- - ------~---- - -- - -------- '-~ -- -----·----··-- . A LIVELY LEGACY ESSAYS IN HONOR OF ROBERT PREUS ,,I A LIVELY LEGACY: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF ROBERT PREUS Co-editors: Kurt E. Marquart John R. Stephenson Bjarne W. Teigen The cover design is a reproduction of the Preus family coat of arms. Library of Congress Catalog Number 85-73168 ISBN# 0-9615927-0-2 (hardbound) ISBN# 0-9615927-1-0 (paperback) Copyright by Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana 1985 Printed by Graphic Publishing Co., Inc. Lake Mills, Iowa 50450 11 Table of Contents List of Contributors . v Editorial Preface . vii Doctor Robert David Preus: An Appreciation . ix 1. Ulrich Asendorf Luther's Sermons on Advent as a Summary of his Theology . 1 / 2. Eugene W. Bunkowske Was Luther a Missionary?........... 15 3. Seth Erlandsson The Unity of Isaiah: A New Solution?. 33 4. Henry P. Hamann Apartheid and (the) STATUS CON- FESSIONIS . 40 5. Tom G. A. Hardt Justification and Easter. A Study in Subjective and Objective Justification in Lutheran Theology . 52 6. Gottfried Hoffmann The Baptism and Faith of Children. 79 7. Richard Klann Luther on Teaching Christian Ethics . 96 8. Cameron A. MacKenzie The Enduring Witness of the Old Testament ........................ 105 9. Kurt E. Marquart The Reformation Roots of "Objective Justification" . 117 10. Daniel Ch. Overduin Ethical Reflections on the Contempo- rary IVF Technology ............... 131 11. Hans-Lutz Poetsch What is Involved in the Infallibility of Jesus Christ? . 143 12. John R. Stephenson The Holy Eucharist: at the Center or Periphery of the Church's Life in Luther's Thinking? ................. 154 13. Bjarne W. Teigen Martin Chemnitz and SD VII, 126 . 164 14. Martim C. Warth The Future Possibilities of Theology in Brazil in View of the Present Predica- ment ............................. 173 15. Dean 0. Wenthe Prophet, Priest, King, and Teacher? The Old Testament, lntertestamental, and Hellenistic Antecedents for Jesus' Role as Rabbi and Teacher .......... 182 iii Circumdate Sion, et complectimini earn; Narrate in turribus eius. Ponite corda vestra in virtute eius, Et distribuite domos eius, ut enarretis in progenie altera. Quoniam hie est Deus, Deus noster in aeternum, et in saeculum saeculi; lpse reget nos in saecula. (Vulgate) Walk about Zion, go round about her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels; that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide for ever. (RSV) Psalm 48:12-14. iv List of Contributors The Revei:end Ulrich Asendorf, D. Theo!., is a Pastor of the "Evangelisch­ Lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers" at Laatzen, near Hannover, West Germany. The Reverend Eugene W. Bunkowske, Ph.D., is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Reverend Seth Erlandsson, teol.dr., is Director of Biblicum and Assis­ tant Pastor of St. Matthew's Church, Uppsala, Sweden, and Vice President of The Lutheran Confessional Church in Scandinavia. The Reverend Henry P. Hamann, Th.D., is Principal of Luther Seminary, Adelaide, Australia. The Reverend Tom G. A. Hardt, teol.dr., is Pastor of the Evangelical­ Lutheran Congregation of St. Martin, Stockholm, Sweden. The Reverend Gottfried Hoffmann, D.Theol., is Professor at the "Luther­ ische Theologische Hochschule" of the "Selbstandige Evangelisch­ Lutherische Kirche" in Oberursel, West Germany. The Reverend Richard Klann, Th.D., is Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. The Reverend Cameron A. MacKenzie, S.T.M., is Librarian and Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Reverend Kurt E. Marquart, M.A., is Associate Professor of Syste­ matic Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Reverend Daniel Ch. Overduin, S.T.M., Th.D., is a Pastor of The Lutheran Church of Australia and (Hon.) Executive Director of 'The Dietrich Bonhoeffer International Institute for Bioethical Studies, Inc .. " The Reverend Hans-Lutz Poetsch, D.D., is Director of the German "Lutheran Hour," Managing Editor of EVANGELIUM/GOSPEL, and a Pastor of the "Selbstandige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche" at Cliivers­ borstel, West Germany. John R. Stephenson, M.A., Ph.D., is Vicar of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Schleswig, Iowa. The Reverend Bjarne W. Teigen, D.D., is President Emeritus of Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minnesota. The Reverend Martim C. Warth, Th.D., formerly President of Seminario Concordia, Porto Alegre, is now Executive Secretary for Education of the lgreja Evangelica Luterana do Brasil in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. The Reverend Dean 0. Wenthe, Th.M., is Associate Professor of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. V Editorial Foreword As A Lively Legacy heads for printing and distribution, we would make two cautionary observations and discharge a threefold debt of thanks. Some of those who will rejoice at the publication of a volume of essays celebrating, albeit somewhat belatedly, the sixtieth birthday of Dr. Robert Preus, may, upon glancing at the List of Contributors, pose the question: cur alii, non alii-why some and not others? By way of answer, we would stress the spontaneity of the decision, taken over a year ago, to seek to assemble a Festschrift in honor of Dr. Preus; the need to wrap our project in the greatest possible secrecy so that, as was in fact the case, its announcement at Con­ cordia Theological Seminary's opening service for the new academic year should come as a complete surprise to the jubilarian; and, not least, the limitations imposed by the imperative of haste. We would furthermore emphasize that, while all the contributors understand themselves to be subject to the Holy Scriptures and to the exposition of them given in the Confessions of the Evangelical­ Lutheran Church, the appearance of these fifteen essays in juxtaposi­ tion to each other does not mean that each essayist concurs with every opinion expressed by his fellows. Each writer takes responsi­ bility only for his own contribution. Above all, we would state the obvious fact that Dr. Preus himself bears no responsibility for the idosyncracies of those who write in his honor! Our thanks go, in first place, to our contributors, whose essays, we hope, will serve the cause of Lutheran Confessionalism. Second­ ly, we wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Gordon Aasgaard and Mr. Robert Merryman, and their co-workers at Graphic Publishing Company for their untiring assistance in transforming these essays from manuscript to printed form, and to The Reverend Professor Albert Wingfield and The Reverend Douglas Christian of Concordia Theological Seminary for their ready aid in looking after the business side of this venture. Thirdly, but by no means least, we would record our hearty thanks to Mr. Raymond Joeckel and Mr. John Wiebe, chairman and member respectively of the Board of Regents of Con­ cordia Theological Seminary, for their generous donations which have made possible our going to press. Kurt E. Marquart Fort Wayne, Indiana John R. Stephenson Schleswig, Iowa Bjarne W. Teigen Mankato, Minnesota St. Michael and all Angels 1985 vii •·, ,,.· t .... t ' I I I : Robert Preus, dressed as a doctor of theology of the University of Strasbourg. viii K. Marquart Doctor Robert David Preus: An Appreciation Robert Preus, pastor, professor, churchman, and seminary presi­ dent, is above all a theologian. He is saluted here in this traditional academic way by friends and colleagues on the occasion of his six­ tieth birthday-even though the actual publication falls within the bounds of one calendar year after that event, October 16, 1984. The remarks which follow must not be understood as pre­ sumptuous efforts to anticipate the verdict of history. They are offered as a personal tribute, from a perspective, however, which, to the extent that it succeeds in reflecting a wider consensus, illuminates the high esteem in which the jubilarian is held throughout the orthodox Lutheran Church in our time. There are of course many things that could be said, but at least three things must be said about the theology of Robert Preus. One is that this theology represents the mainstream of the orthodox Lutheran legacy. Like C. F. W. Walther, Robert Preus never tried to be "original" or idiosyncratic in his theology. Nor did he focus narrowly on one or two favorite themes. There is therefore no "Preus school," riding pet hobbyhorses, but only a shared devotion to a common heritage. If there is an "accent," it falls just where St. Paul and Luther put it, on "Christ alone," against every form of synergism. And as in Walther's case so in Preus', we find a creative, not uncritical, appropriation of the tradition, rather than the mind­ less rigidity of stock liberal caricature. This wide-angle scope is reflected in the essays printed in this book. Apart from their commitment to the substance of the Scrip­ tures and the Confessions, there is no obvious common thread link­ ing the various contributions. None of them, however, whether they deal with Biblical authority or Luther or the church's mission or the "family /life" complex of issues, fall outside the domain of concerns marked out by the many-faceted theological work of Robert Preus. No doubt the leading authority in the Anglo-Saxon realm on seventeenth century Lutheran Orthodoxy, Preus has helped to rescue English-speaking Lutherans from the paralyzing collective amnesia ix induced by the lack of effective access to their theological classics. While others, especially his brother J. A. 0. Preus, the former presi­ dent of the Missouri Synod, Professor F. Kramer, and the Rev. Luther Poellot, provided much-needed translations of the literary output of the early and pivotal figure of the "Second Martin" (Chem­ nitz), Robert Preus began a comprehensive series, The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, of which two volumes have ap­ peared so far.