself 4. Ibid., 119. Preaching Helps

166 way things are. Proper 12 Who among us hasn’t noticed the July 24, 2011 gap between the way things are and the way things should be? These thoughts 1 Kings 3:5–12 cross our minds every time we witness Psalm 119:129–136 or participate in an injustice, an act of Romans 8:26–39 incivility, or some other type of sin. Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52 The way things are is entirely about original sin. We live in world that is First Reading shaped, formed, and structured in the Could there be a more packed Gospel brokenness of humanity. Even in the most reading for this lectionary year? In our beautiful flower and vegetable gardens, Gospel for this Sunday, we read six brief weeds simply appear. It’s just the way parables of Jesus. These parables are the things are. mustard seed (vv. 31-32), the yeast and The way things should be is a vision flour (v. 33), the hidden treasure (v. 44), that is larger than the sum total of the the pearl (vv. 45-46), the fish net (vv. human story. Staying the course with 47-50), and the householder’s treasury (vv. 51-52). our theme, this is a vision of a garden From this preacher’s perspective, with colorful flowers, ripened fruits, and having six parables is like having nine be- vegetables. Each plant spaced properly atitudes. Where do you begin? Preaching from the next. This vision is entirely about Through the Christian Year, Year ,A suggests Jesus and his kingdom. this idea: “Perhaps the congregation will We live in the world where original be better served if the preacher possesses sin is reality. It’s just the way things are. no thematic center for these six parables. But this doesn’t mean that we have to What is the kingdom of God like? It is passively accept our own and the world’s many-splendored, but we catch glimpses brokenness. No, our job is to live accord- of it. It is as though Jesus held it up to the ing to One who has shaped and formed light, turned it as one turns a prism in us in the ways of grace. the sun, and in these stories told us what The Chicago Botanic Gardens inspire he saw. We listen, enjoy, and ponder.”5 me. While my own gardens will never One more note of interest from look as good as the Chicago Botanic Preaching Through the Christian Year. The Gardens, they serve as an example to authors make the point that for Matthew, me for my own property. To this day, I the kingdom of heaven is interchangeable strive to make my property look as good with the kingdom of God. “It is not in- as it can. This is how we live in the gap tended to point the reader beyond here to the hereafter.”6 These parables are for today. between the way things are and the way Lastly, I am struck by how narrative things should be. Such a sermon could our Lord is with his approach in teach- explore these polarities and how we can ing. He spends his time telling stories, embody God’s grace as we live as wheat not lecturing on theology or ethics. He among weeds. ACB 5. Craddock, 382. 6. Ibid. Preaching Helps

167 provides images to stir the imagination had so that he could purchase a lakefront of his disciples. lot. There the fisherman built a cabin, grew old with his family and taught Pastoral Reflection his grandchildren how to fish. That is I had the privilege of studying in the ACTS my dynamic translation. What is your Doctor of Ministry in Preaching program dynamic translation? ACB through LSTC. No, I’m not being paid for this plug! But truth be told, if you want to grow in your preaching that’s a Proper 13 program worth exploring. Back on task, I took a course where we examined the July 31, 2011 preaching idea of dynamic translation. Dynamic translation, which was Isaiah 55:1–5 developed by Dr. Charlie Cosgrove and Psalm 145:8–9, 14–21 Dr. Dow Edgerton, is the rewriting and Romans 9:1–5 retelling of scripture for our own day Matthew 14:13–21 and age. In order to engage faithfully in First Reading dynamic translation, there are a series of guidelines per Cosgrove and Edgerton.7 In our Gospel reading, we quickly learn These guidelines include: that Jesus has experienced a family death. 1. The dynamic translation must His cousin, John the Baptist, was unjustly speak to our own time. murdered by King Herod. Our grieving 2. All parts and elements of the text Lord was mourning his loss. must be addressed. Jesus decided to take some down 3. The form and genre of the text time. So he set off to spend time in a se- must be used in the dynamic translation. cluded spot. But because the people knew 4. With the exception of God and where he was going, when he stepped off Jesus, everything else in the passage can the boat he was greeted by a great crowd. be represented with something else. Instead of turning them away, he healed Given the fullness of this text, dy- their sick. When evening fell, the crowds namic translation is one way to pick up became hungry. Instead of turning them both the spirit and content of this full away, Jesus blessed and broke the five text from Matthew. Such a sermon would loaves of bread and two fish. focus upon the kingdom of God and its There are many elements of this story layers, using images and constructions that are striking, including the contrast that relate well to your particular com- between Herod’s table and Jesus’ table. munity. Yet, what jumps out to this preacher is the Here’s how this works for me, based selflessness of Jesus. The text notes that on the parable of the pearl. The kingdom Jesus had compassion when he saw the of God is like a fisherman who found the needs of the crowd. Jesus temporarily set most beautiful lake and sold all that he aside his own need to grieve and he went to work. He healed and fed that crowd 7. Charles H. Cosgrove and W. Dow of five thousand folks. Edgerton, In Other Words: Incarnational This wasn’t the last time that Jesus Translation for Preaching (Grand Rapids: modeled this selfless attitude of compas- Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007). sion for us. On the cross, Jesus embraced Preaching Helps

168 the ugly stuff of humanity—sin, death, and talked about his mother for the next and evil. From the empty tomb, Jesus hour. We then went to bed well after overcame it all in the resurrection—pour- 3:00 a.m. ing out the gifts of life, forgiveness, and The next morning, I heard my father salvation. knocking around bright and early. I went At times, being a disciple of Jesus downstairs to check on him. He was requires selflessness. These are the times dressed in his clerics. He told me that he when we set aside our own needs. The would be back later in the morning. He good news of selfless-living is its own had a funeral to preside over. reward. It is a life well-lived. That moment embodies selflessness to me. Even while my dad’s own mother Pastoral Reflections was dying, he was mentally preparing Right before my senior year at LSTC, himself to serve another family who expe- my paternal grandmother took ill. She rienced their own loss. This was not about suffered a massive stroke. Instead of being heroic or having poor boundaries, artificially extending her life, our family it was about serving selflessly the One elected to let her die a natural death. who serves us in the same manner. My With a stroke at 96, her quality of life father’s witness shaped me. would never recover. Our family made Every community of faith has stories the right decision. just like this one. Perhaps this Sunday The night she died, my father and could be an opportunity to lift the wit- I were keeping the watch. As Dad and ness of the saints who selflessly serve I tended to his mother, I noticed my Jesus. Make no mistake: these stories father every now and again writing down will change the outlook and life of your notes on a legal pad. Around 2:00 a.m., listeners. ACB Grandma died. Dad and I went home The StTeithingwar anddship Foundation

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