wfn.org | ELCA Convocation of Teaching Theologians

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 29, 1996

"CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE OTHER" (125 lines)
96-20-058-FI

     TECHNY, Ill. (ELCA) -- "The other" is anyone outside your
own group.  That group can be defined by personality, economics,
culture, ethnicity and religion.  The mix of cultures and
religious expressions in American society was at the center of
study for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's
Convocation of Teaching Theologians, "Christian Faith and the
Other."
     About 60 ELCA members who teach theology in U.S. colleges
and seminaries met here Aug. 16-18 with seven bishops and about
10 staff members of the ELCA's churchwide offices in Chicago.
     Dr. Cynthia J#risson, Lutheran School of Theology at
Chicago, who chaired the convocation's planning committee, posed
the program's question:  "Is there a creative alternative in
relating to the other that avoids both simple tolerance of all
religious and truth claims as equally valid and simple retreat
into a religious ghetto without genuine engagement with the many
others in our culture?"
     "As evangelical Lutheran theologians, we should think about,
in a very particular way, what it really means to be `other'
ourselves in some situations and to recognize the existence of
the `other' in a variety of parts of our life together," she
said.  "We must continue to grapple with the reality that God is
also `other.'"
     "They surprised and delighted us beyond our highest
expectations," J#risson said of the convocation participants.
"People really seized on to the topic and added many more
dimensions than the planning committee could have foreseen, which
seems to make sense when you consider the nature of the topic."
     Living as Christians among people of other faiths requires
Lutherans in America to examine what is at the center of their
faith, said Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz, Pacific Lutheran Theological
Seminary, Berkeley, Calif.  "Does the center still hold," she
asked, after you discard the "situated knowledge" culture and
ethnicity attached to it?
     God is revealed through all religions, said Dr. Carl E.
Braaten, Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology,
Northfield, Minn., but salvation is revealed only through Christ.

Born to a missionary family in Madagascar, Braaten related vivid
memories of his Christianity making him "the other."
     The Bible is full of stories of how God's people treat
others, said Dr. Carol Schersten LaHurd, University of St.
Thomas, Minneapolis.  Often "the other" is depicted as the
villain, and the Bible is used to justify harming others.  The
biblical bottom line, she countered, is that "love for God
demands that we love the other."
     Engaging "the other" involves some risk, said Dr. Murray
Haar, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D., a Christian who
converted from Judaism.  "As a stranger, I threaten people.  I
raise questions," he said.  "If you bother to listen, you might
discover you are wrong."
     Human beings have always defined themselves by defining who
they are not -- the other, said Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar, Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.  America has become a
"mosaic" of others.  "The others are among us, a part of us, and
yet they remain others."  He proposed a "theology of embrace" to
understand yourself and the other as who they are instead of who
they are not.
     Hospitality to the stranger is not a uniquely Christian
metaphor, it is embedded in the rules of behavior for almost
every culture, said Dr. Patrick R. Keifert, Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn.  "The local congregation is the place where the most
can be done to encounter the other, and often where the least is
done," he said.  Lutheran congregations need pastors who lead
"moral conversations" with others.
     ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson led a discussion of
ecumenical decisions facing the church in 1997, entering into
closer, formal relationships with the Episcopal Church and with
three Reformed churches -- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed
Church in America and United Church of Christ.  "Are we able now
to say the possibilities for mission, work and witness outweigh
our differences?" he asked.
     "We are at the time when we need to find ways to work
together, not only as an economy of resources, but as a sign to
our society," said Anderson.  "We need to demonstrate ... sharing
within the family of Christ."
     In summary remarks Dr. L. DeAne Lagerquist, St. Olaf
College, Northfield, Minn., said engaging the other "is something
the people we live with face every day.  It's not something we
made up for fun."  She said that was demonstrated by all the
personal anecdotes mixed into the convocation's deep theological
probing.
     "People want to know from you what is fundamental ... what
makes you Christian, Lutheran," said Dr. Winston D. Persaud,
Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.  "We cannot be
Christian and live authentically without recognizing within the
tradition that we are pressed to recognize the other."
     "We are called to journey with actual others," said Dr. Paul
R. Sponheim, Luther Seminary.  "In this journey there will be
real risk," he cautioned.  "I am glad, despite the risk, for the
note of hopefulness" and confidence the theologians expressed in
the Christian faith.
     Every other year the ELCA Division for Ministry hosts the
Convocation of Teaching Theologians "to address and inform the
church about issues of critical importance to the church."  It is
also an opportunity for Lutheran theologians serving a variety of
institutions to meet face to face.
     "The life and work of the ELCA must be centered in a process
of sustained theological reflection," said J#risson.  "Theology
is a communal enterprise, and it's not something you do in
isolation.
     "Unfortunately there aren't very many places where that can
happen anymore, because it's so expensive to bring the church's
theologians together for that kind of theological reflection,"
she said.  "So, we are particularly grateful to AAL for funding
the 1996 convocation."  AAL is Aid Association for Lutherans, a
fraternal benefits society based in Appleton, Wis.
     "This is an important conference for the church, but it's
just not enough," said J#risson.  "People who are making critical
decisions about the life of this church should do so in an
atmosphere of intentional and ongoing theological deliberation.
You can't depend on an every-two-year conference to do that.  It
has to be a sustained process," she said.
     J#risson added that the ELCA needs "many more such
opportunities for structured conversations" among various groups
within the church, such as the teaching theologians, Church
Council, Conference of Bishops and churchwide staff.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG