Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom Theological Reflections by Christof Sauer and Richard Howell (editors) Religious Freedom Series Volume 2 In my global travels, I encounter persecution and religious liberty issues as a prime challenge to the Christian church. The World Evangelical Alliance and the 420 million Christians it represents, welcome that the issue is examined theologically. Dr Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director, World Evangelical Alliance The WEA Religious Liberty Commission was pleased to partner with the IIRF in organising the consultation on suffering, persecution and martyrdom. This subject is of great relevance to the global church at this time of history. Mission is being done in the context of suffering and persecution and to undergird it with a solid biblical and theological foundation is the need of the hour. Rev Godfrey Yogarajah, Executive Director, Religious Liberty Commission, World Evangelical Alliance The International Institute for Religious Freedom plays an enabling role, networking academic research of religious liberty issues on a global level. The study process and consultation has exciting potential to both document breaches of religious liberty and progress in the same as well as to serve the global church in mission. Dr Paul Murdoch, Chairman, International Institute for Religious Freedom The Lausanne Theology Working group has recently explored the issue of ‘Following Jesus in a world of suffering and violence’. We appreciate that this consultation has added the dimensions of persecution and martyrdom. These issues are at the heart of the biblical faith in both Testaments, and need to receive much more theological attention, such as this process and consultation did. Rev Dr Christopher J.H. Wright, Chair, Lausanne Theology Working Group Much of mission is taking place in a context of suffering, violence, persecution and martyrdom. At our global Mission Commission consultation (2008 Pattaya, Thailand) we dedicated special time to these themes. We are now producing a major missiological textbook on the issue for reflective practitioners in church and mission leadership. We thank God for the Bad Urach Statement as we affirm the need for solid theological foundations on the issue. Bertil Ekström, Executive Director, WEA Mission Commission Dr William Taylor, Global Ambassador, WEA and the Mission Commission Religious Freedom Series The Religious Freedom Series (RFS) is dedicated to the scholarly discourse on the issue of religious freedom in general and the persecution of Christians in particular. Religious freedom is understood as the freedom to exercise any or no religion as defined by the relevant declarations of the United Nations. From a human rights perspective restrictions of religious freedom and religious persecution are understood as the denial to anyone of rights connected with practising one’s religion, and the denial of rights because of the religious beliefs of those who are persecuted and/or those who persecute. The right to religious freedom is indivisible and cannot be claimed for one particular group only at the exclusion of others. In this sense this series is dedicated to religious freedom in general. Due to the fact that Christians are the largest single group persecuted globally – an estimated 75% of those persecuted for their religious belief – and that the editors are Christians themselves, this series has a particular interest in the persecution of Christians. This adds a theological and pastoral perspective to the various disciplines such as law, politics, philosophy and sociology from which religious freedom can be examined in a scholarly way. The Religious Freedom Series is connected to the the International Institute for Religious Freedom of the World Evangelical Alliance (Bonn, Cape Town, Colombo) through its editors who are the directors of the IIRF. Members of the International Academic Board of the IIRF serve on the Board of Reference for the Religious Freedom Series. So this series is interdisciplinary, international, and scholarly, serving the practical interests of religious freedom. Before acceptance into this series all contributions undergo scholarly peer review according to the criteria acceptable in academia worldwide. Different types of individual volumes expected in this series include academic theses, solidly researched documentations, legal expertise, country profiles and case studies, declarations and documents of practical relevance, conference proceedings, topical collections, curricula, textbooks, bibliographies, statistics, and reprints. Interested parties are invited to submit their manuscripts to the editors. The series is complemented by the International Journal for Religious Freedom, which is freely available online at www.iirf.eu and for purchase as a print edition. Prof Dr mult Thomas Schirrmacher Dr Christof Sauer (editors) Religious Freedom Series Contributions to the study of religious freedom and persecution of Christians Editors: Dr Christof Sauer & Dr Thomas Schirrmacher The Religious Freedom Series is dedicated to the scholarly discourse on the issue of religious freedom in general and the persecution of Christians in particular. It is an interdisciplinary, international, peer reviewed, scholarly series, serving the interests of religious freedom. Vol 1 Re-Examining Religious Persecution Charles L. Tieszen 2008 Vol 2 Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom Christof Sauer and Richard Howell (editors) 2010 Dedication To Glenn M Penner (1962-2010) who substantially contributed to a theology of persecution and to all the faithful witnesses to Christ who already completed their race Suffering, Persecution and Martyrdom Theological Reflections by Christof Sauer and Richard Howell (editors) Bibliographic information of the South African National Library: detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at: http://natlib1.sabinet.co.za/search of the Deutsche Bibliothek listing this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. Bibliografische Information Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All trademarks belong to their respective holders. Co-Published by AcadSA Publishing Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft PO Box 12322 (Culture and Science Publ.) Edleen, Kempton Park Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher 1625, Johannesburg Friedrichstr. 38 Rep South Africa 53111 Bonn, Germany Tel +27 11 976 4044 Fax +27 11 976 4042 Fax +49 228 965 0389 email [email protected] email [email protected] web www.acadsa.co.za web www.vkwonline.de Copyright © AcadSA Publishing and Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, 2010 ISSN: 1995-011X (Religious Freedom Series) Contents Acknowledgements 10 Foreword 11 Introduction 13 Word of Greetings 19 The Bad Urach Call 21 Bad Urach Statement 27 Facing human suffering Isaiah M Dau 107 A biblical-theological response to the problem of theodicy Rolf Hille 137 Towards redefining persecution Charles L Tieszen 159 Biblical teaching on perseverance Margaretha N Adiwardana 173 Suffering and martyrdom Josef Ton 199 God’s mission in suffering and martyrdom Young Kee Lee 215 Martyrdom and the furtherance of God’s plan Thomas J Wespetal 231 Towards a theology of “mission under the cross” Christof Sauer 257 Theses on a theology of martyrdom Thomas Schirrmacher 287 The church of Christ under the shadow of Antichrist Peter P J Beyerhaus 315 Persecution, advocacy and mission Reg Reimer 329 Christian suffering and martyrdom Richard Howell 343 Acknowledgements First of all we would like to thank the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance and its Executive Secretary Godfrey Yogarajah for developing the idea of a consultation on suffering, persecution and martyrdom with us and for entrusting to us the convening of this consultation. Then we express our appreciation to all the contributors to this compendium, to the consultation and the discussion around it. A new bond of fellowship has been formed among authors on suffering, persecution and martyrdom. The generosity of the sponsors of the consultation and of this compendium is greatly appreciated: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Württemberg, Germany provided the bulk of the support and we were privileged to enjoy the hospitality of its historic retreat centre Stift Urach. Our special thanks go to Canon Fritz Würschum, the mission secretary of the church, who was instrumental in facilitating this and to the chairperson of the synod, Dr. Christel Hausding, for delivering a word of welcome. Three Christian agencies, Hilfsaktion Märtyrerkirche (Voice of the Martyrs Germany), Open Doors International and the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance sponsored individual participants, and the Förderverein of Stift Urach gave us a small contribution to the accommodation fees. We also thank all who had a part in bringing this compendium to press. Manfred Feldmann, the administrator of the International Institute for Religious Freedom, ably managed the logistics of the consultation. Barbara Felgendreher retyped one contribution and translated the word of greetings. Nan Muir ably looked