We Believe in the Holy Spirit”: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities Documentation 63/2021
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The concept of “identity” today is contested against the backdrop of myriad forms of social, political, economic and ecological exclusion. How is identity expressed in a global LWF Lutheran tradition whose members share common biblical, liturgical, confessional, theological and spiritual foundations yet represent diverse cultures and traditions? At this global LWF consultation, church leaders, youth, theologians, lay and ordained practitioners in local communities interrogated the concept of identity by focusing on how the Holy Spirit calls, gathers and frees the baptized to express God’s transforming love for the world. The result was the papers presented in this publication. They explore the Spirit’s work to revive and equip the faithful for vocation through the ministry of the church today and into the future of the Lutheran communion. We Believe CONTRIBUTORS: AUVINEN, Mari-Anna; CHRISTOPHER, Caroline; CLAPSIS, Emmanuel; FRIEDERICH, Nestor; GODEBO, Yacob; HALVARSSON, Sofi e; in the Holy Spirit HUTAGALUNG, Novriana Gloria; KÄRKKÄINEN, Veli-Matti; KIM, Jun Hyun; MADEJSKI, Sebastian; MCDONALD, Christopher Lee; MORUDU, Kagiso Harry; Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities MTATA, Kenneth; MULENGA-KAUNDA, Mutale; OBERDORFER, Bernd; PERSAUD, Winston; PETERSON, Cheryl; PÖDER, Johann-Christian; RIMMER, Chad; SAMUEL, Spirit Holy the in Believe We Wilfred John; WALLACE, Beverly; WASMUTH, Jennifer; ZEILER, Johannes Habib. DOC 63/2021 ISBN 9783-374-06949-1 EUR 20,00 [D] “We Believe in the Holy Spirit”: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities Documentation 63/2021 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Lutheran World Federation. “We Believe in the Holy Spirit”: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities Edited by Chad M. Rimmer and Cheryl M. Peterson LWF Documentation 63 Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnd.dnd.de © 2021 The Lutheran World Federation Printed in Germany This work, including all of its parts, is protected by copyright. Any use beyond the strict limits of copyright law without the permission of the publishing house is strictly prohibited and punishable by law. This book was printed on FSC-certified paper. Cover: LWF/Albin Hillert Editorial assistance: Kristine Greenaway and LWF Office for Communication Design and Layout: LWF Office for Communication Printing and Binding: Elbe Druckerei Wittenberg GmbH ISBN 978-3-374-06949-1 / eISBN (PDF) 978-3-374-06950-7 Published by Evangelische Verlangsanstalt GmbH, Leipzig, Germany, under the auspices of The Lutheran World Federation Department for Theology, Mission and Justice 150, rte de Ferney, PO Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Parallel editions in German and Spanish Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Martin Junge “We Believe in the Holy Spirit”: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities ..............................9 Chad M. Rimmer and Cheryl M. Peterson The Holy Spirit as Gift and Promise Bible Study: The Time of the Holy Spirit – John 14:25-27 ............................................................ 19 Jun Hyun Kim Martin Luther to Manas Buthelezi: Toward a Lutheran Pneumatological Identity ................23 Kenneth Mtata “Transformed and Freed?” African Pentecostalism, Women’s Identity and the Subordinated Spirit ... 37 Mutale Mulenga-Kaunda Embodied Spirit: Outlines of Lutheran Pneumatology ................................................................. 47 Bernd Oberdorfer A Theological Reflection on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit in the Face of Contemporary Challenges to Christian Witness in the Twenty-First Century .......................59 Winston D. Persaud The Work of the Holy Spirit in Creation and Sanctification: On the Future of Lutheran Pneumatology ...................................................................................................................................... 71 Johann-Christian Pöder After Justification: An Ecotheological Look at the Holy Spirit as Gift and Promise ...............79 Chad M. Rimmer The Church as Holy Communion Bible Study: Formed and Freed – Galatians 5:1; 22-25 .................................................................97 Caroline Christopher “The Holy Spirit Has Called Me through the Gospel …”: The Third Article of Luther’s Small Catechism as a Basic Text of Lutheran Ecclesiology ................................................................... 101 Jennifer Wasmuth Community of God: Perspectives from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana .....115 Mari-Anna Auvinen The Holy Spirit in the World ............................................................................................................125 Emmanuel Clapsis 5 We Believe in the Holy Spirit: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identities The Challenge of Being a Church of Lutheran Confession in the Context of a Religious Market ..133 Nestor Paulo Friedrich Coordinated Formation: Reconnecting through the Active Faith of Children .......................145 Christopher Lee McDonald The Lord’s Supper as the Call to Community: Conversion to the Lutheran Church in Poland .......165 Sebastian Madejski The Marks of the Church as Spiritual Practices for Renewal and Revival .............................175 Cheryl M. Peterson Transformed and Freed Bible Study: “Chloe Told”: A Womanist Reading – 1 Corinthians 12.......................................189 Beverly Wallace Transformed, Freed, Empowered: The Spirit’s Work in the Gifting and Vocation of All Believers .............................................................................................................................................. 197 Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen We Believe in the Holy Spirit: Global Perspectives on Lutheran Identity .............................. 211 Yacob Godebo The Vocation of the Priesthood of All Humans: Toward a Wider Understanding and Meaning of the Lutheran Teaching .................................................................................................................225 Sofie Halvarsson A Mourning Grace: Bataknese “Andung-Andung” as a Theological Aesthetic in the Experience of Trauma .......................................................................................................................235 Novriana Gloria Hutagalung Youth Leadership in South Africa ..................................................................................................247 Kagiso Harry Morudu A Lutheran Perspective of the Nexus Between Justification and Sanctification in the Contexts of Holistic Mission with Reference to the Application of Spiritual Gifts ...............259 Wilfred J. Samuel Lutheran Theological Education and Formation: A Risky Business in Changing African Landscapes .........................................................................................................................................269 Johannes Habib Zeiler Annex Findings, Learnings, and Steps for Future Reflection ...............................................................279 List of Contributors ...........................................................................................................................287 6 Preface Questions of Lutheran identity have driven joint theological reflection within The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) since its inception. What is a Lutheran understanding of the church’s ministry? How do Lutherans understand the connection between justification and justice? What is the relationship between worship and culture? How do we understand ourselves as a communion of churches? What is the church’s role in the public space? How do we interpret the Bible? These questions have prompted significant study processes within the communion that reveal who we are and who God calls us to be in the world. In 2019, representatives of every region of the communion gathered in Addis Ababa to ask a new set of questions. A diverse group of teachers, diaconal ministers, pastors, youth, bishops, musicians, social workers, and more, gathered to reflect on the diverse expressions of our common Lutheran tradition. Lutherans around the world share a tradition that is rooted in the norms of Scripture, common confessions, a catechism, and shared liturgical traditions. But the gift of Christ, present in faith, is Word that bears fruit in each one of us. While the good news of Christ is the common melody, each of us sounds individual notes that create a harmony. This consultation rooted these questions of unity and diversity in the third article of our Trinitarian ecumenical creeds and our catechisms’ teaching about the work of the Holy Spirit. The gift of faith, the life of the church, and our baptismal calling belong to the work of God’s Spirit. By that Spirit, we are united in a common confession, and yet personally gifted for a life of faith and loving service to all creation. Ours is an age when spiritual and political narratives promise easy answers to complex issues. Excluding diversity and demanding uniformity offer easy answers to complex problems. Nevertheless, they threaten the very social and ecological fabric of life and stifle the life-giving creativity of the Spirit at work in creation. Living into the unity among the diversity