October 2012 Volume 39 Number 5 Faith Active in Love 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 Editors: Kathleen D. Billman, Kurt K. Hendel, Craig L. Nessan Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Assistant Editor: Ann Rezny [email protected] Copy Editor: Connie Sletto Editor of Preaching Helps: Craig A. Satterlee Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected] Editors of Book Reviews: Ralph W. Klein (Old Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0773) [email protected] Edgar M. Krentz (New Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0752) [email protected] Craig L. Nessan (history, theology, ethics and ministry) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) [email protected] Circulation Office: 773-256-0751 [email protected] Editorial Board: Michael Aune (PLTS), James Erdman (WTS), Robert Kugler (PLTS), Jensen Seyenkulo (LSTC), 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. Contents Faith Active in Love Kurt K. Hendel 346 A Paper-Match Epiphany Sidney Flack 348 According to the Gospel Paul J. Seastrand 352 Divergences in an Expansive Discipline: How Should We Study Christian Ethics? Jane Hicks 359 Competing Contemporary Lutheran Study Bibles Ralph W. Klein 368 Whatever Became of Carl Braaten? Selective Critical Reflections on Carl E. Braaten’s Because of Christ: Memoirs of a Lutheran Theologian Gary M. Simpson 374 Book Reviews 386 Reprint: The Suffering Reality of the Oppressed in God—The World’s Future and its Implications for Dalit Theology Moses Penumaka 415 Preaching Helps Preaching and Prayer Craig A. Satterlee 403 First Sunday of Advent—Third Sunday after the Epiphany Seth Moland-Kovash 405 Faith Active in Love In 1520, Martin Luther published one of his most important and influential treatises, “Freedom of a Christian.” In this incisive work, the Reformer sum- marizes his vision of the Christian life by explicating the freedom that people of faith enjoy because of the “happy exchange” that is Christ’s gift to them. He also clarifies the servant vocation that is theirs because of this gift of freedom. By emphasizing the principle of faith active in love, Luther advocates a personal and communal faith ethic that is radically altruistic and emulates the profound love of God for God’s people and the whole creation. The Reformer insists that Christ, faith, and the gospel shape all aspects of the Christian life. The articles in the October 2012 issue of Currents in Theology and Mission illustrate how Luther’s evangelical ethical perspective might be implemented within and even beyond the Christian community as people of faith make crucial ethical decisions. Having experienced what he describes as an “epiphany” while reading David R. Weiss’ To the Tune of a Welcoming God, Sidney Flack shares a more expansive understanding of the practices of welcome and judgment within the contemporary church. He does so by proposing a reading of Genesis 3, which suggests that “misappropriated judgment” may be the cause of broken relation- ships in general and of the church’s difficulty in welcoming the LGBTQI com- munity specifically. Rather than exercising such judgment, he suggests that the church practice “merciful welcome” that emulates God’s gracious dealings with God’s people and sets judgment aside. Paul Seastrand’s essay is inspired by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision-making processes that culminated in the ministry policies adopted by the 2009 Assembly of the ELCA. He maintains that this decision was made apart from the church’s confessional claim that the gospel is the interpretative key and norm for the church’s life and practice. He, therefore, re- iterates this confessional claim and proposes how the gospel can be the basis for the important task of providing evangelical foundation for the ministry policies affirmed in 2009. Jane Hicks offers keen insights into the contemporary ecumenical disci- pline of Christian ethics as she explores the academic study of Christian ethics during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and proposes that a gradual shift has occurred from viewing the ethical discipline primarily as “re- flection upon moral debate” to envisioning it as a stimulant of moral behavior and social action. That shift has resulted particularly because of the contribu- tions to the discipline by women and people of color. Hicks also analyzes three contemporary “styles” of doing ethics, namely, comparative religious ethics, character or virtue ethics, and liberationist ethics. She then proposes advocacy, interdisciplinarity, and publicity as three “touchstones” for studying Christian ethics in seminaries and divinity schools and suggests that these touchstones will provide crucial ethical perspectives as the Christian community assumes a confessional stance when it addresses the challenges of the contemporary world. This issue of Currents also includes two major book review essays. Ralph W. Klein offers a comparative analysis of two Lutheran study Bibles published in 2009, the ELCA’s Lutheran Study Bible and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s The Lutheran Study Bible. He notes both similarities and differences be- tween the two Bibles and evaluates the strengths and shortcomings of each. The theological and methodological differences are especially striking, according to Klein. As he illustrates those differences, he also provides his own interpretative and evaluative comments. Gary M. Simpson’s thoughtful review of Carl E. Braaten’s autobiography, Because of Christ: Memoirs of a Lutheran Theologian, provides keen insights into the man and the theologian. Simpson examines Braaten’s understanding of his vocation as a Lutheran theologian, discusses particular Braaten traits, surveys his career path, and evaluates Braaten’s impact on others. As he develops each area, he argues the thesis that there are two Braatens, namely, “Carl-the- treatiser” and “Carl-the-tractator.” Simpson believes that this dual perspective provides keen insights into the man and his writings. The necessary and creative interplay between God’s radical good news and ethics permeates the October issue of Currents. It is our hope that the divine assurance that people of faith have been freed by Christ through the gift of faith will continue to shape our readers’ relationships with God, with fellow human beings, and with the whole creation. After all, when faith is active in love God’s vision for the creation becomes more and more a reality. Kurt K. Hendel Editor A Paper-Match Epiphany Sidney Flack Pastor, The Lutheran Church of the Prince of Peace, Tulsa, Oklahoma I know that a little paper match burning in straight but that he is an advocate and ally a small enough box can look like a blazing of the gay community. This is where I find bonfire, but I really did have an epiphany. myself also, but my stance has never been A while back I nibbled away at a col- so well defined as Weiss’. lection of essays and poems by David R. My little fire sparked while I read essay Weiss.1 I received my copy as a gift, but the number 22, “Holding Our Breath in the book can be purchased directly from Weiss Face of Hate: Reading the Bible ‘Word by at his website, www.davidrweiss.com. Word’ in the Spirit of Christ” (October Some people will find Weiss far too 12, 2004, pp. 95–105). This was a pre- liberal for their thinking. Some may actu- sentation he gave to St. Francis Cabrini ally find he is not liberal enough. I find Catholic Church in Minneapolis. They him to be evangelical in every Lutheran were celebrating their tenth anniversary as sense, but I think he would just call himself a Welcoming parish, which is something a child of God. like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in In the introduction of his book, Weiss America’s Reconciling in Christ congrega- says this about his writing: “I write as a tions who openly welcome all individuals theologian and a poet, a person trained regardless of a variety of issues, including to think about God with discipline, and a age, race, disabilities, sexual orientation, person driven to imagine God with vivid or gender identification. words and unexpected images.” (3) Even Because the congregation had asked though Weiss repeatedly professes not to him to do so, Weiss reluctantly addressed 2 be a biblical scholar, I find that he does just the six specific texts that are nearly always what he says with scholarly and biblical used to condemn homosexuality, often abandon.