Lutheran legacies, twenty-first century conversations.
Billman, Kathleen D.
The Gift of Grace: The Future of Lutheran Theology expresses the
intention to lift up particular charisms of Lutheran theology for the
ecumenical church and the world. The editors define charisms as
"entrusted gifts that continue to inspire." (1) What inspires
is not mere repetition of the theological accents identified with
Luther's thought, but serious wrestling with the contemporary
meanings and even the theological dilemmas associated with those
accents, carried on within an intercultural community of thinkers who
care deeply both about the theological tradition in which they stand and
the cultural, ecumenical, and interfaith contexts in which and to which
theology must speak. From diverse ecumenical and cultural perspectives,
the essays in this issue of Currents probe ways that the accents of
Lutheran theology address twenty-first century complexities.
Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Professor of Systematic Theology at Fuller
Theological Seminary and Docent of Ecumenics at the University of
Helsinki, takes up "The Lutheran Doctrine of Justification in the
Global Context." He argues that a revised understanding of the
Lutheran doctrine of justification may help Christians more adequately
address the challenges of global diversity, including encounters with
other religious and spiritual traditions. Drawing on several current
theological and biblical investigations, Karkkainen re-contextualizes
the setting for the doctrine of justification, reconsiders the current
biblical understanding of justification, explores ecumenical advances in
relating the Lutheran doctrine of justification to Orthodox and Roman
Catholic traditions, examines the relationship of justification to the
work of justice and liberation, and seeks to reconstruct a more balanced
pneumatological account of justification.
In "Live and Speak about the Cross: Intercontextual Challenge
for Global Christianity," Arata Miyamoto, a pastor in the Japan
Evangelical Lutheran Church and Lecturer at Japan Lutheran Theological
Seminary, takes the discussion about the importance of
"contextuality" to an even deeper level. In the rich arena of
global conversation, how can one contextual theology dialogue with other
contextual theologies? What makes such dialogue possible? With this
dilemma as a point of departure, Miyamoto explores the work of three
Lutheran theologians of the cross and presents four signposts of
practicing an "intercontextual theology" across contextual
theologies in global Christianity. We note that since Dr. Miyamoto
submitted his essay to Currents, his book Embodied Cross:
Intercontextual Reading of Theologia Cruris (Wipf and Stock, 2010) has
been published, which includes and builds on the work presented here.
An important issue in the current ecumenical impasse among
Christian communities concerns the relationship between the received
Christian tradition and the institution of the teaching office
(magisterium) within the church. In "Tradition and Institution:
Lutheran Critique--Catholic Dilemma," Chysostom Frank, Full
Professor at St. Vianney Theological Seminary, explores how the roots of
this problem go back to the Reformation controversies and the emergence
of post-Tridentine Catholic theology in which tradition came to be
understood as a source of doctrine in addition to scripture and the
magisterium increasingly was conceived as unassailable in its teaching
capacity. Within the framework of this development, a dilemma has
emerged for Catholic theology: the problem of a self-referential
teaching office. Frank's essay explores historical and theological
complexities in this Lutheran-Roman Catholic conversation.
Legacies may generate consequences that are disastrous in addition
to those that are life-giving. In "Luther and the Jews Revisited:
Reflections on a Thought Let Slip," James E. McNutt, Professor of
History at Thomas More College, acknowledges how Luther's attacks
on the Jews stained his legacy in ways he could have never foreseen.
While seeking no revision to that conclusion, McNutt revisits the issue
by way of seminal insights offered by several Luther scholars over the
past quarter-century. He explores how new methodologies have deepened
our understanding of the reformer's conviction of letting God be
God, yet also reveal how, in the case of the Jews, Luther tragically
ignored his own insights that may well contribute to more promising
interfaith relations today.
It is fitting to conclude this issue of Currents with reflections
from Stacy Kitahata, Director for Community Engagement and Professor of
Intercultural Studies at Trinity Lutheran College, and Craig L. Nessan,
Academic Dean and Professor of Contextual Theology at Wartburg
Theological Seminary. "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread" was
originally presented as a Bible study on the final day of the Lutheran
World Federation Assembly at Stuttgart, Germany, on July 27, 2010. We
hope that these reflections on scripture, which conclude with discussion
questions, may offer readers a Bible study they may use in their own
families and faith communities.
From the staff of Currents, Blessed New Year to our readers!
(1.) Neils Henrik Gregersen, Bo Holm, Ted Peters, and Ted Widman,
eds., The Gift of Grace: The Future of Lutheran Theology (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 2005), xii.
Kathleen D. Billman
Editor
