wfn.org | How Can Cultural Encounters Lead to Opportunities for

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

How Can Cultural Encounters Lead to Opportunities for Transformation?
LWF Study Team Reflects on Upcoming Publication on Ethics

CAPE TOWN, South Africa/GENEVA, 2 May 2005 (LWI) - When different world
views, histories or cultures encounter each other, how can they open up
"windows" that lead to transformation? How can moral life be negotiated
at such intersections from a Lutheran perspective? 

These challenges are the focus of a book being developed through the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) study program on intercultural ethical
deliberation, under the auspices of the Department for Theology and
Studies (DTS). 

At their third and final meeting near Cape Town, South Africa, March
17-22, members of the eight-person writing team discussed their draft
articles on topics ranging from transition to democracy in Hungary, to
education in Brazil, agricultural technology in the United States of
America, and indigenous plants' privatization in Africa. 

They reflected on how a meeting point of cultures and traditions, for
example, could become a "moral moment" during which choices must be made
on what was considered to be ethical. "I must listen to the other in
ways that challenge me; that seem very Lutheran!" commented Dr Yuen
Waiman, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong. Prof. Dr Hans G.
Ulrich, University of Erlangen, Germany, emphasized that from a Lutheran
perspective, morality was not about right or wrong, "but how we live
together aware of each other and in light of what we have received from
God." 

"We realize we cannot stand on higher moral ground and judge others. If
we try to judge the salvation of others, that is sin. But the church
must speak out and confront practices that discriminate," pointed out
Brazilian theologian Rev. Dr Wanda Deifelt, currently teaching at Luther
College in Iowa (USA). Ms Puleng Lenka Bula, University of South Africa
added: "For those of us who have been conditioned with ethics as right
or wrong, this is really liberating. We should not be judgmental, but we
need to name what inhibits the fullness of life for ourselves and our
neighbors."

As one group member observed: "We came together as sisters and brothers
in Christ, but a deeper sense of community has been formed through the
give and take, through dialogue as a creative transformation, or as the
Lutherans might put it, 'the mutual conversation and consolation of
sisters and brothers.'" 

Ethics at the Intersections of God's One World, the book bringing
together this work, will be published later this year. It is being
edited by DTS Director, Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist, who is also study
secretary for the church and social issues. (429 words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million Christians. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
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