wfn.org | LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause

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

A Call to Join Efforts with Other Religions in the Search for
Peace and the Integrity of Creation
Interview with the LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr Christian
Krause

GENEVA, 10 July 2003 (LWI) - The global communion of Lutheran
churches is faced with challenging task of seeking, together with
other religions, "paths toward peace and the integrity of
creation," the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause said in an interview with
Lutheran World Information (LWI).

Krause reminded Christian churches and other religious
communities of their obligation to be actively engaged in the
fight against poverty, injustice and all forms of violence in
society.

The interview was a reflection on his six-year term in office.
Krause was appointed as LWF President at the 1997 Ninth Assembly
in Hong Kong, China. His term ends after the 21-31 July 2003
Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.

He pointed out that on the basis of its unique experience, the
LWF should explore in interreligious dialogue, the extent to
which the model of reconciled diversity is possible beyond the
fellowship of Christians - in the fellowship among religions. He
expressed hope that the LWF together with the other confessional
world communions, and the World Council of Churches would be able
to combine the critical functions of theology with the missionary
revival of the more charismatic churches and communities.

The full text of the interview with LWF President Krause follows:

Interview with the LWF President  Bishop emeritus Dr Christian
Krause

LWI: Dr Krause, in July 1997, at the Ninth Assembly of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Hong Kong, you were elected
LWF President. What hopes, desires and visions did you have as
you took office six years ago, at the 50th anniversary of the
LWF?

Krause: I had already been close to the Lutheran World Federation
for a good part of its 50 years, since 1966, when I became
research assistant in the Department for Theology in Geneva. I
was aware of the great variety of the LWF's tasks from my own
experience, not only in its theological work but also later as a
staff person of the Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service, and
finally in my position on the LWF National Committee in Germany.
Thus my desires and visions were concentrated on progress at
these different levels. Of course I especially had the dialogue
with the Roman Catholic Church in mind, with the hope that there
would be steps forward there as well as throughout the ecumenical
movement.

It has always been a particular concern of mine to see the LWF,
not as fenced off from the other confessions or the ecumenical
community, but rather in all its openness, and to develop the
ecumenical dimension of the confessional body. Of course this
included the particular situation in the world. The Ninth
Assembly took place relatively soon after the great revolutionary
change of 1989-90, which resulted in a new openness and removing
boundaries, and this brought us the new challenges emerging from
concerns such as globalization. We were confronted on one hand
with numerous dangers, on the other, with new opportunities
through electronic communications and cross-border trade.

What was especially present to me in Hong Kong was the world-wide
network of the LWF with its emphasis on direct diaconal action,
its missionary approach to the Gospel, its theological profile
and, as I said, especially its ecumenical breadth and openness.

LWI: At your first press conference as LWF President, on 14 July
1997 in Hong Kong, you said that confessional communities such as
the LWF had become more important than ever for the ecumenical
movement. You warned against a pullback, since dialogues such as
the one on the doctrine of justification with the Roman Catholic
Church in particular are only possible between confessional
families. What would your judgment be today?

Krause: There is of course no question that, obviously,
confessional issues have to be discussed and clarified between
confessional churches. Thus in reassessing the history of
theology and the church, dialogue between the historic churches
and confessions is extraordinarily important. To me it is
especially significant that the confessional world communions
have become more visible in recent years, and are reaching out
more to one another.

The Roman Catholic Church, the churches of the Reformation, that
is the Reformed and Lutheran world bodies, the Anglican
Communion, the Orthodox churches - these are important and
indispensable poles especially for interconfessional
conversations, for seeking together, for the ecumenical
fellowship as a whole and thus also for the World Council of
Churches.

LWI: On 31 October 1999 you were in Augsburg, Germany as one of
the signatories to the Official Common Statement with which the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was solemnly
recognized by the LWF and Roman Catholic Church. The dialogue
which finally led to the Joint Declaration had lasted over 30
years. Was this signing ceremony a high point of your presidency?

Krause: For me, the 31 October 1999 is an extraordinarily
important date. The 30 years of dialogue show not only its
significance, but also that it was high time for these
conversations, for at least a start towards overcoming this
almost 500-year-old division. Augsburg was the place where, in
1530, the rejection of the Confessio Augustana marked the failure
of the last attempt at bridge-building. The dispute that followed
caused immeasurable suffering, enmities, the Counter-Reformation,
the Thirty Years' War - one could go on and on. There was misuse
of power in all sorts of ways, the Reformation was made an
instrument of politics and especially of conflict between the
churches of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church.

What is remarkable is that the two sides in the dialogue have
reached a consensus on basic truths. We are not trying to
monopolize the truth over against one another, but rather naming
together that which is at the core of the Gospel, that is,
justification by grace alone through faith, which is the central
significance of God's act of salvation. Nevertheless, the signing
of the Joint Declaration does not mark a full stop, but rather a
colon: we now have a basis on which to go further, and we must do
so. The concept of reconciled diversity underlines our new
relationship after the long age of enmity.

The signing of the Joint Declaration also showed that the
community within the LWF stands firmly together and, can take a
unanimous position even in the face of differing opinions.

LWI: What did the signing of the Joint Declaration change for
Lutheran and Catholic Christians? Just recently, at your farewell
visit to Pope John Paul II, you urged once again more intensive
efforts toward at least ecumenical hospitality at the Eucharist.
Had you expected visible results to come sooner?

Krause: My exhortation to move toward sharing the Eucharist, at
least in the sense of mutual ecumenical hospitality at the Lord's
Table, still stands. This is such a central witness to the
Christian faith we share that I think we have reason to keep
mentioning it. But I think it is completely wrong to concentrate
exclusively on that which we do not yet have.

We ought also to recognize all that which has already been
achieved. It is absolutely crucial that we are able to meet
together and have dealings with one another in mutual respect and
also in mutual trust. There will always continue to be setbacks,
as is the nature of things among human beings and human
institutions. But I must say that the consensus on the basic
truths of the faith has brought about a reconciliation and
readiness to meet one another which I can only describe as
gratifying. In spite of all the differences which still remain,
we must not lose sight of what we have in common.

During my farewell visit in April with Pope John Paul II in Rome,
and in my conversations with Walter Cardinal Kasper, I not only
put a full emphasis on the question of the Eucharist, but also
expressly thanked them for standing with us on peace issues, for
example in our common actions with regard to the Iraq War and our
common stand on peace in the Middle East.

In many countries in the world, Lutheran churches are
comparatively small compared to the Roman Catholic Church. Often
they have deliberately distanced themselves from one another in
the past. Since the signing of the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification I have experienced on many of my
travels throughout the world, that people now are no longer
afraid to approach one another, and haven't simply filed away the
Joint Declaration but are actively making use of it. They are
holding joint worship services, and the churches are making the
effort to establish joint positions on political and social
issues which have to do with people's lives. I consider these
developments as extraordinarily important.

LWI: When you took office in 1997, the LWF had 122 member
churches in 70 countries, with a total membership of about 57
million; today it represents 136 member churches in 76 countries,
with over 61.7 million members. What do you see as the continuing
appeal that the LWF has?

Krause: What is even more impressive is the number of founding
churches. The LWF was founded in 1947 by 47 churches in 23
countries. It then means that with regard to numbers of both
member churches and countries, the LWF has almost tripled in
size. But these figures also represent massive shifts in
substance. With few exceptions, the founding churches were
European and North American, thus almost exclusively north
Atlantic. Since 1947 the LWF's global network has extended
substantially to churches and countries in the southern
hemisphere; there has been a shift in its center of gravity from
the North toward the South. This seems to me to be the really
serious difference, with considerable consequences for substance,
both theological and ecclesiological.

Our member churches are all looking for community, and the LWF
offers a community. Many of them are small, are isolated, and
have to find their way in their own countries and surroundings.
For guidance, they look to their sister churches in neighboring
countries and throughout the world. In responding to the social
challenges in their own local contexts, these churches also
receive support just like their governments do, and they can
emphatically say, "We may be small, but we belong to a great
world-wide communion."

LWI: Since the 1984 Seventh Assembly in Budapest, Hungary, the
LWF no longer sees itself as a loose federation, but as a
communion of churches. The new LWF Constitution adopted in 1990
in Curitiba, Brazil says so. Is the LWF doing justice to this
purpose, and what are the consequences of this
self-understanding?

Krause: That's an exciting question. That a greater degree of
communion, or of commitment, has been reached became visible in a
sustained way with regard to the signing of the Joint Declaration
on the Doctrine of Justification. The LWF had to ask all the
member churches, and they in turn had to involve their synods, if
they were so constituted. And the vote was not absolutely
unanimous among all the member churches. The question then was,
who decides? The recommendation of the overwhelming majority to
the LWF Council, after a careful theological evaluation of the
votes received, was to sign the Joint Declaration. The Council
then voted unanimously in favor, and not one of the member
churches protested. The communion stood the test.

The question may be asked, how much authority is entrusted to a
communion by its individual churches. This was certainly a point
on which it became clear that here a stronger obligation was not
only desired; it was also possible. With regard to the discussion
as to whether the LWF should call itself a communio, I am of the
opinion that this needs to be defined very carefully. A higher
degree of commitment and of obligation to the LWF Communion
should in no case be expressed, first of all, in a stronger
centralization in Geneva. We don't want and don't need a
"Lutheran Rome."

For me the critical questions are rather: can we take a stand on
the challenging issues of our day, and in doing so rely on one
another and sustain our commitment to and for one another? Will
our churches and people, in the midst of such bitter poverty as
we see reigning in two-thirds of the world, be willing to make
statements as a community - can they and should they have
confidence in such a process? Or are these just empty
declarations? It will be important to give a clear theological
answer to the question of what is the basis of our communio and
whether everyone shares in this. It is my impression that the
growing differences between North and South, the economic gap
between the winners and victims of globalization, as well as what
we see in the ecumenical gap between the historic churches and
the charismatic communities, are the decisive test for such a
communio.

LWI: While the Lutheran churches of the South are growing, some
of them considerably, the membership figures of almost all the
big Lutheran churches in North America and Europe are continuing
to decrease. What do you think is the cause of these contrasting
developments, and what can the churches learn from one another?

Krause: In the churches of the North, our existential questions
are either very individualistic or out of touch with public life.
In the South it's different. Questions of faith are always
directed to the community and its life in common, and its
survival. There is also a very natural relationship to the
mission of the church, and a totally natural way of carrying it
out. Talking about one's own position as a believer, and living
according to it, is a matter of course and is not questioned in
the South.

Many of the churches that have recently joined the LWF have grown
out of the missions in Africa, for example the mission of the
church in Tanzania or Namibia. This also plays a role in their
societies, in making the witness to Christ public, including
clear statements of one's positions; in expressing it in lively,
colorful worship, and in taking for granted the witness to one's
personal Christianity. This is what we in the North have often
lost.

Currently, the fastest growing Lutheran churches, and other
historic churches are those which succeed in integrating the
charismatic movements into their church lives. In the same period
of 30 years, the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Brunswick, Germany has dropped nearly 40 per cent, from about
670,000 to 420,000, while in Ethiopia it has multiplied six
times, starting from 670,000, to over four million.

Of course this raises the question of who is changing whom and
what this means for the confessional world communion. The great
awakening of the charismatic faith movements in the southern
hemisphere can only be seen, in my opinion, in the context of
poverty and suffering. The Gospel is the Gospel of the poor, and
the cross is the sign of the church. It is in suffering that hope
appears, hope of overcoming sorrow and poverty. Entering into new
life through the cross - that is precisely opposed to the
pleasure-seeking society.

Moreover, we are faced today with the central task of finding our
way to an interreligious dialogue, of seeking, together with
other religions, paths towards peace and the valuing of the
creation, and involving ourselves together in overcoming poverty,
injustice and violence. It's the famous triad of justice, peace
and the integrity of creation. Here it is imperative that we
reach out to one another with respect, with eagerness, and with
the desire to know one another. Equally important is to clarify
our own position: what do we actually stand for? And that's
something we can learn from the churches of the South - to take
our stand quite naturally on our own faith convictions, which are
rooted in our own hearts, in public as well. In interreligious
dialogue, the LWF on the basis of its unique experience, should
explore to what extent the model of reconciled diversity is
possible beyond the fellowship of Christians, in the fellowship
among religions.

LWI: In the past six years you in person have visited many LWF
member churches. You have been to churches in every continent, in
almost every country of central and eastern Europe, and you were
the first LWF President to visit the churches of Papua New
Guinea. What impression have you gained of the world-wide
Lutheran community, and what have you been able to set in motion
during your travels?

Krause: I have again and again experienced a great feeling that
we all belong together, a downright family feeling, and
unbelievable hospitality. To be at home everywhere where there
are Lutheran churches was a great, a marvelous feeling, for which
I am deeply grateful.

The second point is that during my travels I have been able
emphasize over and over again to people that: You are part of a
greater whole. In central and eastern Europe that has played a
most important role at a practical level, there where the small
Lutheran churches in the former countries behind the Iron Curtain
have to get their bearings all over again in post-communist
societies. This touches almost all aspects of church life. It
includes rebuilding their diaconal work, which in not a few
places was prohibited; pastoral work in prisons and the military,
religious teaching in schools, church festivals and much more.
Here the churches are also beginning to look at their role in the
new process of Europe's reunification.

In many countries the visit of the LWF President was a time for
conversations at the highest political level. This presented an
opportunity to strengthen the governments' and political leaders'
awareness of the important bridge-building function which
churches can have within their own countries. One example is
Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the
world and not inconsiderable tensions between Christians and
Muslims. Here I was able to speak both with President Megawati
and with the leaders of Islamic organizations. Doors could be
opened in a way, often not possible locally for the smaller
churches. These experiences gave me a feel for the importance,
for these churches, of belonging to a world communion and of
making its presence known.

I have always thought of my visits also as expressly pastoral. It
was clear that I could not accept every invitation. But I gave
priority to those from churches which were going through a
difficult time or faced immediate challenges, for example
Lutheran churches which were or are threatened with schism. Here
it is important that we from the world-wide communion can at
least offer a table at which the parties to the conflict can sit
down together.

LWI: The Ninth Assembly in 1997 had the theme "In Christ - Called
to Witness" - it was the last Assembly of the 20th century and
the first on the continent of Asia. What do you hope will be the
impetus of the Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, July 21-31, on
the theme "For the Healing of the World"?

Krause: The theme of the Tenth Assembly is surprisingly and
extraordinarily relevant for today. After the revolution of
1989-90, we hoped we had come closer together. The East-West
conflict was over, walls had fallen down and thresholds were
being lowered. And then burst forth those things which we
probably hadn't noticed properly, hidden under the crust of the
East-West conflict - the huge rift between rich and poor,
disregard for human rights, conflicts between religions and new
outbreaks of violence. This means that "For the Healing of the
World" must be an occasion for us to see where the decisive
breaks, wounds and cracks are which weigh us down and demand our
attention.

The second very crucial point is to make it clear whence our help
comes. Here the doctrine of justification will again play an
essential role, also in its social ethics aspect: there is no
justice without grace. We must truly pray to God for the healing
of the world, hope for it and expect it from God, and thus set
out together to be Jesus' disciples.

LWI: How do you see the future? In the year 2017 the Lutheran
communion will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning
of the Reformation: in 2022 the LWF will celebrate its 75th
anniversary. Where will the LWF be by then; how may it have
changed and developed?

Krause: Well, there we can only speak in terms of a vision. I
suspect that the movements of the South will cause parochial ways
of being church, with their institutions and structures, to
recede further in favor of spiritual movements. Even the
traditional well-ordered Lutheran churches will become more like
spiritual revival churches. They may become smaller in the
process, but I think they will come to have more the character of
movements. Here a Lutheran World Federation must be first of all
the linking place, and have a serving function, to make
world-wide communion possible in such a process.

This will go together with a reduction in the role of the LWF as
an inter-church service organization. The main question will be,
what can each of us contribute, from our situation, that we can
share with others? And how do we preserve our communio on the
common foundation of Reformation theology? More use must be made
of the global aspect of this tool we have in our hands, the LWF.
This will also help to promote communion amongst our ecumenical
partners.

How the WCC changes will also make a lot of difference. It too
will have to take in more of the charismatic, spiritualist
movements, as it is already making efforts to do. I hope that a
stronger association will be possible with them, and that the LWF
together with the other confessional world communions and the WCC
will be able to combine the critical functions of theology with
the missionary revival of the more charismatic churches and
communities.

What I also hope for is that we can sit down at one table with
people of the different religions and seek ways to peace. In this
connection I hope that a Lutheran World Federation, however it
may be put together as an organization, will contribute to the
defense against every form of fundamentalism, and will help to
promote common positions for world peace. So it is there that I
see the future of the LWF: to serve as a platform for dialogue,
but not just for dialogue's sake, but for the sake of life. That
would be a changed, a very active Lutheran World Federation, and
certainly no longer a primarily North Atlantic one.

(LWI Editor Dirk-Michael Groetzsch, conducted the original German
language interview with the LWF President, Bishop emeritus Dr
Christian Krause.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and interfaith 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 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 dateline of a article contains the notation (LWI), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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