April 2009 Volume 36 Number 2 A Time of Transition 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 Editor: Ralph W. Klein Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected] Associate Editor: Norma Cook Everist Wartburg Theological Seminary [email protected] Assistant Editor: Ann Rezny [email protected] Editor of Preaching Helps: Craig A. Satterlee Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected] Editors of Book Reviews: Edgar Krentz Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773/256-0752) [email protected] Craig L. Nessan Wartburg Theological Seminary (563/589-0207) [email protected] Circulation office: 773/256-0751 [email protected] Editorial Board: Pamela J. S. Challis, Randall R. Lee, Richard L. Ramirez, Susan Rippert, Barbara Rossing, Jensen Seyenkulo, Susan Swanson, Vicki Watkins, Fritz Wehrenberg, Vítor Westhelle. CURRENTS IN THEOLOGY AND MISSION (ISSN: 0098-2113) is published bimonthly (every other month), February, April, June, August, October, December. Annual subscription rate: $18.00 in the U.S.A., $23.00 elsewhere. Two-year rate: $35.00 in the U.S.A., $45.00 elsewhere. Three-year rate: $51.00 in the U.S.A., $65.00 elsewhere. 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. Contents A Time of Transition Ralph W. Klein 82 The Old Testament and Public Theology Richard D. Nelson 85 Reading the Old Testament with Martin Luther—and Without Him Ralph W. Klein 95 Reggae Reveals Church Involvement in Slavery Paul A. Tidemann 104 The Reason for Studying African Religion in Post-colonial Africa Julius Mutugi Gathogo 108 The Trial of Luther A. Gotwald Luther A. Gotwald, Jr. 118 Kristallnacht—Sixty-eight Years Later, Nov. 9, 2006 Victoria Barnett 128 What Can the Barmen Declaration Teach Us Today? Robert A. Cathey 130 The Historical Context of the Barmen Declaration Kurt K. Hendel 133 The Barmen Theological Declaration: On Celebrating a Text Out of Context 75 Years Later Vítor Westhelle 137 Book Reviews 141 Preaching Helps “What Sunday after Pentecost is It?” Craig A. Satterlee 146 The Holy Trinity—Time after Pentecost—Lectionary 17 (Proper 12) Contributor: Amy R. Becker Title 82 A Time of Transition In the fall of 1974, my academic Dean, John Damm, asked me to take over the duties of editing Currents in Theology and Mission. Currents is a descendant of the Concordia Theological Monthly (CTM), the journal of the faculty of Concordia Seminary that began in the 1930s. When the Missouri Synod controversy came to a head in 1974 and Christ Seminary-Seminex was formed, it was decided by the Seminex faculty that we would publish our own journal, and the words of the name of this journal would maintain the initials CTM. I decided to downplay that heritage and have consistently referred to this journal as Currents, not CTM. I began editing with volume 1, number 2, and this issue is volume 36, number 2. I never knew that this would be a thirty-five year assignment, but it has indeed lasted that long. I also decided early on that this would not be an organ of the Mis- souri Synod controversy, but it would publish articles that would help pastors and laity throughout the church carry on their ministries well informed, and with eyes focused on ministry and mission, and affirming wherever possible the unity of the church. In 1983 Currents moved with me to Chicago. As now, Currents came out six times a year, but in the other six months Preaching Helps was published as a separate magazine. After a couple years in Chicago, Preaching Helps was merged into Currents, since postal rate increases were killing us. The deployment of Seminex meant that Currents would now be published by LSTC, in cooperation with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Wartburg Theological Seminary, a cooperative effort that continues until today. This will be the last issue of Currents that I will edit, and this comes at my request. With more than 200 issues under my belt, I think I have done my share (I have always been a fan of litotes). I must say I have enjoyed these thirty-five years, soliciting and editing articles, and introducing all the issues with these editorials in which I tried to write grace- fully and hopefully, and even with an occasional bit of humor. I hope you enjoy this last feast that I serve up in the following pages. Richard D. Nelson argues that public theology must be publicly persuasive. Public theology is theology, that is, it is founded on and advocates values derived from our reli- gious tradition, but it seeks to coordinate that tradition with values that an outside audi- ence already shares with us. The Old Testament reminds us of important truths that must inform our work and it is a well-known classic text, with powerful stories such as Exodus 16, powerful characters such as Bathsheba and Nehemiah, and a captivating poetic vision such as Genesis 1 and Psalm 104. In the Old Testament, religion was not predominantly a private affair as it has increasingly been thought among us. Any public theologian who reads the stories of the Old Testament will resist letting privilege define truth. Because the Old Testament shares so much context with modern life, it can shed light on our dilemmas in a non-authoritarian way. Ralph W. Klein presented the Lutheran Heritage Lecture at LSTC in 2008 and now publishes it for Currents readers. We Lutherans read the Old Testament with Martin Luther since we take the Bible literally, acknowledge that there are passages in the canon that do not urge Christ or that contradict the gospel, find the Bible’s central message in its word of promise, and recognize the ongoing activity of the Spirit in Scripture and in inspired tradition. We depart from Luther in recognizing in Judaism a faithful un- derstanding of the Old Testament, in reading the text with the tools of modern biblical criticism, and in learning more about God from a distinctively Old Testament perspec- tive, confident that that knowledge will complement and expand the God we have come to know in Jesus Christ, Paul A. Tidemann calls attention to a freedom song “Maccabee Version” by Rastafar- ian Max Romeo. This song describes what happened to slaves who were forcibly translated to the West Indies and elsewhere in the new world. Max Romeo charged that white people fashioned dangerous weapons in order to kill resistant and rebellious Black slaves. Even as the British slave trade was coming to an end, the London Missionary Society sent preach- ers to use the gospel to make the existing slaves more compliant. In 1827 the British and Foreign Bible Society decided to print Bibles without the Apocrypha, lest books like 1 and 2 Maccabees give slaves too many ideas about freedom. Some slaves, nevertheless, identi- fied with Judas Maccabaeus and with Moses. The Bible has been abused and can continue to be so used by powerful forces of oppression. Julius Mutugi Gathogo demonstrates that African Religion is a force to reckon with even after globalization. The concept of Ubuntu (humanness) can be exploited for the good of all. Various elements in African Religion may require revision so as to be compli- ant with the realities that are defining the people of modern Africa. This essay revisits the definitions of African Religion and the environment within which African Religion is done. Study of African religion provides an understanding of the African personality and is essential to make meaningful religious dialogue. Luther A. Gotwald, Jr. tells a fascinating story about his great-grandfather, Luther Gotwald, a professor at Wittenberg College and Seminary. Wittenberg had been estab- lished by the General Synod, which at one time followed the teachings of S. S. Schmuck- er that departed in some sense from a strict Lutheran Confessional position. The more confessionally loyal Lutheran denomination was called the General Council. Gotwald was charged by three accusers of teaching General Council theology in a General Synod seminary. The article maintains that the General Synod had long since departed from Schmucker’s teaching and solidly affirmed the Augsburg Confession. In a sense Gotwald was accused of being too conservative in a school with a “liberal” tradition. In any case, Gotwald was acquitted. The author adds an epilog in which he advocates that the ELCA should follow the theology of his great-grandfather in its ecumenical activities. (From the start I have never insisted that articles follow my own viewpoints). On November 9, 2006, as part of a commemoration of Kristallnacht, LSTC also reflected on the Barmen Declaration of 1934. The following addresses were given on that occasion. Victoria Barnett reflects on the altered landscape between Christians and Jews brought about by the Holocaust in general and Kristallnacht in particular. Some 2,500 synagogues were destroyed throughout the German Reich in 1938, and these dreadful events still have far-reaching consequences today. The continued violence against people and the misuse of religion and religious space in our time require people of all faiths to walk this altered landscape together. Robert A.