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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

September 7, 2000

LUTHERAN THEOLOGIANS FOCUS ON THE CROSS AND MISSION
00-209-FI

     TECHNY, Ill. (ELCA) -- Lutherans believe that God reconciled
all conflicts with human beings by becoming human in Jesus Christ, by
being executed on a cross and by rising from the dead.  The cross was
the focal point for theologians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) gathered here Aug. 18-20.
     About 60 members of the ELCA who teach theology in colleges and
seminaries met with six bishops and about 10 staff members of the
ELCA's churchwide offices in Chicago.  The Convocation of Teaching
Theologians, hosted by the ELCA Division for Ministry, addressed "The
Theology of the Cross in the Mission of the Church."
     "The theology of the cross is a way of doing theology that says
we start with God's self-revelation to us in weakness and in the
cross, which is the beginning of victory," said Dr. L. DeAne
Lagerquist, associate professor of religion, St. Olaf College,
Northfield, Minn.  She chaired the consultation's planning committee.
     "It's important that the teaching theologians come together and
teach one another and come to know one another in a way that, if you
will, puts flesh on the institution," said Lagerquist.  "We come to
know one another as people, not only as views that are reported in
some disembodied way," she said.
     "The theology of the cross is an important element of Lutheran
theology and therefore an important contribution of the Lutheran
church," said the Rev. H. Frederick Reisz Jr., president of Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.  "I am Lutheran because
life is irrational, paradoxical and complex," he said.
     "Divine power is shown in weakness," said Reisz.  "Christ is
Savior, Servant and Lord."  Lutheran theology accepts such seeming
contradictions because "it elevates revelation over reason, while not
banishing reason.  We let God be God," he said.
     "Being theologians of the cross shapes the mission of the
church.  We preach Christ crucified and risen," said Reisz.  "Our
mission includes honesty," he said, to look at the suffering of the
world through God's grace.
     "We are called to accompany others and be accompanied as we all
are accompanied by Christ, who bears the prints of the nails," said
Reisz.
     "The cross is a reality of what God has done for us," said Dr.
Diane L. Jacobson, professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, St.
Paul, Minn.  "The theology of the cross gives us a glimpse into the
divine heart ... God's will for us," she said.
     "What distinguishes God from humanity is God's compassion ...
God's tilt toward grace and forgiveness," said Jacobson.  "God's
character is revealed in the details."
     "God takes up the lament" of human suffering, she said.  Human
suffering and human logic cannot bridge the gap between God and
humans.
     "By itself, the crucifixion of Christ would have been a
shocking catastrophe," said the Rev. James W. Aageson, associate
professor of religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.  The death
of Christ seems tragic and foolish, he said, and anything but saving.
     Some Christians have used the cross "to justify injustice,"
saying that some should follow Christ's example by suffering, said
Aageson.  He called such teaching "a misuse of Christ's example, to
further one's own status."
     When Christ's suffering is seen as God's act, making human
suffering pointless, the theology of the cross has a powerful message
of hope for today's world, said Aageson.  "Ethics is the arena where
much of Christian theology is taking place in America," he said.
     "The cross reveals our suffering for what it is -- a curse --
and opens us up for God's proper work -- a blessing," said the Rev.
Timothy J. Wengert, professor of Reformation history, Lutheran
Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.  "Only God can make a blessing
out of a curse."
     "We are stuck in a world where suffering knows no end," said
Wengert.  "The theology of the cross has good news, not solutions,"
he said.  "Our senseless suffering has a point in God."
     Wengert shared several personal examples of suffering and of
his struggles to believe in God.  "God is bigger than this world's
evil ... even bigger than our doubts," he concluded.
     "In the midst of plenty" and relative comfort, a theology of
the cross still has meaning, said Dr. Mary M. Solberg, assistant
professor of religion, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.
Christians cannot ignore those who live on the social, economic and
geographic margins, she said.
     "Are we under the illusion that there are no more crosses
today?  I certainly hope not," she said.  "God did not guarantee
safety, nor prescribe suffering."
     The theology of the cross critiques how people treat each
other, said Solberg, while showing us we cannot save ourselves.
"Proclaim God's love," she said.
     Participants formed nine thematic groups: congregational life,
ecumenism, evangelism, higher education, interfaith relations, middle
America, the oppressed, theological education, and worship and
proclamation.  Each group met three times during the weekend to
discuss theology of the cross from the perspective of its theme and
to draft a brief "address to the Church."
     "The theology of the cross is properly at the center of our
mission and identity," said Dr. Kathryn L. Johnson, professor of
historical theology, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary,
Louisville, Ky., summarizing the groups' reports.  "The theology of
the cross is a gift of the Lutheran church to the Church catholic,"
she said.  "It's something the Church would be impoverished without."
     Worship is the focus for living a theology of the cross, said
Johnson.  Theology can shape Christian relationships around a
"communal identity."
     The groups also identified "truth-telling" as an important part
of theology, she said.  Christians seek the truth, speak the truth,
hear the truth and avoid distortions of the truth.
     Three participants provided closing reflections: the Rev.
Andrea F. DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the ELCA's South Dakota Synod,
Sioux Falls; Dr. Gabriel Fackre, Andover Newton Theological School,
Newton Centre, Mass.; and the Rev. Theodore I. Zimmerman, ELCA
missionary and professor, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong.
     "There is a sense in this group that, as a church, we are not
looking at the cross today," said DeGroot-Nesdahl.  "Why isn't there
a focal point, and why isn't it the cross?"
     DeGroot-Nesdahl encouraged more meetings like the consultation,
involving more Lutheran theologians.  Coming together deepens trust
among colleagues, she said, and increases the odds of theology
permeating the church.  "How do we get practical about these
deep-held beliefs in our lives?"
     The bishop noted that she often gets letters from seminary
faculties on specific issues facing the church.  DeGroot-Nesdahl said
she hopes to get letters about the theology of the cross and similar
topics.
     "Theology of the cross is inseparable from other Lutheran
refrains, such a 'justification by grace through faith,'" said
Fackre, a member of the United Church of Christ.  He pointed out
several interpretations of the theology that he heard at the
consultation.
     "God finds you in the place where you least expect it," said
Fackre.  Though Jesus died on the cross, God is "more alive than
dead," he said.
     Mission means being vulnerable in a culture of strength, action
and violence, bearing pain but not seeking it, said Fackre.  The
theology of the cross is evident in Lutheran ethics, he said.
     "I hope there can be conversations like this in China," said
Zimmerman.  There is a burgeoning future for Christianity and the
Lutheran church in China, he said.
     Chinese theologians are beginning to look at the Reformation
teachings of 16th-century Europe, said Zimmerman.  A country founded
on cultural revolution will look at the writings of Martin Luther
differently than America, he said, encouraging theological "talk
across borders."
     The Rev. Jonathan P. Strandjord, ELCA director for theological
education, said one of the convocation's planning committee members
-- the Rev. Arland J. Hultgren, professor of New Testament, Luther
Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. -- is forming a publications committee to
explore a variety of options for reporting the content of the
convocation to the church.
     Participants engaged in conversations about the content,
structure and frequency of future convocations, said Strandjord.
There was a sense that the convocation needs to be "less than just a
biennial episode and something that's more a fabric of the life of
the Church," he said.
     Annual convocations, convocations planned with the ELCA
Conference of Bishops, and convocations of hundreds of theologians
every five or 10 years were some possibilities participants proposed
for the future.
     "The convocation of teaching theologians is constitutionally
mandated.  Its form is not constitutionally specified," said
Strandjord.  "The convocation is the responsibility of the ELCA
Division for Ministry," he said, so the convocation's future will be
a topic for the division's board.

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