Journal of Lutheran Mission | August 2017

Journal of Lutheran

Mission August 2017 | Vol. 4 | No. 2

The Journal of Lutheran Mission Contributing Editors David Berger, Emeritus, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Rev. Dr. Steve Briel, chairman, Board for National Mission, LCMS Rev. Allan Buss, parish pastor, Belvidere, Ill. Rev. Roberto Bustamante, faculty, Concordia Seminary, Buenos Aires Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director, LCMS Church Relations Rev. Thomas Dunseth, director of deaf ministry, Lutheran Friends of the Deaf, New York Rev. Nilo Figur, area counselor for Latin America and the Caribbean, Lutheran Hour Ministries Rev. Dr. Roosevelt Gray, director, LCMS Black Ministry Rev. Dr. Carlos Hernandez, director, LCMS Hispanic Ministry Rev. Dr. John Kleinig, emeritus lecturer, Australian Lutheran College Rev. Ted Krey, regional director, Latin America and the Caribbean, LCMS Deaconess Dr. Cynthia Lumley, principal, Westfield Theological House, Cambridge Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens, parish pastor, Berlin Rev. Dr. Naomichi Masaki, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. Tilahun Mendedo, president, Concordia College, Selma Rev. Nabil Nour, fifth vice-president, LCMS Rev. Dr. Steve Oliver, LCMS missionary, Taiwan Rev. Dr. Michael Paul, LCMS theological educator to Asia Rev. Dr. Roger Paavola, president, LCMS Mid-South District Rev. Dr. Darius Petkunis, rector, Lithuanian Lutheran Seminary Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer, faculty, Australian Lutheran College Rev. John T. Pless, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. David Rakotonirina, bishop, Antananarivo Synod of the Malagasy Lutheran Church Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast, president, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. Rev. Geoff Robinson, mission executive, Indiana District Rev. Dr. Carl Rockrohr, pastor, Fort Wayne, Ind. Rev. Robert Roethemeyer, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Dr. Brian Saunders, president, LCMS Iowa East District Rev. Dr. Detlev Schultz, faculty, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne Rev. Bernie Seter, chairman, Board for International Mission, LCMS Rev. Kou Seying, associate dean, Urban and Cross-Cultural Ministry, Concordia Seminary, St Louis Rev. Alexey Streltsov, rector, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Siberia Rev. Martin Teigen, parish pastor/Hispanic ministry, North Mankato, Minn.

Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Weber, Jr., rector, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Pretoria, South Africa Rev. John Wille, president, LCMS South Wisconsin District

Executive Editors Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver III, director, LCMS Church Relations Rev. Bart Day, executive director, LCMS Office of National Mission

Rev. John Fale, executive director, LCMS Office of International Mission

Introduction

Confessional Fellowship in Wittenberg

T

he sixth World Seminaries Conference held by the International Lutheran Council in Wittenberg, Germany (Oct. 11–13, 2016) provided an amazing opportunity to practice good koinonia in faith and theology. More than 70 people, mostly professors in Lutheran Seminaries and Schools of Theology, presidents and bishops of Lutheran Churches, and guests gathered around a common interest. At the dawn of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, the participants discussed the impact of the Reformation in vital areas of the church’s life today, as reflected in the conference theme, “Shaping Confessional Lutheranism for the 21st Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview.” This year’s conference took place at a very significant place: Wittenberg and, more specifically, the Leocorea, the original location of the University of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon taught theology five centuries ago.

Following the tradition from its first five meetings, this conference provided the opportunity to discuss significant themes for theological education, through presentations by scholars from five continents. From Europe, Dr. Werner Klän, rector of the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule (Germany), presented the keynote lecture, challenging the participants to reflect on the implications of the Lutheran Church being confessional and how this

should particularly impact theological education. Three other keynote presentations were given on the specific topics: the impact on mission by the Rev. Dr. Berhanu Ofgaa, general secretary of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, from Ethiopia; the impact on worship by the Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer, professor of Theology at the Australian Lutheran College; and the impact on worldview by the Rev. Dr. Makito Masaki, president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary from Japan.

The assembly had also the opportunity to hear reactions to the keynote speakers from: the Rev. Dr. Klaus Detlev Schulz and the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast from the USA, the Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz from Germany, and the Rev. Roberto Bustamante from Argentina. Two speakers, the Rev. Dr. Sergei Isaev from Russia, and the Rev. Leonerio Faller, from Brazil gave short presentations on subjects not necessarily tied directly to the conference theme.

May the Lord continue to bless sound theological education all around the world, so that faithful pastors and missionaries may be prepared to proclaim the saving message of Jesus Christ, the fundamental reason confessional church bodies and seminaries to gather in theological conferences as this one. May these studies here published bless the people of God in their confession of the saving Lord Jesus.

Rev. Dr. Gerson L. Linden Seminaries Relations Committee Chairman

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

THE TRUTH HASN’T CHANGED

Lutheranreformation.org THE LUTHERAN CHURCH—MISSOURI SYNOD

Journal of Lutheran

Mission August 2017 | Vol. 4 | No. 2

Table of Contents Shaping Confessional Lutheranism for the 21st Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview

by Werner Klän..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Hermeneutics in the International Lutheran Council

by Roland Ziegler ............................................................................................................................................. 12 The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Worship

by Andrew Pfeiffer............................................................................................................................................ 25 Response to Andrew Pfeiffer: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Worship – German Perspective

by Armin Wenz..................................................................................................................................................... 36 The Lutheran Impact on Mission

by Berhanu Ofgaa ............................................................................................................................................. 40 Shaping Confessional Lutheran Worldview in the 21st Century

by Makito Masaki............................................................................................................................................... 46 The Act of Making a Knowledgeable Confession: A Response to Makito Masaki

by Lawrence Rast............................................................................................................................................... 54 Closing Remarks

by Al Collver....................................................................................................................................................... 59 Book Review: Brand Luther: 1517, Printing, and the Making of the Reformation

by Adam Koontz ................................................................................................................................................. 61 Book Review: Pauline Hermeneutics: Exploring the “Power of the Gospel.”

by John G. Nordling........................................................................................................................................... 63 Book Review: The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures

by John T. Pless ................................................................................................................................................... 65 Book Review: The Journal Articles of Hermann Sasse

by John T. Pless ................................................................................................................................................... 67

© 2017 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

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Shaping Confessional Lutheranism for the Twenty-First Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview

Confessional Lutheranism, the historic faith found in the Holy Scriptures, translates the truths of God’s Word in order to communicate to different cultures and settings. Education in the truth of the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions shapes the church’s mission, worship, and worldview as she encounters a changing world.

Keynote Address to the Sixth World Seminaries Conference, Wittenberg, Germany, October 10–13, 2016

by Werner Klän

1. Introductory Remarks

A

ccording to Hermann Sasse, the Lutheran church is “the confessional church par excellence.” And indeed, the confessional habit is significant for the profile of Lutheran faith, worship, theology, church, mission, and worldview, and thus an unmistakable mark of Lutheran identity.

The Lutheran church, however, is characterized as being “confessional” in a special manner. This is due to the fact that confession, in the Lutheran use of the term, is meant as a responsible reaction to God's faith-creating action through his word, expressing not only a person's private convictions on religious matters, but formulating an agreement on the foundational features of Christian faith, revealing the accordance of a person's belief with the doctrine of the church universal. Inevitably, from the Lutheran point of view, the doctrine of the church has to be proved by the Scriptures. Confession as a personal action, as well as a statement on behalf of the church, responds to the scriptural witness, and is determined by and based on the basic testimony of God's word. The doctrinal documents, for their part, define and regulate the teaching and preaching and the life of the church by normative standards derived from the Scriptures and applied to the necessities and needs of the church; this holds true for mission, worship, and worldview. Though this application occurs at certain times and places in history, it is intended to confess the truth of faith valid for all times.

Believers of all times and ages take part in the confessional obligation of all Christians.

The implications global changes have for our identity as Lutherans in our missionary task, in our worship, and in our worldview, however, must be taken into consideration within our own ranks. Nevertheless, it has to be remembered that the roots and requirements of the

2

Lutheran church are basically ecumenical. The Preface to the Augsburg Confession and Articles I and VII, Luther's explanation of the Third Article of the Creed, the first part of the Smalcald Articles, and the Binding Summary of the Formula of Concord, just to name a few of the relevant basic texts, are a fundamental witness to this. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the church fathers were aware of this truly ecumenical responsibility. In this sense it was quite logical for Wilhelm Löhe to describe the Lutheran church as the “reconciling center of the confessions.” This is where we stand.

2. Mission 2.1 Luther: The Preeminence of the Missionary Witness Luther and the Lutheran church have been accused of not having been missionary-minded. It has been shown, however, and can be demonstrated that such a perception is simply wrong. It is true, certainly, that Luther, his followers, and successors did not organize mission practices as they originated in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.1 But for the Wittenberg reformer, “the missionary expansion, which occurred in biblical times, is neither past nor complete”; therefore, “all people without exception are in need” of the proclamation “of the biblical message of Law and Gospel.”2 For historical and geographical reasons, the Lutheran territories in the first decades of and centuries after the age of the Reformation had no immediate access to harbours and for this reason could not establish overseas missions.3 Nonetheless, as Detlev 1 Volker Stolle, The Church Comes from All Nations (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2003), 11.

2

Stolle, All Nations, 13.

3

See Albert B. Collver, “Loehe: Mission Societies, The Church in Motion, and Mission Dei,“ in Wilhelm Löhe und bIldung: Wilhelm

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Schulz has pointed out, “the Reformation must be seen be easily demonstrated that “every culture in which God as a missionary movement.”4 This analysis is based on the gives his gifts has developed its own ways for speaking of perception that according to the Lutheran Reformation, reality.”12 For Lutherans, it is noteworthy that they “have the word of God is dynamic in itself. That is why “God’s both affirmed the created goodness of their cultures, and mission takes place within the life of the Church, and yet at the same time, served as sharp critics of what their culit also extends beyond the Church to those still held in tures do in opposition to God’s will”; thus missionaries in unbelief.”5 In the first place, this missionary activity takes the course of the past centuries have often found themplace through preaching, teaching, and administering the selves in conflict with “traditional cultural values, but means of grace; these are “the most original and appropri- have also attempted to affirm and enrich those values.”13 ate form of mission.”6 That this highly complex work of In line with this assessment is the translating is necessary across limits of God can use observation that according to Luther, time, space, and culture, is no mystery.14 small circles of 7 mission “is bound to the Cross.” The For North America and Europe, chaltrue believers and reformer’s vision is not a “Christian lenges for the Christian witness may be employ minor world.” It has always been seductive to identified as the following: pluralism; Christians—and to church leaders in secularization, especially withdrawal groups of deliberate particular—to see the church as a culfrom religion; and individualism with Christians turally, politically, morally influential, clear tendencies to narcissism.15 In addiwitnessing faithfully and even ecclesiastical predominant tion, the phenomenon of estrangement to the gospel as factor or institution in this world. That and the feelings of meaninglessness and blessed bases for tempting dream, which in some realms powerlessness might be seen,16 and last of Christianity still lingers on, belongs but not least, all this in the face of the his mission. most intimately to the imperial ideolreality of death.17 But the very structure ogy and ecclesiastical enthusiasm of the Constantinian of the relationship between God and his people, as it may era. Many times, the church presented itself as some- be discovered in Luther and in the Lutheran Confessions, thing of a subculture in the surrounding environment8 continues to be fruitful for application of the biblical mesin which it was often enough indeed tempted to support sage into other contexts.18 In any case, translation has the ruling culture instead of standing up to it critically, been the core task of any missionary attempt, and Luther’s when it openly went against God’s will. In this way, it has translation of the Bible into German was a major contria self-critical element of its own.9 bution to this challenge.

In an astounding manner, Luther was “remarkably In Luther’s time, Germany was indeed a mission field, sensitive” in terms of “customs and culture.” And up to as on the ground of the rediscovery of the biblical gospel, our time and day, mission always takes place “in a given the entire country had to be evangelized anew. In the context.”10 Therefore the gospel should be preached in the nineteenth century, the most striking definition for the language of the target group it was addressed to and “it reality of missions is in Wilhelm Löhe’s statement in his should be brought to each nation in its own language. But Three Books About the Church that “the work of Missions it should not be proclaimed in a dead language.”11 It can is nothing else than the One Church of God in motion, Loehe und Christian Formation, ed. Dietrich Blaufuß and Jacob Corzine (Nürnberg: Verein für bayerische Kirchengeschichte/Neuendettelsau: Freimund-Verlag, 2016), 172.

4 Klaus Detlev Schulz, Mission from the Cross: The Lutheran Theology of Mission (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 47.

5

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 50.

6

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 53.

7

Stolle, All Nations, 105.

8

Stolle, All Nations, 7.

9

Stolle, All Nations, 10.

Letters to Lutheran Pastors: Volume I, 1948–1951, ed. Matthew Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2013), 215.

12 Robert Kolb, “The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ,” in The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. Robert Kolb (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 8.

13

Kolb, “American Mind,” 10.

14

Kolb, “American Mind,” 6–12.

Robert Kolb, Speaking the Gospel Today (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995), 11, 32, 182.

15 16

10

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 301.

Kolb, Speaking the Gospel Today, 86–92.

17

11

Hermann Sasse, “Ecclesia Migrans,” chap. 12 in Hermann Sasse:

Kolb, Speaking the Gospel Today, 94–96.

18

Kolb, “American Mind,” 10.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

3

the actualization of the One universal Catholic Church.”19 the credibility of the church’s missionary efforts has to be Along these lines, but even before Löhe published his proven by the harmony of doctrine and life. booklet, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia, also It seems to me that Germany, as the home country of known as the “Old Lutherans,” in their first general con- the Reformation, and the continent of Europe in general, vention of 1841, after ten years of persecution, adopted a nowadays “represent prime mission fields.”26 These days, remarkable resolution on mission, claiming that, “Mission it is far more likely that, at least in Europe, Christianity, is a concern of the Church as such.” Missionary activities or rather the church, will take a shape similar to the should not be left to societies, groups of individuals, not one it had throughout the first three centuries: being a even to single congregations, or districts, but ought to be minority, despised, mocked, marginalized, suspected, regarded as a core task of the church itself, and therefore neglected, displaced, persecuted, and even killed. At least steered by the church. This principle has found its clearest in the northern parts of the world, “pastors and congreexpression in the slogan embraced and promulgated by gations as they reach out to communities saturated with the Bleckmar Mission (now Lutherische Kirchenmission/ the ideas and assumptions inherent in pluralism and mixMission of Lutheran Churches): “The Lutheran Church and-match religion” face a rather complicated situation.27 does Lutheran Mission Work.”20 This we have to realize in due This motto was later on develsoberness. I do not see the Lord oped into the phrase: “Lutheran There can be no doubt that, promising his church it will be Mission Work Results in a a culturally, politically, morally as long as we are churches Lutheran Church.” influential or even predominant bound to Scripture and the It has been noted that the factor or institution in this world: Lutheran Confessions and structure of the Augsburg on the contrary, he tells his intend to remain so, we will Confession of 1530 “reflects “little flock” not to be “afraid” salvation history,”21 and thus (Luke 12:32). be aware that effectiveness Luther’s view of mission is provides the theological frameis not ours but the Holy characterized by such soberness; work in which God’s mission Spirit’s, through God's word it takes setbacks and opposition and the mission of the church and the sacraments. into account. This fact, however, have their place, carried out by no means impedes the misparticularly by the office of the sion of the church from being ministry, but nonetheless by any Christian witnessing to the gospel, as mission is to confessional; quite the opposite.28 Mission and church, be understood “as a fundamental life expression of the and in particular the Lutheran church as the church of church,”22 and “missionary opportunities present them- “pure doctrine,” are most closely related to one another.29 selves … even in the immediate vicinity.”23 On the basis 2.2. Mission—The Islamic Challenge “of the Reformation’s doctrine of justification,” it is nearly With regard to Islam, Lutherans should be very much self-evident that the gospel message is “uncondition- aware of the fact that it was Luther who staunchly opposed ally necessary for all people without exception.”24 In the any attempt to crusade against the Turks, then the reptwenty-first century, the Lutheran Confessions may still resentatives of Islam, although he regarded it legitimate be seen as “a perfect document to use as the voice of a that the emperor and the princes of the Holy Roman faith community.”25 In addition, it has to be observed that Empire of the German nation defend the empire and their Wilhelm Löhe, Three Books about the Church, trans. James L. Schaaf (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 174.

19

20 Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf, ed., Lutherische Kirche treibt lutherische Mission (Hermannsburg: Bleckmarer Mission, 1967).

territories against the aggression of the Ottoman troops in the late twenties and thirties of the sixteenth century, 26

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 58.

21

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 62–63.

22

Stolle, All Nations, 75.

23

Stolle, All Nations, 41.

Paul W. Robinson, “Pluralism and Mix-and Match Religion,” in The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. Robert Kolb (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 75.

24

Stolle, All Nations, 104.

28

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 300–301.

25

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 60–61.

29

Stolle, All Nations, 106; Collver, “Loehe,” 182.

4

27

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

and that in this case, the population was obligated to support this armed conflict as defensive warfare. That is why it is understood that intelligence and police observe terrorist groups and people arousing suspicion of being sympathetic with those attempts, and of course take legal measures against them.

On the other hand, Lutherans ought to remember that Islam, according to the Augsburg Confession, is judged to be an anti-Trinitarian heresy rejected in the first article, and according to the Large Catechism, a contradiction to the Christian creed, and thus, Muslims are in line with “heathen, [Turks,] Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites” (LC II, 66), which I regard as a noteworthy sequence and enumeration as it states that all these people are “outside this Christian people.” Yet the Christians living under Muslim rule should bear witness to their faith by displaying obedience to the worldly powers (as everywhere) and bear witness to their Christian convictions personally.

It has to be regretted that Christian churches in Germany and Europe have done almost nothing to develop missionary strategies to Muslims. The mainstream churches in Germany, for example, prefer to pursue a strategy of dialogue, and by trying to do so, face the very same difficulties civil authorities are confronted with. In 2002, the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) council published a manual on living together with Muslims. In this document, the doctrinal differences between Christian faith and Islam are denoted unambiguously. Missionary witness over against Muslims is seen as a consequence to Christian faith and love. As a rule, the minimizing of the fundamental differences between Islam and Christian faith is refused clearly: “It is inappropriate to abandon the option of witnessing the total truth of the Gospel just for the sake of dialogue.”30 Any arbitrary pluralism is rejected. Religious freedom, however, ought to be granted also to Muslims.

At the same time, pastors and congregations of the SELK are encouraged to engage theologically with the issue of Islam, and to face the challenge of testifying to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of all humankind. Since the 1990s, missionaries in the cities of Leipzig and Berlin have been reaching out to Muslim migrants, mostly from Iran, who form a considerable and still rapidly growing group within the Lutheran

congregations celebrating their services in Farsi. This can only be seen as a miracle in our eyes.

2.3. Challenges Living in a post-Christian environment, like in Europe, it will be most necessary for the mission of the Lutheran church to cling faithfully to its biblical and confessional roots, to dedicate itself to the task of translating and transferring the biblical Lutheran heritage into a language understood by contemporary people, supported by authentic ways of living and working together. At least this is the historical experience of the SELK: God can use small circles of true believers and employ minor groups of deliberate Christians witnessing faithfully to the gospel as blessed bases for his mission.

There is, of course, a real difference between a respectably large confessional Lutheran church in a Christian western country with freedom of thought and a minority church in a post-Christian context, such as Europe or in a country with completely different religious orientation such as Japan, India, or China. It also makes a difference whether other Christian denominations and confessions have had a dominant role for many years or even centuries, like the Roman Catholic Church in South America, or in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

If it holds true that Christianity is in the process of moving from the northwestern hemisphere to the South and the Southeast, there is first and foremost one task that lies ahead of us. Having inherited the orthodox doctrine of the early church from northern Africa, from theologians and bishops like Athanasius, Cyprian, and Augustine, first in Europe, where this heritage was historically received throughout the Middle Ages and gratefully embraced by the Lutheran Reformation, and was handed on to the adherents of Lutheran theology and the Lutherans emigrating to the Americas, to Australia and to Africa, we are undoubtedly obligated to pass on to the emerging southern churches what once was granted to us. Moreover, the changes in the kind of Christianity that is emerging, especially in what is labeled the “global south,” cannot be neglected. In the era of globalization, the northern churches will have to listen very carefully to what the emerging churches in the South have to say on Christian identity and authenticity, not least in the area of Christian conduct and ethics.

30 “Wegweisung für evangelisch-lutherische Christen für das Zusammenleben mit Muslimen in Deutschland,” 6, www.selk.de/ download/Islam.pdf.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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3. Worship 3.1 God’s Salutary Self-Communication The reform of the medieval mass Martin Luther carried out in various attempts from 1523 (Formula Missae et Communionis) to 1526 (Deutsche Messe und ordnung Gottesdiensts), was guided by the rediscovery of the gospel, and thus by applying justification by grace as a principle to the restoration of the inherited liturgy.31 In his famous definition of what happens in the divine service, Luther claimed that “our dear Lord may speak to us through his holy Word and we respond to him in prayer and praise.”32 That is to say that for the Wittenberg reformer “the liturgy was the means by which God’s Word came to God’s people, thus the people needed to hear this life-giving Word read and preached.”33 The salutary self-communication of God has as its purpose the trustful reception of this self-communication, just as such a reception is only made possible through the one who promises and imparts his salvation.34 In the setting of the Lutheran Reformation, the divine promises and their God-worked reception in faith are understood as corresponding dimensions that are in correlation to one another.35 Thereby it is faith, which is the process of reception that depends on the promise and affirms it, that accepts what the self-communication of God says and works.36 In the perception of the word of forgiveness, this forgiveness is accepted:37 we should “only take and receive from him [God]” (LC VI, 18). Therefore forgiveness is the epitome of the gospel. And thus, not only the word, but also the sacraments as modes of application of the gospel function as means of God’s self-communication.38 That is why the wording of the words of institution in their literal sense was so immovably fixed for Luther that he could not back down in this regard whenever the real presence 31 Arthur A. Just, Jr., Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2008), 248–70.

32 Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress and St. Louis: Concordia, 1955–1986), 51: 333.

33

of the body and blood of Christ in the celebration of this testament of Christ was called into question (LC V, 8–14, Kolb-Wengert, 467–68).39 Luther places the gospel in precisely these forms of application—proclamation, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and confession as the “third sacrament” (LC IV, 74)—at the centre of an encompassing Christian understanding of worship (SA III, IV). In the catechisms, he provides the Christian community with an introduction to a life guided by God.40 He thereby points out that Holy Baptism is God’s salutary self-communication, which brings to us “victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts” (LC IV, 41, Kolb-Wengert, 461), just as the sacrament of the altar, which he views as “this great a treasure, which is daily administered and distributed among Christians,” provides the new human being with constant fortification in his battle against Satan, death, and sin (LC V, 39, Kolb-Wengert, 470–71), and just as the Lord’s Prayer invokes God’s irrefutable willingness for mercy in just such a battle, a battle that becomes inevitable for a Christian precisely by partaking in God’s self-giving and self-revelation; a Christian who, in the battle of the gospel for the gospel, takes on his enemies (LC III, 65–67; 80–81).

Melanchthon uses an extended definition of sacrament, in contrast to the definition of the early Reformation taken from Augustine and used by Luther in 1520. This definition includes certain rites within the divine service that go back to the mandates of God and are connected to a promise of grace. In this respect Melanchthon counts Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Absolution as the “sacrament of repentance,” the sacraments in their narrower, New Testament sense.41 A characteristic of these New Testament “signs”42 is their being witnesses of grace and the forgiveness of sins.43 God’s institution of these rites and his salutary self-communication performed through them are the constitutive parts of this definition of the sacrament.

Just, Heaven on Earth, 250.

34

See Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 10th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1986), Ap XIII, 19–20, 295.

Hereafter referred to as BSLK.

39 Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000). Hereafter referred to as Kolb-Wengert.

35 “Quare [i.e. Paul] inter se correlative comparat et connectit promissionem et fidem” (Ap IV, 50, BSLK, 170).

40 See Werner Klän, “Anleitung zu einem Gott-gelenkten Leben. Die innere Systematik der Katechismen Luthers,“ LuThK 29 (2005): 18–35.

36 “Promissio non potest accipi nisi fide. Est autem fides proprie dicta, quae assentitur pro missioni; de hac fide loquitur scriptura” (Ap IV, 112, BSLK, 183).

41

See Ap XIII, 3–4.

42

“Signa novi testament” (Ap XIII, 14, BSLK, 294).

37

See Ap IV, 116.

38

Just, Heaven on Earth, 250.

6

43

“Sign and witness . . . of divine Will against us, to waken faith and strengthen faith in us” (Ap XIII, 1, BSLK, 68); “testimonia gratiae et remissionis peccatorum” (Ap XIII, 14, BSLK, 294).

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Melanchthon thereby retains the idea of signification and word-centeredness that characterize the Augustinian definition of sacrament.44 In this he follows the identification of the sacrament as a visible word so that its uniqueness lies in the illustration of that which the word already states. The semantic content, the efficacy of the word, and the carrying out of the divine service are thereby identical. Only the mode of perception differs.45 This definition of the sacrament has an openness that allows even ordination or the laying on of hands to be called a sacrament,46 as well as prayer, the giving of alms, and the affliction of the believer.47 For Melanchthon, however, an actual numeration of these sacraments is irrelevant as long as those acts are retained that mediate grace and have the ordinance and promise of God.48 As such, the sacraments certainly aim at faith. The character of promise, which is the salutary self-communication and self-giving of God, is constitutive. Also the relation to faith, which is the reception in believers of such a self-communication and self-giving worked by the Holy Spirit, is foundational.49 This gospel-centred and worship-oriented approach is received by the following generations in the Lutheran churches across Germany and beyond. Thus it is and remains undisputed that the Bible and hymnal, in the way that they have become determinants for piety and worship during the Lutheran Reformation, have, “during the subsequent period, defined Christian culture as a whole, and across all confessional boundaries at that”; this may be exemplified for example by the names of Paul Gerhardt and Johann Sebastian Bach.50 Furthermore it can be stated that Luther took a mediating position between “Abolitionists and Traditionalists,” 44

See Ap XIII, 5.

“Idem effectus est verbi et ritus”; “ritus … est quasi pectura verbi, idem significans, quod verbum. Quare idem est utrusque effectus” (Ap XIII, 5, BSLK, 292–93).

45

46

Ap XIII, 9–11.

47

Ap XIII, 16–17. Luther's later discussions on the seven Heiltümern (salutary/curative treasures or medicaments) of the Christian church found their prelude in these thoughts of Melanchthon. Luther lists under these Heiltümer: the word of God, baptism, Eucharist, the appointment of preachers, prayer and, lastly, the Anfechtung of the believer and the persecution of the Christian. See also Luthers Werke, Weimarer Ausgabe [Weimar Edition or WA] 50, 624–49, the word heilthum in WA 50, 629, 13; passim.

and his followers and heirs ought to “carefully consider the great tradition to provide continuity with those who have used the historic liturgy for more than fifteen hundred years, attempting to reflect the principle of ‘the living heritage and something new.’”51 It cannot be ignored, though, that Luther’s reform of the mass, compared to the traditional liturgy of the Middle Ages, was severe and one of the most revolutionary inroads into the inherited structure of the service. This is to say at the same time that “liturgical renewal has always been with the Lutheran Church since the Reformation.”52 3.2 Questions on Liturgy and Culture One crucial question to be asked is about the relationship between worship, or liturgy, and culture. If and because it is true that the divine service is the center of any congregational life, moreover the center of the church’s life indeed, then the conclusion seems likely that “the goal of good liturgy is always the transforming of culture by the Gospels of Jesus Christ.” But having said this, it has to be admitted that “the cultural context of the liturgy” can never be ignored.53 It seems as though a debate is going on—and necessarily so—about how and to which degree the translation of the biblical message may make use of traditional forms, expressions, or customs in a given target culture. It might be said that in missions, acculturation, enculturation or contextual accommodation were not needed; rather the true preaching of the pure Gospel and proper administration of unadulterated Sacraments of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am afraid that this view is similar to a spurious alternative. In contrast to this proposition, bishop emeritus David Tswaedi from South Africa draws our attention to the fact that “culture is dynamic,” and from there concludes that “the hallmarks of Lutheranism are not Germanic, Nordic or American trappings but the bible based teaching of the church and using the Lutheran confessions as the hermeneutical tool.” On this basis, “African Lutheran pastors would have to grasp the basis of the Lutheran teaching if they would be confident enough to translate them into their specific situations themselves.”54 The question at stake is: Do we really have the “fear of not 51

Just, Heaven on Earth, 260–62.

52

Just, Heaven on Earth, 263.

Just, Heaven on Earth, 264.

48

Ap XIII, 17.

53

49

“Haec fides est … opus spiritus sancti” (Ap IV, 115, BSLK, 183).

54

50

Christoph Wolff, “Musik aus dem Geist der Reformation: Bibel und Gesangbuch in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs,“ in Spurenlese: Kulturelle Wirkungen der Reformation, 350n 5.

David Tswaedi, “Martin Luther—One Confession—Multicultural: An African Perspective” (lecture, Lutherische Theologische Hochschule, symposium on “Luther—Uni-confessional—Multicultural,” Oberursel, Germany, November 2015).

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being able to garb the message in an African culture without changing the message”?55

4. Worldview 4.1 World Pictures In the first place, we have to realize that the church, according to the New Testament record, lives “in the world, yet not of the world (John 17:13–16.).”56 This is what constitutes the uniqueness of its existence. And for this reason, a “national church ideology” cannot be an option for the church, nor for confessional Lutheran churches specifically.57 In a sort of prophetic manner, Hermann Sasse maintained as early as 1950 that “in our day as the shadows of night fall ever deeper upon modern Western man and his culture,” the experience of the church will be that on the one hand, it participates in the decline around it, but otherwise where the divine service is held, Christian congregations will rise again.58 Before, I mentioned the doctrine of the “two kingdoms,” or two realms, to be crucial to the Lutheran worldview. Luther’s distinction between these two ways of God’s governance gives way to discerning between penultimate realities, values, and goals on the one hand, and on the other hand, the ultimate destiny of human existence. One might tend to blame Luther and the Lutheran Confessions for having initiated, instigated, and theologically legitimized the decline of what used to be “Christian Europe” to secularization,59 which would be as foolish as to cast Luther and the Lutheran churches as the ideological forefathers of Hitler and the Nazi party. On the contrary, the Lutheran distinction of the two realms exonerates the church, namely by restricting its tasks to the proclamation of law and gospel, from ruling and regulating the affairs of state and society. Given this fundamental distinction, this does not at all mean that the law of God does not apply to mundane matters, and thus 55 The narrative of the two powerful horsemen, one from the North, one from the South, Naaman and the Ethiopian eunuch, could be used as another point in this. One, though hearing the message from the prophet, compared the stream he was instructed to wash in with the wide rivers back home. The other, having gotten the explanation from an evangelist, was ahead of the teacher when seeing the water. He didn’t wish to be baptized in Jerusalem, but in roadside stagnant waters (Tswaedi, “African Perspective”).

56

Sasse, “Ecclesia Migrans,” 203.

57

Sasse, “Ecclesia Migrans,” 209; “So we must have the courage to say farewell to that false view which identifies church and nation,” (Sasse, “Ecclesia Migrans,” 211).

58

Sasse, “Ecclesia Migrans,” 213.

59 Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press, 2007).

8

the application of God’s universal will has no place in the proclamation of the church; quite the opposite. The “political use of the law” has to be an integral part of the church’s message. We will return to this point later on.

For the Reformation and post-Reformation times, it is interesting to see that the reformers and the early orthodox teachers of the Lutheran church did not have much of a problem with the new cosmological discoveries.60 The new scientific world picture left the early orthodox fathers, for the most part, at least, “often relatively untouched.”61 It can be demonstrated in any case, as Werner Elert has done, that it was Luther’s christological and sacramental theology that laid the foundations, theologically speaking, to overcoming the inherited worldview linked to Aristotle and Ptolemy: “‘Heaven,’ as God’s place, is not a place in a spatial sense.”62 Elert claimed that “the new world picture” was “the triumph of an exact knowledge of nature—a knowledge that is free from all theological and ecclesiastical prejudices,” and from this point of view he concludes, “The church, which derives its mission from the Gospel and knows that the proclamation of the Gospel exhausts this mission, has no interest in the various world pictures.”63 In the background to positions like these, Elert sees Luther’s concept of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence: “God is in the things.”64 Such a view is mirrored in the position taken by Tycho Brahe, according to whom “God is everywhere and nowhere.”65 And the Erlangen “Lutheranissimus” is deeply convinced that (many of) Luther’s heirs also followed him in asserting that “God’s presence … is always operative.”66 The most decisive point, according to Elert, is “that all creation remains God’s creation” including “man’s feeling of belonging in a direct manner to God’s creation.”67 Of course, one cannot deny that among the early orthodox theologians of the Lutheran church, there are those to be found who opposed the new astronomical 60 Robert D. Preus, The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, Volume II: God and His Creation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972), 222–58.

61

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 225.

Werner Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, trans. Walter A. Hansen (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1962), 415; Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 226–27.

62

63

Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 423.

64

Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 440.

65

Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 441.

66

Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 442.

67

Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 458–59.

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discoveries.68 This antipathy occurs only from the middle of the seventeenth century, as we find it for example in Abraham Calov. Prior to that date, “the new world picture developed by Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler was almost never discussed in Lutheran dogmatics.”69 Robert Preus has rightly judged that “Calov failed to see that the statements on Scripture which assigned a stationary position to the earth were not statements concerning astronomy or a world picture, but statements expressing God’s benevolence or wisdom or providence.”70 Others to the contrary took the position that “it was not the intention of Scripture to present a final system of cosmology,”71 or even refused “to favor any world picture as being Scriptural.”72 From such observations, Preus concludes that in the “mature thoughts of orthodox Lutheranism … it was not the purpose of Scripture to present a world picture, but only to proclaim God as Creator and absolute Lord of all things.”73 While stating a “relative indifference and ignorance of the new scientific world pictures” among “the great majority of the Lutheran theologians on the one side,” Preus posits “that the classical Lutheran theology … is remarkably independent of any philosophical ontology and transcends completely any empirical or scientific world picture.”74 Like Elert, Preus traces this back to the Lutheran Christology and its view on Christ’s exaltation and session at the right hand of God.75 To prove this assumption, Preus quotes from Nikolaus Selnecker, one of the authors of the Formula of Concord, and his exposition of Acts 3:21, that “heaven is not the place that encloses Him (sc. Christ), but is enclosed by Him.” And there is not “the slightest metaphysical or physical connotation” to this proposition.76 Rather we would have to adopt the conviction that “the Lutheran concepts of heaven and hell illustrate the transcendence of Lutheran theology over all world pictures.”77 It has to be noted, however, that the more “science” in certain realms and to a certain degree presents itself 68 Elert, The Structure of Lutheranism, 430–31; See Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 227–29.

as a “metaphysical research programme,” the less it is about “explanation” but functions as a “paradigm” that “creates faith.”78 That is to say, we will have to look at scientific results in a thoroughly critical manner so that we do not fall for ideological concepts instead of observations—and interpretations—of facts. To regard the world as God’s creation implies, from a Christian point of view, the awareness of “one’s responsibilities to the rest of the creation”; this “fundamental point” sets us apart—or on principle ought to do so—from all ideas of individualism if it is understood only “as the insistence on my rights”79 that characterizes much of the “modern, postmodern, and post-colonial” western European and northern American mindset.80 And the question has to be asked “whether appeals to self-giving and selflessness actually work in the North American context,” a question that applies as well to Europe and many other contexts that have been influenced by western philosophies and ideologies.81 4.2 The Church in the World In the Lutheran Confessions,82 the church is defined, according to its Magna Charta in Article VII of the Augsburg Confession, as the “assembly of saints,” commissioned to “purely preach and teach the Gospel and to rightly administer the sacraments,” and this church does not strive for a totalitarian domination of the world: “For the Gospel teaches an internal, eternal reality and righteousness of the heart, not an external, temporal one,” but “does not overthrow secular government, public order, and marriage” (AC XVI, 4–5, Kolb-Wengert, 48–50).

Right from the outset, the Lutherans claimed that they did “not understand the church to be an external government of certain nations”; rather the true Christians were regarded as “people scattered throughout the entire world who agree on the gospel and have the same Christ, the same Holy Spirit, and the same sacraments” (Ap VII, VIII, 10, Kolb-Wengert, 175).

We as Lutherans have to be interested, particularly 78 Joel Okamoto, “Science, Technology, and the American Mind,” in The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. Robert Kolb (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 105.

69

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 229.

70

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 227.

71

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 230.

72

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 231.

73

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 234.

74

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 237.

75

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 239.

80 Leopoldo A. Sánchez M., “Individualism, Indulgence, and the Mind of Christ: Making Room for the Neighbor and the Father,” in The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. Robert Kolb (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 57.

76

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 239.

81

Sánchez, “Individualism,” 60.

77

Preus, Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, 241.

82

Schulz, Mission from the Cross, 59–67.

79 Joel Biermann, “Individualism as the Insistence on My Rights,” in The American Mind Meets the Mind of Christ, ed. Robert Kolb (St. Louis: Concordia Seminary Press, 2010), 44.

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in these times, in the freedom of faith. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the right to exist as an organization separate from the Roman church was granted to the Lutheran church in the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation by the Augsburg Religious Peace (1555) and, after the Thirty Years’ War, by the Peace of Westphalia (1648). But this was achieved only at the cost of “a great sacrifice: by the authority of the regional monarch over the church.”83 “At no time did Luther’s great principle of the separation of the secular and spiritual powers prevail in the Lutheran Churches and states of Europe.”84 It took three more centuries after the Reformation until the fathers and mothers of the confessional Lutheran churches in the nineteenth century were able to disengage from the state-church system as inherited from the late Reformation times. In contrast to the unionist concepts promulgated by the state, they wanted to manifest Lutheran identity in the ecclesiastical dimension by establishing that, as the expression of full church fellowship, fellowship in public worship, particularly at the communion table, has as its unconditional prerequisite a consensus in faith, doctrines, and confession.

Our forebears were at the same time protagonists of a new freedom of the church from state control and political subordination, in character with the gospel.

In addition they were, at least in religious matters, pioneers fighting for social values of the modern era such as freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience. The founders of the Lutheran confessional churches in Europe, Australia, and America proved to be equal contemporaries of the movement for bourgeois emancipation. This remains true even if we recognize that the theological content, for which they were prepared to bring great sacrifices, was principally conservative.

Nonetheless, the claim for religious and ecclesiastical and theological independence in terms of confessional church bodies is an integral part of our common inheritance.

For here, as anywhere in religious matters according to the reformers’ understanding, the distinction of the two kingdoms, or realms, applies: “For secular authority deals with matters altogether different from the gospel” (AC XXVIII, 11, Kolb-Wengert, 92). Therefore, also the

(episcopal) office “to judge doctrine and reject doctrine that is contrary to the gospel” is administered “not with human power but with God’s Word alone” (AC XXVIII, 22, Kolb-Wengert, 94). It has to be maintained, however, that this doctrine “is misunderstood and abused wherever it is interpreted and applied as being a ‘license for Christians to relinquish matters of the state.’”85 Nonetheless, it remains the task of the church to proclaim the “righteous, unchanging will of God” (FC SD V, 17, Kolb-Wengert, 584) for his world and its population, in a manner that is relevant to today. The church is thus obligated to be critical of its contemporary setting.

Contemporary life also affects the church and its members. One cannot deny that the church is influenced and affected by worldly societal trends and tendencies. These movements do not only find expression outside and around the church but also creep into it. Yet the church demonstrates that it is contemporary when it resists current developments of which it cannot approve.

The renunciation of God’s will consequently manifests itself in many ways, the most crass of which is evident in the fact that man suffers under the delusion that he is lord of himself—or even the whole world—while in reality his toil and effort only revolve around himself. This is really the most devastating of all human delusions,86 which characterizes the outlook of modern western man since the Enlightenment, and represents, from a biblical-theological standpoint, a false notion of autonomy, or rather, a false concept of freedom closely bound up with this notion of autonomy. At the core of this struggle for what he believes to be freedom is man’s delusion of being able to invigorate and master his own life—without God. Christians and the church, claimed by their Lord, have nothing to sugarcoat, nothing to gloss over, and nothing to conceal concerning the predicament of men and our contemporary society. They will boldly carry out their task, irrespective of power, richness, or influence of men.

They will not cower before the powerful, and not buckle before those in charge of the state, society, or economy. I say this because the history of the church is also a history of failure in light of this responsibility. The history of alliances between throne and altar, Christianity and power,

83 Hermann Sasse, “Cuius Regio, Eius Religion: On the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Augsburg Religious Peace,” in Hermann Sasse: Letters to Lutheran Pastors: Volume II, 1951–1965, ed. Matthew Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2014), 376.

85 Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf, “Lutheran Co-responsibility for Christian Witness in Southern Africa” (lecture, Mission Conference of Lauenburg, Ratzeburg, Germany), 28–29.

84 Hermann Sasse, “Concerning the Freedom of the Church,” in Hermann Sasse: Letters to Lutheran Pastors: Volume I, 1948–1951, ed.

Matthew Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2013), 109.

86 Eberhard Jüngel, Das Evangelium von der Rechtfertigung des Gottlosen als Zentrum des christlichen Glaubens (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998, 1999), 75, 93, 108–9, 111.

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church and dictator, demonstrates these failures all too clearly. If the church desires to do justice to its mission, it will not give in to majority trends and mainstream public and popular opinion.

The church will today, as always, warn, and where necessary, even accuse. It speaks to situations where the validity of divine standards is being foundationally or practically challenged, but always with the goal of calling men back into the fellowship and freedom which God preserves and offers in himself. This task was once labelled “the application of the Word of God to our time and day.” The church has to proclaim that God, who is visible in Jesus Christ, took it upon himself to repair the broken fellowship between him and humankind, in order to free the totality of humankind and each individual human being out of the injurious bonds in which we are ensnared, out of the dominion of the ruinous powers, around and in us, from the self-inflicted lot of threatening destruction. Until the Last Day, this obligation will never come to an end.

5. Conclusion In our time and day, and on the global level, and in all these areas, like mission, worship, and worldview, the witness of the Lutheran Reformation, which is tied to the Holy Scriptures as the original proclamation of the gospel, must be promulgated untiringly and without fear. That is why with gratitude I realize that we share a multitude of points of view amongst our partner churches throughout the International Lutheran Council (ILC) concerning the tasks that lie ahead for the confessional Lutheran churches in postmodern and, in some parts of the world (like Europe, as it seems to me), even post-Christian times.

The ILC ought to be an appropriate counterbalance to an increasingly non-confessional Lutheranism, and could provide a well-founded, profiled corrective to theological and church-political developments and objectives that diminish, abandon, or by trend annihilate the theological heritage and the confessional stance of the Lutheran church as it is circumscribed and defined in the Lutheran Confessions. Hopefully it could be a credible partner in dialogue with other churches and confessions, or movements and factions within major church bodies, that equally adhere to what might be defined as “historic faith.”

One of the areas of highest importance, as far as I can see, is the area of theological education. It might be said that the formation of future pastors in many a part of the

globe is and will be the appropriate way of missionary outreach in our time. And theology, Lutheran theology in particular, “is not meant to be an abstract, intellectual exercise but is deeply spiritual in that it is grounded in worship and accompanied by prayer and meditation with the expectation that affliction (Luther’s Anfechtung) will beset those who engage deeply with the Word.”87 Most certainly, it is all still a matter of prayers and patience, being convinced that the Lord will show us what he has in store for us, the seminaries, and the confessional Lutheran churches. There seems to be an urgent need for coordinating the educational efforts in the seminaries all over the world, but this is, and will be, hard work, too, to find and develop opportunities in order to improve the confessional Lutheran academic scenario.

There can be no doubt that, as long as we are churches bound to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions and intend to remain so, we will be aware that effectiveness is not ours but the Holy Spirit’s, through God's word and the sacraments. It is and will be him who creates, preserves, and strengthens faith and brings people from all races, cultures, social groups, societies, and nations to salvation.

For we are convinced of and dedicated to the fact that the “church which we believe in, and which we confess in our Confessions, is not a sect with the Concordia as its club statue, but the Una Sancta, in which we live.”88 Thank you for your attention.

Oberursel, Germany, October 3, 2016

Rev. Dr. Werner Klän is professor of theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Oberursel, Germany 87 Jeffrey Silcock, “Martin Luther—One Confession—Multicultural: Australian Perspectives” (lecture, Lutherische Theologische Hochschule, symposium on “Luther—Uni-confessional—Multicultural,” Oberursel, Germany, November 2015). Oswald Bayer has made a special contribution to the understanding of the rule by arguing that the key term in the formula is tentatio and that the oratio and meditatio have to been seen within that context. This is because, he would say, our praying as well as our meditating on Scripture can never be divorced from spiritual attack (tentatio) where Satan causes us to doubt that our prayers will be heard or that we can rely on the certainty of God’s promise. For a full explanation of the rule, see Oswald Bayer, Theology the Lutheran Way, ed. and trans. Jeffry G. Silcock and Mark C. Mattes, Lutheran Quarterly Books (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 33–65.

See also John Kleinig, “Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio: What Makes a Theologian?” Concordia Theological Quarterly 66, no. 3 (2002): 255–67.

88 Hermann Sasse, “Geleitwort des Verfasser,“ in In Statu Confessionis, ed. Friedrich Wilhelm Hopf (Berlin-Hamburg: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1966), 1: 10.

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The Lutheran Confessions do

Hermeneutics in the International Lutheran Council: A Paper Presented to the Lutheran World Federation in April 2017

not contain an explicit article on hermeneutics, but model a faithful reading that starts with sola scriptura and trusts that the Scriptures are true and will lead to Christ.

by Roland Ziegler

1. Introduction

E

very time biblical texts are preached, taught, and used in pastoral care, there is the expectation that this is not only a human act, but that God himself is speaking. For Lutherans, this is rooted in their conviction that the Scriptures are the word of God not only in a causal sense, but also in a present sense; that they are inspired.1 God speaks through these writings today, convicting human beings of their sin, and creating faith in the good news of free forgiveness for Christ crucified. God guides his church through the Scriptures in the controversies of the time and keeps her in the one, true faith.

These are the expectations. The Scriptures, though, seem not to be able to keep the church together; rather they seem to be open to not only diverse but contradictory understandings. Hence, Louis Bouyer could write that the Scriptures need to be preserved “from degeneration and alteration by the presence of Christ’s mandatories,” that without them “the Word of God preserved in Scripture is just a lifeless text, defenseless before the wildest interpretations.”2 Is it because they themselves are an assembly of

1

The words of Reinhard Slenczka, “Die Heilige Schrift, das Wort des dreieinigen Gottes,” Kerygma und Dogma 51 (2005): 185–86, may serve as a start for a discussion on inspiration, “In the right sense, directed by Scripture itself, it [sc. Inspiration] is about the Triune God being subject in the Holy Scriptures and that his holy Spirit dwells in them and works through them. It is the miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Scriptures came about, that they are distributed and preserved in the entire world and that they are interpreted and understood to this day. Miracles of the Spirit are every day occurrences, but mostly inconspicuous.” —“Im rechten, von der Schrift selbst geleiteten Verständnis geht es dabei jedoch darum, dass der dreieinige Subject in den Heiligen Schriften ist und dass sein heiliger Geist darin wohn und dadurch wirkt. Es ist das wunderbare Wirken des Heiligen Geistes, dass die Heiligen Schriften entstanden sind, dass sie in aller Welt verbreitet und bewahrt werden und dass sie auch heute ausgelegt und verstanden werden. Wunder des Geistes sind alltäglich, aber meist unscheinbar.”

2

Louis Bouyer, The Word, Church and Sacraments in Protestantism and

12

contradictory statements, so that, in the words of Ernst Käsemann, the canon of the New Testament is not the foundation of the unity of the church, but the foundation of the multitude of denominations?3 The unity of Scripture, and thus the Scriptures’ ability to be the judge of all doctrine, seems to vanish. But the contention that the Scriptures do not only have different types of soteriology and Christology, but contradictory and mutually exclusive ones, leads to the problem that such a position implies the experience of different gods and thus denies the unity of the God of Scripture.4 Thus, the so-called Scripture principle seems to be in a crisis.5 In the hermeneutical debates, this becomes an issue of whether the Scripture should be interpreted in such a way that its parts agree with each other or whether statements of Scripture in one place can be criticized as false from the central aspects of Scripture, or, in shorthand, from the gospel. The unity of Scripture thus becomes a hermeneutical issue.

Catholicism (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 58. The book was first published in 1960 and thus reflects the pre-conciliar view.

3 Ernst Käsemann, “Begründet der neutestamentliche Kanon die Einheit der Kirche,” in Das Neue Testament als Kanon, ed. Ernst Käsemann (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970), 131: “Der nt.-liche Kanon begründet als solcher nicht die Einheit der Kirche.

Er begründet als solcher, d.h. in seiner dem Historiker zugänglichen Vorfindlichkeit dagegen die Vielzahl der Konfessionen.”

4 Jörg Baur, “Scriptura—historisches Erbe und bleibender Auftrag,” in Sola Scriptura: Das reformatorische Schriftprinzip in der säkularen Welt (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1991), 40. Baur does not hold the position that there are no contradictions in Scripture, but sees the unity in the whole of the presentation of the story of man as creature to be reconciled.

5 See the overview of the discussion on the Scripture principle in Germany in Friedemann Stengel, Sola Scriptura im Kontext. Behauptung und Bestreitung des reformatorischen Schriftprinzips (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2016), 9–18, and Reinhard Slenczka, “Die Auflösung der Schriftgrundlage und was daraus folgt,” in Neues und Altes, vol. 3 (Neuendettelsau: Freimund, 2000), 253–61.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Lutherans have a common hermeneutical heritage. as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God.”7 That starts with sola scriptura, the emphasis on final There is therefore a double commitment: to the Scriptures authority of the Scriptures against all later churchly tra- and to the Book of Concord; though the commitment to dition. Church traditions can be helpful, but they also the Book of Concord is secondary, it is because (quia), can be unhelpful. They have to be tested at the bar of the not insofar (quatenus), it is “a true and faithful expoScriptures, and thus the Scriptures are not only in the sition of the Word of God.” Can the Confessions serve church, but also above the church.6 They nevertheless as a guide to hermeneutics? Confessional subscription do not operate with a “nude Scripture,” rather because assumes the correctness of the biblical interpretation in Lutherans are a creedal church, they acknowledge certain the Confessions. If we do not want to assume that the dogmatic decisions of the past as Confessions arrived at their intertheologically correct because they pretation with a faulty hermeneutics agree with Scripture. Thus, the Book The authors of the Book by some felicitous inconsistency, of Concord or parts thereof play a then the Confessions could serve of Concord thus see the role in the church’s task of underas an example of a good reading of Scripture as the word of standing Scripture, along with the Scripture in what they say and how God that is source and emphasis on the centrality of Christ they read it. The Book of Concord, judge of all doctrine and though, does not have an article on and/or the article of justification for hermeneutics and the interpretathe understanding of Scripture, and which clearly articulates tion of Scripture. Since the method an emphasis on the literal underthe articles of faith. of understanding should be approstanding of the biblical text—even Christ and his salvific priate to its object, some remarks though that did not rule out some work are the central on the view of Scripture in the allegory in preaching, as long as content of Scripture.

Confessions are appropriate. it conformed to the “analogy of faith” (Rom 12:6). Lutherans share a. Scripture in the Book of Concord also in a rather unique view of the There is no article on Scripture in the Book of Concord.8 canon, insofar as they acknowledge that in the received Unlike Trent and some Reformed confessions, Scripture canon there is an edge, namely the antilegomena in the is presupposed, but not defined. Part of the reason could New Testament. They emphasize Scripture as the word of be the character of the Confessions as occasional writthe present God, in which he speaks in law and gospel, ings. Thus, the Augsburg Confession does not deal with convicting of sin and forgiving sin. Where Lutherans Scripture itself, since the authority of Scripture was not differ—among other things—is first, on the question controversial, but rather with the relation of Scripture of historical criticism and its use and limitations, and and tradition. What was controversial, too, was the second, on the question of how Scripture speaks to cer- proper understanding of Scripture. If there is no explicit tain contemporary issues. article on Scripture, there is implicitly a doctrine of

2. The Confessions and Hermeneutics The confessional basis of the ILC states that the churches of the ILC “proclaim the Gospel of Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord

Scripture. “Word of God” can be used interchangeably with “Scripture,” though the semantic range of “word of God” goes beyond Scripture.9 Scripture is a divine book 7

“Constitution/Guiding Principles International Lutheran Council,” no.

II, “Confessional Basis,” International Lutheran Council, accessed May 26, 2017, http://ilc-online.org/files/2011/10/ILC-Constitution.pdf.

8

The closest one gets to an article of Scripture is the introduction to the Epitome and SD, the “Binding Summary.”

6

That goes against an Eastern Orthodox understanding as it is articulated by John Zizioulas, Being in Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985), 189: “The apostolic kerygma of Christ needs to be constantly placed in the Spirit in order to be life and not just words.

It cannot be an objectified norm in itself, something that judges the community of the Church from above or from outside.”

See Holsten Fagerberg, Die Theologie der luterischen Bekenntnisschriften von 1529 bis 1537 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1965), 15–18; Ralph A. Bohlmann, Principles of Biblical Interpretation in the Lutheran Confessions, rev. ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1983), 34–35, lists the different meanings of “word of God,“ e.g., Christ (AC III, 1); as instrument of the Holy Spirit (Ap XXVIII, 10); as gospel in the narrow sense (SD II, 2). “’Word of God’ and Scripture are used in a parallel way,” (AC conclusion of part 1). The 9

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whose author is the Holy Spirit (Ap IV, 107–8).10 It is, as the word of God, the eternal truth (FC SD Binding Summary, 12). God’s word cannot deceive or lie (LC IV, 57; V, 75). It is pure, infallible, and unchangeable (Preface to the Book of Concord). Scripture is contrasted to all human books. The distinction between human traditions and the divine word is one of the main points of contention (Ep Binding Summary 2, 7; SD Binding Summary 9).11 The Lutherans claim that their doctrine is founded solely on Scripture (Preface to AC, 8; AC Conclusion of Part I, 2; SA II, 2, 15).12 If one preaches and teaches human doctrine as God’s word, one breaks the Second Commandment.13 Scripture is the pure, clear fountain of Israel, that is, the source of doctrine and proclamation (SD Binding Summary, 3). Scripture therefore has a foundational function for the church of all times. The Epitome takes up Romans 15:4 and states that everything that is written is written for our instruction (Ep XI, 16).

The Scripture of the Old and New Testament is the “one true guiding principle, according to which all teachers word of God can be read (SD II, 57). Scripture and word of God are used synonymously (SD XI, 12). Fagerberg, Theologie der luterischen Bekenntnisschriften, 18: “Die Formel Gottes Wort steht immer in irgendeiner Verbindung zur Bibel, entweder als ein anderer Ausdruck für die Bibel oder als Bezeichnung für ein bestimmtes Bibelwort.”

10 Unless otherwise indicated, references to the Book of Concord are from Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 10th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986), hereafter referred to as BSLK. Ap IV, 107–8 (BSLK, 182), “Profecto mirum est, adversarios tot locis scripturae nihil moveri, quae aperte tribuunt iustificationem fidei, et quidem detrahunt operibus. Num frustra existimant toties idem repeti? Num arbitrantur excidisse spiritui sancto non animadvertenti has voces?” Melanchthon talks about the “Scripture of the Holy Spirit” in the Preface to the Apology when he says that the opponents have condemned certain articles contrary to the “manifestam scripturam spiritus sancti.“ Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000), 110, referred to subsequently as KolbWengert, translates it as “the clear writing of the Spirit.“ The German translation/paraphrase of Justus Jonas reads “öffentlich helle Schrift und klare Wort des heil. Geistes” (Ap Preface, 9 [BSLK, 143]). Scripture is called “divine” (Preface to the Book of Concord).

11 SD Binding Summary 9 (BSLK, 837, 10–15), “daß alleine Gottes Wort die einige Richtschnur und Regel aller Lehr sein und bleiben solle, welchem keins Menschen Schriften gleichgeachtet, sondern demselbigen alles unterworfen werden soll.”

12 SA II, 2, 15 (BSLK, 421, 23–25), “Es heißt, Gottes Wort soll Artikel des Glaubens stellen und sonst niemand, auch kein Engel.”

13 Melanchthon argues against masses for the dead that they “nulla habent testimonia, nullum mandatum ex scripturis. Neque vero est leve peccatum, tales cultus sine mandato Dei, sine exemplo scripturae in ecclesia instituere, et coenam Domini institutam ad recordationem et praedicationem inter vivos transferre ad mortuos. Hoc est abuti nomine Dei contra secundum praeceptum” (Ap XXIV, 89 BSLK, 373, 39–48).

Luther writes, “Allermeist aber gehet der Mißbrauch in geistlichen Sachen, die das Gewissen belangen, wenn falsche Prediger aufstehen und ihren Lügentand fur Gottes Wort dargeben” (LC II, 53 BSLK, 573, 25–29).

14

and teaching are to be judged and evaluated” (SD Binding Summary, 3).14 Scripture can be principle and judge in the church because it is clear. The clarity of Scripture is not a special topic in the Confessions, rather it is presupposed and shows itself in the way the Scriptures are interpreted.15 Thus, the Confessions quote clear passages for their position.16 The Confessions state expressly in the context of the discussion on the Lord’s Supper that this and all other articles of faith are based on the clear word of God.17 There is no reflection on clear and dark passages in Scripture and their relationship in the Confessions. The unity of Scripture is not specially discussed either, but just like clarity, is one of the presuppositions of the exegesis of the Confessions. All of Scripture is divided into law and gospel (Ap IV, 5; XII, 53). The Old and the New Testaments proclaim one way of salvation: faith in Christ (Ap IV, 57–59; XXIV, 55).18 The doctrine of justification 14 Kolb-Wengert, 527. The Scripture is called “judge” in Ep Binding Summary, 769.

15 Bohlmann, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, 57, thinks that the “rein” and “limpidissimum” of SD Binding Summary, 3, refers to the clarity of Scripture. I think that goes too far. What is affirmed here is that Scripture is not adulterated by falsity so that it can serve as a guide and rule.

16 See the list in Bohlmann, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, 58: Against the sacrifice of the mass for the dead (Ap XXIV, 94); for communion under both kinds (AC XXII, 2); for marriage of priests (AC XXIII, 3–9); against the necessity of human works for salvation (AC XXVIII, 43); for the distinction between civil and spiritual righteousness (Ap XVIII, 10); for justification by faith (Ap IV, 314); for divine monergism in conversion (SD II, 87).

17 “Nun ist ja kein so treuer noch gewisser Ausleger der Wort Jesu Christi, denn eben der Herr Christus selbst, der seien Wort und sein Herz und Meinung am besten verstehet und dieselben zu klären am weisesten und verständigsten ist, welcher allhie als in Stiftung seins letzten Willens und Testaments und stets währender Bündnus und Vereinigung wie sonsten in allen Artikeln des Glaubens und aller anderen Bund- und Gnadenzeichen oder Sakrament Einsetzung, als der Beschneidung, der mancherlei Opfer im alten Testament, der heiligen Taufe, nicht verblümte, sondern ganz eigentliche, einfältige, unzweifelhaftige und klare Wort gebrauch, und damit ja kein Mißverstand einfallen könne, mit den Worten ‘für euch gegeben, für euch vergossen’ deutlicher erkläret, lässet auch seine Jünger in dem einfältigen, eigentlichen Verstand bleiben und befiehlt ihnen, daß sie ale Völker also lehre sollen, alles das zu halten, was ihnen, den Aposteln, befohlen hat” (SD VII, 50, BSLK, 988, 12–34). The clear words of Christ are also transmitted clearly without change by the apostles and evangelists. “Derhalben auch alle drei Evangelisten ... und S. Paulus, der nach der Himmelfahrt Christi daselbige empfangen, 1. Cor. 11, einhelliglich und mit einerlei Worten und Syllaben diese helle, klare, feste und wahrhaftige Wort Christi: ‘das ist mein Leib’ ganz auf einerlei Weise von dem gesegneten und dargereichten Brot ohne alle Deutungen und Änderung wiederholen” (SD VII, 51, BSLK, 988, 44–989, 7).

18 To this pertains also the christological interpretation of the Old Testament, see Dan 4:27: Ap IV, 262; Hosea 13:14: Ap XII, 140; Isa 53: Ap XX, 5; XXIV, 23; SA II, 1, 2, 5; Num 28:4–8 is understood as a type of Christ: Ap XXIV, 36; the omnipresence of Christ’s human nature is prophesied in the Old Testament (Ps 8:6; 93,1; Zech 9:10): SD VIII, 27.

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as the chief article unites all of Scripture (Ap IV, 2; SA II, 1).19 Does the doctrine of justification have a hermeneutical function in the Confessions? Fagerberg denies it to avoid a reductionistic understanding of law and gospel.20 The German translation of Apology IV, though, states: “But since there is such a dispute on the highest, most prominent article of the entire Christian doctrine, as very much depends on this article, which also serves preeminently the clear and correct understanding of the entire holy Scripture” (Ap IV, 2).21 Since the message of justification articulates the central meaning of Scripture, one can speak of a “hermeneutical guiding function.”22 But justification cannot be used as an axiomatic principle or a criterion of elimination.23 The doctrine of justification is the explication of Christology into soteriology. Therefore, to speak of justification as central for Scripture means to speak of Christ as the center of Scripture.24 b. Hermeneutics in the Book of Concord The authors of the Book of Concord thus see Scripture as the word of God that is source and judge of all doctrine and which clearly articulates the articles of faith. Christ and his salvific work are the central content of Scripture.

The debates in the time of the Reformation are at their center debates on the right interpretation of Scripture, and thus one can see in the Book of Concord a way of interpretation that distinguishes itself from the Roman Catholic and Zwinglian/Reformed.

19

Ap IV, 2 (BSLK, 159, 1), “Pracipuus locus doctrinae christianae.”

20

Fagerberg, Theologie der luterischen Bekenntnisschriften, 38–39.

BSLK, 159, 3–8, “Dieweil aber solcher Zank ist über dem höchsten fürnehmsten Artikel der ganzen christlichen Lehre, also da an diesem Artikel ganz viel gelegen ist, welcher auch zu klarem richtigem Verstande der ganzen heiligen Schrift fürnehmlich dienet.”

21

Gunter Wenz, Theologie der Bekenntnisschriften der evangelischlutherischen Kirche (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1966), 1: 180.

22

With Wenz, Theologie der Bekenntnisschriften, 180. Hartmut Günther, “Das Schriftverständnis in der Konkordienformel,” in Bekenntnis zur Wahrheit: Aufsätze über die Konkordienformel, ed. Jobst Schöne (Erlangen: Martin Luther-Verlag, 1978), 32, rejects the thesis that in the FC the article of justification is “canon in the canon.” Wenz uses “canon in the canon” positively, but this does not describe how, for example, Melanchthon interprets James. He does not argue that James indeed does contradict Paul, but that this does not need to disturb a Christian, because what James says is not binding because of the canon in the canon. Rather, he refutes the claims of the opposing side with a detailed exegesis (Ap IV, 244–53). Luther uses the chief article in SA II to criticize not Scripture but ceremonies that have no basis in Scripture.

Thus, he criticizes for example the invocation of saints because it contradicts the chief article and because there is neither command nor example in Scripture (SA II, 2, 25).

23

Bohlmann, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, 73: “One can speak of the centrality of the doctrine of justification by grace in the Scriptures, or one can speak simply of their Christocentricity, for the person and work of Jesus Christ is the sine qua non of justification.”

24

What Lutheran exegesis looks like can be seen e negativo from the criticism of the Roman Catholic exegesis in the Apology.25 Melanchthon accuses the authors of the Confutation of only considering some parts of the Scripture (Ap IV, 183); distorting Scripture, since they practice eisegesis instead of deriving the meaning from the text (Ap IV, 224); careless exegesis because they add or omit words (Ap IV, 264, Ap IV, 357);26 distorting quotations or not considering the context (Ap IV, 286; XXIV, 15); neglecting or despising grammar (Ap IV, 283; XII, 106, 163); not following the common usage when investigating the meaning of a word (Ap IV, 357); and arguing contrary to logic and sophistically (Ap IV, 222, 335, 360), for example, when they make the consequence into a cause (Ap XX, 13), so that Melanchthon can ask in frustration: “Who taught these jackasses such logic?”

(Ap XII, 123).27 This means positively the entire Scripture must be considered, that no passages may be ignored that pertain to the issue. Any interpretation must be derived from the text—texts are to be understood in their context.

The rules of grammar and logic apply, the meaning of words is defined by common usage; in other words, the common rules of language also apply to the biblical texts.

In principle, one should assume the literal sense of a text.

This is especially emphasized in the controversy with the Reformed and their view of the words of institution as metaphorical.

Because of all of these things, we are bound to interpret and construe these words of the eternal, reliable, and almighty Son of God, our Lord, creator, and redeemer, Jesus Christ, not as embellished, figurative, exotic expressions as would appear in line with our reason. Instead, we should accept the words as they stand, in their proper, clear sense, with simple faith and appropriate obedience and not permit ourselves to be drawn away from this position by any objection or human counterargument spun out of human reason, no matter how attractive it may appear to our reason (SD VII, 45).28 Of course, the authors of the Book of Concord know that there is figurative speech in the Bible. But there is no 25 The following according to Bohlmann, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, 78.

26

Ap IV, 264, against Jerome’s interpretation.

27

“Quis docuit istos asinos hanc dialecticam? Sed haec neque dialectica neque sophistica est, sed est sycophantica” (Ap XII, 123, BSLK, 278, 2–5).

28

Kolb-Wengert, 600–601.

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detailed discussion on the question of when one should deviate from the literal sense.29 The example of Abraham who does follow the word that commands him to sacrifice his son, even though it seemed to contradict reason and an article of faith, is positively used for the humility that honors God by believing him (SD VII, 46).

This emphasis on the Scripture as a present authority does not mean that everything in Scripture pertains to the present reader in the same manner. The law of the Old Testament is not simply the law that is preached to the church. The Decalogue is binding on the Christian, while the civil and ceremonial laws of the Torah are not (Ap IV, 6). The ceremonial law was binding for a certain time, but not for Christians, as the apostolic preaching shows (Ap XV, 32). Even the Decalogue is not simply the eternal will of God. The Third Commandment is, when it establishes the seventh day as a day of rest, part of the ceremonial law (LC I, 82). Holy Scripture itself decides what in the Old Testament was given only to the believers of the Old Testament and what continues to be preached.30 In regard to the commands by the apostolic church, Melanchthon understands the decree of the so-called apostolic council in Acts 15:23–29 not as a binding of the church of all ages, since it was given only for a limited time “to avoid offense.” Rejected is any understanding that this decree can be used against the righteousness of faith. “For in this ordinance one must pay attention to the chief part of Christian doctrine which is not abolished by this decree” (AC XXVIII, 65–66).31 29

“Reason” is not acceptable as a criterion (SD II, 8; VII, 102).

3. Formal Statements on Hermeneutics The ILC does not have a common statement on hermeneutics. Individual churches have documents that are specifically dedicated to hermeneutics or touch on hermeneutics. Thus, the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) has adopted a statement on hermeneutics by its general pastoral conference in 2009 and its convention in 2011. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) does not have a statement dedicated solely to hermeneutics; A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles, adopted by the synod in convention in 1973, is the closest to an official statement on hermeneutics of the LCMS. There are also documents by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations dealing with hermeneutical issues, but these, since they were not officially adopted, do not have the same status as A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles. An article by Edward Kettner posted on the homepage of The Lutheran Church—Canada does touch upon hermeneutical questions.32 The Lutheran Church of Australia, an associate member of the ILC and the LWF, dealt with hermeneutical issues in their Theses of Agreement and subsequent documents.33 For time’s sake, I will give only a summary of Biblische Hermeneutik and A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles.34 a. Biblische Hermeneutik The document consists of a Preamble, Theological Foundation, Epistemological Considerations, Methodology, and Special Questions. The Preamble describes the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments as the “infallible

30

“For Holy Scripture did away with the Sabbath, and it teaches that after the revelation of the gospel all ceremonies of the old law may be given up” (Kolb-Wengert, 100). “Dann die heilig Schrift hat den Sabbat abgetan und lehret, daß alle Ceremonien des alten Gesetz nach Eroffnung des Evangeliums mogen nachgelassen werden” (AC XXVIII, 59, BSLK, 130, 12–15).

31 Kolb-Wengert, 100. Luther discusses in his “Ein Bericht an einen guten Freund von beider Gestalt des Sakraments” of 1528 if the church has “authority to change the ordinance of God and the Holy Spirit and to impose a new commandment, as the apostles have done then” in Martin Luther, Luthers Werke, Weimarer Ausgabe (hereafter referred to as WA) 26, 569, 29–31. Luther interprets the passage starting with Peter’s speech (Acts 15:10–11). Peter rejects here the binding nature of the Mosaic law for the Gentile Christians and teaches salvation by faith without the law. This position was accepted by the assembly. The four commands of the apostolic council are given for the sake of love, not for the sake of conscience, i.e., their purpose is to facilitate the life together of Jewish and Gentile Christians. As such, they are temporary rules which fell into disuse already in the time of the New Testament, as 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 show (WA 26, 573, 8ff). Luther does realize that the last point of the decree is of a different nature. Fornication is still forbidden, because chastity is a fruit of the Spirit and is commanded also in other passages of the New Testament (WA 26, 573, 14–15, 32–34). Thus, Melanchthon and Luther agree that the church has no

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authority to change God’s law, but the authority to create ordinances for a certain time for the sake of love, not to bind consciences.

32 Edward Kettner, “Lutheran Divergences: How Lutherans Are Drifting Apart,” Word and Deed 4, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 3–11, accessed May 26, 2017, http://www.lutheranchurch-canada.ca/ctcr/Other%20Documents/ Lutheran%20Divergences.pdf. This is based on a presentation to the joint meeting of the Council of Presidents of Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC) and the Council of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, January 1998, as stated at http://www.concordiasem.ab.ca/ academics/edward_kettner.php. This article has not been adopted as an official document. Nevertheless, as a resource offered by the LCC, it can serve at least as an example of hermeneutics in this synod.

33 See Lutheran Church of Australia, Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations, Volume 1, Part A, Theses of Agreement; Part B, The Scriptures, particularly “A Consensus Statement on Holy Scripture,” and two attachments, “Towards a Common Understanding of the Authority of Holy Scripture” and “The Extent and Certainty of the Canon,” accessed May 26, 2017, http://www.lca.org.au/departments/ commissions/cticr/.

34 Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK), Biblische Hermeneutik (2011), accessed May 26, 2017, http://selk.de/download/ Biblische-Hermeneutik-2011.pdf.

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word of the triune God, through which he speaks in history and the present to men, works saving faith and thus builds the church.” Lutheran Christians interpret Holy Scripture in faith in Jesus Christ and pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. Biblical hermeneutics instructs such a reading that is appropriate to the Christian faith and the ecclesiastical proclamation. Especially, it directs reading in such a way that Christ is known as the Lord and King of Scripture; to interpret Scripture in the certainty, that what it says and effects, is truth and reality and does not deceive; that Scripture is to be interpreted in the context of the faith of Christendom—divine service, prayer, doctrine, piety; to interpret Scripture so that God’s action in law and gospel is perceived; to interpret Scripture in the personal situation of oratio, mediatio, tentatio; that the interpreter is aware that he himself is interpreted

by Scripture; to interpret Scripture in the framework of Scripture and the Confessions, in other words, the Scripture is foundation and rule of the church, the Confessions are a summary of Scripture and dependent as a norm on Scripture. The Confessions at the same time structure the church’s reading of Scripture in such a way that it is directed toward Christ. Such an interpretation is theologically and methodologically appropriate. Any interpretation must be accountable—its results must be checkable and accountable.

In the “Theological Foundation,” first, God speaking and acting by his word, his deeds done by the word in creation and history, the record of these deeds in the Spirit-wrought words of the Old Testament and New Testament, and finally the proclamation through which God effects faith where and when it pleases him to, have to be distinguished and kept together. The canon of Scripture is given to the church as a presupposition and as a norm, and thus the word of God in the form of the canon is the final authority for the church. Scripture authorizes the church, not vice versa. The sufficiency of Scripture for doctrine and life is affirmed. Hermeneutically, this also implies that Scripture interprets Scripture, and that there is no authority outside of Scripture concerning interpretation that is superior to Scripture.

Regarding the canon, even though there are “edges” to it, the canon as generally accepted is also received by the Lutheran church. The understanding of Scripture that leads the believer to Christ is received in faith and is not a product of human reason. Taking the canon seriously means to see Christ as the center of Scripture and reject an understanding that results in disparate theologies in

Scripture.

The Confessions direct the understanding of Scripture in the way Christ and the apostles understood it, especially in the distinction between law and gospel, the self-verification of the words of God and the proper relation between the Old and New Testaments in promise and fulfillment, type and antitype, the double effect of the word of God in faith and unbelief, understanding and hardening of hearts, and the insight that the Scriptures aim at the proclamation of faith and love, justification, and sanctification, thus affirming that the intended aim of God’s word is the justification of the sinner for Christ’s sake. The gospel is seen at the same time in the history of God’s dealing with Israel and the Gentiles, the life of Jesus, the sending of the Spirit and the eschatological future, manifesting the faithfulness of God’s promise. Such an approach takes up impulses of the canonical approach to interpretation.

In regard to “Epistemological Considerations,” the document affirms that Holy Scripture bears the marks of its historical origin and that understanding and interpretation are also in the framework of history. Thus, the situation of the reader influences his understanding to a different degree. The task is thus to maintain the identity of the given word of God in its present reception. Thus, different interpretations are to be evaluated by the biblical word of God. Since understanding is not without preconceptions, any preconceived notions have to be evaluated by Scripture. A proper pre-understanding in the Lutheran church is that the reader expects from the totality of Scripture that it leads to Christ and reads it in the context of the creeds, prayer, and divine service of Christendom. A reading of Scripture as a document of the history of religion or under the guidance of ideas foreign to Scripture is inappropriate. The truth of Scripture is bound to the person of Christ. Truth is, in this context, that which opens truth to us, that which puts us into the light of truth and what involves us in the effect of divine truth. Truth thus is about the relation of us to the one who is the truth. This truth reveals itself in interpretation and preaching whose goal is faith and love. Such interpretation is done trusting in the reliability and clarity of Scripture. Such understanding of faith is not individualistic, but in the framework of the church of all times.

Thus, such a hermeneutical approach is contextual, in the context of church, with the aim to articulate the faith of the one holy, Christian, and apostolic church. This hermeneutical process is effected by the Spirit, with a use of

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human logic. The human intellect has a ministerial function and acknowledges humbly that nothing is impossible with God. Thus, a hermeneutic that operates as if there were no God is excluded. The instrumental use of reason serves the accountability/plausibleness of faith. As such the limitations and the possibilities of all hermeneutical methods are to be tested.

This means that philological and historical methods are legitimate and necessary in the interpretation of Scripture, as the “Methodology” chapter explains. The acknowledgment of the canon means also that human reason is not above Scripture. Since methods have to be appropriate to the texts, this means for the interpretation of Scripture that its texts have to be understood in the context of the canon ordered toward the goal of the proclamation of Christ. The way of interpretation has to be accountable and transparent to general understanding.

Hypotheses have their place in the effort to solve problems concerning the text and content, though they have to be minimized. Clear passages are to be used to interpret darker passages. Diachronic methods should serve the understanding of the present text in its canonical context. The history of interpretation is to be used critically.

Different methods can be helpful and appropriate, such as textual criticism, form criticism, linguistic methods, social and historical research, redaction criticism, history of interpretation, and word studies.

In the chapter “Special Questions,” the first issue is the edge of the canon, i.e., the issue of the Septuagint, of textual variants, and the antilegomena. Christian doctrine has to be taught from the homologoumena. Christ as the center of the canon does not establish a canon in the canon, but rather enables the integration of the biblical texts, its richness, and its different weight. This allows a fuzzy edge, since everything can contribute to the whole. In regard to the historical reference of the biblical texts, God interacts with men and thus “makes” history, as the Old Testament in the history of Israel and the New Testament in the person of Jesus shows. Extrabiblical documents are used in the effort to shed light on the background and the reality of biblical texts. Historical methodology is appropriate for an understanding of the texts, since God’s word came to men in men’s word with the historical situatedness of human existence. However, the truth and reliability of God’s word is not questioned when historical research judges differently, for example, when a reconstruction of a certain event is no longer possible. Historical research can neither confirm nor

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refute the truth of biblical proclamation. The account of historical events in Scripture is in the context of an interpretation of the promise of God and its eschatological fulfillment, in which also history will find its completion.

Concerning the Christian life, the distinction between law and gospel has to be maintained. The third use of the law, as in the Ten Commandments, the prophetic admonitions, the commandments of Jesus (for example, the Sermon on the Mount), and the paraenesis of the apostles, has a place under the rule of the gospel for the baptized, believing, and justified Christian. The imperfect works of the Christian are not works of the law, but fruits of the Spirit, though they conform to the divine commands given in Scripture. Thus, the law in this context means the immutable will of God (FC VI, 17). The will of God is expressed in the Bible in a multitude of textual genres. Biblical directions are, just as the historical narratives or doctrinal passages, binding for the church. They are to be interpreted and applied in the present following the premises in this paper, especially the distinction between the Old and New Testament and between law and gospel. According to the New Testament, the laws concerning the cult and the political and social law of the Old Testament have ended in Christ and are thus not simply binding in the church. On the other hand, the Decalogue and individual regulations from the holiness code and the primeval orders are applied to the life of the church. Regarding the time-bound character of instructions in the New Testament, the context of the passage, its terminology, and its specific linguistic form have to be taken into account. Thus, there are mandates like the means of grace and the office of the keys, binding for the church of all times.

In Paul, there are mandates that he transmits as commandments of the Lord, but also personal opinions or churchly customs, which still can be examples to later times. The ethos of following Christ and of the Haustafel both complement each other and the commandment to love one’s neighbor is made concrete in the individual Commandments, as in the Decalogue. Commandments are not to be seen as restrictive, but as describing the space opened by baptism in which the Christian life is lived under the blessing of Christ and under the guidance of the Spirit. Interpretation and application of the Commandments is proper when it leads to the return to baptism and to life conforming to this reality.

There is a legitimate aspect to reader-response criticism since God's word aims at reception and since

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the promise given in Scripture correlates to faith as the intended response. Nevertheless, the primacy of God's self-communication has to be maintained. The response does not constitute God's self-communication, but reader response as a description of human processes of communication can help to understand how communication happens and can lead to an appreciation of the activity of reading and hearing.

Concerning the multiple meanings of the word of God, there is already in the Bible the phenomenon that texts are interpreted beyond their historical meaning.

The history of interpretation shows how different texts are differently understood. There is a certain openness of texts to different interpretations. There is, therefore, a certain polyvalence of the text. Criteria for appropriate responses are canon, rule of faith, and church, and thus limit interpretations.

What about non-literal or typological and allegorical interpretation? There are such interpretations already in Scripture. To avoid arbitrariness, the analogy of faith has to be maintained. Typological and allegorical interpretations can illustrate and promote, but not establish, the faith of the church.

Contextual interpretation can make readers sensitive to the polyvalence of a text. It has to be criticized when it assumes that the context established the text. Contextual interpretation is structurally similar to homiletical interpretation and its expectation that the text has a specific message in this situation. Needed is a reflection on why certain implications of a text are perceived differently at different times. b. A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles As stated in the introduction, the closest the LCMS gets to a formal statement on hermeneutics is A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles, one of the few theological documents adopted by the synod in convention.

The historical context of this document is the dispute in the LCMS in the 1960s and 1970s on the use of historical-critical exegesis. Scriptural and Confessional Principles was adopted in 1973 to counteract certain theological positions in the LCMS. It is therefore not a complete statement on hermeneutics, nor does it engage some of the hermeneutical questions of a later date that Biblische Hermeneutik addresses. The synod in convention stated that it is “Scriptural and in accord with the Lutheran Confessions, and therefore a formulation which derives its authority from the Word of God and which expresses the

Synod’s position on current doctrinal issues.”35 As such, it is on the same level as the Confessions, but members of the LCMS are asked to “honor and uphold” its doctrinal statements, which “means not merely to examine and study them, but to support, act and teach in accordance with them until they have been shown to be contrary to God’s Word.”36 Thus, there is a provision for the eventual rejection of such a statement that is not in place regarding the Book of Concord.

In regard to hermeneutics, Scriptural and Confessional Principles affirms that law and gospel “must be constantly and diligently proclaimed in the church of God until the end of the world, but with due distinction.”37 The usus elenchticus legis and the tertius usus are named, rejected is that either the gospel is the “norm or standard for the Christian life” or that the Christian does “no longer need the instruction of the law.” Rejected also is that “what God’s law declares to be sinful (for example, adultery or theft) need not be regarded as sinful in all times and situations.”38 Article IV on Holy Scripture affirms in its first part, “The Inspiration of Scripture,” that “all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit,” that therefore “God is … the true Author of every word of Scripture.” Rejected is a view that sees no qualitative difference between biblical inspiration and the inspiration of all Christians, a view of inspiration as mere guidance of the human authors, inspiration limited to that which directly pertains to “Jesus Christ and man’s salvation” and that “portions of the New Testament witness to Jesus Christ contain imaginative additions which had their origin in the early Christian community and do not present actual facts.”39 The second part on “The Purpose of Scripture” states that the Scriptures, since their “primary purpose is to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus 35 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Resolution 3–01 of 1973, quoted in Guiding Principles for the Use of a Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles with Special Reference to the Expression of Dissent: A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (November 1973), 5, accessed May 26, 2017, www.lcms.org/Document. fdoc?src=lcm&id=2296.

36 LCMS, Guiding Principles, 6, the formulation from Resolution 2–21 of the LCMS convention in 1971.

37 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles, accessed May 26, 2017, https://www.lcms. org/doctrine/scripturalprinciples.

38 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles, Study Edition (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972), 12.

39

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 18.

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Christ,” are only rightly used “when they are read from the perspective of justification by faith and the proper distinction between Law and Gospel.” But since the saving work of Christ was achieved in history, “we acknowledge that the recognition of the soteriological purpose of Scripture in no sense permits us to call into question or deny the historicity or factuality of matters recorded in the Bible.”

Therefore, an understanding of what Scripture says without relating it to Christ and his work is not an adequate understanding of Scripture. Since Christ is at the center of Scripture, the Old Testament “read on its own terms,” bears witness to Christ. Rejected is the view that the “historicity of events or the occurrence of miracles” can be denied, as long as law and gospel are distinguished properly and that as long as the primary purpose of Scripture is maintained, questions of fact, such as if Christ was truly born of a virgin, are irrelevant.40 In the third section on “The Gospel and Holy Scripture,” the gospel “of the gracious justification of the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ” is affirmed not only as the “chief doctrine of Holy Scripture and a basic presupposition for the interpretation of Scripture,” but as “the heart and center of our Christian faith and theology,” as material principle. The Scriptures are the formal principle. The gospel is that to which the Scriptures bear witness; the Scriptures direct the Christian to the gospel.

A false description of the relation between gospel and Scripture is when the acceptance of the Scripture, not the gospel, is made the heart of the Christian faith; when the gospel, not the Scriptures, are made the norm for judging doctrine; when it is deemed acceptable to question the “historicity or facticity” of certain events, as long as the gospel is not distorted; or that “Christians need not accept matters taught in the Scriptures that are not a part of the gospel.”41 The authority of Scripture is described as twofold: a causative authority, that is, the power to create faith, and the normative authority, “to serve as the church’s sole standard of doctrine and life.” The authority of Scripture is accepted by faith. Thus, the authority of Scriptures is not only in what they do, but in what they are as the inspired and inerrant word of God. Rejected is the view “that the Christian community in every age is directly inspired by the Holy Spirit and is therefore free to go beyond the doctrine of the prophets and apostles in determining the 40

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 20.

41

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 23.

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content of certain aspects of its faith and witness.”42 In the section on “The Canonical Text of Scripture,” the present canonical text, not any precanonical forms, is affirmed as the authoritative text for the church today.

This implies that degrees of authority in the canonical Scriptures based on what is deemed historically “authentic” is rejected, just as it limits the use of extra-canonical sources in interpretation and their authority.43 The infallibility of Scripture is described as inerrancy.

“We therefore believe, teach, and confess, that since the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, they contain no errors or contradiction, but that they are in all their parts and words the infallible truth.” Ruled out by this understanding of infallibility is any accommodation to error in the Scriptures and error in what the Scriptures affirm to be the case.44 The unity of Scripture means that in the variety of Scripture there is a unity in the “same doctrine of the Gospel, in all its articles.” Rejected is the position that in the Bible there are “conflicting or contradictory teachings and theologies.”45 Regarding Old Testament prophecy, the Old Testament contains Messianic prophecies which are predictive and are correctly interpreted in the New Testament.46 The section on “Historical Methods of Biblical Interpretation” is the longest in the document. It affirms that God reveals himself in history and that the biblical writings are historical documents written in specific settings. Thus, the Scriptures “invite historical investigation and are to be taken seriously as historical documents.” But the interpreter of Scripture cannot adopt uncritically the presuppositions and canons of the secular historian, but … will be guided in his use of historical techniques by the presupposition of his faith in the Lord of history, who reveals Himself in Holy Scripture as the one who 42

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 26.

43

Therefore, it is wrong to rank material that is viewed as “authentic,” i.e., the “authentic” words of Jesus, as having greater authority than “non-authentic” statements. It is rejected that “certain pericopes or passages in the canonical text of Scripture may be regarded as imaginative additions of the Biblical authors or of the early Christian community and therefore need to be accepted as fully authoritative”; that extracanonical sources “may be used in such a way as to call into question the clear meaning of the canonical text” (LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 29).

44

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 31–32.

45

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 34.

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 36. See Ap IV, 5; FC SD V, 23.

46

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creates, sustains, and even enters our history in order to lead it to His end.

A secularist and naturalistic view of history is rejected, as is the view that if the use of historical methods “leads to conclusions at variance with the evident meaning of the Biblical text,” then such conclusions can be held “without violating the Lutheran view of Scripture or our commitment to the Lutheran Confessions.”47

4. Hermeneutics as Church Dividing:The Example of North America The issue of historical criticism remained a problem between the LCMS and other Lutheran churches in the United States. “The problem of historical criticism of scripture dogged the deliberations of the council [sc.

Lutheran Council in the USA (LCUSA)] through its life.”48 In the discussions in LCUSA, there was agreement that Scripture is the word of God and that it testifies to Christ; that every exegetical method is historically conditioned and thus changeable; that there is no exegetical method that will prevent human error; that every method reflects the philosophical and theological presupposition of its practitioner; that any method can be abused, but is therefore not by itself illegitimate; that all human efforts are subservient/ministerial “to the God who encounters us in scripture through the Holy Spirit.” The disagreements between the LCMS and the ALC/LCA participants were on questions of if the Scriptures, since God is their primary author, are without error in what it says and that historical criticism therefore “contradicts the Spirit’s connection with the Bible’s origin,” the very definition of historical criticism; the distinction between magisterial and ministerial use of reason, and the Scriptures as not only causative authority, that through them the Holy Spirit works faith in human hearts, but also the normative authority, “that the scriptural texts provide a God-given infallible norm for the proclamation of the Gospel”; and that historical criticism undermines the normative authority and ultimately also the causative authority.49 47

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 39.

48 Maria Erling, “The Americanization of American Lutheranism: Democratization of Authority and the Ordination of Women, Part I,” Journal of Lutheran Ethics 11, no. 6 (October 2011), accessed May 26, 2017, http://www.elca.org/JLE/Articles/186.

Naomi Frost, Golden Visions, Broken Dreams: A Short History of the Lutheran Council in the USA (New York: Lutheran Council in the USA, 1987), 20–21.

49

The theological differences that led to the end of church fellowship between the LCMS and ALC in 1981 were the authority and interpretation of Holy Scripture, the meaning of confessional subscription and its implications for the interpretation of Scripture and limits of theological diversity the Confessions set, and the nature and basis of church fellowship.50 At the convention in 1981, fellowship was terminated because of “doctrinal differences,” among them the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Holy Scriptures; the meaning and implications of confessional subscription; the nature and basis of fellowship; the ordination of women to the pastoral office; membership in ecumenical organizations such as the World Council of Churches; and varying practices regarding anti-Christian organizations.51

5. The Hermeneutical Question Pertaining to Women’s Ordination In 1963, a group of Lutheran pastors in Germany sent out a manifesto against women’s ordination. Bishop Lilje of Hannover wrote in his answer to them, “He who believes that this use of Scripture is possible, has left the ground of the interpretation of Scripture according to the reformation.”52 Here the dissent on women’s ordination is clearly described as a hermeneutical one. The same observation was made in the discussions in the United States. When the churches of the Lutheran Council in the United States discussed women's ordination around 1970, the Lutheran churches in their study of the biblical passages concerning women stumbled into significant disagreement over the biblical passages in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and in the letter to the Ephesians, that told women to be silent, to obey, to refrain from any teaching role. But in conducting the study, and in commending the matter to the churches, Reumann and his committee determined that differences among Lutherans were hermeneu-

50 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, “The American Lutheran Church and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod: A Statement of Doctrinal Differences,” Forward in Remembrance: 54th Regular Convention St. Louis, August 3–10, 1981, Convention Workbook, 397–402.

51 LCMS, Forward in Remembrance, Resolution 3–01; 153–55. “AntiChristian organizations” refers to lodges like the freemasons.

52 “Wer diese Verwendung Heiliger Schrift für möglich hält, hat den Boden reformatorischer Schriftauslegung verlassen,” quoted in Dietrich Kuessner, Die Braunschweiger Landeskirche in the 70er Jahren und ihr Landesbischof Gerhard Heintze (Wendeburg: Verlag Uwe Krebs, 2014), 42.

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tical and not exegetical.53 But what were these hermeneutical issues? John Reumann summarizes them thus: If one argues by proof texts, certain individual verses seem to exclude women from ordination—and from engaging in many functions in which they commonly participate in our churches nowadays.

If a rigorous criticism is applied, some of these texts most frequently cited against ordaining women can be excluded (as glosses) or demoted in value (as deutero-Pauline). If the entire mass of biblical evidence is considered, it is possible that there are seemingly conflicting views, even in the verses claiming to be from the same writer, Paul.54 Besides these biblical issues, Reumann also wants the history of the church to be taken into consideration and today “one finds oneself compelled to take into consideration also a host of other factors besides the biblical and historical factors.” What the “other factors” are, Reumann does not specify. Is that where sociological questions enter the hermeneutical endeavor? Reumann mentions a last point pertaining to hermeneutics: “Does a central gospel or do individual texts—and if so, which ones and how interpreted—prevail in reaching a decision?” For Reumann, the hermeneutical questions are therefore: - Is it legitimate to argue from “proof text” or “individual passages”?

- Is it legitimate to exclude certain parts of the canonical Scriptures as glosses?

- Is it legitimate to entertain the possibility of contradictions in Scripture and even in one author?

- Can the “central gospel” have the last word against an “individual passage”?

An essay by Krister Stendahl, who played an important role in the discussions on women’s ordination in Sweden and in North America, published originally in Swedish, was translated as “The Bible and the Role of Women” with a new subtitle, “A Case Study in Hermeneutics.”55 For him, the exegetical result is, that in the New Testament, when speaking about the role of women in the church, “we have found that when a reason is given, it is always 53

by reference to the subordinate position of women in the order of creation.”56 This subordinate position concerns not only the church, it is not even church specific, but is a structure in church and society. Thus, the emancipation of women is just as against the New Testament as women’s ordination. For Stendahl, there is a “straight” path for the church: [O]ne can maintain that every form of emancipation is foreign to the biblical view. … Then the question of ordination of women would not arise. Such a view is consistent and honest. … The question is whether it is truly biblical or whether it is merely an attempt to play “First-Century Bible Land.”57 Here his criticism of the Scandinavian exegesis of his time, which he calls “realistic exegesis,” comes in. “When the religionsgeschichtliche Schule helped us to accept the primitive, the Semitic, the collective, the cultic, the eschatological in the New Testament, realistic biblical study was seen to strengthen the respect for a vigorous and colorful orthodoxy or neo-orthodoxy.” But the problem of such a school of interpretation that is strictly descriptive may lead to a new Biblicism, if the hermeneutical question is not raised. “As a hermeneutical principle it may lead to a denial of history as God’s history. For it is highly doubtful that God wants us to play ‘First-Century Semites.’”58 This critique of “realistic exegesis” frames his rejection of the option to simply follow or imitate the New Testament. Since repristination is not an option, one should accept emancipation of women “with enthusiasm.” “It could be argued that such an attitude is quite in accordance with our obedience to the Bible, provided that those elements in its witness which point beyond what was actualized in the first century are permitted their full and creative force.”59 Taken with the remark before, this probably means that women’s emancipation is “God’s history.” Thus, the hermeneutical issue is: - In what way is the worldview of the New Testament binding on the present church?

- In what way is a rejection of modern developments a rejection of “God’s history”?

- In what way should the church develop elements of the biblical tradition that are in harmony with present societal development and reject those that are

Erling, “Americanization of American Lutheranism.”

John Reumann, Ministries Examined: Laity, Clergy, Women, and Bishops in a Time of Change (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1987), 98–99.

54

Krister Stendahl, The Bible and the Role of Women: A Case Study in Hermeneutics (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974).

55

22

56

Stendahl, Role of Women, 38.

57

Stendahl, Role of Women, 40.

58

Stendahl, Role of Women, 17.

59

Stendahl, Role of Women, 41.

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not in harmony with society?

Jürgen Roloff in his commentary on 1 Timothy states, “The admission of women to the office is founded finally on a fundamental hermeneutical decision, which therefore cannot be shared by representatives of a strict Biblicism.”60 Roloff can endorse women’s ordination because the argumentation in 1 Timothy 2 following Jewish exegesis of Genesis 2 and 3 is “artificial and problematic.” But the decisive point is that Sachkritik has to be exercised, not least because of the reception history of the text in centuries of Christians’ history that led to the discrimination and marginalization of women in the church. But this Sachkritik is not motivated by social issues, it is founded on the total witness of the New Testament and how it talks about the dignity of women and the position of women in the church. Since this text wants to be an interpretation of the gospel, it has to be evaluated by the gospel and has to be judged as lacking and also as a wrong interpretation of Genesis 2 and 3.61 The hermeneutical issues raised by Roloff are thus: - Is the interpretation of the Old Testament by the New Testament authoritative on the church?

- Should the New Testament writings be evaluated by the gospel and the overall witness of the New Testament?

view of the canonical approach in exegesis leads at least in a direction that would make it difficult to talk about contradictions in Scripture.63 Since Christ is the center of Scripture—not the “canon in the canon,” “the entire biblical text in its different textual genres, its richness and in its different weight” can be integrated.64 Is it legitimate to exclude certain parts of the canonical Scriptures as glosses? Both Scriptural and Confessional Principles and Biblische Hermeneutik emphasize the authoritative nature of the canonical text of Scripture.65 Biblische Hermeneutik has a discussion on textual questions and the canon. Just as the canon has an edge (for example, the Old Testament apocrypha, the New Testament antilegomena), so also in regard to textual questions there is an edge, so that there can be a discussion on textual variants. This does not need to be problematic, as long as they are integrated through the center of Scripture, that is, Christ. This seems to imply that strictly speaking, a canonical passage of Scripture cannot be excluded as a gloss, though there can be more than one option concerning a textual variant that is acceptable.

In what way is the worldview of the New Testament binding on the present church? Scriptural and Confessional Principles rejects the opinion that the Biblical authors accommodated themselves to using and repeating as true the erroneous notions of their day (for example, the claim that Paul’s statements on the role of women are not binding today because they are the culturally conditioned result of the apostle’s sharing the views of contemporary Judaism as a child of his time).66

Some of these hermeneutical questions are addressed in statements by churches of the ILC. In regard to the question of if it is legitimate to entertain the possibility of contradictions in Scripture and even in one author, Scriptural and Confessional Principles denies this.

We reject the view that Holy Scripture, both within and between its various books and authors, presents us with conflicting or contradictory teachings and theologies. We regard this view not only as violating the Scripture’s own understanding of itself but also as making it impossible for the church to have and confess a unified theological position that is truly Biblical and evangelical.62 Biblische Hermeneutik does not address the question directly. But its emphasis on the canon and the positive Jürgen Roloff, Der erste Brief an Timotheus Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 15 (Zürich: Benziger, NeukirchenVluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1988), 146.

60

This does not speak generally to the question of worldview, but it strongly suggests that the worldview of the New Testament is indeed binding on the present church.

Scriptural and Confessional Principles rejects also the view that the position of Paul on women in the church is not binding on the church today because his views reflect the opinions of contemporary Judaism.67 The document Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice by the LCMS places the 63

SELK, Biblische Hermeneutik, 2.2; 2.4.

64

SELK, Biblische Hermeneutik, 5.1.

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, IV, E, 29; SELK, Biblische Hermeneutik, 2.2; 2.4; 5.1.

65

61

Roloff, Brief an Timotheus, 147.

66

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, IV, F, 31.

62

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, IV, G, 34.

67

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, IV, F, 31.

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discussion on women’s role in the church in the framework of the order of creation and the order of redemption.68 The order of creation means that God “has given to that which has been created a certain definite order which, because it has been created by Him, is the expression of His immutable will. These relationships belong to the very structure of created existence.” The order of redemption “refers to the relationship of the redeemed to God and to each other in the new creation established by Him in Jesus Christ.”69 The order of redemption does not abolish the order of creation. Hence, Paul can argue with creation and the law in 1 Corinthians 11:7–9; 14:34, and 1 Timothy 2:13–14. Spiritual equality does not preclude subordination (hypotage). Galatians 3:28 speaks about baptism. “However, the oneness of male and female in Christ does not obviate the distinction given in creation.

Galatians 3:28 does not mean that the identity of man or woman can be exchanged any more than that Greeks can become Jews or vice versa.”70 This document implicitly addresses thus the question of proof texting and arguing from individual passages. It does refer to individual passages, but sees them in a larger biblical context.

In what way should the church develop elements of the biblical tradition that are in harmony with present societal development and reject those that are not in harmony with society? Biblische Hermeneutik addresses the tension between the time-limited nature of biblical commands and continued obligation, but gives only inner-biblical criteria (Old Testament-New Testament, context) and the overall purpose of Scripture. Interpretation of commands and paraenetic passages is appropriate when it leads to a return to baptism and a life that conforms to baptismal reality.71 Is the interpretation of the Old Testament by the New Testament authoritative for the church? Scriptural and Confessional Principles discusses this question in the context of the understanding of prophecy in the Old Testament and answers the question affirmatively when it rejects the view “[t]hat the New Testament statements about Old Testament texts and events do not establish

Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice, A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (September 1985), accessed May 26, 2017, http://www.lcms.org/ Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=316.

68 The

69

LCMS, Women in the Church, 21.

70

LCMS, Women in the Church, 26–27.

71

SELK, Biblische Hermeneutik, 5.3.3.

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their meaning.”72 Should the New Testament writings be evaluated by the gospel and the overall witness of the New Testament?

If this means that there are statements contradictory to the gospel in the New Testament and that therefore the gospel is used as canon in the canon to eliminate sub-gospel passages, then this would not be in harmony with either Scriptural and Confessional Principles or Biblische Hermeneutik. Scriptural and Confessional Principles explicitly rejects the position that the question of women’s ordination should not be decided by Scripture as a whole.73 When it rejects the opinion that the “gospel” should be the basis of ordaining women and puts “gospel” in quotes, it indicates that a gospel that is used in such a way is in some way a distorted form of the gospel. Implied in such a statement is the rejection to use the gospel as a principle from which articles of faith are to be deduced.

6. Conclusion This paper could only discuss some aspects of biblical hermeneutics in the ILC. Using formal documents, a picture of hermeneutics in the ILC is less than complete. For a fuller picture of hermeneutics in the ILC churches, an investigation into how Scripture is interpreted in sermons, pastoral care, and in the liturgical rites used is necessary.

Then the hermeneutics of the ILC churches of the global south that do not have formal statements on hermeneutics could be part of the discussion on hermeneutics.

Rev. Dr. Roland Zeigler is the Robert D. Preus associate professor of systematic theology and confessional Lutheran studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind.

72

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, IV, H, 36.

LCMS, Scriptural and Confessional Principles, 23: “That the Gospel, rather than Scripture, is the norm for appraising and judging all doctrines and teachers (as, for example, when a decision on the permissibility of ordaining women into the pastoral office is made on the basis of the ‘Gospel’ rather than on the teaching of Scripture as such).”

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The Lutheran Reformation

The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Worship

refocused worship by using the words of Scripture so that we trust in justification in Christ alone.

by Andrew Pfeiffer, PhD, Australian Lutheran College

Introduction

T

he first invitation I received as a seminary lecturer to present at a district pastors’ conference was an invitation to lead three sessions on worship. The second such invitation was to lead four sessions on the pastoral ministry. Those conferences remain etched in my memory as times of great challenge and great joy. Challenge because they touched on controverted issues causing conflict in the church. Joy because they stand at the core of Lutheran church life.

Thank you for the invitation to present this paper—it also has offered me great challenge and great joy. After a few brief introductory comments we will turn in the main section to five Lutheran liturgical themes and reflect on the current liturgical practice in our churches.

Justification in Liturgical Context The article on justification in the Augsburg Confession is said to be the article on which the church stands or falls. The article does not stand in isolation, however. It is preceded by a Trinitarian confession and then the sinChrist, law-gospel, bad news-good news articles. Then, having stressed that justification is by grace through faith, the confessors follow this with the confession that in order to obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, the ministry of the means of grace. They immediately define the church in liturgical terms as the assembly of those gathered to receive the faithful preaching of the gospel and the life giving sacraments. While justification by grace through faith stands at the heart of Lutheran teaching and ecumenical engagement, the

Lutheran understanding of church and ministry is a gift that Lutherans need to continue to give to one another, and then also offer to others in the ecumenical discussion.

Since the church is defined liturgically in Augsburg Confession VII, one of its tasks in each generation is to receive and pass on the Christian liturgical tradition. The liturgy is not Lutheran, it is ecumenical.1 The liturgy is not German, it is universal. The liturgy did not have its roots in the sixteenth century Reformation; indeed we see the shape or order of Christian worship already in the word and meal pattern of Christ’s revelation in Luke 24 and in the fourfold order in Acts 2:42.2

Liturgical Renovators The Lutheran Confessions follow Luther in seeing Lutherans as renovators, not innovators, when it comes to the liturgical life of the church.3 That is, the task 1

When this paper uses the word liturgy, it refers in the first place to the common Liturgy of Word and Sacrament, for example, Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement, 6, 58. When Matins or other prayer orders are meant, they will be noted specifically.

See Arthur A. Just, Heaven on Earth: The Gifts of Christ in the Divine Service (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2008), 18, 81–83.

2 3

Martin Luther, “An Order of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg,” in Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress and St. Louis: Concordia, 1955–1986), 53: 20–26 (hereafter cited as LW). The problem for Luther was seeing the liturgy turned into a work, but to use that objection to deconstruct the liturgy is not following Luther. Luther says, “It is not now nor ever has been our intention to abolish the liturgical service of God completely, but rather to purify the one that is now in use,” (20). The basic order that he outlines on pages 27–30 is still obviously reflected for example in all the Lutheran Church of Australia orders of Holy Communion, Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement, 6, 58. Note also the essay by John Stephenson, “Luther’s Reform of the Mass and its

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of the church is to receive, test, and reform the liturgical tradition, not to try and invent it or introduce radical innovations. We see this perhaps most clearly in the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession: Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. In fact, the Mass is retained among us and is celebrated with the greatest reverence. Almost all the customary ceremonies are retained. (AC XXIV, 1)4

is hardly surprising. If justification by grace through faith is at the core of Lutheran teaching and if that theological confession is enacted primarily in the liturgical assembly, then we can expect the liturgical life of the church to come under significant scrutiny, and, from time to time, to be a focus of conflict. At the same time, every generation has the joy of receiving, understanding, enriching, and passing on our liturgical inheritance.

Trinitarian Worship

The Lutheran confessions are Trinitarian confessions.

When accused of being sectarian, the confessors repeatedly reference the ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’ We do not abolish the Mass but religiously retain Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.6 and defend it. Among us the The first article of the Augsburg Mass is celebrated every Lord’s Confession, the Apology of the day and on other festivals, when Augsburg Confession, and the To be clear, the gap the Sacrament is made available Smalcald Articles are confessions to those who wish to partake of between heaven and of the triune God. It is significant it, after they have been examined that the first confession in the Book earth is bridged by God, and absolved. We also keep traof Concord is not the Augsburg not us. Worship is not so ditional liturgical forms, such as Confession, but the Apostles’ much about our ascent the order of readings, vestments Creed, followed by the two other to God as it is about his and other similar things. (Ap ecumenical creeds, the Nicene and XXIV, 1) descent to us to serve us the Athanasian. Lutherans did not see themselves as theological innowith gifts of forgiveness, Throughout the history of the vators but as confessors of the faith life, and salvation.

Lutheran church it seems that liturof all ages. gical reception on the one hand and This Trinitarian confessional liturgical renewal on the other have starting point for Lutherans is also not sat well together and more than once the Lutheran significant liturgically. Christian worship, and therefore church has had what we from within the so-called westLutheran worship, is Trinitarian. On the one hand this ern Lutheran church sometimes call “worship wars.”5 This is obvious. We gather in the triune name, with the help of the Spirit we confess our sins to our heavenly Father Application to Liturgical Change Today,” in Congress on the Lutheran and ask for forgiveness for our sins for the sake of Christ Confessions: Worship 2000, ed. John A. and Jennifer H. Maxfield (St. and his death, we sing glory to the triune God, we hear Louis: The Luther Academy, 2010), 20–23.

4 Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from the Book of Concord are the word of the triune God, we confess faith using the from Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: Trinitarian creeds, we pray numerous times in the liturgy The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: and give thanks by the power of the Holy Spirit to the Fortress, 2000).

5 Joseph Herl has demonstrated that liturgical conflicts were not Father through the Son, we go out to our lives of Christian confined to the 1970s western Lutheran liturgical tradition, but existed vocation with the Trinitarian blessing over us. from the beginning of Lutheran liturgical life. Joseph Herl, Worship Why then are some of these things either missing in Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). John Kleinig notes our liturgical life or enacted poorly? Perhaps we need that the significant liturgical contribution of Theodor Kliefoth was reminding of the Trinitarian foundation of Christian forged in the context of finding himself superintendent of Schwerin and Confession has not been abolished in our churches.

(AC XXV, 1)

working for the spiritual renewal of the province at a time of theological and liturgical confusion in “The Liturgical Heritage of Theodor Kliefoth,” in Lord Jesus Christ, Will You Not Stay, ed. J. Bart Day (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002), 109–10. See also Naomichi Masaki, “The Confessional Liturgical Revival of Theodor Kliefoth and the Works of Liturgical Revision of the Preface in Nineteenth-century

26

Sweden: The Vitality of the Lord’s Supper as Confessed in ‘He Alone is Worthy’” (PhD diss,. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 2005), 28.

6

See AC III, Ap III, SA I, FC Ep III, FC SD, 37.

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liturgy and of its meaning when enacting the liturgy.

James B. Torrance explains the significance of being Trinitarian in worship in this way: In worship we participate through the Spirit in the Son’s communion with the Father. We participate in what the Son is continuing to do for us in the presence of the Father and in his mission from the Father to the world. There is only one true priest through whom and with whom we draw near to God our Father. There is only one mediator between God and humanity. Is not the bread we break our sharing in the body of Christ and the cup we bless our communion in the blood of Christ? And because we share in the Son we share in his communion with his Father, and we do so by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is true. We are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into the community which confesses faith in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and which worships the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.7 A paper written by our own faculty builds on this thought and notes there are two aspects of this Trinitarian approach to worship:

our ascent to God as it is about his descent to us to serve us with gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Peace of conscience and joy of heart have their foundation in the divine service, not in the human response, even though such a response is Spirit led, faith based, and rightly oriented to giving glory to the triune God. Another way of speaking about this distinction is to speak about the sacramental and sacrificial aspects of worship. Commenting on Kliefoth’s contribution to Lutheran liturgical distinctions, Kleinig first draws attention to Melanchthon’s description of this way of thinking in the Apology XXIV, 69–77, and then explains:

In the sacramental side of the divine service the Triune God acted on the congregation and gave out his gifts to those assembled in his presence; in the sacrificial side of the divine service the The Augsburg congregation responded to God’s Confession links the giving of himself and his gifts by presenting its offerings to him. It reception of the Holy Spirit to the word of God brought its Spirit-produced, God pleasing sacrifices to God the Fain Articles V and XVIII. ther in prayer and praise, confesIt is through the word and sion and thanksgiving, the giving the sacraments that the of gifts and the self-giving love for the people of God. The sides Holy Spirit is given. belong together. They co-exist in the liturgy. Yet the sacrificial reaction depends on the sacramental action and is empowered by it.9

Christian public worship takes place in the presence of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; we are present in the heavenly sanctuary of the Triune God. The Heavenly Father offers the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Spirit we approach the Father through and with the Son. The Spirit leads and empowers us in our response to God’s presence and activity.8 To be clear, the gap between heaven and earth is bridged by God, not us. Worship is not so much about 7 James B. Torrance, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 8–9.

8 Faculty at Luther Campus, “Worship at Luther Campus: A Declaration and Appeal,” 1995, accessed June 7, 2016, https://lca.box.net/shared/ static/kpdgbmoj6nnsc97l32md.pdf.

This sacramental/sacrificial understanding is helpful for Lutherans as they assess their liturgical life today and look to the future. This paper now uses that framework to reflect on particular contributions Lutherans have made but also the particular challenges Lutherans face in worship today, beginning with the sacramental, and then the sacrificial. A brief section on catechesis connects the two.

9

Kleinig, “Theodor Kliefoth,” 116–17. For an exploration of the role of the Holy Spirit in the sacramental/sacrificial understanding of worship, see John W. Kleinig, “The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Service,” Lutheran Theological Journal 44, no. 1 (2010): 20. He notes in that article biblical insights of the sacramental/sacrificial understanding from a study of Heb 12:22–25, the confessional background to the discussion in Ap XXIV, 71–75, and the work of Torrance referenced above, especially pages 1–57. He also adds the helpful pastoral note that “while these two sides can be formally distinguished, they cannot be separated or reduced to a chronological sequence of a divine action followed by a human response. They can at times coincide and combine, as Melanchthon notes, in a single enactment with ‘a twofold effect’ (Ap XXIV, 75),” 20.

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Lutheran Liturgical Themes for Reflection Worship—Divine Service as the Enactment of Theology For Lutherans, worship is the enactment of theology.

For example, we confess the catechetical understanding of baptism in Luther’s catechisms, but the call to sacramental faithfulness is not finished with that clear confession.

People are actually prepared for baptism, baptised, and taught to live daily in their baptism. Likewise, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of absolution grounded in John 20:21–23 and taught in the Confessions (AC XXV, 1), but it is equally necessary to teach people the difference between real guilt and human anxiety, how to respond to a guilty conscience with confession of sin, and, from the pastor’s point of view, how to actually absolve the penitent. The liturgical response to the penitent is not the Australian mantra, “She’ll be right mate,” but, “I forgive you all your sins.”

Luther taught people the reality of enacted theology by distinguishing between forgiveness won and forgiveness given: So that our readers may the better perceive our teaching I shall clearly and broadly describe it. We treat of the forgiveness of sins in two ways. First, how it is achieved and won. Second, how it is distributed and given to us. Christ has achieved it on the cross, it is true. But he has not distributed or given it on the cross. He has not won it in the supper or sacrament. There he has distributed and given it through the Word, as also in the gospel, where it is preached. He has won it once for all on the cross. But the distribution takes place continuously, before and after, from the beginning to the end of the world.10 Again, our own faculty highlight the necessity of seeing worship primarily as divine service: The heart of worship is God’s own service to God’s people. Worship is always divine service, because in worship God serves us. Divine service is God at work, giving to us as he forgives, renews, sanctifies, blesses, empowers, and equips us for service. What God requires of us before all else is a listening ear, receiving hands, and a believing heart. In worship we hungry beggars come to be filled.11 Arthur A. Just reminds us that “the liturgy is the 10

“Against the Heavenly Prophets,” LW 40: 213–14.

11

Faculty at Luther Campus, “Worship at Luther Campus.”

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context in which God acts to save his people and in which God’s people respond.”12 Paul Grime notes the connection between right worship and true faith when he writes, “The Divine Service is first and foremost about God. He is the author of our salvation: hence, any worship that does not begin and end with God runs the risk of being false.”13 We might ask then, what else could the divine service be about?

Joseph Herl has noted that the influence of rationalism in the eighteenth century led to calls for new liturgies or even total abandonment of the inherited liturgy. It is revealing to read what some of the objections were.

Herl says that Johann Rau, for example, noted the most important abuses as The too frequent use of the Lord’s Prayer, the making of the sign of the cross, the Aaronic benediction, chanting by the pastor, the use of candles on the altar, private confession, the use of the appointed lectionary texts for sermons.14 He also notes that Peter Burdorf, writing in 1795, argued this way: repetition in the liturgy weakened the attention of the listener … the sermon … would be more tolerable if hymn verses were interspersed during it … return to the communion observance as Jesus celebrated it, without ceremony, consecration, or singing of the Words of Institution … some liturgy was necessary for public services to be held, but it should be as simple as possible in order to meet the needs of contemporary Christians.15 Is it any wonder that the liturgies that emerged were said to reflect sentimentality and moralism?16 Different theological and cultural emphases do influence churches and their leaders and there is sometimes pressure for the sacrificial aspect of worship to take 12

Just, Heaven on Earth, 23.

13

Paul J. Grime, “The Theology and Structure of the Divine Service,” in Christ’s Gifts in Liturgy: The Theology and Music of the Divine Service, ed. Daniel Zager (Fort Wayne: Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 2002), 12–13.

14

Herl, Worship Wars, 128.

15

Herl, Worship Wars, 128.

Herl, Worship Wars, 128, noting the opinion of Luther Reed. It is also possible to try and reorient the focus of the liturgy around the collective emotional state of the people gathered. This is not just a case of the sacrificial element of worship overtaking the sacramental. It divorces the sacrificial from the sacramental because the sacrificial aspect is no longer a response to the sacramental, but possibly even a contrived response.

16

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precedence in the liturgy. The place we in Australia most experience this in practice is probably at a funeral, where there seems to be little time constraint on the obituary and other tributes to the departed, and yet the Bible readings may be reduced and the preacher is under considerable pressure to keep the sermon short. Yet the divine action comes primarily in that liturgy through the reminder of baptism, the readings, the sermon, and the word-based prayers.

The use of the church year goes a long way to ensuring that the liturgy is the context for God’s action. The lectionary insists on focusing on Christ and his death for the sin of the world, and then on the life of Christ in the church.

The world’s issues find their place in cries for mercy, focused law-gospel sermons, prayers, and offerings.

Some pastors, especially in the United States and Australia, are under cultural, and sometimes even ecclesial, pressure to be entertainers. The daily news service, late night talk shows, and the contemporary arts tend in the direction of entertainment rather than serious engagement with content. Good liturgical leadership grows as pastors and pastoral candidates grow in confidence in what God wants to do in worship and how he wants to do it. Such leadership doesn’t need to lack emotional heart or bore people to sleep, but it will start with a conviction that the prime leadership task is to ensure the service is first and foremost divine service.

Table Discussion God’s action and the response of the faithful both need attention in our liturgical practice. Think of your own church’s liturgical practice. How would you evaluate in these areas: following the church year, preaching lectionary readings, singing Psalms, praying the Kyrie, responding to the cultural pressure to entertain?

The Empowering Word One of Luther’s main concerns in the early days of the Reformation was to re-invigorate evangelical preaching. When he names the problems that have crept into the liturgy, he says the worst is that God’s word has been silenced. The second problem follows closely—other topics or “un-Christian fables” becomes the focus of sermons.17 The Lutheran Confessions contrast the pastoral approach of Lutheran preachers with what is being preached from other pulpits: 17

“Concerning the Order of Public Worship,” LW 53: 11.

Among the opponents there are many regions where no sermons are delivered during the entire year except during Lent. And yet the chief worship of God is to preach the Gospel. And when the opponents do preach, they talk about human traditions, about devotion to the saints and similar trifles … On the contrary, in our churches all the sermons deal with topics like these: repentance, fear of God, faith in Christ, the righteousness of faith, consolation of consciences through faith, the exercise of faith, prayer … the cross, respect for the magistrates and civil order, the distinction between the kingdom of Christ and political affairs, marriage, the education and instruction of children, chastity and all the works of love. (Ap XV, 42–44) There already we Lutherans hear a challenge for today.

Can we be as confident today about what people will hear from the pulpit as Melanchthon was in 1531? The Lutheran Confessions teach that “the true adornment of the church is godly, useful and clear doctrine, the devout use of the sacraments, ardent prayer, and the like . . . the centre of worship [is] the proclamation of the gospel, faith, and its struggles” (Ap XXIV, 51). The gospel, faith, and its struggles—note the pastoral concern. The gospel is to be preached in such a way that it addresses people’s struggles as they seek to live as children of God in their daily lives.

It is just at this point that we face at least two challenges in contemporary preaching. The first is to teach preachers to choose a text from the lectionary, invest time to find out what it means, and then under the Spirit’s guidance, meditate on the way in which that text speaks into the faith and life issues of the people gathered. Preaching begins with the word and not the world, but evangelical preachers always have the world in mind, because the world is both the location of much temptation and trial, and also the daily exercise of faith.

The second challenge is that sermons sometimes go astray precisely when it comes to preaching both law and gospel. Sermons that try and diminish the preaching of the law, or preach it so softly it is hardly heard, do not serve people well because they do not help people see their need for salvation and Christ. The law is a mirror held up to the society, to the church, to individuals, in order to reveal reality. Left to our own devices of spiritual understanding and love and faith, we are lost. There is no need for a gospel of salvation if no one is lost.

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On the other hand some sermons diagnose sin sickness well but then fail to preach the gospel of grace. One reason we sometimes resonate with a whole variety of preachers from different denominational backgrounds is because they too have diagnosed sin-sickness quite accurately. But then comes the question, “What now?”

When the reality of how we stand before God as sinners has been diagnosed and named, now what? Too often the response is one or another form of “obedience” preaching.

Try harder in the faith, pray more fervently, give more generously, follow Christ more perfectly. Who is doing the work here?

Faithful living, love and generosity are fruits of the work of God, so God needs to go to work in the sermon.

And God goes to work through the clear proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. What the guilty need to hear is not “pull your spiritual socks up,” but God forgives, God restores, God welcomes, God hears prayer, God blesses the poor in spirit, God gives gifts to the spiritually needy, God is true to the promises he makes in his word to the baptised and those who look to him in faith.

The challenge is to find that promise and action of God in each text, and if it is not there in the specific reading, then it is there in the context.

The sermon is not the only place the word of God is used in Lutheran worship, however. In the basic common order of the Lutheran Church of Australia, the whole liturgy is basically the word of God enacted. For example, the confession of sins uses Hebrews 10:22, Psalm 124:8, and Psalm 32:5 to give penitents the words they need.

Various Scriptural passages are recognisable in our liturgical Glorias (Luke 2:14; 1 Tim 1:17; Rom 11:33–36; 16:27; Rev 5:12–13). The Kyrie echoes common biblical cries for mercy (Matt 9:27; 17:15; 20:30–31; Mark 10:47–48). The preface and thanksgiving prayers are prayed Scripture (for example Ps 25:1; 86:1–14; Isa 6:1–9; Rev 4:8). The Sanctus (Rev 4:8), the Agnus Dei (Rev 5:11), and the Blessing (Num 6:24–26) are examples of Scripture used liturgically to enact theology.18 This is a significant issue in times when people have a genuine concern to see the Holy Spirit at work in the 18 See also Just, Heaven on Earth, 238–40. Just concludes that “the ordinaries of the liturgy—the Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Hymn of the Day, Creed, Sanctus, and Angus Dei—are biblical and reflect a community shaped and formed by Christ through Scripture.” Günther Stiller also praises the liturgical functioning of the Bach cantatas because of their grounding in Scripture in Johann Sebastian Bach and the Liturgical Life in Leipzig (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1970), 157.

life of the church. The Augsburg Confession links the reception of the Holy Spirit to the word of God in Articles V and XVIII. It is through the word and the sacraments that the Holy Spirit is given. Kleinig draws the liturgical conclusion: How then can we be sure that the Spirit is at work in our worship? We can be certain of the Spirit’s inspiration and operation when God’s word is faithfully used as the means of the Spirit. This may be why all the classical ecumenical orders of service consist almost entirely of scriptural material. We absolve and bless with the word; we preach and meditate with the word; we baptise and perform the Eucharist with the word; we pray and praise with the word; we offer ourselves and our gifts with the word. Through the right enactment of God’s word we participate in the descending and ascending operation of the triune God in the assembly, the work by which the Spirit not only brings God the Father to us through his Son but also brings us to God the Father together with his Son. Whatever is done with the word and by faith in the word is done with the Spirit.19 Through the use and reception of the word of God in the liturgy, we can have confidence in the reception and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The centrality of the word in a Lutheran view of worship is not only a formal theological pillar, it has an inherently pastoral goal.

Through the word and the presence of the Holy Spirit, people are forgiven, healed, restored, and empowered for the service that lies ahead of them.

Lutheran churches are sometimes called to respond to Pentecostal challenges that members need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When the word of God is at work in the liturgy, in the readings, in the sermon, as the basis for prayer, and as actual texts for canticles and blessings, then the whole service is designed so that people weekly receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit through the word of God. The first main focus in the liturgy is to bring forgiveness and peace and healing in order to give people good and cleansed consciences. Another emphasis is to enact the teaching that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the church through the means of grace, the means of the Holy Spirit. These are theological and pastoral reasons for the extravagant use of the word of God in the divine service.

19

30

Kleinig, “Holy Spirit,” 24.

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The challenge for us today is twofold. How are we using the word liturgically? Is our preaching a clear proclamation of law and gospel with God as the chief actor for salvation and life?

The Lord’s Supper—For You It is striking to return to the Augsburg Confession and see how short the article on the Lord’s Supper is. What is more striking is to see how short the article is in the Apology.

After noting that the Roman Confutation approved the Tenth Article, there are just two paragraphs which mainly focus on how the Lutheran understanding is affirmed by the Roman church and also the Greek church (Ap X). The opening to the Smalcald Articles on the Lord’s Supper is almost the same as the Augsburg Confession. Luther does address communion in both kinds and what he calls the sophistry of transubstantiation, but the article is still modest in length. Luther shows us his own approach in the catechisms that bear his name. He says, “We must speak about the second sacrament . . . under three headings, stating what it is, what its benefits are, and who is to receive it” (LC V, 1).

Why do I note this? One of the main impacts of our sacramental theology on our liturgical life is that since we are convinced • that our confession with respect to the Lord’s Supper is biblical, • that we administer the Lord’s Supper faithfully, and • that God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation are freely given.

We need to do all we humanly can to ensure that people receive those gifts for their blessing.

Joseph Herl’s studies of various sources come to the conclusion that one of the main issues in Luther’s day with respect to the Lord’s Supper was limited participation on the part of the laity. Many of the faithful only communed at Easter or four times a year at high festivals. This wasn’t necessarily because they lacked faith, but because “the priest offered the mass on behalf of the church, therefore communion by all present was not necessary.”20 The lack of regular attendance had a theological cause.

Likewise, increased regular attendance at the Lord’s table also has a theological cause—recognition of our own need and trust in the divine gifts offered. Lutheran teaching on the Lord’s Supper is essentially pastoral. The main focus is that troubled consciences are forgiven and

healed. Luther’s emphasis when considering who the sacrament is for starts with simple trust in the word of God and the promises of God. “The best preparation is … a soul troubled by sins, death, and temptation and hungering and thirsting for healing and strength.”21 Or, as we know it from the Small Catechism, “a person who has faith in these words, ‘given for you’ and ‘shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,’ is really worthy and well prepared” (SC VI, 9–10). And, we can conclude, such a person is to come and regularly receive the gifts God offers.

Recognition of spiritual need comes through trial, temptation, and listening to the word, and so the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper does not stand on its own but follows the liturgy of the word.22 Sometimes it is not a lack of intellectual understanding about the sacrament that prevents people from attending regularly, but a lack of understanding about their own spiritual need. It is a first commandment issue.

We learn at least two things from Luther at this point.

As far as the liturgy is concerned he proposes walking between imposing universal laws and customs on the one hand, and ordaining and establishing nothing on the other hand, which can result in as many factions as there are opinions.23 In Luther’s opinion, the word and the Supper had suffered in the hands of the Enthusiasts and the Romanists.24 A conservatively renovated evangelical liturgy, which bore a strong resemblance to the one he had received, ensured the word and sacrament were faithfully given to the faithful, and were not at the whim of any one priest or pastor who for one reason or another did not understand the deep connection between theology and pastoral practice.

The second thing we learn is the need for patient catechesis. The starting point for Luther when he observed the poor spiritual state of the church was not liturgical imposition, but biblical, theological, and liturgical catechesis (SC Preface, 7–24). This happened among other things by ensuring as much as possible that the liturgy enacted the gospel and so served to catechise people every time they attended. This was accompanied by teaching people a deeper understanding of the liturgy and the sacrament, which led to a deeper hunger for more regular participation.

21

“Order of Mass and Communion,” LW 53: 34.

22

Just, Heaven on Earth, 211.

23

20

Herl, Worship Wars, 26.

“A Christian Exhortation to the Livonians Concerning Public Worship and Concord,” LW 53: 46.

24

“A Christian Exhortation,” LW 53: 19–20.

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It should not surprise us though that Luther’s patience did have its limits. While he suggests careful instruction in moving people from communion in one kind to reception of both kinds, he says at one point that two years is enough. If after two years they are not eager to receive in both kinds, they probably never will be. There is pastoral common sense here for us. Be careful of radical innovation even when it is a return to a better liturgical or pastoral practice. Teach, teach, teach. But at some point the liturgical change may need to be made for the sake of the best delivery and reception of God’s gifts for hungry souls.

Catechesis I have a firm conviction that Luther’s Small Catechism is an excellent resource to teach the Christian faith into any cross-cultural context.25 The Small Catechism is primarily Scripture and scriptural teaching ordered in such a way that • we are faced with our own need for salvation (Ten Commandments), • we hear who God is and what God has done for us (Creed), • we learn how to ask God for all kinds of gifts (Lord’s Prayer), • we see how God gives us the Holy Spirit and all manner of good gifts (Holy Baptism, Absolution, Lord’s Supper), and • we discover what daily Christian living looks like (daily prayers and the walks of life where we practice faith in love).

The Small Catechism is also an excellent resource to teach the liturgy. Just as the link between Scripture and the catechism is integral in teaching the faith, so it is possible to integrate a teaching of the liturgy in any teaching of the catechism. Even a cursory look at the list above reveals the opportunities that arise to teach the invocation, confession and absolution, the liturgy of the word, offerings and prayers, the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, and blessings for daily living.26 As Luther demonstrated, it is impossible to talk about the basic content of the faith without drawing out the liturgical implication that 25 Andrew Pfeiffer, “Faith into Context,” (lecture, Luther 500 Conference, Melbourne, Vic, June 2016).

26 See also John T. Pless, “Ceremonies for Seekers: Catechesis as a Fundamental Criterion for Worship in the Lutheran Confessions,” in Congress on the Lutheran Confessions: Worship 2000, ed. John A. and Jennifer H. Maxfield (St. Louis: The Luther Academy, 2010), 29–43.

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People no longer want to receive the sacrament and they treat it with contempt. This too needs to be stressed, while keeping in mind that we should not compel anyone to believe or to receive the sacrament … instead we should preach in such a way that the people make themselves come without our law and just plain compel us pastors to administer the sacrament to them … those who do not hold the sacrament in high esteem indicate that they have no sin, no flesh, no devil, no world, no death, no dangers, no hell. That is, they believe they have none of these things although they are up to their neck in them … On the other hand, they indicate that they need no grace, no life, no paradise, no heaven, no Christ, no God, nor any good thing …

Emphasize clearly the benefit and the harm, the need and the blessing, the danger and the salvation in this sacrament. Then they will doubtless come on their own without any compulsion. (SC Preface, 350–51) Lutherans face two challenges here as we look to the future. The first is to keep or regain confidence in the word of God to do the work of God. The second is to introduce people to the Christian faith in such a way that theology and its enactment in the liturgy are seamlessly integrated.

We now turn to the impact of Lutheranism on two of the sacrificial aspects of the liturgy—prayer and congregational song.

Prayer, Christ, and the Word of God Lutheran teaching impacted congregational prayer for much the same reason that it impacted a range of liturgical practices in the church. Attendance at mass, participating in private confession, and remembering saints’ days were not taught so much as works of the faithful, but as gifts of God, each in their own way, nurturing and encouraging faith and faithful living. Likewise with prayer.

The first Lutherans took great pains to distinguish prayer as a God-pleasing work of a justified person from prayer as a good work that earned God’s approval. They emphasized three things. First, Christian prayer depends on God’s commands and promises rather than the performance of the person, for by his Word God gives access to His grace.

The power of prayer therefore comes from God’s Spirit-filled Word. Second, prayer is an act of faith

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by which a believer receives a good conscience before God and all His promised gifts. Third, Christ encourages and helps His disciples to pray by giving them the Lord’s Prayer.27 When the invocation of saints is discussed in the Apology, the key themes are the merits of Christ as the basis on which Christians come to their heavenly Father, and the commands and promises of the word of God (Ap XXI, 17). The word of God reveals a merciful God in Christ, and that this same Jesus Christ leads us in our prayers and even gives the church the words to speak as he gives his own prayer (John 16:23; 17:20–26; Luke 11:1–4).

The word commands the church to pray but also to be confident in prayer, knowing that prayers are heard on account of Christ and answered by a gracious God (Matt 11:28; Luke 11:5–13).28 The Reformation’s renewed confidence in the all sufficiency of the word of God meant that prayer too was to arise from the word of God. This was especially significant for Luther’s understanding of the Lord’s Prayer, and prayer in general, as Wengert notes: The God who commanded Luther to pray, promised to answer, and gave him the words to pray, is the very God who redeemed him with his holy and precious blood … The only weapon the Christian has to wield against Satan is “prayer alone”, a sola worth adding to Reformation stain glass windows—but understood now not as mere howling or magic but as arising out of God’s Word and human need and thus in line with the “little word” (Wortlein) of “A Mighty Fortress.”29 In the Large Catechism, Luther teaches that God does not respond to prayer because of the merits or status of the person praying, but because people take God at his word and trust in his promises (LC III, 16). This is not innovative. Jesus’ teaching about the Pharisee and the tax collector makes the same point (Luke 18:9–14). The tax collector’s prayer grows out of spiritual reality. I am a sinner 27 John W. Kleinig, Lutheran Spirituality: Life as God’s Child (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2010), 71.

28 Here again, we see the close connection between the word and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Kleinig concludes, “As the church hears God’s word and receives Christ’s body and blood, it prays for the Spirit and receives the Spirit, just as Christ promised in Luke 11:13.” Kleinig, “Holy Spirit,” 20.

Timothy J. Wengert, ed., The Pastoral Luther: Essays on Martin Luther’s Practical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 197.

29

and God is a God of mercy, so the prayer prayed in accord with that reality is, “God have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The cry for mercy in the liturgy, the Kyrie, as we call it, which echoes the cry of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46–52), is a significant aspect of the sacrificial part of the liturgy.

Luther retains the Kyrie in his revised liturgy.30 It is the church’s call to God for mercy upon itself, and also upon the world. The church stands with Christ before the heavenly Father and prays for the troubled world. If anything, in our troubled times, the Kyrie ought to be expanded in contemporary liturgies, not omitted as it sometimes is.

The Kyrie enacts the theology of the cross in prayer, as we stand before a merciful God living by faith alone and not by sight.

The Collects are obvious examples of prayer being shaped by the word of God for the day, and the structure of the collect can also serve as a basis for personal spirituality: • address to God • biblical basis of the prayer • actual request • future intention • Trinitarian conclusion What is less obvious is the way in which most general prayers are constructed. The General Prayer in the Lutheran Church of Australia common order is an example of praying the Scriptures and scriptural echoes abound.31 The church prays for the mission of the church and for mercy on those who oppose it (Matt 24:9–14; 28:18–20; Luke 10:2; Luke 8:5–8; 2 Tim 4:2), for justice and wisdom for political leaders (1 Tim 2:1–2; Matt 22:21), for protection, blessing and comfort (Matt 11:28–30; Heb 13:20–21; 2 Cor 1:3–4), for those who gather at the Lord’s table (1 Cor 10:16–17), and for true faith and a godly life as we prepare for the world to come (Luke 17:5; 18:8; 23:43; Eph 2:10). While this is not a specifically Lutheran impact on worship, because of the centrality of Christ and his word in Lutheran theology, the Lutheran church needs to ensure its liturgical life is a good example of this depth and breadth in congregational prayer, especially at a time when it is tempting to become limited in vision and even self-obsessed in prayer.

We need to make brief mention of Luther’s pastoral advice to his barber, Master Peter, who asked Luther to 30

“Order of Mass and Communion,” LW 53: 23.

31

Lutheran Church of Australia, Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement (Adelaide: Lutheran Publishing House, 1989), 13–14.

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teach him how to pray.32 Nearly a third of the catechism is direct quotation of Scripture, and where it is explanation of teaching, as in the section on Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the question is always asked, what word of God is the sedes doctrinae, the source of the teaching.

Master Peter is directed to meditation on the word with the help of the Holy Spirit. When you pray, Luther says, first take one commandment and ask what it teaches.

Only then does he move to actual prayer—for what can I give thanks, what do I need to confess, and what request will I make of God.33 This so-called “four garland” pastoral advice not only remains an excellent illustration of, and model for, Lutheran spirituality, but it also explains why Luther can say he can never exhaust the catechism.

Congregational Song It is no accident that this paper has not addressed the issue of music in depth. It is a topic that demands a paper all of its own.34 Robin Leaver draws attention to a draft outline Luther developed as the basis for a future treatise on the subject of music. For now it is enough to note Luther’s main points: Music is a gift of God Music creates joyful hearts Music drives away the devil Music creates innocent delight Music reigns in times of peace Leaver offers a helpful commentary on each one.35 Luther’s pastoral advice in his letters of spiritual counsel sometimes direct people to music for spiritual consolation in times of depression and anxiety.36 Luther’s liturgical concern in the early days of the Reformation was to involve the people of God more in singing liturgy and hymnody. According to Herl, the issue for Luther was giving song back to the congregation because the choir had taken the primary responsibility for singing in the liturgy.37 Leaver highlights how Luther used

32

“A Simple Way to Pray,” LW 43: 193–211.

33

“A Simple Way to Pray,” LW 43: 200.

music as part of his catechetical pedagogy.38 Even though the Italian renaissance style of more individualistic performance made its way to Germany, Stiller’s judgement is that German Lutheranism did not know of the distinction between church style and theatrical style.39 The issue today is usually slightly different, in our context, anyway. There is still often a need to teach a congregation to sing, but it is more because the western entertainment culture has taught people to be observers rather than participants. Another issue is sometimes the need to give the song back to the congregation because the music group or worship leaders have assumed it as their responsibility. In fact, the two things are linked in the Australian context. In some instances the band may lead well and encourage congregational song, but the congregation is so used to being observers in the broader culture that, without catechesis and encouragement, they will assume that stance in worship too.

In time, music was thought of by Luther and in later Lutheranism as the viva voce evangelii, the living voice of the gospel.40 It is a question for us whether that understanding still remains. How many churches for example would still insist that school principals must know how to sing and candidates for ordination must have studied music.41 A final point of interest, which is significant when we think of liturgical growth in the mission field, is to distinguish the words of the liturgy from the musical setting of the liturgy. The Lutheran Confessions teach us to identify the status controversiae when discussing conflicted issues. Many worship discussions and so-called worship wars fail to progress very much because they don’t distinguish text and music in liturgical discussion. Three new contemporary musical settings of the liturgy were generated in our own church when musicians were asked to use the wording of two common Holy Communion orders as closely as possible and write a new musical setting. Many complete settings were submitted and three complete settings were chosen.42 In recent years a new setting has also been released by the Commission of Worship titled Five Songs of Faith. I don’t mention this to necessarily

34

Readers are directed to the work of Robin Leaver in this connection, especially Luther’s Liturgical Music: Principles and Implications (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007).

35

Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music, 86–97.

36 Martin Luther, Luther’s Letters of Spiritual Counsel, ed. Theodore Tappert (Vancouver, BC: Regent College, 2003). See for example, ”Letter to Joachim of Anhalt,” 1534, 94, and “Letter to Matthias Weller,” 1534, 97.

37

Herl, Worship Wars, 34.

34

38

Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music, 107–61.

39

Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach, 142–43.

40

Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach, 267.

41

See Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music, 277, quoting Tischreden, 292.

42

These were released under the title Sing the Feast and are available in musical score and CD. http://www.lca.org.au/departments/commissions/ commission-worship/order-resources.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

suggest any other Lutheran church use them, although you are welcome to, but to illustrate possible outcomes when the text of the liturgy and the music of the liturgy are distinguished. These contemporary settings illustrate that all musicians grapple with the integration of words and appropriate musical setting, but they are an attempt to practice Luther’s encouragement for congregations to be participants, not observers, in the liturgical life of the church.

Summary The impact of Lutheranism on worship is an interesting topic. We recognise that worship in general, and the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper specifically, is not a Lutheran invention. There is an ecumenical perspective in all liturgical studies and conversations that needs to be kept firmly in view. Where confessional integrity leads us or perhaps even constrains us, it does so by urging us to be what I have called renovators, not innovators. Liturgy in Lutheran churches ought to be recognised as at least a cousin, if not a sibling, of liturgy in Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches.

So what is the impact of Lutheranism? In the examples I have given both from the sacramental and the sacrificial aspects of worship, the impact relates to two main things.

Justification by grace through faith in Christ means that standing in and with Christ gives us confidence in worship, both in terms of divine service, and in the response of faith. Secondly, when Lutheran liturgical life is grounded in the actual commands and promises of the word of God, and even uses the actual words of Scripture for absolution, prayer, and praise, those who gather gain confidence that the forgiveness won on the cross is offered and received by faith in the liturgical assembly.

Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer is head of the school of Pastoral Theology at Austrailian Lutheran College.

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The catechisms are useful tools

Response to Andrew Pfeiffer: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Worship— the German Perspective

to teach that doctrinal and liturgical formulations are intertwined; the Scriptures effect what they promise in the confession of the Church gathered in worship.

by Armin Wenz

I

n his lecture on Genesis, Luther says that all reformation is in vain unless doctrine is purified first.

Only if the church has certainty concerning the true God-given doctrine will she be ready for the reformation of her order and her liturgical life according to God’s word.1 This is how the reformer comments on the passage in Genesis 35 where God commands Jacob to go to Bethel in order to build an altar for him. Jacob responds by admonishing the members of his household to throw away their idols, to purify themselves, and to put on new clothes. Thus, it is the divine command and institution of the true worship that causes Jacob, in Luther’s words, to reform doctrine first and then the liturgy or church order.

The reformation of doctrine consists in the unaltered passing on of the divine command. The reformation of the liturgy consists in repentance from idolatry and the concrete implementation of the divine command in 1

“Alle Reformation oder Besserung, so vorgenommen werden mag, ist vergeblich, wo nicht erst die Lehre gereinigt wird. Denn siehe an die Thorheit des Pabstes und aller nachfolgenden Concilien, welche zu allererst etliche äußerliche Ceremonien verordnen, als, daß sie den Priestern gebieten, lange Kleider zu tragen, ihre sieben Zeiten und Messe fleißig zu lesen, verbieten ihnen, zu spielen und Hurerei zu treiben. Dasselbe heißen sie eine Reformation der Kirche. . . . Denn die Bischöfe und Cardinäle sind grobe ungeschickte Leute, die keine Gedanken haben auf das Wort und auf die Lehre, verstehen es auch nicht und fragen gar nichts darnach. … Derhalben soll man sich vor allen Dingen befleißigen, daß wir die rechte und gewisse Lehre von Gott haben mögen. Da mag man dann eine rechte Reformation und Kirchenordnung anrichten,” (Johann Georg Walch, Luther’s Works, Volume 2, II, 910). See also 914–15: “Das ist nun eine schöne Reformation, da man erstlich die Lehre reformirt und reinigt; darnach werden auch die Sünden ausgefegt … Zuletzt geschieht auch eine Ermahnung, daß sich das Volk und die Priester im Tempel fein ehrlich kleiden sollen.”; Also: “Die aber die äußeren Zeremonien verachten, “zeigen damit an, daß sie nichts glauben und daß sie Gott und seine Kirche verachten.”

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liturgical practice and prayer.2 This brings us to a specific understanding of the relationship between the lex credendi and the lex orandi. In the preface of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche (SELK) agenda, we read: “According to an early church principle, the order of prayer determines the order of doctrine (lex supplicandi statuat legem credendi) and vice versa. Everything in this agenda claims to be in accordance with the church’s confession. Therefore, it is mandatory for the divine service of the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church.”3 2

See Armin Wenz, “Die Begründung des Kirchenrechts (lex orandi und lex credendi),” Lutherische Beiträge 13 (2008): 176, “So kommentiert D. Martin Luther in seiner Genesisvorlesung eine Stelle, in der davon berichtet wird, wie Gott dem Erzvater Jakob befiehlt, nach Bethel zu ziehen, um dort einen Altar für ihn zu bauen (Gen 35). Jakob antwortet auf diesen Befehl, indem er die Seinen dazu aufruft, die fremden Götter abzulegen, sich zu reinigen und die Kleider zu wechseln. Es ist also die göttliche Einsetzung des Gottesdienstes, die Jakob, in Luthers Worten, dazu bewegt, zuerst die Lehre und dann auch die Ordnung zu reformieren. Die Reformation der Lehre besteht aus der unverkürzten Weitergabe des göttlichen Befehls. Die Reformation des Gottesdienstes besteht aus der Umkehr von Abgötterei und aus der Umsetzung des göttlichen Befehls ins Tun und Beten. Beides vollzieht Jakob vorbildlich als bischöflicher Visitator der ihm anvertrauten Seelen.”

3

“Nach altkirchlichem Grundsatz bestimmt die Ordnung des Betens auch die Ordnung der Lehre: ‘lex supplicandi statuat legem credendi’ – und das gilt umgekehrt genauso. Alles in dieser Agende will dem Bekenntnis der Kirche gemäß sein. Darum ist sie auch verbindlich für den Gottesdienst der Selbständigen Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche.”

See Hermann Sasse, “Liturgie und Bekenntnis,” Lutherische Blätter 11, no. 62 (1959): 93, “Die Liturgie bestimmt die Lehre nur, wenn die Lehre die Liturgie bestimmt.” For an English translation of this essay see Hermann Sasse, The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters—Volume II (1941-1976) trans. Matthew C. Harrison, et al. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2001), 301.

See Leif Norrgård, “Liturgische Theologie,” in Ich will hintreten zum Altar Gottes: Festschrift für Propst em. Hans-Heinrich Salzmann, ed.

Johannes Junker and Michael Salzmann (Neuendettelsau: Freimund, 2003), 139–54.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Andrew Pfeiffer has shown how this principle is Doctrinal and liturgical formation are thus inseparably applied in the Lutheran Reformation when the whole intertwined. This is the reason why the reformers not only liturgical and catechetical life of the church, that is, both scrutinize their opponents’ doctrine of justification, but doctrine and worship, is bound to and founded upon also include the liturgical practice and church order into Christ’s institutions. These institutions comprise both their criticism. Justification is applied as a critical norm commandments and promises and thus they aim at of all doctrine and practice of the church only in conboth the church’s obedience in relation to Christ as her nection with and as biblical exposition of the Trinitarian head and the believers’ trust in Christ as their Savior and and christological dogma of the church catholic, and at Shepherd. Thus the Lutheran Reformation presupposes the same time in connection with the very implementanot a dichotomy, but an indissoluble unity of doctrine and tion of the divine institutions in the liturgy of the church. worship, theology and liturgy, as indispensable aspects Thus when Heinrich Bornkamm says that the Augsburg of the very essence of the church. The fundamental Confession does not establish a church that is teaching dichotomy in reformation theology is not the modern according to the Scriptures, but that the Confession tesdistinction between theory and practice, but the biblical tifies to the very existence of such a church,7 this includes distinction between true and false doctrine, true and the aspect that the Confession does not constitute a false worship. new way of celebrating the liturgy, This is also in accordance with but testifies to the existence of a the Augsburg Confession, which church that is living her liturgical The fundamental expounds the doctrine of justifilife according to the Scriptures. dichotomy in reformation cation as not only including the The way the Confessions discuss Trinitarian, anthropological, and liturgical aspects, therefore, is theology is not the christological foundation of this more descriptive than prescriptive. modern distinction chief article of faith, but also as Thus the partners and opponents between theory and including the liturgical execution or in dialogue are enabled to compractice, but the biblical distribution of justification which, pare the way they worship with the distinction between true according to AC V, takes place in worship life in the parishes of the the proclamation of the gospel Reformation. and false doctrine, true and in the administration of the Problems and conflicts necand false worship. sacraments through the divinely essarily arise whenever doctrine ordained office of the ministry. The or worship is detached from the church’s confession of justification divine institutions found in the thus takes the form of such a concept of faith and wor- Holy Scriptures and from the criteriological event of jusship that is inseparably connected to specific liturgical tification. This happens whenever doctrine or worship forms.4 Gerhard Scheidhauer, with his groundbreaking is designed in order to meet human purposes that are work on the ius liturgicum, has shown that the Lutheran foreign to the Scriptures and go beyond the question of Confessions put forth not only doctrinal principles5 how the holy God and the sinful human being can have (dogmatische Lehrprinzipien), but also complementary fellowship with each other. The approach taken by the liturgical principles and orders (liturgische Gestalt-und Lutheran Confessions in these conflicts relates to human Ordnungsprinzipien) that echo the doctrinal principles. traditions or inventions not inimically, but critically. The For the office of the ministry is the divinely ordained criteria for discerning between good and false tradition form without which justification cannot be realized and is the question of whether a theological notion or liturgical practice serves the divine institutions or whether it experienced.6 4 Gerhard Scheidhauer, Das Recht der Liturgie: Zum Liturgie- und Rechtsbegriff des evangelischen ius liturgicum, THEOS 49 (Hamburg: Francke-Verlag, 2001), 93, “in der Form eines liturgie- und damit gestaltgebundenen Glaubens- und Gottesdienstbegriffs.”

5

See Scheidhauer, Recht, 92–94.

6

Scheidhauer, Recht, 81, Denn das Predigtamt ist “die von Gott

eingesetzte Vermittlungsform, ohne die Rechtfertigung nicht mitgeteilt werden kann.”

See Heinrich Bornkamm, Das Jahrhundert der Reformation. Gestalten und Kräfte, 2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1966), 220, “Die Confessio Augustana konstituiert nicht eine schriftgemäß lehrende Kirche, sondern bezeugt ihr Vorhandensein.”

7

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darkens, harms, or even destroys the divine institutions we also find prefigured there baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. And when Sunday after Sunday the and thus takes away the very certainty of salvation.

I agree with Dr. Pfeiffer and want to stress the point that preachers portray Christ (Gal 3:1) and his gifts before the Luther’s catechisms are to be considered as an excellent eyes of their hearers, they do so by filling in the outlines paradigm for the unity of worship and doctrine. This with the colors and images of the whole biblical narrative. unity has two aspects and implications: It is established At the same time, if it is true that the Christians’ and by focusing on what is divinely instituted over against all the church’s deeds of mercy grow and flow forth from human additions, substitutes, and distortions, while at the the reception of the forgiveness of sins, and especially same time expounding the totality of the church’s worship from the Lord, who himself serves us in a holy feast at life, including the divine worship in which God serves his table, there is no reason not to celebrate the Lord’s and keeps his church, and the daily worship in which God Supper every Sunday. Gert Kelter, in a wonderful essay serves and sustains the world. Luther, in his catechisms, on the Lutheran understanding of divine worship that does not only display the fundamental elements of the was first presented in the context of the ecumenical talks divine liturgy in the respective words of institution, but that took place between representatives of SELK and the also the fundamental elements of the divine orders of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany (2008–2013), points three estates or the two kingdoms. out that the divine service in all its With the focus on the remission of elements, including the reading of sins, the doctrine of justification the Scriptures, baptism, the procis the center of the catechism and, lamation of absolution, the Lord’s It is the risen Christ thus, of both doctrine and liturgy.

Supper, and the pastoral office, is who rules his church Thus, the remission of sins, which about the presence of Christ in the through the proclamation takes place for the sake of Christ midst of his people.8 If this is true, if of the Scriptures and and his atoning sacrifice, and which the divine service is nothing but the is distributed through the means of advent and coming of the Shepherd who gives the church’s grace and received by faith, is what to his flock, the Groom to his bride, hermeneutic and distinguishes the church from any the Head to his body, there is no preaching a specific other institution on earth, while at reason whatsoever not to give, enjoy, structure … the same time establishing a specific and administer Christ’s presence connection to these institutions or in the instituted and commanded vocations. It is the sins committed fullness of his gifts, including his in this life and world that are very body and blood. I refer here forgiven in the church. to Kenneth Wieting’s excellent book, The Blessings of Undoubtedly one very important impact of worship Weekly Communion.9 Thus I want to underscore Andrew life shaped by the Lutheran Reformation is the liberation Pfeiffer’s comment on the question of how long one from any moralistic, pedagogic, or idealistic utopias. This should wait to adjust the liturgical lives of our parishes to pertains even to the hermeneutics of the Holy Scriptures. biblical and confessional principles. “Be careful of radical The Scriptures do not display a theoretical mindset that is innovation even when it is a return to a better liturgito be turned into real life by their interpreters. Rather, in cal or pastoral practice. Teach, teach, teach. But at some the very setting of the divine worship they prove them- point the liturgical change may need to be made for the selves to be effective and self-interpreting. It is the risen sake of the best delivery and reception of God’s gifts for Christ who rules his church through the proclamation of hungry souls.”10 This is true not only for the question of the Scriptures and who gives the church’s hermeneutic weekly communion, but also for the topic of regaining an and preaching a specific structure not only by fulfilling the law and the promises in his proclamation and work 8 Gert Kelter, “Christ’s Presence in Worship According to the of salvation, but also by focusing the whole biblical narra- Understanding of the Confessional Lutheran Church,” Lutheran Theological Review 25 (2013): 22–37. tive on the institutions he commands to create faith and, 9 Kenneth Wieting, The Blessing of Weekly Communion (St. Louis: thereby, his church. Thus, we do not only find Christ in Concordia Publishing House, 2006). the promises, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament; 10 Pfeiffer, “The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Worship.”

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Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

appropriate practice of confession and absolution, which takes seriously the specific gift of an individual distribution of the forgiveness of sins that at the same time must not be liturgically questioned by making forgiveness conditional. I here refer to the important research and practical conclusions elaborated by Gottfried Martens on the controversies concerning confession and absolution during the Reformation.11 Our churches, congregations, and the mindsets of many parishioners and pastors very often are not only shaped by the principles of the Reformation but also by later changes that have crept into the Lutheran church not only from rationalism but also, and probably even more so, from Pietism. The critical work of Valentin Ernst Löscher can serve as a paradigm here. Löscher laid open that the semi-pelagian tendencies in Pietism. Its striving for perfectionism and its distaste for forensic justification go hand in hand with the downgrading, and often even contempt, both of the office of the ministry and of the sacraments.12 This, of course, necessarily brings about decisive aberrations from the Lutheran Reformation in the fields of biblical hermeneutics, ecclesiology, eschatology, and also in the methods and means applied in pastoral care and in preaching.

Pietistic notions often are effective in the way many in Lutheran churches deal with so-called contemporary worship elements or modern hymns. The problem with modern hymns and worship elements, at least in my observation, is not so much that they are modern, but that many of them have rhythms and tunes which might be singable for bands and choirs, but not for a cross-generational and cross-cultural congregation, and more importantly, many of them have their origin in theologies and mindsets that very often are not only not Lutheran but, even worse, are pelagian and enthusiastic in nature. In this context, then, it is also no surprise that some observers in Germany recently have deplored the spreading of a preaching style that is not determined to confront the hearer with the divine law and the divine gospel. Instead

the preacher, like a psychotherapist, here tries to enable the hearer to be reconciled with his own weaknesses and strengths and thus uses the gospel as a source of empowerment for one’s personal self-fulfillment. This is nothing but another version of the enthusiastic and pelagian drive for self-perfection.

According to the Lutheran Reformation, the task of the sermon and the liturgy is to prepare the way of the Lord who comes to his lost and redeemed disciples. At the same time, the task of the liturgy and of the church’s worship life is to prepare the communion of saints to meet their risen Lord and Savior and to receive his divine gifts in baptism, in the sermon, in the words of absolution, and in the sacrament of the altar. These gifts alone have the power to create and shape our faith, love, and hope according to God’s biblical word. These gifts alone have the power to justify, to sanctify, and finally to consummate the believers and the church catholic. These gifts alone, taken as gifts that are to be received by faith, are the key to a sound interpretation of the Bible and the source of certainty concerning our salvation in God’s eternal judgment.

Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Oberursel, Germany

11 Gottfried Martens, “‘Ein uberaus grosser unterschiedt’: Der Kampf des Andreas Osiander gegen die Praxis der allgemeinen Absolution in Nürnberg,” in Festhalten am Bekenntnis der Hoffnung: Festgabe für Professor Dr. Reinhard Slenczka zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. Christian Herrmann and Eberhard Hahn (Erlangen: Martin-Luther-Verlag, 2001), 145–64.

12 See Paul T. McCain, “A Pious Response to Pietism: Valentin Löscher and the Timotheus Verinus,” in Mysteria Dei: Essays in Honor of Kurt Marquart, ed. Paul T. McCain and John R. Stephenson (Fort Wayne: Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 2000), 169–90.

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The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) has built

The Lutheran Impact on Mission

L

I. Luther’s View of Mission

A. What Do We Mean by the Term Mission?

The term mission has been given different meanings among scholars. David Bosch, in his book Transforming Mission, identifies the following traditional interpretations Gustav Adolf Warneck, Outline of a History of Protestant Missions from the Reformation to the Present Time, ed. George Robson (Edinburgh and London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1901), 8, notes, “Notwithstanding the era of discovery in which the origin of the Protestant church fell, there was no missionary action on her part in the age of the Reformation.”

1

Warneck, Protestant Missions, 14, says, “Luther understands the missionary mandate only in the sense that by world-wide preaching the Gospel will be offered to all nations. In this sense, however, it is regarded by him as accomplished. Here again there is no reference to any systematic missionary enterprise. Luther thinks, at most, of an occasional or incidental preaching among non-Christians, especially by faithful laymen or preachers who have been driven for their home.”

2

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missions to grow into a large church body. The mission work of the EECMY has historically been and continues to be largely lay driven, while seeking to hold to the

by Berhanu Ofgaa

utherans are accused of not being mission minded.1 Some scholars question whether Lutherans even have a vision for mission, arguing that even Martin Luther, the founder of Lutheranism, was not mission minded.2 In reality, this argument doesn’t hold water. In this presentation, I would like to argue against this distorted view of Lutheranism, enumerating the impact of Lutherans on mission by bringing up evidence from history and current practices. This presentation begins with a brief definition of the term mission, just for clarity, since it has been given varied meanings and connotations. Subsequent to this, I would like to examine the significance of Lutherans on mission, drawing facts from history and the present mission of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) as a living testimony.

on the foundation of European

truths of Lutheran doctrine.

of the term mission: the sending of missionaries to distant areas, the geographical area where missionaries were active, the agency that dispatches the missionaries, and the non-Christian world or “mission field.”3 From its terminological definition, the word mission was derived from the Latin term mitto, which is the translation of the Greek term apostello, meaning “to send.” It was much later that the English term mission was put to use to signify the church focused on the Great Commission4 that our Lord Jesus Christ has given to his followers.5 It is possible to draw the relationship of mission and evangelism from this definition. Evangelism also deals with the same concern of advancing the Great Commission through the proclamation of the good news to unreached people.

In J. Andrew Kirk’s book What is Mission? he states, “There is no consensus yet among people from different Christian traditions about the relationship of evangelism to mission.”6 Kirk goes on to say that some scholars believe that mission is the total activity of the church and evangelism is considered one part of it, while others believe that the church’s fundamental mission is

David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991), 1.

3 4

The origins of the term “Great Commission” cannot be precisely identified. Evidence suggests the term emerged in the seventeenth or eighteenth century in connection with Matt 28:16–20. “It turns out that this passage may have got its summary label from a Dutch missionary Justinian von Welz (1621–1688), but it was Hudson Taylor, nearly 200 years later, who popularized the use of ‘The Great Commission.’” Robbie Castleman, “The Last Word: The Great Commission: Ecclesiology,” Themelios 32, no. 3 (November 2007): 68.

A. Scott Moreau, Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 636.

5 6

J. Andrew Kirk, What is Mission? (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000), 56.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

evangelism whereas other diaconal ministries are its subordinates.7 In this presentation, I would like to stick to the view that the church’s fundamental mission is evangelism and define mission in this context, as the communication of the gospel to unchurched people whether domestic, international, or cross-cultural.

Scott Moreau points out that there is confusion in the understanding of evangelism among scholars. Some claim that evangelism implies only the declaration of the gospel, while others associate it with the establishment of a caring presence in society to secure justice.8 However, keeping in line with its terminological definition, evangelism has to mean announcing the good news,9 ranging from the witnessing of the gospel to the baptism of new converts.

It was the concern for the authority of the Scripture that drove Martin Luther to study them in depth and immerse himself in the teachings of the Scripture and the early church. This search of the Bible convinced him that the church had lost sight of several central truths, the most important of which was the doctrine that brought him peace with God. This brought him to the conviction that salvation is a gift of God’s grace, received by faith and trust in God’s promise to forgive sins for the sake of Christ’s death on the cross. This very fact was a point of great missiological significance.

The “95 Theses” Luther nailed at the door of the Wittenberg church in defense of the truth of the Scripture had a great missionary significance, as he called the church back to the Scripture, which is the foundation of B. Martin Luther’s View of Mission Christian mission. The initiative Luther took in making Scholars like Gustav Warneck, available the Scripture in peoples’ the “Father of Missiology as a vernacular, through his translation Theological Discipline,” argued that This doctrine is based on of the Bible in the commonly-spoLuther lacked missionary direction the call to royal priesthood ken dialect of the German people, and accused the Reformer of not also had missionary significance. stated in 1 Peter 2:9. This being mission minded.10 However, According to James Scherer, Luther’s means a call to declare Warneck’s criticism of Luther does conviction of mission is centered on not prove right. Other scholars the goodness of he who his understanding of the word and view Martin Luther as a creative calls from darkness to his baptized believers. These two are and original missionary thinker and marvelous light. It is a call crucial forces of mission.13 Luther’s a great missiologist. The starting redefinition of the role of the bapto witness about Christ. point of his theology was “not what tized, which led him to exploration people could or should do for the of the priesthood of all the baptized, salvation of the world, but what God has already done in was another benchmark of mission. Luther’s catechisms, Christ.”11 which were designed for equipping the laity with the basic It is also worthwhile to quote Luther’s metaphor to knowledge of the Scripture, have made a great contribusignify that the proclamation of the gospel moves to the tion to the missionary task. They empowered the laity for end of the world. He described it symbolically as “a stone witnessing the gospel, both to their families and to their thrown into the water—it produces a series of circular neighbors. waves which moves out from the center until they reach the furthest shore.”12 By this Luther implied that there is C. Lutherans in Mission no stopping point for the witness of the gospel. It keeps There was a difference of perspectives of mission among on, continuing to the end of the earth. This shows that Lutheran Orthodoxy and Lutheran Pietism. On the one mission was not a new phenomenon for Luther. Mission hand, theologians of Lutheran Orthodoxy like Philip was the main claim of the Lutheran Reformation.

Nicolai believed that the Great Commission had been fulfilled during the apostles’ lifetimes and was no longer 7 Kirk, What is Mission? 56. binding on the church,14 while on the other hand there 8

Moreau, Evangelical Dictionary, 332.

David Watson, I Believe in Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 26.

9

10

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 244.

11

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 244.

13 James A. Scherer, That the Gospel May be Sincerely Preached Throughout the World: A Lutheran Perspective on Mission and Evangelism in the 20th Century (Stuttgart: Lutheran World Federation, 1982), 7.

12

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 244.

14

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 249.

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41

were Lutheran missionaries who made a great impact on Ethiopian Orthodox church to develop an evangelical view. mission. In this regard, it is worthwhile mentioning how Heyling died a martyr’s death in 1652, when, upon leaving Lutheran Pietism leaders like Philip Jacob Spener made Ethiopia, he was captured by the Turks. He was given the people more aware of the mission task. choice of converting to Islam or facing the sword. Heyling In support of this view, Stephen Neill enumer- accepted death rather than deny Christ.23 His endeavor ates the history of two young Lutheran missionaries, laid the foundation for the later missionaries from Sweden, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutshau. They were Germany, Norway, Denmark, and America who were sent to India in the beginning of the eighteenth century by behind the formation of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church the King of Denmark and arrived Mekane Yesus (EECMY).24 in Tranquebar, India, on August 9, The history of the GermanEvery member of the 1706.15 These two young Lutheran Lutheran missionaries Bruno congregations of the men, who were the first non-CathGutmann and Christian Keysser, church participates in olic missionaries16 in India, made who played a great missionary role in witnessing to people in a significant impact in cross-culEast Africa and Papua, New Guinea, their neighborhoods. tural mission17 among the Danish is another proof of the Lutheran diaspora and native Indians in impact on mission. Gutmann … It is likened to the spreading the gospel. Bosch states worked among the Chagga people system of operation of that these missionaries brought a in Tanzania, while Keysser worked the parts of a living body great turnaround on the Lutheran among the Kate people in Papua, 18 1 C or 12:13–25 ) where ( mission perspective. Ziegenbalg New Guinea. These two Lutheran every part is engaged and missionaries predated McGavran in wrestled with local Danish officials identifying the sociological principle who claimed that the church had actively participates. of the homogeneous unit. Keysser already been planted everywhere 19 and that the office of apostle had vanished. Neill also and Gutmann worked out the missiological implications recounts the history of the Leipzig Lutheran missionaries of social ties in tribal societies in 1903, many years before who arrived in south India in 184020 as another example the rise of the Church Growth Movement, and some scholars believe that they were more perceptive than of the Lutheran effect on mission.

Much can be said about European Lutheran mission- Pickett and McGavran. “Pickett did not see as clearly as aries who were front liners and pioneers in Ethiopian did Keysser that the caste (the organism) was becoming mission, such as Peter Heyling (1607–1652),21 a Lutheran Christian while remaining in the caste.”25 missionary who arrived in Ethiopia in 1634, right after the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Heyling did ground- Scriptural study would engender deeper spiritual life, began to translate breaking work by translating the gospel into the Amharic Holy Scripture into Amarinya for the benefit of the common people, did not know Ge’ez, the liturgical language. When Gorgorios language22 and significantly influencing the clergy of the who visited Gondor in 1647, St. John’s Gospel had been published and was in great demand.”

15 Stephen Neill, History of Christian Missions (London: Penguin Books, 1990), 194.

16

Moreau, Evangelical Dictionary, 444.

17

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 253–57.

18

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 249.

19

Bosch, Transforming Mission, 253

20

Neill, History of Christian Missions, 236.

Gustav Arén, Evangelical Pioneers in Ethiopia: Origins of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (Addis Ababa: The Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1978), 20, says, “Accompanying the new Abune Marqos on his journey to Ethiopia was Peter Heyling, a young Lutheran from Lübeck, who had been sent as a missionary to Ethiopia by Duke Ernest of Saxe-Gotha in Germany… the impact of his mission was greater than has hitherto been presumed and some of his followers assisted in laying the foundation of Evangelical Christianity in Wollaga.”

21

22

Arén, Evangelical Pioneers, 21, says, “Heyling, who was confident that

42

23 Arén, Evangelical Pioneers, 22, notes, “Gorgorios emphasized that Heyling left Ethiopia in 1652 with due permission from the emperor to take a vacation in Egypt and that Fasil dismissed him with great honour by presenting him with rich gifts of gold. However, when Heyling passed through Suakin, the Turkish pasha conceived a craving for his riches and clapped him into prison on charges of espionage. Faced with a demand to choose either Islam or the sword Heyling accepted death rather than deny Christ. The pasha drew his sword and beheaded him.”

24 Arén, Evangelical Pioneers, 22, says, “There is apparently a direct line from Peter Heyling to the founders of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.” Peter Heyling’s work of translating the Scriptures and the Small Catechism between 1634–1652 left a remnant of people who were instrumental in forming the EECMY in the early twentieth century.

25 Christian Keysser, A People Reborn, trans. Alfred Allin and John Kuder (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1980), x-xi. The concept of group conversion (a people movement for Christ) had also been envisioned by Lutheran missionaries Christian Keysser and Bruno Gutmann many years before Donald McGavran and Waskom Pickett.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

II. The Impact of the EECMY on Mission As it has been stated above, the EECMY from her origin was the product of Lutheran missions. This church had been founded as the result of a century-old labor of the following five western Evangelical Lutheran missions: Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM), German Hermannsburg Mission (now known as ELM Hermannsburg), Norwegian Lutheran Mission (NLM), Danish Evangelical Mission (DEM), and American Lutheran Mission (ALM).

The EECMY has been a church actively engaged in mission work since the days of her inception. This is the major reason for her extraordinary growth. As the statistical reports show, today the EECMY is one of the fastest growing Lutheran churches on the global level.

The EECMY was founded sixty years ago in January 1959 with 20,000 baptized members, a few congregations, and a few pastors. In sixty years, the EECMY has multiplied to more than 7.8 million members, organized into 8,500 congregations and 4,000-plus preaching places (mission stations). This incredible growth, from 20,000 to 7.8 million members, taking place in so short a time span is a clear demonstration of the Lutheran impact on mission.

A. Laity Movement as One of the Major Propelling Factors of the EECMY Mission

Among the many major propelling factors identified for the EECMY mission, I would like to focus on the role of the laity in mission because of time constraint. The laity are the backbone of the EECMY mission. Johannes Launhardt, in his analysis of the essence and formation of the EECMY, stated, “The Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus is a church with strong laity involvement. This holds true not only for tasks on the congregational level, but also for the church as a whole.”26 Launhardt goes on to assert, “There is no question that the lay people were and are the treasure of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. The rapid growth of the church is, among others, the result of their active involvement and their readiness to serve voluntarily.”27 The EECMY has been a lay mission-driven church from her origin. This means that this church is the Christian Keysser discovered this fact in 1903.

26 Johannes Launhardt, Evangelicals in Addis Ababa (1919–1991): With Special Reference to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Addis Ababa Synod (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2004), 297.

27

Launhardt, Evangelicals in Addis Ababa, 299.

product of a lay-missionary movement. I realize that the topic of the role of laity and clergy can be a sensitive one, and is a debate among some International Lutheran Council (ILC) churches. What I will try to do is describe what has happened within the EECMY and not prescribe how things ought to be done. Also, despite the heavy involvement of the laity in evangelism, the EECMY follows traditional Lutheran doctrine and practice regarding the role of the pastor. For instance, only pastors administer the sacrament of the altar in the EECMY. The EECMY does not have laypeople presiding at the altar nor do laypeople consecrate the sacrament. The founders of the EECMY were laymen and women driven for mission as a result of spiritual revival. Most of these missions were the products of lay missionary movement and were not from high-church tradition. Thus, the laity mission movement of the EECMY has to do with realities from her background.

B. The Influence of Her Early National Leaders

Following the footsteps of the founding mission, most of the notable national individuals who played a very significant role in advancing the strategic goals of the mission were mission-driven lay leaders. This reality has a great influence on the lay missionary motive of this church and has been reflected in the writing of the second president of the church, Emmanuel Abraham, who has led the church for over twenty years. In response to why non-clerical persons were elected to be leaders of the church Abraham says: It should be understood, in the first place, that the Church is a communion of people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. All Christians are therefore equal before the Lord God, and they enjoy equal rights and responsibilities. It is abundantly clear from the Bible that there is no difference whatever on that score. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.” (Gal. 3:28) Moreover, as Martin Luther, more than 450 years ago, had forcefully reminded the whole Church, all believers are God’s priesthood.28 He went on and expounded his argument: “It is the belief of Evangelical Christians that any believer can serve as a leader of the church even if he is not a called pastor, bishop or archbishop.”29 28 Emmanuel Abraham, Reminiscences of My Life (Oslo, Norway: Lundeforlag, 1995), 249.

29

Abraham, Reminiscences of My Life, 250.

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The third major factor that influenced the lay mission movement in the EECMY mission was awareness of the priestly call. This implies that every member of the church is aware of his/her royal priesthood from the moment of his/her baptism. This doctrine is based on the call to royal priesthood stated in 1 Peter 2:9. This means a call to declare the goodness of he who calls from darkness to his marvelous light. It is a call to witness about Christ.

The laity of the EECMY are aware of this very mandate of their priestly call. As a result, they all participate in mission movement.

This doctrine of the priesthood of the baptized is central in the Lutheran doctrine. The Lutheran tradition promotes the universal priesthood of believers, joined through baptism. As Carl Braaten states, “Whoever comes out of the water of baptism can boast that he is already a consecrated priest, bishop, and pope.”30 In a similar way, George Wollenburg states, “With the exception of the biblical doctrine of justification, perhaps, no biblical teaching is more dear to the hearts of the Lutherans than the priesthood of all believers.”31 Wollenburg also affirms that the priesthood of all believers includes believers’ participation in spiritual service.32 In the EECMY context, the movement of the laity is the backbone of mission. The laity are active mission agents. They actively witness for Christ. They pray for mission. They support mission work financially. Most of the leaders of the congregations of the church are laypeople. They actively participate in mission. Every member of the church is encouraged to share the experience of his/ her conversion. Everybody has something to share from the story of his/her conversion.

Donald McGavran, the founder and proponent of the modern Church Growth Movement, in support of the laity in mission states, “If a church is serious about the Great Commission, the involvement of the laity is of most importance.”33 He goes on to say, “Laymen have many more gifts than are needed to maintain the existing body. Recognize and use gifts for outreach. This is an

30 Carl E. Braaten, Principles of Lutheran Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 44.

31 George Wollenburg, “The Priesthood of Believers and the Divine Service,” LCMS Worship Library, 1996, https://www.lcms.org/Document. fdoc?src=lcm&id=879.

32

Wollenburg, “The Priesthood of Believers.”

33 Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth (New York: Harper & Row, 1977), 108.

44

essential ingredient to a healthy, growing church.”34 In a similar way, the role of the laity has been an incredible contribution in the mission of the EECMY. Below we will specifically deal with this issue.

This initiative of lay movement in the EECMY mission was largely led by the young people and operates mightily among them. In the EECMY context, congregational services are crowded with young people. The youth are active in the life of their congregations, as Launhardt enumerates: Sunday school teaching for children, leading a Bible study or youth group, arranging prayer groups, singing in the choir, taking part in outreach programs, visiting sick members, counseling bereaved ones, keeping order during worship services, cleaning the church, preparing bazaars, handling funds, and many other tasks.35 They also actively participate in witnessing for Christ. As Launhardt writes, “It was the young sector of the society which joined the Christian church more than any other age group during the Communist Government of Ethiopia.”36

C. Commitment to the Great Commission

The fifth major motivating factor of the laity in the mission of the EECMY is commitment to the Great Commission.

EECMY members seriously consider that mission is the main purpose of the call of the church. They are serious about the concern for the lost. As “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), therefore, the church considers mission as the main purpose of her existence. Mission in this context is understood not as an option but a command given to the church by Christ (Matt 28:19–20).

D. The Conviction That Humanity Outside Christ Is Lost

Every member of the EECMY is aware of the fact that humanity outside of Christ is lost. This conviction is based on the following scriptural verses: People without Christ are lost (1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15). People whose sins are not forgiven will go to hell. They are relegated to judgment and eternal damnation (John 3:16; Rom 2:8). Therefore, mission is critical and urgent. Mission is viewed as rescuing souls from eternal damnation through offering the forgiveness of sins, as God is pleased with the salvation of souls (1 Tim 2:2). EECMY members take this seriously.

34

McGavran and Arn, Ten Steps for Church Growth, 108.

35

Launhardt, Evangelicals in Addis Ababa, 299.

36

Launhardt, Evangelicals in Addis Ababa, 297.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Many congregations of the church actively participate in bringing the good news to those who are in darkness.

Such mission participation is demonstrated in many dimensions. This approach is classified into three parts.

The first is mission within their boundary. Every congregation of the church is aware of bringing the gospel to people in their congregational boundary. Every member of the congregations of the church participates in witnessing to people in their neighborhoods. In such a context, congregational ministry is not like a public bus system where few people are engaged in activities, possibly only the driver and the cash collector. It is likened to the system of operation of the parts of a living body (1 Cor 12:13–25) where every part is engaged and actively participates.

Secondly, there are congregations who do mission through sending ministers to unreached places outside their congregational boundaries within their respective synods. These congregations are winning converts, equipping leaders, and providing places of worship to plant new churches and hand them over to the nearest structure of their synod. They continue supporting the newly planted congregations until they are self-sufficient.

Thirdly, there are congregations who are actively involved in mission, crossing the boundary of their respective synods. In such an approach, they respond to Macedonian calls from new areas, sending ministers or raising financial support. Some of these congregations make special arrangements with their own synods and the synods in which the programs are implemented or located, and embark on the mission work. Many fruitful results have been achieved through these three mission approaches and numerous preaching places and congregations have been planted.

Individual members of the EECMY are actively involved in mission. Every member believes that mission is part and parcel of his/her calling and that mission is an integral part of his/her salvation. This awareness is built during the process of discipleship training.

There is a lay mission movement conducted by lay professionals or business people. Such people actively participate in mission in two ways: First, they directly participate in witnessing for Christ on an individual level in their leisure time and weekends. Secondly, they finance the lay ministers who are involved in full-time mission.

This group wins converts and organizes them into congregations, trains leaders, builds churches, and hands over the neighboring structure of the church.

There is a new initiative of emerging mission

movements conducted by retired people. It includes both retired ministers and members of the church. These groups apply similar mission strategies to those stated above and raise funds for their activities.

Conclusion Much has been said in this presentation about the Lutheran impact on mission by examining the historical facts and by looking at the practical experiences of the EECMY. However, we are at a critical moment when this mission practice is severely challenged. We are at a historical moment when many mainline Lutheran churches have turned away from the Holy Scriptures, and with the abandonment of the Scriptures, the basic biblical call and mandate to proclaim the gospel to the entire world is lost.

We are at a critical moment when the central biblical truths have been challenged and put at risk among Lutherans. “We are at a crossroads where our theological tradition and teaching of the Christian faith are being placed in jeopardy.”37 These deep and serious challenges call upon us to review our action and consider mission as a priority. “To be evangelical, being true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ requires us to be true according to the Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments. The heart of an ‘evangelical’ church beats with a passionate commitment to the preaching of Christ to all who do not yet believe.”38 Mission is a task assigned to all confessing believers. It is a special task the triune God does through his people. It is God’s action done through the church. We are all called to share the gospel with our family and our neighbors. It is also part and parcel of one’s salvation (Rom 10:9). There is no excuse for not doing it. Let us always be ready “to give answer to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15).

Dr. Berhanu Ofgaa, General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY)

37

Braaten, Principles of Lutheran Theology, 31.

Carl E. Braaten, Seeking New Directions for Lutheranism, Biblical, Theological and Churchly Perspectives: Lutheranism at Crossroads (New York: ALPB Books, 2010), 30.

38

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Catechetical instruction is key to teaching the content of the

Shaping Confessional Lutheranism in the 21st Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview

status confessionis, as well as how to implement our actus confessionis.

by Makito Masaki

Foreword

I

serve as the president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary in Japan, an institution that does not yet belong to the ILC. I also serve as the pastor of Itami Evangelical Lutheran Church, a congregation that belongs to West Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. We are very thankful for this invitation to be extended to a small seminary like ours. However, to tell the truth, I was a little uncomfortable with the invitation because there is a good Lutheran church body that runs a seminary in Tokyo and has been a member of the ILC since its beginning. I visited Rev. Shin Shimizu, the president of Japan Lutheran Church, Nihon Ruteru Kyodan, in Totsuka church and sat under his feet to ask for his advice. He kindly gave me his fatherly blessing.

Therefore, I am also thankful to Japan Lutheran Church for allowing and supporting me to speak this morning.

Actually, I feel at home here. It may be not only because I am in the town of the Reformer's home ground, but also because I have many good friends in the ILC. I received my STM from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne in 1992, and I was one of the first set of candidates for the D.Miss, now Ph.D., in mission studies there. I earned my Ph.D. at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. My wife and two children are still members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in the suburbs of St. Louis. My father was colloquized to be an LCMS pastor, and was given an honourable doctorate from Ft. Wayne seminary.

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My younger brother Naomichi Masaki teaches at the Ft. Wayne seminary.

Moreover, I am thankful to be with people who have the same heart for the Lutheran Confessions. Many of the faculty in my Kobe seminary history, both missionaries and Japanese, were educated either at St. Louis or Ft. Wayne. All the presidents of the seminary who are Japanese were educated at St. Louis for their theological doctorate degree. Our seminary is devoted to training next generation pastors to be confessional, constructive, and cooperative pastors: confessional, who subscribe unconditionally to and confess the Book of Concord, constructive, who know well their vocation as pastors, and cooperative, who are willing to work with people. I am honoured to be invited to play a role in this conference.

Worldview So, what does worldview mean, and what is the confessional Lutheran worldview?

The literal meaning of “worldview” may be the integrated understanding of God, man, and nature and their relationships to one another. We have the law, the Ten Commandments, that shows God’s order he set among his creatures and reveals the sinfulness of man. Lutherans confess with other Christians the Ecumenical Creeds that are confessions of God [the Father], the Creator, God the Son, the Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier and Comforter. In the creeds, we clearly confess that God

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

created everything; God began, leads, and will end the area of knowledge may be Christianized and the truly Christian culture in every area of human knowing and world. We also confess the eternal life.

If you ask teenagers in Japan if they know the term living may prosper. Kuyper used the term worldview to worldview, to our surprise, they would answer that they promote his understanding of God, man, and nature, and always use it. For them the word means the settings of their past, present, and future status.

Herman Dooyeweerd and D.H.Th. Vollenhoven are time, space, characters, and scenario that the Anime, Manga, and video game authors construct as the neces- good examples of the successful fruits of education at the sary background of their masterpieces. For example, for Free University of Amsterdam. Dooyeweerd categorizes the famous series “Attack on Titan,” the author Hajime the creaturely world into segments and acknowledges Isayama created the worldview as something like the God the Creator as the only true unifying pole for the following. Humanity has been hiding from gigantic, proper worldview. He says that when human beings, who cannibalistic monsters called Titans ever since the popu- have turned away from the Creator, want to grasp the lation was decimated 100 years earlier. No explanation is world in unity, they cannot help but make one of the catgiven as to where these Titans originate. The people live egorical elements work as the unifying pole to establish in a multi-walled, socially-stratified city while they train a worldview. Materialism makes material play the role of an elite Survey Corps of fighters to protect them if the the unifying pole to explain the world. Humanism is the idea that makes human beings the need should arise again. One peaceunifying pole. They both may be ful day, Titans suddenly attacked Underlying a culture, characterized as idol worship. the wall and broke in. When tenThe Dutch theologians’ arguyear-old Eren Jaeger sees his own worldview provides people ments against the rationalistic and mother eaten by a Titan, he vows a coherent way of looking humanistic worldview of the day revenge against the Titans and at the world. sought to present a biblical framejoins the Corps. When his training work of thought, that is, creation, is complete, he joins humanity’s fight against the Titans without and—much to his sur- fall, and redemption as the foundation of a Christian prise—from within. The story of solving problems starts, worldview. It shows clear contrast with the worldview proceeds, and ends in the environment and relationships of dispensationalists, which tends to throw every problem that the world needs to face to Christ who comes among the characters that are decided by the author.

Japanese Christians associate the word “worldview” back to us in the foreseeable near future. The Reformed as a word associated with Reformed, or more precisely, theologians were determined to face the reality that is Dutch Reformed theologians, such as Abraham Kuyper, full of chronic and impending problems. An American Herman Bavinck, Herman Dooyeweerd, D.H.Th. theologian Rousas John Rushdoony brought the foundaVollenhoven, and others who worked in the late nine- tionalism a step further to Christian reconstructionist. He emphasized the command of God, the law of God’s reign. teenth and early twentieth centuries.

Abraham Kuyper, a journalist, statesman, and Neo- He applied Old Testament laws to the area of modern polCalvinist theologian, founder of a new church, the itics and economy in his book, The Institutes of the Biblical Gereformeerde Kerken, a newspaper, the Free University Law (1973). He also started a Christian home-schooling of Amsterdam, and the Anti-Revolutionary Party, served movement so that the children were protected from the as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 secular world that brainwashes with the unbiblical, ratioand 1905. He taught that since everything in the universe nalistic, and humanistic value systems, or worldview. should be taken only as God’s creatures, we should sub- Rushdoony provided a vision of how the divinely reigned ordinate human understanding of everything to God’s kingdom of God extends and develops in the world. He understanding. With this thoroughgoing theistic theol- showed the duty of Christians to actively participate in ogy, so called presuppositionalism, Kuyper suggested that reconstructing the world by applying and following the all areas of human activity, including politics, economy, law of God. Some Christians in Japan are very enthusiasresearch, education, and others, need to be signified by the word of God and obey the divine authority. He estab- tic about the new theological direction known as the lished the Free University of Amsterdam so that every New Perspective on Paul. One of the representatives

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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of the trend, Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright, takes a dif- commonly shared by the people. Soon they found that ferent approach from that of the Neo-Calvinists of the there are cultural patterns behind how people think and Netherlands. Instead of following their philosophical decide, and what people say and do. They examined probargumentations, Wright tries to articulate historically the lems such as how cultural patterns emerge and spread Apostolic Gospel and the structure of its worldview as the from one regions to other and why some die out soon original Christian worldview before it was polluted by and others last for millennia. The historians used the ancient Greek philosophy and by modern rationalism and term Weltanschauung, the worldview, to refer to the deep, humanism. enduring cultural patterns of a people.

American Evangelicals detected that the de-ChristianThe other root that Hiebert introduces in his book is ization process is seriously damaging their young people. found in anthropology. Anthropologists studied peoples They were frustrated because they had overlooked the around the world and found deep but radically differing progress and the impact, and failed to cope with the prob- worldviews underlying their cultures. They found that lem that Christians think and act as worldviews profoundly shape the though they are ignorant of what ways people see the world and live the Bible says about God, man, Luther … wanted people their lives, that worldviews someand nature. As a result, they follow times spread from one group of to live out their life as rationalistic and humanistic worlpeople to another, and that worlconfessors of faith in dviews. The Evangelicals started dviews are often inherited by the their daily situation, that to develop Christian worldview following generations. is, people learn to live classes at their universities to fight The growing attention to the this trend. concept of worldview led to deeper by actus confessionis who One of their text books is Paul G. apply the status confessionis investigations of culture and the use Hiebert’s Transforming Worldviews: of the words such as “ethos,” “zeitin their everyday life. an Anthropological Understanding geist,” “cosmology,” “cosmos within,” of How People Change. According “world metaphor,” “world order,” to Hiebert, the word “worldview” has several roots. In his “world hypotheses,” “outlook on life,” “collective unconbook, he explains the two of the most influential ones.1 scious,” “spirituality” and so on.

What are the functions of worldviews, then?2 Firstly, One is in Western philosophy, where the German word Weltanschauung was introduced by Immanuel Kant they answer our ultimate questions such as: Where are and used by writers such as Kierkegaard, Engels, and we (what is the nature of the world)? Who are we (what Dilthey as they reflected on Western culture. does it mean to be human)? What is wrong (how do we In the nineteenth century, German historians turned account for evil and the brokenness of life)? What is the from tracing the victories of those who came to rule the remedy (what is the path from brokenness and insecurity world successively to the study of ordinary people. This to a life that is whole and secure)? turn was made mainly by the influence of the Annales Secondly, worldviews give us emotional security. school, started by two Strasbourg historians, Lucien Paul People in uncertainty turn to the deepest cultural beliefs Victor Febvre and Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch. Bloch to recognize and renew order in life and nature. became known as the founder of an approach in historiThirdly, worldviews validate our deepest cultural cal research called Social History, which intends to give a norms with which we evaluate our experiences and holistic view of history by focusing on the then neglected choose courses of action. area of the ordinary lives of common people. This view Fourthly, worldviews help to integrate the culture. is influenced by Hegel and Marx. They researched topics Compartmentalized perceptions and experiences are such as festivals, etiquette, folk beliefs, and many more. unified to give a sense that we live in a world that makes These historians examined in detail the everyday lives of sense. individuals, local events, and letters, to find value systems Fifthly, worldviews monitor the cultural change and help us to select or reject new ideas and to reinterpret Paul G. Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 13.

1

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2

Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews, 28.

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those we adopt to fit our worldview.

Sixthly and finally, worldviews provide psychological reassurance that the world is truly as we see it and a sense of peace and being at home. Worldview crisis hits people when there is a gap between their worldview and their experience of reality.

Underlying a culture, worldview provides people a coherent way of looking at the world. Clifford Geertz pointed out that worldviews are both models of reality and models for action. The models of reality describe and explain the nature of things, and define how we understand the world, while the models for action provide us with the mental blueprints that guide our behaviour and define how we take action.3

Lutheran Worldview What is the worldview that the Lutheran Reformation brought about? If we take the worldview as meaning both the models of reality and the models of action, Japanese Luther scholar, Yoshikazu Tokuzen's contribution cannot be overlooked to articulate the worldview that Luther presented and lived.4 Tokuzen sees Luther as a man of concentration and expansion, that is, Luther summarized his faith and theology to the minimum confession, and his life and work was the lively application of what he confessed. We need to recognize the two aspects of the confession of faith, Bekenntniss, and distinguish them while not separating them. The two aspects are status confessionis and actus confessionis. The Church and individuals live out their confession in variety of concrete situations in the tension between the status confessionis and actus confessionis.

We need to discuss how Luther reformed the meaning of confessio before going into the two aspects of them according to Tokuzen. The Greek word homologein, originally meaning to testify at a court, is used in the New Testament to mean comprehensively to praise God, to confess sins, to confess the faith. Augustine used the word confession comprehensively as the New Testament does.

Through the Middle Ages, the word confession lost its comprehensive meaning and became a small part in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Confession was disregarded and formalized to be a mere element 3 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays by Clifford Geertz (New York: Basic Books, 1973), 169, quoted in Hiebert, Transforming Worldviews, 28.

Yoshikazu Tokuzen, To Confess the faith: In the Case of Luther and Bonhoeffer (Only in Japanese).

4

in a process. Luther wanted to clarify the meaning of repentance in the light of the forgiveness of sin in his “95 Theses.” When Luther was studying the Psalms he was learning from Augustine and Jerome. When he came to the sixty-sixth chapter in his First Lecture on Psalms, he quoted Jerome, “The confession of sins is the praise to God,” and commented that to confess our sins before God is to acknowledge God as God, God as righteous and to give glory to God.5 Luther regained the meaning of confession from a static, formalized one to dynamic wholehearted one.

By the time Luther lectured on the Letter to the Romans, Luther's acknowledgement of God, who works all in all, and man, who is a sinner, led him to justify God who condemned man for his sin, and justify man by this God through faith in the Saviour he sent. In a lecture on the Letter to the Hebrews, he says “all that we do is confessio …, they praise you, confess you, adore you and bless you and all that they do is actually your work in them.”6 So, for Luther, confession is what man does with his whole personhood and whole life, and that we confess is solely the work of God in us.

What is status confessionis according to Luther? Luther summarized the confession of God as the confession of Christ alone, and further concentrated confession to the confession of Christ in His redemptive work alone.

Christ’s work of redemption and faith in Christ is the status confessionis, the basic confession of what Christians believe.

For example, in the Smalcald Articles of 1537, Luther starts out the first part summarizing the Ecumenical Creeds and then he further summarizes down to Christ's office and work, which is our redemption. This is the theology of the cross. The first and chief article of the second part is the foundation of the rest of the articles. Luther confesses that only the redemptive work of Christ justifies us. Quoting from Romans 4:24–25, John 1:29, Isaiah 53:6, and Romans 3:23–25, Luther says, “This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law, or merit. Therefore it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us.” He then quotes from Romans 3:28 and 26. He goes on to say, “Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls.” Following quotes from Acts 4:12 and Isaiah 53:5, he says, “Upon this 5

WA 3:378.

6

WA 57:137

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article everything that we teach and practice depends, in opposition to the pope, the devil, and the whole world.

Therefore, we must be certain and not doubt this doctrine. Otherwise, all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all adversaries win the victory and the right over us.”7 This is the article of justification. This is the worldview of Luther and his Reformation in a nutshell. “Justification is the article by which the church stands and falls.” justificatio est articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae.

What then is actus confessionis according to Luther?

Tokuzen says that the Reformation is the formation and confirmation of the status confessionis in the form of actus confessionis. What Luther wrote, talked, preached, argued, and how he lived is basically his expression of actus confessionis. When we see concrete actions arise out of the necessity of the concrete situations, the worldview as a model of reality serves as the worldview as a model of action, that is, status confessionis gives birth to the actus confessionis.

Luther’s lectures on the Psalms and New Testament letters helped Luther to discover the Gospel. Out of his status confessionis emerged his “95 Theses” as an actus confessionis, asking a series of questions concerning the practice of the church that do not fit the status confessionis.

Responding to Erasmus, who in the “libero arbitrio” accused and reproached Luther of being too stubborn by holding on to his own assertio, Luther said that if a person gives up sticking to his assertio he is no longer a Christian because assertio means to stick on, to affirm, to confess, to apologize, and to hold it not to be broken. Since they are bestowed by the Holy Spirit from heaven the spirit glorifies God and confesses Christ until their death. To die for the confession and assertion of faith is what assertio of faith means.

Confessing the faith means that the confessor does not compromise and sacrifice status confessionis. When Luther had to cope with Carlstadt, Muenster, the Peasants’ War, and conflict over the Lord's Supper with Zwingli, Luther showed the same determination and stubbornness to his status confessionis. He could not see the difference of status confessionis as a minor conflict. He could not compromise nor sacrifice any article of faith in order to be united with people just because they share the same purpose.

Luther already started to preach and write on the

Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer in 1516. The Small Catechism and the Large Catechism are also his actus confessionis. In the Small Catechism, he instructs the heads of the family to answer the questions that their household ask in a very simple but powerful way. Parents are to teach their children by confessing their faith so that the children may grow up as confessors of faith who share with their parents the same worldview of both status confessionis and actus confessionis.

Tokuzen describes the confessional documents that Luther and other confessors wrote as practical applications of what they confessed. They confessed their faith in the form of clear testimony to prepare for discussions with the opponents in a friendly manner and “in this way dissensions may be put away without offensive conflict and they may be brought back to agreement and concord.”8 Luther went on to confess in the third part of “Concerning the Lord's Supper, Confession (1528),” and he confessed with Justus Jonas and Melanchthon “The Articles of Schwabach (1529).” His argument against Zwingli was summarized in “The Marburg Articles (1529).” All of these led Melanchthon to confess “The Augsburg Confession (1530).” Specific historical situation led Luther to write “The Smalcald Articles (1537).” They are all actus confessionis in the concrete situation that the Reformers faced out of the same status confessionis.

Shaping Confessional Lutheranism in the Twenty-first Century How may we be able to produce confessional Lutherans in the twenty-first century? One of the ways that Luther used was educational reform. The purpose of education was twofold for Luther, one was to evangelize, that is, to grow people into confessors of faith, and the other was to grow mature citizens. Luther believed that people need to know and to confess that we are justified for the sake of Christ alone and by faith alone. This is status confessionis.

He then wanted people to live out their life as confessors of faith in their daily situation, that is, people learn to live by actus confessionis who apply the status confessionis in their everyday life. This is why he designed education to train good citizens.

Luther used the threefold method to educate people.

He formed Christian schools. He replaced schools in monasteries and cathedrals with Christian schools run by the nobilities. He made use of the church for education.

7

Quotations from the Book of Concord from, Paul T. McCain et al., ed., Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, 2nd ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005). SA II, 1, The Chief Article.

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AC Preface 9.

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He also made the family a unit for education. next section, the Creed. The Creed shows what we are to He wrote “The Explanation of the Ten expect and to receive from God. Here is the clear order Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer (1520)” and and distinction of Law and Gospel. In the answer part of “Betbuechelein (A Small Booklet on Prayer, 1522)” based the Second Article, Luther summarizes the redemption on his catechetical preaching. He lamented that many and the life of the redeemed as follows. people are not able to answer even a simple question of He (Christ) has redeemed me, a lost and conwhat salvation is after listening to sermons for three or demned creature, purchased and won me from all four years. There are books that teach about salvation sins, from death, and fro the power of the devil. He but they are not written in the heart of the people. Luther did this not with gold or silver, but with His holy, worked hard to prepare the material for preachers and for precious blood and with His innocent suffering and the head of the house. He himself preached four times a death, so that I may be His own, live under Him in year a series of ten catechism sermons in two weeks using His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righMatins on Sunday mornings and two o'clock meetings on teousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is weekday afternoons. In 1529, he wrote two Catechisms, risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.11 the Large in April and the Small in May. He created postThis is a concise and clear summary of how a ers of teachings, so that people may be able to see on the wall of their dining rooms and the head of the family read Christian grasp status confessionis and live it out as actus aloud everyday at the morning and evening prayer. He confessionis.

In “The German Mass (1526),” added the preface and the Haustafel Luther shows his sense of need for a to print with the Small Catechism.

We pray with hope good and simple catechism. He also From the third edition, the Small in Christ alone.

As wrote a prayer in a special way that Catechism was also known as the the words of the Lord's Prayer are to Enchiridion. we pray, our hope is be prayed with deeper understandHe used these to impact the made conviction and ing and appreciation. The catechism society by suggesting that the pasencouragement.

As we was a prayer book that guides the tors “would read each morning, pray our status confessionis learners to prayer in the everyday noon, and evening only a page or becomes more deeply life. two in the catechism, the prayer Luther teaches about the three book, the New Testament, or someunderstood, and our actus parts above, “everything that we thing else in the Bible. They should confessionis more actively have in the Scriptures is included pray the Lord's Prayer for themincarnated in us.

9 in short, plain, and simple terms.” selves and their parishioners.” He He continues and says, “when three also makes clear that “it is the duty parts are understood, a person must also know what to of every father of a family to question and examine his children and servants at least once a week and see what say about our Sacraments, which Christ Himself instithey know or are learning from the catechism and if they tuted: Baptism and the holy body and blood of Christ.”12 Then Luther makes a suggestion how to teach and do not know the catechism, he should keep them learning 10 make people good confessors of faith. it faithfully.”

Luther starts his catechism with the Ten We would have all together five whole parts of Commandments. This is what we need to respect and Christian doctrine. These should be taught conhonour as the highest treasure because we know what stantly and be required leaning for children. You God desires us to be and to do. It is not that we are to should recite them word for word. For you must live as Jews who received the Ten Commandments not rely on the idea that the young people will learn through Moses. We read it as the universal commandand retain these things from the sermon alone. ments that apply to everyone. Luther takes students to the When these parts have been well learned, you may 9

LC Preface, 3.

10

LC Short preface, 4.

11

SC Creed, The Second Article.

12

LC III, 15–20.

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supplement and strengthen them by also setting before them some psalms or hymns, which have been composed on these parts of the catechism.

Lead the young into the Scriptures this way and make progress in them daily.13 He goes on to explain the method of teaching the Catechism so that the Catechism enters the mind and becomes fixed in the memory.

Luther confessed the faith and kept confessing in words and deeds. His way of impacting people to have a Reformation worldview and live accordingly starts and continues with catechetical education, and never ends.

Luther says: For myself I say this. I am also a doctor and preacher, yes, as learned and experienced as all the people who have such assumptions and contentment. Yet I act as a child who is being taught the catechism. every morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms and such.

I must still read and study them daily. Yet I cannot master the catechism as I wish. But I must remain a child and pupil of the catechism, and am glad to remain so.14

way of reaching the goal. Catechetical education is the most certain way of making both the teachers and the learners understand what we confess, and of training them to apply status confessionis into practice in the everyday life.

It may be good to teach people how to pray as Luther emphasized in the German mass cited above. Prayer links the divine service and the daily life, receiving gifts from God at the divine service and sharing it with our neighbours in the daily life.

The Lords' Prayer in the Large Catechism serves as the best instruction on prayer. We are commanded to pray daily to fight against our enemy, our flesh, the world, and the devil. Luther teaches that we pray because God tells us to do so, and also we pray because he promises us to hear our prayer. Luther is not satisfied by just letting readers know the importance and urgency of prayer. He interprets our suffering as beneficial for us to turn us to God in prayer. And, he suggests in a strong tone to make a daily habit of prayer. He says, Everyone should form the daily habit from his youth of praying for all his needs ... This I say because I would like to see these things brought home again to the people so that they might learn to pray truly and not go about coldly and indifferently.

They become daily more unfit for prayer because of indifference. That is just what the devil desires, what damage and harm it does him when prayer is done properly.16

He says this because he knows the benefit of always learning the catechism, that is, [F]or even if they know and understand the catechism perfectly, which, however, is impossible in this life, there are still many benefits and fruits to be gained, if it is daily read and practiced in thought and speech. For example, the Holy Spirit is present in such reading, repetition, and meditation, He bestows ever new and more light and devoutness. In this way the catechism is daily loved and appreciated better, as Christ promised in Matthew 18:20 ‘For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.’15 If we seek the way to shape Confessional Lutheranism in the twenty-first century, we need not to look for anywhere else but stay in the daily education of the catechism while others may look for more fancy way or short-cut

13

LC, Short preface, 24.

14

LC, preface, 8.

15

LC, preface, 9.

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In the first petition, we are reminded of our identity as baptized in his name, redeemed, and made to be his children. Since we call God our Father, it is our duty always to act and behave as godly children, that he may not receive shame, but honour and praise from us.

In the second petition, we pray for the kingdom to come. This petition is not teaching us to wait for his earthly rule and political kingdom to be realized. Many misuse the term Missio Dei to see God’s work of reconciling the world to himself as making society humanly better or creating a Christ-centred society where people value the Christian worldview as the best one among existing worldviews. Christians are to obey God in helping him as his servants to accomplish the kingdom of God on earth. God sent Christ to bring us to himself and to govern us as a King of righteousness, life, and salvation 16

LC III, 28.

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against sin, death and an evil conscience. We pray that the word of God and a Christian life may abide and daily grow in us, and may gain approval and acceptance among other people.

In the third petition, we pray for his will to be done.

We receive God as our own, and all his riches but in this petition we pray that we must firmly keep God's honour and our salvation, our identity, and our inheritance.

In the fourth petition, we come to the prayer for our vocational life, that God provides for us all to eat and drink. We also ask him to protect our family so that we may be able to eat and drink in peace.

In the fifth petition, we pray for the forgiveness of our sins.

In the sixth petition, we pray for the protection from the temptation from our flesh, world, and the devil.

In the seventh petition, we pray that the evil one may not conquer us, and for God to give us a peaceful, faithful end.

We pray with hope in Christ alone. As we pray, our hope is made conviction and encouragement. As we pray our status confessionis becomes more deeply understood, and our actus confessionis more actively incarnated in us.

If the faith is the truth, and the love is the commandments, prayer is out of hope given and hope being strengthened and activated.

God is shaping us in this century to confess our hope in him. Prayer is always a time of repentance and a time of faith and praise. We confess when we pray. We remain in the joy that our Lord gives in the Word and the Sacraments, and we rejoice in Christ and confess Christ alone is our Lord and Saviour.

Rev. Dr. Makito Masaki president of Kobe Lutheran Theological Seminary

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The catechism and the Word are

The Act of Making a Knowledgeable Confession: A Response to Makito Masaki

daily guides for Christians as we engage the current context as Confessional Lutherans. The Word alone accomplishes God’s task in the mission of the Church.

by Lawrence Rast

Introduction

A

gain, thank you for the opportunity to engage the presentation of my dear friend, Makito Masaki, with whom I studied in the STM program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, many years ago. The opportunity to study with an insightful, thoughtful, and above all faithful Lutheran theologian like Dr. Masaki was really a memory that I deeply cherish.

I will take out a few points from Dr. Masaki’s presentation and then put those into my area of specialty, which is the history of Christianity in North America. We will then consider some of the Lutheran implications of that.

I did find one quote that Dr. Masaki drew from Dr. Luther particularly important for how we move forward informing people in their Confessional Lutheran worldview: “For you should not assume that the young people will learn and retain this teaching from sermons alone.”1 This is not by any means to diminish the importance of the sermon. Nobody held preaching more highly than Luther did. But he also was realistic; namely, that to form a person took more than simply listening to a sermon for 20, 40, 60, or however many minutes per week. Rather, Luther knew that learning was life—all of it. Thus, in his explanation to the third commandment, which we learned 1

LC, Preface, 24–25. Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from the Book of Concord are from Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000).

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from the Catechism, when Luther talks about keeping the Sabbath, he encourages us “not despise preaching or God’s Word, but instead keep that Word holy and gladly hear and learn it.”2 And how has this happened, when does this happen? It happens not only Sunday in the divine service.

Yes, that is the beginning, that is the core; but it continues into all of our Sabbath life, that is, our entire life in Christ. It is, as we like to say in the United States, 24/7, 365—every day, every hour, every minute.

So, with that in mind, thinking about a Confessional Lutheran worldview, Dr. Masaki pointed out to us that there are six components to this, that our worldview provides answers for our ultimate questions. It provides emotional security for us, it validates our deepest cultural norms, it helps us integrate culture, it monitors cultural change and helps us adapt to those changes, and it provides psychological reassurance. These are deeply held commitments that inform the whole of our life—what we think, what we say, and, of course, also what we do. And in this latter respect, then, I think Dr. Masaki is correctly pointing us towards the distinction between the status confessionis and the actus confessionis. His definition of confessio, of confession, means to praise God, confess sins, to confess the faith (the fides quae) that was once delivered to the saints as Jude tells us. This faith that we confess then informs our way of life. So, the status confessionis becomes the basic question of believing, that is, the 2

SC, I, 6.

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interplay, we might say, between the fides quae, the faith my grandmother. Her name was Edna Alma Frederica that we believe, and the fides qua, the faith that believes— Wilhelmina Cubycheck. She was baptized at St. Paul’s heartfelt trust and assurance in Jesus Christ as Savior. And German Reformed Church on the north side of Chicago, that heartfelt trust and assurance then manifests itself in and brought up in German-speaking home that became practical expressions of what we confess. very Lutheran. One of her conditions for dating my Here I think you can hear some echoes of two other of grandfather once they had met was that he study Luther's our presentations from Dr. Pfeiffer and Prof. Bustamante Small Catechism. He did, and he learned to love this as a in respect to the interaction of confession and act. Here marvelous expression of the Gospel, and so influential and this echo of lex orandi lex credendi, however, I think takes informative was it for him that from that time forward, on a particularly Lutheran edge. That is our emphasis on beginning already in the year 1929, he regularly studied lex credendi, the confession, the faith which we believe, the Catechism. And by regularly, I mean he took a copy in forming and producing in our of it with him as he worked. He lives the acts of confession. That was a very humble simple man, This faith that we confess is to say, doctrinal theology is pipe fitter we would call him, then informs our way of life. primary. But, how do you make he was a pipe fitter, installing So, the status confessionis that transition from principle and repairing heating and air becomes the basic question of to action, from status confessioconditioning units. During his nis to actus confessionis? Luther believing, that is, the interplay, work breaks, he would take this thought about this, of course, and we might say, between the fides catechism out of his pocket and reflected on it. Again, from the read it and study it. He knew quae, the faith that we believe, the Catechism better than any Large Catechism, Luther wrote and the fides qua, the faith that person I have ever met in my that pastors would “morning, believes—heartfelt trust and noon, and night … read a page life. You could ask him any or two from the catechism, the explanation, to repeat any one assurance in Jesus Christ as Prayer Book, the New Testament, Savior. And that heartfelt trust of the six chief parts, you could or some other passage from the ask him the proof text from the and assurance then manifests Bible, and they would pray the catechism explanation and he itself in practical expressions of Lord’s Prayer for themselves and could tell you right away. He what we confess. their parishioners.”3 Luther also knew them all much better than I do. And, when his catechism makes it clear that “it is the duty of every head of household at least once a week to examine came to me after his death as a memento, I was stunned the children and servants one after the other and ascer- at the battered condition of it. He had repeatedly put new tain what they know or are learning of [the catechism], covers on it, and every page was grimy and dirty from constant usage. He had gone from having this from status and, if they do not know it, to keep them faithfully at it.”4 This comes home in a very personal way with me, confessionis to actus confessionis. His whole life was actus.

That is what we are looking for in terms of our own if I might share this story. My mother’s father was not a typical Lutheran in the city of Chicago in the first third catechetical enterprise, and that is what I think Dr. the 1900s. He was a pure-blooded Scotsman. His name Masaki is challenging us, to hold up as a way forward and was Raymond Kirkpatrick, the least German-sounding the task for confessional Lutherans, and it is key that we name you could ever imagine. Having come from do so for we know that within the Lutheran tradition that Scottish roots and with roots in the Presbyterian tra- has not always been an easy thing to maintain, confesdition, the Kirkpatrick’s had over time drifted into the sional faithfulness.

When our own Dr. Luther died in 1546, the future Salvation Army. He found that very unsatisfying and, as a result, had largely removed himself from active par- of his work was uncertain. That was due to the fact that ticipation in any expression of the church—until he met his reforming work occurred within the context of very challenging circumstances. There were several reforma3 LC, preface, 3. tion problems that consistently posed themselves. For 4 LC, Short preface, 4. example, the question of ecclesiology consistently faced

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And then there were more emergencies. In the wake the Lutheran Reformers: Are we a movement within the Church Catholics or are we a Church? How do we know of Luther’s death, theological, political and social issues when we have moved from being one to the other? If we foisted themselves upon his church. The picture we often are a Church, what does that mean? How should we pre- get of the Holy Roman Empire and the German nation pare pastors? Can and should we ordain pastors? There is one that shows some of the complexity in comparison was also the problem of living within the confines of a to the surrounding nations, but when one takes a closer territorial Church—his region, his religion (cuius regio, look at the positions of Germany as we like to refer to it eius religio). Luther confronted these issues in part during singly, in the singular, it really begins to manifest itself. his own life; they became very pronounced among the The German states were not united at this point in time.

Indeed, there were hundreds of discreet political-ecclesial Lutherans following his death.

We sometimes romanticize the Reformation and entities within the Holy Roman Empire. However, within think, “well everything was wonderful ‘back then.’” We that context of the cuius regio eius religio principle, there have our great Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses and was a different ruler for each of those entities. There were he never had to face anything difficult from that point social realities, and, as we know so well, there were the forward. Reality, of course, was something different. numerous theological challenges that stretched Luther Student populations at Wittenberg plunged after Luther’s to Concord and beyond. The emergence of the Radical excommunication and it took years to rebuild. Then Reformation, the Counter or Catholic Reformation, the Reformed tradition and Calvinism there was the question of who should particularly in the Palatinate and then be ordained. In 1539, this question was troubles, of course, within the Lutheran being addressed in a very concrete way.

There is still a family that would be addressed finally We know that in 1535, the ordinations residue of Godby the Formula of Concord (1577). began in Wittenberg. The question of thinking in the However, even the Book of Concord in “can we ordain?” was answered posUnited States, and 1580 did not settle all matters. Shortly itively, as was the question of how to this provides an thereafter, in 1592 to be precise (a little do it. What remained was the quesmore than a decade after the adoption tion of who should be ordained. In opportunity for 1539, a full third of those ordained Lutheran catechesis. of the Concordia), the Saxon Church issued its Visitation Articles because were not fully trained at the university theological divisions remained among in Wittenberg. There was a merchant, there were two town secretaries, ten burghers, one stone- the Lutherans. The four articles of the Saxon Visitation mason, six sextons, one councilman, one clothier, three Articles were: Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, election, and village schoolmen and eleven printers; those book buyers Christology. The Formula's primary target is Calvinism. are always involved. So, thirty-six of one-hundred ten It is even more obvious in the Saxon Visitation Articles. men who were ordained at Wittenberg in the year 1539 As a result, the Visitation Articles’ purpose was to deterhad not gone through the full program. Conditions were mine whether there were still crypto-Calvinists among such that Luther and his colleagues said we must take the the Lutherans a decade and a half after the Formula best candidates we can find who have a sufficient theo- of Concord.

Within the Lutheran tradition, however, there were logical education and set them apart. But setting apart other points of tension. Marvelous works that emerged was necessary.

This is a concrete action of the Reformation taking its from this period of difficulty, like the Magdeburg ideal and working it out in difficult circumstances. At the Confession of April 13, 1550, are now available in English same time, and this must be said as well, this was never translation. Our Concordia Publishing House has pubseen as the ideal for preparation for Lutheran ministry. lished the Church Order from Braunschweig-Woffenbüttel Rather Wittenberg’s aim was to move beyond this, once assembled primarily by Martin Chemnitz—this is a treLutheranism as an institution began to establish itself. mendous resource that everyone interested in the Book And so, the numbers of those not going through the full of Concord should read. It provides a window into program quickly declined as well, even as the student what Lutherans were actually doing, how their doctrine population of Wittenberg increased. Thus, the emergency informed their practice in the year 1569; namely, the how the status confessionis informed the actus confessionis. was overcome.

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Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Twenty-first Century Application

Then 97% of the mainline churches, this would be where Perhaps you are thinking, “That is all old stuff. What does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCA this mean for the twenty-first century? Can we express is located, 97% believe in God, but less than two-thirds the Biblical faith in enduringly valid terms?” This was a believe that God is a personal God, 26%, 1 in 4 as a question raised within the Missouri Synod in the 1960s, personal force. Looking at the rest of those as you are and the answer given then was, no. I, however, insist on interested.

Where things get interesting, however, is in Pew’s answering yes. The Biblical faith, the fides quae, is one and it must be translated into our times. Reminding our- data on the unaffiliated—the nones. Among the unaffilselves of the Luther quote once more, “For you should not iated, 21% of atheists indicate that they believe in God. assume that the young people will learn and retain this How can this be? It may be that the “halo effect” is in play; namely, when one is asked a question, one responds teaching from sermons alone.”5 In 2008, the Pew Research Forum issued an extensive with the answer that one thinks the questioner wants to study of the American people and their religious beliefs, hear. If that is the case, it still will not account for 1 in 5 and one of the amazing things that came out of this atheists believing in God. More important than explaininvestigation was that nearly 80% of Americans self-iden- ing why this might be, I think it is more important to tified as Christian—a remarkable statistic for a developed realize the opportunity that this provides. It does indiWestern country. 78.4% of Americans answered the ques- cate is that there is a rich mission field within the United States, and that there is still the opportion “Are you a Christian?” favorably. At tunity to speak very frankly with people that point in 2008, 51.3% of Americans The challenge about God. More than half of agnostics self-identified as Protestant, either is for each of us self-identify as believers in God. Among evangelical, mainline or in one of the to be faithful in the secular unaffiliated, two-thirds historically black churches of the US. believe in God, and among the reliconfessing the faith Over 50% of America was Protestant (it has since fallen just under 50%). This is once delivered to the gious affiliated, a higher percent than the national percentage believe in God. what makes people think that America Saints so that we can There is still a residue of God-thinking is a Christian nation. see individuals then in the United States, and this provides In this religiously saturated situain turn hold to that an opportunity for Lutheran catechesis. tion, some interesting things do emerge.

But it is going to be a challenge, because faith in their hearts, Some that are hopeful, and some that one of the other questions that the Pew are challenging. 16.1% of Americans trusting in Christ as researchers asked was among those who self-identified as unaffiliated. We call their Savior. are affiliated, “Do you believe that many them "nones" in the United States— religions can lead to eternal life?” Those those who have no religion. When they are asked, “What is your religion?” they check the box affiliated, 70% said yes, including, and alarmingly to me, that says “none.” This is the fastest growing religion in including, 57% of evangelicals. Now, another word of caution at this point, it could be given America's denomAmerica if you can call it that—“none.”

When you begin to drill down into the data some inational character that when asked, "do you believe remarkable things emerge. When asked if they believe many religions can lead to eternal life?" people thought in God, 90% plus of Americans in 2008 answered “yes.” in denominational terms. But, it also suggests that there Among Protestants, 98% said they believe in God, and is increasing number of people who simply do not believe of that, nearly 75% believe that God is a personal God. in the exclusive claims of Christianity, and this will be a Only 19% believe God is an impersonal force. Higher challenge for confessional Lutheranism. Here, we must be among evangelicals, and this is where our Lutheran clear in our confession of the faith once delivered to us.

In the wake of the Pew report, we see an ongoing Church—Missouri Synod is typically located in these decline.

By 2015 the number of “nones” have climbed kinds of surveys, 99% believe in God, and 80% believe in a God with whom they have a personal relationship. to 22.8, going from 1 in 5 almost to nearly now 1 in 4 Americans being religiously unaffiliated. Americans are 5 LC, Short preface, 24–25. departing from the Church in record numbers. But they

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are not secularizing necessarily in the same way as it has occurred in Western Europe.

Conclusion All of this underscores why we need to know our various contexts. If we are going to confess the unchanging faith, faithfully in our changing contexts, we need to make the effort to know and understand those contexts. We need to know what our people are thinking and what people outside the Church are thinking, in order to be faithful. Faithfulness is the bottom line for us as a practicing Lutherans, faithful in the twenty-first century. We can’t simply look back romantically to images real and imagined of Wittenberg. The challenge is for each of us to be faithful in confessing the faith once delivered to the Saints so that we can see individuals then in turn hold to that faith in their hearts, trusting in Christ as their Savior. It will be difficult, it will be challenging, but I take heart from my closing quote here, it is one I often use particularly when I become a little distressed at the enormity of the task that lies in front of each one of us. It comes from C.F.W. Walther, one year into his presidency of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, it was 1848, he was giving his first speech after a year as president of our Senate, and he said this, “Above all and of all matters be concerned about this that the pure doctrine of our dear Evangelical Lutheran Church may become known more and more completely among us, that it may be in vogue in all of our congregations and that it may be preserved from all adulteration and held fast as the most precious treasure. Let us not surrender one iota of the demands of the Word. Let us bring about its complete rule in our congregations and set aside nothing of it. Here, let us be inflexible. Here, let us be avid. If we do this, we need not worry about the success of our labor, even though it should seem to be in vain, it cannot then be in vain, for the Word does not return void but prospers in the thing where to the Lord sent it. By the Word alone, without any other power, the Church was found. By the Word alone, all the great deeds recorded in Church history were accomplished. By the Word alone the Church will most assuredly stand also in these last days of sore distress, to the end of days, even the Gates of Hell will not prevail against her.”

Rev. Dr. Lawrence Rast president of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

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Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Closing Remarks ILC World Seminaries Conference

by Albert B. Collver

“T

oday the theologians of our church lament to the very depths of their souls the apostasy from pure doctrine for which we all take responsibility. The theologians of those churches lament what they call the sin of division. For us true repentance in the church means becoming serious again about the confession of our church.”—Hermann Sasse, “The Confessions and the Unity of the Church, 1937”1 The International Lutheran Council’s World Seminaries’ Conference 2016 had the theme: “Shaping Confessional Lutheranism for the 21st Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview.”

The Lutheran Reformation has had a profound effect on the entire world. No matter how a person regards the Reformation, or how they regard Martin Luther, it is impossible to deny the impact it has had both on the church and the world, from the realigning of geo-political boundaries, to greatly expanding the translation of the Bible into the vernacular, to clarifying the distinction of Law and Gospel, to giving birth to many Protestant church bodies, to prompting the Counter-Reformation and the reforms introduced by the Council of Trent, and perhaps most importantly, to expanding the proclamation of the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

Depending upon one’s point of view, not all of these effects are seen as positive, but there is no denying the 1 Hermann Sasse, The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters, vol. 1, trans. Matthew C. Harrison, et al. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2001), 359.

huge impact. Some 500 years later, the Christian Church is wrestling with how to regard the Reformation.

Many people have responded to the Reformation by seeking to bring about the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer that the Church may be one. Indeed, all Christians confess they believe in “one, holy Christian and apostolic church.” Yet on this earth, as Saint Paul wrote, “there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Cor. 11:19). Here Saint Paul is not speaking about unnecessary divisions and separations based upon sinful pride or upon desires for power. Saint Paul describes divisions that are necessary to preserve the pure proclamation of Jesus Christ and His Gospel of forgiveness. The Lutheran worldview can be seen as divisive as it has an impact on the Church and world in the areas of mission and worship. This fact presents a difficult challenge for the Lutheran churches who find their beginning or re-birth connected to the events of the Prussian Union in 1817. Most of the churches in the International Lutheran Council (ILC) began either in reaction against the Prussian Union, or were formed subsequently by those churches which came out of the Prussian Union seeking to preserve the Old Lutheran understanding of the Gospel, fellowship, and worship.

The beginnings of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) can be traced to the 1952 Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Assembly in Hanover, Germany. Prior to this assembly, there was the possibility that the LWF would remain a “federation” of churches instead of a communion of churches who practice altar fellowship without

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agreement in all areas of doctrine. After the communion service at the Marktkirche in Hanover, representatives from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and representatives from some of the free churches met in Uelzen in 1952. This marked the beginning of the International Lutheran Conference, which became the International Lutheran Council in 1993 at its meeting in Antigua, Guatemala. The ILC was not founded to compete with the LWF, but rather to provide a clear Lutheran confession for world Lutheranism. The ILC represents the voice of the Old Lutherans / Exclusive Lutherans, while the LWF represents the voice of Progressive Lutherans / Inclusive Lutherans. The difference comes down to the understanding of the Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, dividing world Lutheranism into two types or families.

The churches of the ILC hold that the Holy Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant word of God. The churches of the ILC unreservedly accept the Lutheran Confessions as found in the Book of Concord. In contrast, the churches of the LWF, particularly the Western (North American and European) churches, do believe that the Holy Scriptures contain the word of God and that the Scriptures are a source for doctrine but not necessarily life. In some sense, the Western churches of the LWF contextualize the Holy Scriptures through the present context. The Lutheran Confessions, particularly the Augsburg Confession, are seen as a mark of Lutheran identity, more of a historical document than a living document. Differentiating these two positions is not intended to criticize as much as to show the distinction between the two groups, and to provide space or a rationale for the existence of the ILC. Though churches of the ILC are in the minority compared to the LWF, both in terms of numbers and funding, the ILC represents a voice and tradition in world Lutheranism that is not readily found within the LWF. Our task in the world for the twenty-first century is to present, in a winsome way, the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel of Jesus speaks compassionately to a world which has lost its moral compass, a world that has not only forsaken traditional Judeo-Christian values and morals, but also to a world that is actively seeking to suppress that message. We have the challenge of providing a clear confession to the world and to the Lutheran churches in the world. We have the challenge of encouraging Lutheran Christians in their confession and identity, and to remain faithful not only in the face of false teaching but also in the face of governments and religions that oppose the cross of Jesus. We have the challenge of

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presenting historic Christian values in the face of worldwide progressive values, which seek to marginalize, if not eliminate, viewpoints that oppose its views on marriage and sexuality. We face the challenge of remaining Lutheran Christians in this world, and bearing witness to the truths of the Holy Scriptures. Left to ourselves, this task would be impossible. We are not left to remain faithful alone. Our Lord Jesus has given His Holy Spirit to keep us in the one true faith. Our Lord Jesus has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Our Lord Jesus has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.

We bear witness not alone, but with our Lord Jesus.

This means for the churches of the ILC, each challenge is a new opportunity in Jesus. As the world becomes more hostile to the truth, as churches move away from the historic faith in favor of a progressive agenda, the Lord’s sheep hear His voice and seek the places they hear Him speak. Particularly because of the position some Western Lutheran churches have taken on same-sex marriage and the ordination of practicing homosexuals, a number of churches in the Global South are eager to hear the witness provided by the churches of the ILC. This ILC World Seminaries Conference, and the 2015 ILC World Conference had in attendance church leaders who represented over twenty million Lutherans around the world. This is a significant increase since the ILC’s humble beginnings in 1952. The ILC currently has 38 members and a number of new membership requests for consideration at the ILC’s 2018 World Conference. The ILC is working to revise its bylaws to enable the organization to be more effective and viable in the twenty-first century. The ILC continues to provide encouragement to its member churches through conferences and publications, and is now seeking to develop programs to enhance Lutheran identity among member churches. The ILC has more new opportunities than it has resources to meet. In short, the ILC has great potential. The ILC’s Seminaries’ Conference on Shaping Confessional Lutheranism for the 21st Century: The Impact of the Lutheran Reformation on Mission, Worship, and Worldview sought to celebrate the 500 year history of the Lutheran church, while looking forward to how the churches of the ILC can continue to impact the world.

Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver is the executive secretary of the ILC.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

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Brand Luther: 1517, Printing, and the Making of the Reformation

by Andrew Pettegree (New York: Penguin, 2015)

by Adam Koontz

T

he flood of words in books and articles, on blogs, and at conferences commemorating, discussing, and making hay of 1517 is already here. One Andrew Pettegree’s insights presented in his new book on Luther and the media of his day is that this flood is nothing new.

The German printing market boomed in the first quarter of the sixteenth century in large part thanks to Luther’s very modern ability to write about theology in clear, brief, and convincing vernacular language. Fortunes were made printing and publishing in the German world where each printer could, without hindrance, reprint the Luther texts from Wittenberg that would sell by the hundreds and thousands. Pettegree marshals a detailed knowledge of that particular story into line with the larger stories of the Reformation and Luther’s life and career.

Pettegree does not write for the specialist. He uses the word “Reformation” with a capital R and without any discussion of a variety of “reformations,” including a Catholic one.

Although the book covers the period from roughly 1480 to 1580, the word “confessionalization” does not appear once even when he is talking about the clarification of confession and political status at events like the Diet of Speyer in 1529 or the publication of the Book of Concord in 1580. Commendably, he makes the outline of the history of the Reformation, the biography of Luther, and the role of printing in them comprehensible to someone neither pursuing a degree in nor making a living from the subject.

The narrative heart of the book is the biography of Luther, traced from his father’s investment in copper

mines to Luther’s death at Eisleben seeking to reconcile feuding brothers. Someone without much or any clear knowledge of Luther’s life story will gain it from this book. Into the bargain, Pettegree draws Luther without enlisting him as the herald or hero of something much larger than himself. Pettegree’s Luther is not the harbinger of modern freedom of conscience, the German nation, or even of all the Lutheranism that followed him. He was a man of singularly great intellect and facility of expression who was courageously tenacious or foolishly obtuse, depending on one’s sympathies. He was mighty at Worms in defending a conscience captive to the word of God, uniquely instrumental in the history of the German nation and the German language, and the theological progenitor of what Pettegree calls a new way of being a Christian community instantly recognizable to modern Lutherans in its devotion to Scripture and the primacy of congregational song. Yet Pettegree is careful never to make Luther merely the sum of everything or everyone he influenced, a cipher we fill in for ourselves in commemoration of the great man.

This is most clear when Pettegree narrates Luther’s two major absences from Wittenberg between 1517 and his death in 1546—his friendly imprisonments at the Wartburg in 1521–1522 and at Coburg Castle in 1530. It was during those times that we have the clearest picture of how much Luther was involved in from day to day as he wrote and agonized about all he could not control. He gave detailed instructions to his wife Katie in 1530 about how a manuscript should be yanked from one printer and given to another, even as the first printer sent a beautiful

Amid a flood already begun and perhaps now itself 500 years old of Lutheriana, this new book retells the story you may already know with accuracy, fresh facts, and insights.

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final copy of the book to him, arriving after Luther’s excoriating instructions were already en route home. As he wrote at a superhuman pace in 1520–1522 and managed and reviewed everything from university curricula to the placement of pastors in rural Saxon parishes to numerous manuscripts at diverse and sundry printers all at once, Luther’s energy is astounding and his very human frustrations and dislikes evident.

The “brand” the title identifies is the distinctive appearance of Luther’s writings that the reformer promoted after early mishaps with Rhau-Grunenberg, the only printer in Wittenberg when Luther arrived there. There were six other centers of printing in the German world: Leipzig in nearby ducal Saxony with its own university, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Basel, Cologne, and Strasbourg. Wittenberg’s sole printer was terribly backward by comparison, and once the thirty-four-year-old hitherto obscure professor of Bible began to make a sensation with the publication of the Ninety-Five Theses, which were quickly reprinted throughout the German world, Luther knew that Wittenberg needed a sophisticated, modern look for its German-language Flugschriften, the very brief, very pungent writings so popular across Germany, for its academic works in Latin, and eventually for the German Bible, issued in parts from the September Testament of 1522 to the first complete Bible printed by Hans Lufft in 1534.

With the aid of Lucas Cranach and the Lotter printing family, Luther put together a look for even the smallest pamphlets that would make both “Luther” and “Wittenberg” famous enough to be used on writings that were not strictly his and certainly had not been printed in Wittenberg. A specialist in the history of books, especially printed books, Pettegree details the nature of early modern printing and why, for instance, a Leipzig printer with Catholic convictions would petition his staunchly Catholic ruler for the right to print Luther’s works for sale in his staunchly Catholic territory. The interconnection of Luther with the emerging print media of his time is necessary to understanding his success in view of his early obscurity and later ignominy. Pettegree masterfully demonstrates the interdependence of the writer and his market.

In connection with that central story of Luther and his use of what were then new media in ways before unused by any theologian, Pettegree deftly adds a general sense of the flow of the Reformation (including the humanists like Erasmus and Pirckheimer initially sympathetic to it), political and theological opposition to it (including a

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very sympathetic portrait of John Eck), and its eventual theological diversity, introducing at least briefly everyone from the more famous Zwingli, Bucer, and Calvin to the less famous but important Rhegius, Zell, and Müntzer.

He is predictably eloquent on the role of printing and its suppression in markets more highly regulated than Germany’s, like France, England, or the Low Countries, which meant the suppression of nascent Lutheran sympathies. In a few paragraphs or a few pages, he covers topics as various as Zwingli’s progression from parish priest to his battlefield death, the relationship between Duke George of Saxony and Jerome Emser, and the southwestern German origins of the Bundschuh cause leading to the Peasants’ War of 1525. He is able to discuss all of this without becoming ponderous or superficial.

There is much to enjoy here, not least the detailed maps of Luther’s world and well-chosen illustrations of major figures. There is much Pettegree says that is characteristically concise and precise that we cannot here discuss. Amid a flood already begun and perhaps now itself 500 years old of Lutheriana, this new book retells the story you may already know with accuracy, fresh facts, and insights. Pettegree tells a newer story about Luther’s relationship to media that is fruitful for reflection in our own time of massive changes in how people come to see what they see and know what they know and finally to believe what they believe.

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Pauline Hermeneutics: Exploring the “Power of the Gospel”

edited by Eve-Marie Becker and Kenneth Mtata, LWF Studies, 2016/3 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2017)

by John G. Nordling

P

auline Hermeneutics, the result of an international conference at Aarhus University, September 24-29, 2015, is the fourth in a series of international conferences convened to prepare for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. (Earlier conferences focused on the Gospel of John, the Psalms, and the Gospel of Matthew.) The purpose of the Paul conference in particular was to bring together exegetical and theological expertise from all parts of the world to evaluate the Pauline tradition of gospel interpretation in view of current scholarly debates in New Testament studies and Luther’s writings. I shall treat the contribution of each scholar in turn before providing a more general evaluation at the end.

After a pair of introductory essays on hermeneutical implications of the gospel (Kenneth Mtata) and how Paul deals with traditions (EveMarie Becker), Oda Wischmeyer explores such principles of Pauline hermeneutics as the Greco-Roman background, Jewish foundations, and Paul’s understanding of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3. The Spirit is by no means divorced from the letter, though Paul seems sometimes to “downgrade” Moses (43) to bring to expression the christological euaggélion at Corinth.

Magnus Zetterholm analyzes Paul’s use of the slave-master metaphor from various perspectives—for example, the ubiquity of slavery in ancient times, Paul’s portrayal of himself as a slave, connections between servility and slavery at Rome, and how Egyptian slavery formed Judaism at core. On the other hand, he might find problematic the possibility that ancient slavery remains pertinent for modern Christians still today—in their coming to terms with the biblical (and Lutheran) understanding of vocation, for example. In Zetterholm’s view, biblical ideologies

and even morality are not acceptable as is but require the church to make such “complicated” texts “relevant” (59).

The next two essays take up spiritual gifts (Rospita Deliana Siahaan) and creation and reconciliation (Roger Marcel Wanke). Siahaan argues that churches should not judge each other in terms of practicing charismata but respect real differences—such as speaking in tongues, or not (71). Reconciliation finally comes down to God’s unconditional forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and so-called “objective reconciliation” (83 n. 39) may involve financial compensation to achieve earthly justice or preserve the environment.

Marianne Bjelland Kartzow advances so-called “intersectional hermeneutics”—which, as she freely admits, is “a further step in the feminist interpretation of the Bible” (85).

Hagar, for example, should be recognized because she has been excluded (97), a hermeneutic that subverts Paul’s intent and, in my view, prefers darkness to light, wickedness to goodness, and error to truth (see the examples on p.

95). This way of reading Scripture can be quite difficult to follow, and Kartzow herself acknowledges that her interpretations are necessarily “complex” (93). A more traditional—and useful—essay by Lubomir Batka follows on Paul’s understanding of citizenship in Philippians.

Power relations at Philippi could have been replicated in the congregation, opines Batka (106 n. 20), and this contribution surpasses the others in its coming to terms with the original Sitz im Leben.

Faustin Mahali argues that Africans are so amenable to Luther’s doctrine of justification by grace through faith that so-called “stringent church discipline” (113, 116, 120) hampers the gospel in Africa. I kept

I kept wondering what the alternative to “church discipline” might be: Pentecostalism?

Ancestor worship?

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wondering what the alternative to “church discipline” might be: Pentecostalism? Ancestor worship? Mahali seems quite open to such phenomena in African Lutheran Christianity. Urmas Nõmmik summarizes Estonian discussions among Lutherans on homosexuality before concluding that the issue cannot be decided from ancient evidence nor the Pauline texts. In Nõmmik’s opinion, Holy Scripture needs constantly to be reevaluated in light of changing sociocultural circumstances (139–40) and the church should heed the reality of personal experience (141). Likewise, Mercedes L. Garcia Bachmann’s essay pondering the difference between “called” and “cold” saints (an obvious pun) does no sufficient justice to the Pauline expression klētois hagiois (“to the called saints”) in two letter openings (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2). In fact this is a significant phrase, exegetically speaking: a Christian’s holiness depends on Christ’s righteousness in baptism and in the “calling” of the gospel Christians alone have proximity to in the means of grace (see Nordling, Philemon [St. Louis: Concordia, 2004], 202). Bachmann, however, is either unwilling (or incapable?) of conducting more traditional biblical exegesis. Indeed, she admits that she “is not entirely sure” of what she is writing about (145).

Bernd Oberdorfer acknowledges that Luther was a full-blown Paulinist in his doctrine of justification by grace through faith, although ethics certainly mattered both to Paul and Luther. The so-called “new life” in Christ shows continuity with Judaism in such matters as marriage, slavery, and the role of women—although the author cannot understand why it is “self-evident” that homosexuality disrespects the God-given, “natural” order of the created world (162). In the author’s opinion, Christian ethics boils down to self-restraint, mutuality, equality, and solidarity (165)—foundations upon which rest the so-called “gospel” of equality and fairness dogging so many mainline churches nowadays. In a final essay, Hans-Peter Grosshans ponders Christianity’s engagement with culture and hope for the world to come. Christians are no longer citizens of this world but already have one foot in heaven (Phil 3:20). Those whose “god is the belly” (Phil 3:19) are, in the author’s opinion, misguided Christians who seek stability in a fallen world (175).

Admittedly, this once-over does scant justice to the level of theological sophistication provided in most of the essays and overlooks many details. However, I find myself disappointed by some obvious problems (for example, blatant feminism, an openness to homosexuality) and failure of many of the authors to arrive at firm,

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Christocentric positions that line up with what the word of God has always—and continues—to reveal. While avoiding the Scylla of fundamentalism, they fall prey to the Charybdis of agnosticism—deciding, as many moderns do, that ancient texts have no authoritative meaning for the present day. However, since the word of the Lord “remains forever” (Is 40:8; 1 Pet 1:25), the Lutheran church’s task ought be not only to preach Christ faithfully before the heathen, but also to cherish “the finer things” of God’s creation (see Phil 4:8-9)—such as, for example, good thinking at international conferences of this sort, marriage between a man and a woman, and legal systems that genuinely punish the wicked (as identified by the Decalogue) and reward the good. Portions of essays contained in Pauline Hermeneutics contain some good (i.e., theologically sound) material, though also much chaff and straw.

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The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures

edited by D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016)

by John T. Pless

T

o say that this volume is comprehensive would be an understatement indeed! Over 1200 pages populated by thirty-seven scholars with proven and often internationally recognized expertise in biblical studies, historical theology, and systematics, this book is a learned and robust affirmation of the authority of Holy Scriptures. The Bible is approached not with a hermeneutic of suspicion but one of confident faith that God himself is speaking in and through the inspired Scriptures and that these writings are utterly reliable.

Under the able editorship of D. A. Carson, one of the most prolific New Testament scholars of our day, topics ranging from the history of interpretation, questions of epistemology, apologetics, contemporary hermeneutics, diversity within the canon, and the relationship of the Bible to the scriptures of major world religions are treated. Carson himself contributes an opening chapter that surveys the current shape of the current debate over the Scriptures, noting shifts in the reception and, in some cases rejection of, earlier forms of the historical-critical approach to the Bible. For example, Carson narrates the “angry and sweeping” critique of historical-critical exegesis offered by Klaus Berger, emeritus professor at the University of Heidelberg to the more tepid yet pointed critique of Ulrich Wilkens from Hamburg. Cason also engages Roy Harrisville’s Pandora’s Box Opened: An Examination of the Defense of Historical-Critical Method and its Master Practitioners and the now nearly classic work of Brevard Childs and N.T. Wright. The old “Battle for the Bible” of the 1960s and 1970s may be over, but

the struggle continues and sometimes with new allies.

Not only Carson but nearly all of his authorial team have read widely and are fully conversant with a wide range of not only theological interpreters of the Bible, but also current philosophical and linguistic theory. Carson concludes the volume with a chapter entitled “Summarizing FAQs,” which briefly and coherently demonstrates why the contemporary debates surrounding the character and authority of Scripture do matter for the life and mission of the church.

Carson’s team contains numerous heavy hitters. Kevin Vanhoozer takes up the relationship of the Scriptures to doctrine in an essay entitled “May We Go Beyond What is Written After All? The Problem of Theological Authority and the Problem of Doctrinal Development.”

Vanhoozer argues that preaching and pastoral care do call us to go beyond what is written but never “against the grain” of the text; instead theologians and preachers proceed “along the grain of the text, following the way the words go” (792). Simon Gathercole takes up the question of apostolic unity in early Christian literature challenging Walter Bauer’s thesis arguing the priority of heresy over orthodoxy in the early church. Contemporary Roman Catholic views of scriptural authority are examined and assessed by Anthony N.S. Lane while Osvaldo Padilla engages “postconservative theologians,” especially Stanley Grenz and John R. Franke. A chapter by R. Scott Smith also takes up “non-foundational epistemology” and the truthfulness of Scripture. Karl Barth’s view of Scripture is the subject of the chapter by David Gibson.

Numerous authors engage Bart Ehrman in one way or

All in all, this is an outstanding contribution demonstrating the depth and vigor of contemporary conservative and evangelical theology on biblical authority.

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another; the essay by Peter Williams is specifically aimed at Ehrman.

Several essays deal with the relationship of the Old Testament to the New (Craig Blomberg, Stephen Dempster, Douglas Moo, and Andrew David Naselli).

Bruce Waltke contrasts ancient mythologies, i.e., Mesopotamian myths, with the biblical record in his discussion of “myth and history” after noting a most positive evaluation of mythology in contemporary anthropological studies. He concludes that, “The human spirit in its hunger for truth, for reality, requires the philosopher’s reasoning and the poet’s intuition” (575). Kristen Birkett addresses the relationship of science to Scripture, arguing that without the foundation of the Christian Scripture, science “makes very little sense,” for it is only the Scripture that reveals “the purpose of the universe that scientists study so avidly” (986). A related essay by Rodney Stiling narrates the rise of natural philosophy and its challenge to biblical authority in the seventeenth century.

Those involved in mission work among adherents of other world religions will find four essays that deal with truth claims competing with the Holy Scriptures in Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Two chapters have a special appeal for confessional Lutherans. Mark Thompson’s “The Generous Gift of a Gracious Father: Toward a Theological Account of the Clarity of Scripture” is a fine exposition of the christological character of the Scriptures as he takes up Luther’s question, “[I] f scripture is obscure or ambiguous, what point is there in God giving it to us?” (617). Drawing on the recent work of John Webster, Thompson challenges contemporary denials of the clarity of Scripture, concluding, “The clarity of Scripture remains an element of the Christian doctrine of Scripture but its contours are deeply theological and its center of gravity is found in the example and teaching of Jesus Christ” (643).

Finally, there is the essay by the sole Lutheran contributor to this collection, Robert Kolb, who writes on “The Bible in the Reformation and Protestant Orthodoxy.”

While this is an exceedingly broad topic, Kolb masterfully surveys the continuity and discontinuity between Luther and other Protestant reformers and between the reformers and their heirs in the age of orthodoxy. Kolb’s essay whets the appetite for his book, Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God: The Wittenberg School and Its Significance for Scripture-Centered Proclamation from Baker Academic Press.

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All in all, this is an outstanding contribution demonstrating the depth and vigor of contemporary conservative and evangelical theology on biblical authority. It is well worth reading and careful study by Lutherans who receive the Scriptures as the word of God and are committed to proclaiming the one saving gospel of God’s justification of the ungodly according to these prophetic and apostolic writings.

Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

B o ok R eview a nd C omme n tary

The Journal Articles of Hermann Sasse

edited by Matthew C. Harrison, Bror Erickson, and Joel A. Brondos (Irvine, CA: New Reformation Publications, 2016)

by John T. Pless

H

ermann Sasse (1895–1976) is remembered for his staunch confessionalism, which was largely out of step with twentieth-century theology. The journey of his life was a movement away from the Prussian Union and the teachers of his youth in Berlin, particularly Adolph von Harnack and Karl Holl, toward a carefully articulated case for the distinctiveness of the Lutheran church in the world. Postgraduate studies at Hartford Seminary in 1925–1926 would expose him to American Christianity. While in the States he admits to becoming a loyal Lutheran through the reading of Wilhelm Loehe’s Three Books about the Church.

Returning to Germany, Sasse was active in ecumenical affairs.

He collaborated with Bonhoeffer in writing the Bethel Confession but refused to sign the Barmen Declaration as he evaluated it as Barthian. Along with such notables as Werner Elert and Paul Althaus, Sasse served on the faculty at Erlangen during the Nazi era. It was during this period that he wrote Here We Stand, a book that would be translated into English in 1938 by his friend Theodore Tappert and widely used in American Lutheran seminaries of all stripes in the 1940s and 50s. Disappointed with the unionistic path taken by the Lutheran Church in Bavaria after World War II, Sasse immigrated to Australia for a teaching post at Immanuel Lutheran Seminary in Adelaide.

While he was geographically isolated in Australia, Sasse kept abreast of theology in Europe and North America. His engagement was often through circular letters, mimeographed and mailed to Lutheran pastors and professors the world over. The letters have been collected and published in a three-volume set by

Concordia Publishing House. Other significant essays have been translated and edited by Matthew Harrison in the two-volume set The Lonely Way (CPH). Sasse’s wartime sermons, translated by Bror Erickson, are available in Witness (Magdeburg Press). His major book on the Lord’s Supper, This is My Body, was published by Augsburg Publishing House in 1959. The Journal Articles of Hermann Sasse now rounds out the corpus of Sasse’s collected works in English.

The materials in this most recent anthology are from the Australian years. The majority of the articles and book reviews in this volume were published in the Reformed Theological Review, an Australian journal. It was no accident that Sasse, who was highly critical of Reformed intrusions into Lutheran theology and church life, would be a welcomed contributor to this journal. Sasse was respected as a conservative Lutheran theologian who was willing to engage with those outside of his tradition. In fact, Sasse served for a while as president of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship in Australia.

Sasse’s confessionalism was by no means a narrow parochialism. He was a friend and regular correspondent with Cardinal Augustin Bea, a highly influential figure in the years of the Second Vatican Council. Several of the entries in The Journal Articles are commentary on decisions of the Council. A significant number of articles deal with aspects of the ecumenical movement with which Sasse was intimately acquainted. He narrates the history of the ecumenical movement from its origins in pietism and the great missionary movements of the nineteenth century. In a 1953 essay, Sasse worries that the ecumenical movement is so eager for reunion that it neglects truth.

Given the current situation of global Lutheranism, it is not an overstatement to say that Hermann Sasse spoke prophetically.

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He writes, Ecumenical discussions can be fruitful but only if carried on between those who have a common doctrinal basis, be it the Nicene Creed or the “sola scriptura” of the Reformation. Without such expression of common convictions and a common faith, the ecumenical discussions will lead not to a new Pentecost, but a Babel-like confusion of tongues. That is the tragedy of modern ecumenical organizations. What is meant to be a means of overcoming the divisions of Christendom has practically destroyed the unity that already existed. (7) To be sure, Sasse is critical but there is no hint of mean spiritedness or cynicism. His polemic is intended to serve the truth of the one gospel which alone creates the unity of the church.

Along with essays on matters ecumenical, there are numerous essays on the nature of Holy Scripture and its authority. Shortly after his arrival in Australia, Sasse became entangled in debates on scriptural inerrancy to the frustration and dismay of some of his friends in the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods. Critical of both the skepticism embodied in Rudolph Bultmann and the ahistorical approach of fundamentalism, Sasse sought a path forward that would avoid both extremes. His essays examine the emergence of the dogma of Holy Scripture and are suggestive of ways to confess that the Bible, like Christ, has both a divine and human nature. Although misunderstood on this point, Sasse asserted that to speak of the Bible’s human nature does not imply a capacity for error.

Also included are forty-two book reviews published in The Reformed Theological Review. These reviews demonstrate the wide-range of Sasse’s theological interest and give insight into his evaluation of his contemporaries such as Wingren, Schlink, Tillich, Cullmann, Elert, and Pelikan.

Given the current situation of global Lutheranism, it is not an overstatement to say that Hermann Sasse spoke prophetically. We have a record of his prophetic voice in this volume. No sectarian, Sasse was both confessional and ecumenical. He knew that the Lutheran Confessions stand in service to the whole church of Jesus Christ. These articles and reviews demonstrate the depth of his knowledge and the wide range of his ecclesiastical connections.

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Journal of Lutheran Mission | The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

If decisions on human sexuality in recent years illustrate how great segments of Lutheranism have lost their way, the essays included in The Necessary Distinction help guide you to anchors we all need. These authors take Christ, the Scriptures, and our confessions seriously. They are not carbon copies of each other. They put you through your paces, even if

CPH.ORG/NECESSARYDISTINCTION

you wrestle with certain details of their views.

Pastors as well as informed lay theologians will profit from them. What a welcome contribution to the 500th Reformation anniversary year! —REV. DR. ROBERT BUGBEE President, Lutheran Church–Canada Vice-Chairman of the International Lutheran Council

Journal of Lutheran

Mission