Currents in Theology and Mission
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
January/February 2015 Volume 42 Number 1 Mark W. Th omsen: Remembering the Missiologist and the Man CURRENTS in Th eology and Mission currentsJanuary-February2015.indd 1 1/21/15 12:44 PM 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, S.D. Giere, Craig L. Nessan Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary kbillman@lstc.edu, sgiere@wartburgseminary.edu, cnessan@wartburgseminary.edu Assistant Editor: Ann Rezny arezny@lstc.edu Copy Editor: Connie Sletto Editor of Preaching Helps: Barbara K. Lundblad Editors of Book Reviews: Ralph W. Klein (Old Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0773) rklein@lstc.edu Craig L. Nessan (history, theology, ethics and ministry) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) cnessan@wartburgseminary.edu Troy M. Troftgruben (New Testament) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0303) ttroftgruben@wartburgseminary.edu Circulation Office: 773-256-0751 currents@lstc.edu Editorial Board: Michael Aune (PLTS), James Erdman (WTS), Robert Kugler (PLTS), 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 NA Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 998, 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. currentsJanuary-February2015.indd 2 1/21/15 12:44 PM Contents Mark W. Thomsen: Remembering the Missiologist and the Man David D. Grafton 3 Mark Thomsen and God’s Cruciformed Mission Bonnie Jensen 5 Christology in a Pluralistic World Paul Jersild 8 A Theologian of the Cross Michael T. Shelley 16 A Visionary for Christian Mission in the Middle East Harold Vogelaar 23 Cosmic Crucified or One Ultimate Reality? On Becoming a Committed Pluralist Carol Schersten LaHurd 30 A Century of Christian-Muslim Dialogues Across the Globe Nelly van Doorn-Harder 38 Jesus, Words from the Cross, and Ways to Explain: The Cry of Dereliction between Arabic-Christian Apology and Mark W. Thomsen Mark N. Swanson 42 Christian Ministry within a Religiously Plural America: The Importance of Christian-Muslim Relations within Theological Education David D. Grafton 50 Book Reviews 59 Preaching Helps Engaging the Texts—Welcome to the New Editor of Preaching Helps! Barbara K. Lundblad 67 Fifth Sunday in Lent–Seventh Sunday of Easter Karyn L. Wiseman, Brad Froslee 69 currentsJanuary-February2015.indd 1 1/21/15 12:44 PM From the editors Dear Currents Subscriber: For several months the editorial team of Currents in Theology and Mission has been discussing an exciting new possibility related to the future of Currents. We have come to the decision that the time is right for Currents to become a fully online, open access journal. While this means that beginning in 2016 Currents no longer will appear as a printed journal, it also offers many advantages. The journal will become free of charge for our loyal subscribers, while at the same time opening up the contents of our established publication to a whole new world of readers across the globe. Moreover, this new mode of delivery makes the production of Currents financially sustainable in an unprecedented way. We send you this letter because we want to give our readers ample notice of the change that will take place a year from now. We especially thank you, our loyal readers over the years, for subscribing to Currents and ask your continued support and readership as we move to our new format in 2016. We pledge to you our continued commitment to deliver a quality theological journal in support of the ministry and mission of the church as it responds to the ever-changing signs of the times. This new opportunity expands the outreach of Currents in Theology and Missionin exciting ways. Open access means that anyone, anywhere in the world, will be able to become readers and students of our journal. We will continue to publish Currents in its print format through 2015, in order to give our readers ample time to be informed about how to access the journal in the future and to honor subscriptions already purchased. We gladly will accept one-year subscriptions for 2015, but urge our readers not to extend their subscriptions beyond 2015. If there is any money to be refunded, we certainly will do this upon request, even while allowing readers the opportunity to contribute any remaining amount to support the future of Currents. Starting in 2016 we will publish the journal quarterly (four issues per year) in January, April, July, and October. The Currents staff, including Barbara Lundblad, the new editor of Preaching Helps, is working to ensure that the lectionary-based preaching commentaries (together with the other articles on timely issues facing the church) will appear well in advance of when readers may desire to use these particular resources. During 2015 we will begin to shift into this new schedule by publishing five issues in 2015 before moving to four issues per year in 2016. In future issues we will provide readers ample information about how to easily access Currents in its new online format. In the meantime, we look forward to your continued readership and support as we move into the future together. Kathleen D. Billman, S.D. Giere, Craig L. Nessan currentsJanuary-February2015.indd 2 1/21/15 12:44 PM Mark W. Thomsen: Remembering the Missiologist and the Man January 20, 2015, marks the one-year commemoration of the death of Mark W. Thomsen, Lutheran professor, theologian, administrator, missiologist, pas- tor, husband, father, grandfather, and friend. Thus, it is fitting that this edition of Currents in Theology and Mission has been commissioned to reflect on the life and work of Mark Thomsen, and his impact on the church. To this end, the collection of articles in this volume review Thomsen’s theological views, his role as Executive Director of the American Lutheran Church’s (ALC) Division for World Mission and Inter-Church Cooperation and the Global Mission unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and as teacher of inter- faith dialogue at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). Bonnie Jensen, the former Executive Director of the ELCA Division for Global Mission (1996–2004), begins this edition with the sermon she preached for Thomsen’s funeral on February 15, 2014, at Hope Lutheran Church, Wautoma, Wisconsin. Paul T. Jersild, a longtime colleague and friend, reviews Mark Thomsen’s theology, shaped by his missionary calling and deep engage- ment with people of other faiths. Jersild notes that for Thomsen, Jesus Christ as the man for others and ultimately the Cosmic Crucified is the embodiment of God’s suffering love which embraces human history and indeed all of creation. Michael T. Shelley follows this with a reflection on Thomsen as a theologian of the cross. Here, Shelley notes that Thomsen believed that the cross could be explained as “costly grace and merciful justice.” The next three articles in this volume recall Thomsen’s impact as both administrator and teacher of the church. Harold Vogelaar recalls Thomsen’s role in his focus on Islam, and the development of ALC, Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and ELCA mission in the Middle East from the 1970s to the 1990s. Vogelaar notes the influence and impact of Thomsen on the role of the ELCA in the Middle East. Carol Schersten LaHurd reviews her work with Thomsen at the ELCA’s annual missionary conferences and study pro- grams, and in LSTC’s Religions in Dialogue course. It was Thomsen’s vision for a global mission shaped by the cross of Christ that was deeply respectful of diverse religious traditions that influenced the author’s journey to religious pluralism. LaHurd also includes reflections from Thomsen’s former interfaith interlocutor’s Sevan Ross and Ghulam-Haider Aasi. In the next article, Nelly van Doorn-Harder recalls her journey from the Netherlands; to Cairo, Egypt; to Minnesota; to Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and back to the United States, where currentsJanuary-February2015.indd 3 1/21/15 12:44 PM she engaged in interfaith living and dialogue. She notes the important interfaith work done in collaboration with several Christian and Muslim institutions that have engaged and encouraged positive interfaith encounter in Indonesia. The final two articles demonstrate Thomsen’s ongoing influence on the Lu- theran church through two authors directly impacted by his “Focus on Islam” in global mission. Mark N. Swanson examines the Lutheran paradox of the hidden/revealed God from the “cry of dereliction” from the cross. Here he con- nects Thomsen’s central themes with his own work in the corpus of Christian Arabic theological literature. Finally, David D. Grafton provides theological, sociological, and pastoral rationale for engaging in conversation with Muslims as vital to ministerial training not only for those interested in a global mission, but also for those serving within the North American context.