tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48036691434329554862024-03-03T20:31:08.902-06:00Transverse Markings: One Theologian's NotesTransverse (adj. "situated, arranged, or acting in a crosswise manner") Markings (n. "observations") provides one person's theological commentary on matters divine and human. This Christian theological daybook, partly inspired by Dag Hammarskjöld's famous journal, periodically shares brief pensees or observations in "a crosswise manner."
Comments to blog posts must include first and last name of the comment author. Anonymous or inappropriate comments will be deleted.Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.comBlogger220125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-29319674038340832542024-03-03T20:30:00.002-06:002024-03-03T20:30:26.574-06:00Petition to Preserve Theology at Valparaiso University<p>Students at Valpo have started a petition that calls upon Valpo's administrators to stop their plan to discontinue the theology programs at the university. If you would like to sign the petition, go <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mdtIrb04MNtQgo2o_ICTDYlwDPoP8n8ZE9gzDvguMyU/edit">here</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-49797227296508625852024-03-01T19:14:00.001-06:002024-03-01T19:20:23.381-06:00Proposal to Discontinue Several Programs at Valpo (Including Theology)<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This morning I learned that several programs at my university are now slated for discontinuance. Included in the proposal are all theology programs. Also included are foreign languages, music, and other programs in the humanities and the sciences. To see the list of programs slated for discontinuance, go <a href="https://t.e2ma.net/webview/g32bun/8a9a26f09e8335a53b15c0ad06317119">here</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Many faculty who teach in these programs will likely have their positions cut.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is the letter that I received this morning from the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences:<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Members of the Department of Philosophy and Theology,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I write to inform you that the Theology major and minor, the Theology and Ministry major, and the Philosophy major and minor will be entered into the Academic Discontinuance Process today. I met with your department chair earlier this morning to inform the department via the chair, but I also wanted to directly inform all full-time department members via email before a campus-wide email is sent out by the Provost’s Office.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have attached a copy of the discontinuance memorandum from the Provost’s Office and a copy of the program discontinuance policy. Entry into discontinuance does not automatically mean that a program will be discontinued. Your department will have up to 60 calendar days to respond to the proposed discontinuance.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As your department works on its response documents, [name withheld] agreed to provide data and advice. You are also always welcome to schedule an appointment to meet with me or any representative of the Dean’s Office. If you have questions about data and the best ways to present information, both offices have individuals experienced reading, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting both quantitative and qualitative information. We are more than willing to help. Additionally, the Provost and the chair of the Faculty Senate, [name withheld], agreed to host open office hours this afternoon starting at 1 PM. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;">Finally, I know this is a difficult day. The staff at the Chapel and the </span><span lang="EN"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://intra.valpo.edu/human-resources/employee-assistance-program/&source=gmail&ust=1709427644002000&usg=AOvVaw0E_JgXvlN1TsfXfTIAzDpN" fg_scanned="1" href="https://intra.valpo.edu/human-resources/employee-assistance-program/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Employee Assistance Program</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"> are both available. You are, again, always welcome to come talk to me too.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Respectfully,</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Name withheld]</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">My brief commentary: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Given that Valpo's administration hired the same consulting firm that recommended major cuts to programs in the humanities at West Virginia University (and at other schools), today's overall decision is not surprising, but it is sobering. (One of my younger colleagues, who teaches NT, learned at 9am today that she was promoted to associate professor with tenure, only to learn at 11:30am that her tenure no longer will mean anything. She has a young family and is uncertain about her future employment here.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Today's decision at Valpo was and is entirely market-driven. No attention seems to have been given to how these proposed program cuts will adversely affect the stated mission of the university.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Some elements in today's announcement did catch me and others by surprise. The proposal includes the elimination of tenure (even for those of us who have been tenured for decades), the establishment of one-year rolling contracts for all affected faculty (which means that any one of us could be told mid-year that our contract won't be renewed for next year), and the requirement (at least for me) to teach an additional course per semester at no additional pay. (I have been teaching a 3-3 load, and occasionally a 3-2 load, since I joined the faculty in 2004. The proposal requires a 4-4 teaching load for all affected faculty--at least those of us who don't lose our jobs [or lose them right away].)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">It is not at all certain that the current theology requirement (two required 3-hr courses in the gen ed curriculum) will continue. The basic 200-level "Christian Tradition" course will likely continue, at least for a while, but the upper-division theology courses could easily go away. If that would happen, the dept would eventually disappear, since no prospective faculty member will want to come to an institution where they can't teach in their area of expertise and research. As theology faculty retire (or if their contracts are not renewed), those spots won't be filled. Who would want to join a dept if the university can only offer new faculty a one-year rolling contract, no tenure, no program per se, no support for research, just "service teaching" in the gen ed curriculum at a 4-4 level?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">I should add that my department is among the most productive departments in the university with respect to research and publications. Each year, it seems, at least one of us publishes a book or comes out with a major article. These publications help to draw attention to Valpo.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Today's administrative decision, if implemented, will completely dismantle the stated mission of the university, it seems to me. Valpo will no longer be "grounded in the Lutheran tradition of scholarship, freedom, and faith," nor will it really be preparing students "to serve in both church and society." With the elimination of foreign languages, music, the theology programs, and other programs in the humanities, Valpo will no longer be a liberal arts university.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">My colleagues and I will put up the best argument we can for keeping the theology major and the current two-course theo requirement, and we will join other departments in defending their important role in our overall university's mission, but we also need alumni and others to let their voices be heard in the coming days and weeks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">One of my friends who taught theology at Valpo for around four decades wrote the following to me earlier today, after learning about this announcement:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">"Our world and country are changing in fundamental ways. Training has taken the place of education, and education is little valued. A millennium of thought about what it means to be a university and to educate has come to an end. It's time to grieve, but also to hope and to ponder reinvention."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 18.4px;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.8667px; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">Please keep us in your prayers.</span></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-15548897672260266602024-02-08T16:36:00.001-06:002024-02-08T16:36:28.757-06:00Fundamental Theology - Second Edition<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAp-UkRUeFSdlY8X2iyUjIP-a_sin9MAyFi2X5KreRsG6F2MQkvDCyYSrUo0yt42aiwAAsJzpigt88Kib7pKcZIEAe2WMDHMZ_JOvaVSKcRU3-Bn6Oa6kfDgcxGnIEk5W_tvd6AF4ciyzOMa_qGbgkHzQPX26G-1-qMHr6mQYqe1uipD8OsiEohJIy4aP/s820/9780567705716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="568" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAp-UkRUeFSdlY8X2iyUjIP-a_sin9MAyFi2X5KreRsG6F2MQkvDCyYSrUo0yt42aiwAAsJzpigt88Kib7pKcZIEAe2WMDHMZ_JOvaVSKcRU3-Bn6Oa6kfDgcxGnIEk5W_tvd6AF4ciyzOMa_qGbgkHzQPX26G-1-qMHr6mQYqe1uipD8OsiEohJIy4aP/s320/9780567705716.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>I'm pleased to announce that my new book on fundamental theology was published today. While technically it is a second edition, no paragraph from the first version has been left unchanged. I also added a few new chapters. To learn more about the book, go <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/fundamental-theology-9780567705693/">here</a>.<p></p><br /><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-32312215679852527362023-11-20T20:11:00.003-06:002023-11-21T20:25:43.078-06:00Rev. Arthur Simon+<p>Longtime family friend Rev. Arthur ("Art") Simon died on November 14, 2023. To read an official announcement, go <a href="https://www.bread.org/article/bread-mourns-the-passing-of-founder-rev-art-simon/">here.</a></p><p>Art's father and my grandfather were colleagues in ministry, serving as fellow Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastors in Oregon. Art, his brother Paul (not the famous songwriter/singer but the famous US senator from Illinois, who was also a one-time presidential candidate), my uncle Bob, and my dad were friends when they were active in the LCMS's youth organization, the Walther League. Art wrote briefly about his friendship with my dad in the opening chapter of one of his books, <i>The Rising of Bread for the World</i> (Paulist, 2009). He also wrote about my dad, and about my nephew Andrew, in another of his books, <i>Rediscovering the Lord's Prayer</i> (Augsburg/Fortress, 2005). Art and my uncle Bob were co-students at Concordia, Portland, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. And then, years later, after the death of my dad, Art and my mom became very close friends, not least because of their shared interest in the Oregon Ducks football team. I thought perhaps Art and my mom might get married, but that didn't happen for various reasons. In 2014, when my wife, son, and I visited Art and his wife, Shirley, in Baltimore, he graciously gave me his entire library, which we brought back to Valpo in a large rented van. </p><p>From my time on the faculty at Concordia, Portland, through my years here at Valpo, Art has been a mentor to me, especially in matters regarding the relationship between Christian faith and public service. (When I was facing oppositional headwinds in the LCMS over the issues of women's ordination and six-day creationism, Art was a frequent conversation partner. He provided me with a lot of pastoral consolation in those difficult years!)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmEG7whMFxQsOF6iG7Qv6uoO8Ey_LBmr0C0IlbUlbg7xLPGbkCU2ehtbF-qsbxb2ZeyB6I2028T84rzl7C1d9JR_b9RqgwoRJjs-TRcbEpfitfdGLYnh2gH_uDpehEeuBAWDUEFYzXR5WsIvUQiglSnwyyMV_QJmdKHv82R0Tug42xvmGlxcJZICsKdoO/s720/Art%20Simon.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="629" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmEG7whMFxQsOF6iG7Qv6uoO8Ey_LBmr0C0IlbUlbg7xLPGbkCU2ehtbF-qsbxb2ZeyB6I2028T84rzl7C1d9JR_b9RqgwoRJjs-TRcbEpfitfdGLYnh2gH_uDpehEeuBAWDUEFYzXR5WsIvUQiglSnwyyMV_QJmdKHv82R0Tug42xvmGlxcJZICsKdoO/w175-h200/Art%20Simon.webp" width="175" /></a></div><br />I'm grateful to God for Art's life and ministry. I am also glad that some of my former Valpo students, while serving as interns in Washington (or as participants in various summer fellowships), benefited from Art's vision and expertise when they reached out to him. <p></p><p>As the founder and first president of Bread for the World, Art tirelessly worked to end poverty and hunger. His engagement with these issues initially grew out of his pastoral ministry on the lower east side of New York City. Along with a dozen other church leaders in his region, Art began to brainstorm about how they could address the local and global root causes of hunger. They wanted to lead Christians to try "to prevent hunger from happening in the first place rather than just reacting to it." So toward that end, Bread for the World was founded in 1974. (If you watch Rick Steves' travel show on PBS, you'll see a brief promo for Bread. I once had a brief conversation with Rick, in which he shared how much Art's first book about hunger had changed his whole outlook on that issue.)</p><p>To learn more about Bread for the World, go <a href="https://www.bread.org/history/">here.</a></p><p>To quote from Bread's announcement about Art's death: "His work has helped initiate programs that have reduced hunger, decreased poverty, and improved nutrition, impacting hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the world."</p><p>Bread's current president, Eugene Cho, nicely summarizes Art's legacy: "To this day, I’m inspired by the three ideas he had in the founding of Bread: to prevent hunger from happening in the first place rather than just reacting to it; to work within the system of American democracy to ensure political leaders hear about hunger from their constituents; and to organize Christians to speak up collectively against hunger – these speak to things that are as relevant in the 2020s as they were in the 1970s."</p><p>Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints. May light perpetual shine upon Art, and may God grant comfort and peace to Shirley, their family, and all who mourn Art's death.</p><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-11671278232409877232023-11-08T16:34:00.003-06:002023-11-08T16:42:00.768-06:00Crossings Table Talk about Atheism<p>On Tuesday, Nov 28, at 1pm (Central Standard Time), I will be leading an online <a href="https://crossings.org/">Crossings</a> "Table Talk" discussion about atheism, based on a chapter from my upcoming book, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/fundamental-theology-9780567705716/">Fundamental Theology</a> , 2nd ed. (Bloomsbury, 2024). </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_VKszi7_OTnpxpCeh2IC52CYOCsQJuK9Uawsynx1XkuxpKhdDR7ICuW0GSe602ruEtrWlCFaM3InqvEMSbCuEynUMiNuWaAvzn2VG_pDsRNuwtlOfXtUhMqG6auT3GrnS5mLE9UY9qgvjQEK7h_IWEgZoDrHzb4tt3LTOP4ZeFzUs9bY7gVzpQkuaB-A/s820/9780567705716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="568" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_VKszi7_OTnpxpCeh2IC52CYOCsQJuK9Uawsynx1XkuxpKhdDR7ICuW0GSe602ruEtrWlCFaM3InqvEMSbCuEynUMiNuWaAvzn2VG_pDsRNuwtlOfXtUhMqG6auT3GrnS5mLE9UY9qgvjQEK7h_IWEgZoDrHzb4tt3LTOP4ZeFzUs9bY7gVzpQkuaB-A/w139-h200/9780567705716.jpg" width="139" /></a></div><br />For an introductory "trailer" for this Table Talk, go <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/S0Jm7HzOhIp9jW5GiEBQnuN9iRQpD7rT04GelxCW2mvAA1Gs2Gh3ByEn9mGCgKC6OGkniZfzZkJmOmfk.vEi3fG8WTVuiYoCo?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FineivmEUCRaoEW-vviWtjlF-PTmKfjupYuJexEee2kGBQ-MtbOyKS43pGV70IjH7.dTUSD1wHhYsj_JWI">here</a>.<p></p><p>This talk is free, but you must pre-register with Cathy Lessmann via email. After registering, you will receive an invitation to join our Zoom-based Crossings Table Talk. </p><p>To register, go <a href="https://crossings.org/contact/">here.</a></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-88935590463340230092023-10-25T18:24:00.012-05:002023-10-26T11:12:34.062-05:00The Beauty of Dusk<p>On the morning of Christmas Eve 2018, after getting out of the shower, I couldn't see very well. The vision in my right eye was clouded by large blind spots, scattered gray areas, splotches of nothingness. I initially thought I was suffering from an optic migraine, which I have experienced several times throughout my life. But the blind spots didn't go away. During that night's Christmas Eve service, all I could do was to keep wondering, "Why can't I see out of my right eye? What has happened? Lord, why this blindness?" Needless to say, my Christmas that year was a bit more anxious than normal.</p><p>Because of the holiday, I couldn't get in to see an optic specialist until after January 1. From him I learned that sometime during my sleep on the night of December 23 I had suffered a stroke to the optic nerve in my right eye. The technical term for my condition is NAION: non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. Thankfully, I was on sabbatical for the spring semester of 2019. I ended up spending a huge chunk of that term in and out of doctor's offices and hospital testing rooms. What was supposed to have been a period of writing a book, ended up being a time of getting pricked and prodded, scanned and studied.</p><p>For nearly five years now, I've been mostly blind in my right eye. The optic nerve specialist whom I visit twice a year has told me that there's about a 15% chance that I will suffer a stroke to the other eye as well. It turns out that I was born with abnormally narrow retinal blood vessels, the ones leading to the optic nerve in each eye. Ah, those blessed genes! Nevertheless, so far, so good--other than the blindness in the right eye, which, barring a miracle, will remain permanent. (Btw, my optic nerve specialist happens to be a close friend of a friend of mine who graduated a few years ahead of me at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Small world. The Doc and I occasionally discuss a little theology in between our focusing on optic issues.) </p><p>While I can still see a little out of my right eye (which used to be the stronger of the two), most of that right-eye vision is dark and gray and blurry, a milky cloudiness. It's been a real cross to bear. But I'm managing. My brain has adjusted so that my left eye is doing a double load, so to speak.</p><p>For the first few years, I suffered pretty bad headaches most days, mainly as a result of the challenges of reading and working on my computer for long hours. Using a very large monitor (and enlarging my documents to 200%), I have been able to keep on writing. In fact, since 2018 I've published three books, totaling more than 2,000 pages. But I'd be lying if I said it has been easy. Much of that writing has been downright painful. The right-eye vision has been just good enough to interfere with the left eye's better vision. The result: some nasty headaches. Depth perception is non-existent. I have a lot more bruises, too, the product of accidentally running into things that I don't see on my right. I try not to drive at night. But now, after my brain has had a few years to adjust to the blindness, I don't suffer as much discomfort as I did earlier--or at least I know now when to stop reading and typing, and when to give my one good eye a rest.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLh0Zm9SCwEMa6ovpWmEiiAMili8ZRt6765OjcKuMvD3-WIsc9T_jCCIPMxqWzKvGQAaUSQld2-0RkjbXlKGT_1R2SvclS5lUkoFolwzUj5EHxKl0D7RVolpH0vzj06aIa5h-h1jDcuRbhHsEiK0tx0w9-OpYjUKokuEGgtVhkaxhnsL9LRYatCKYn8Me/s400/the-beauty-of-dusk-9781982108588_lg.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNLh0Zm9SCwEMa6ovpWmEiiAMili8ZRt6765OjcKuMvD3-WIsc9T_jCCIPMxqWzKvGQAaUSQld2-0RkjbXlKGT_1R2SvclS5lUkoFolwzUj5EHxKl0D7RVolpH0vzj06aIa5h-h1jDcuRbhHsEiK0tx0w9-OpYjUKokuEGgtVhkaxhnsL9LRYatCKYn8Me/s320/the-beauty-of-dusk-9781982108588_lg.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />What Frank Bruni suffered and has written about so eloquently in his recent book, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Beauty-of-Dusk/Frank-Bruni/9781982108588">The Beauty of Dusk</a>, is what I have been facing each day. (Mr. Bruni also experienced a stroke to the optic nerve in his right eye, in 2017.) I highly recommend his book, which is about more than just the loss of his vision and the challenges it has created for him. (He had been a columnist for <i>The New York Times</i>, and now he teaches journalism at Duke.) In that book he writes about a number of people who suffer from various levels of blindness. I was heartened and encouraged by the stories he narrates, including his own autobiographical reflections. <p></p><p>I should add that my dad became legally blind after suffering a terrible battle injury in the Korean War. He was mostly blind from the age of 19 until his death at the age of 73. So his example of living many decades with near blindness, of leading a remarkably full and active life with only one half-way decent eye, has been encouraging to me as well. There's not a day that goes by when I don't think, "If Dad could live his life the way he did, I should be able to do so, too. Just take each day as Dad did, one day at a time." If my dad were still alive, he'd have been a good candidate for a Bruni interview!</p><p>The stroke I suffered in 2018 was not a Christmas gift I had wanted to receive that year. It's not the kind of set-back you want anyone to get in any year! But I have grown to see it as a gift of sorts. In a basic way, my partial blindness has led me to be otherwise grateful for things I had previously taken for granted. I'm grateful for the vision I still have. I'm grateful when I wake up each morning and can still see relatively well out of my left eye, that I can then see my beautiful wife across the breakfast table. I'm grateful that I have had to slow down in my reading, to slow down in my writing. I have to pay closer attention to details, to work hard at developing more patience. I'm now a strong proponent of "slow reading" and "slow writing." I think I'm a bit more patient and empathetic with students of mine who suffer from dyslexia or from other vision challenges. I'm grateful to learn from people who are blind, some of whom I've met in a doctor's waiting room, to be inspired by how they are navigating with their disability, with their cross. This blindness, this earthly cross I've been bearing, has taught me to see things in a new way. I agree with Bruni: there is a new beauty that one can experience from such a loss. I am learning, slowly, the truth and wisdom conveyed in St. Paul's statements in Philippians 4:11-13 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. (That Paul wrote the ending to his letter to the Galatians "in such large letters," suggests that he likely suffered from a vision problem as well, maybe as a result of the blinding revelation of the risen Christ that he received on the road to Damascus.)</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-76580941497659439472023-10-22T18:04:00.002-05:002023-10-22T19:04:28.762-05:00Brief Videos from Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb<p>Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb is the founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem, the West Bank. From 1987 until 2017 he was the senior pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. He is also the co-founder of Bright Stars of Bethlehem, an organization that helps to support Dar al-Kalima. Dr. Raheb has published more than 40 books. For more information about him, go <a href="https://www.mitriraheb.org/en" target="_blank">here.</a> For information about Bright Stars of Bethlehem, go <a href="https://www.brightstarsbethlehem.com/" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0aTw0h-hHq2t8Yu3prs58UhhSfl9vAcpPhZuKXi8gVEaDMnrQWHR7FhcJf7KmtdMyvpaGXAu4rsCtMlnV-3Qh9RP7vR80TersHD97Y8X7rP-FRO3Q-gLWho7ypSpCB-fLa_JQ86L8b9q6hupdu5OTvAWAgTqGjWMA7SOcxEtfTXM2-mBMHaS2wJmyv4B/s1152/Mitri%20Raheb1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="864" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0aTw0h-hHq2t8Yu3prs58UhhSfl9vAcpPhZuKXi8gVEaDMnrQWHR7FhcJf7KmtdMyvpaGXAu4rsCtMlnV-3Qh9RP7vR80TersHD97Y8X7rP-FRO3Q-gLWho7ypSpCB-fLa_JQ86L8b9q6hupdu5OTvAWAgTqGjWMA7SOcxEtfTXM2-mBMHaS2wJmyv4B/s320/Mitri%20Raheb1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Dr. Raheb is a friend of mine. He has been on Valpo's campus many times. He has taught me much over the years, and my wife and I do what we can to support Bright Stars of Bethlehem.<p></p><p>Last week I contacted him to share my wife's and my support for him and those he works with in this very difficult situation, following the attacks by Hamas and Israel's retaliatory actions. Detra and I condemn in the strongest terms what Hamas has done in attacking Israel. We also continue to criticize the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Israel's actions against innocent civilians there and in Gaza. We should not forget that around 1,000 Christians live in Gaza, many of them displaced after 1948. For a basic overview about them, go <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654469" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p>I encourage you to watch a brief video that Dr Raheb has published about people connected with Dar al-Kalima and its satellite school in Gaza. You can view it <a href="https://youtu.be/AEHtSWER-i8?si=x8rDr97maVaLnKmt" target="_blank">here.</a> </p><p>Along with more than 4000 other individuals, I have signed Tikkun's statement in solidarity with Palestinians and Jews. You can read that statement <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFYB04zlHRfVfTGMYpDF-a7RUNBRhfKnXVDP6ymEcUo3kWrg/viewform" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-3003417569940772902023-04-22T16:30:00.006-05:002023-04-23T17:51:25.126-05:00Rev. Dr. Hans G. Spalteholz+<p>It is with deep sadness, tempered by faith and hope in the risen Christ, that I announce the death of my dear friend, mentor, and colleague, Professor Hans G. Spalteholz. After a brief illness, he died very peacefully last night in his living room. He was 92 years old. </p><p>I am grateful that I was able to speak with him last weekend before he had to be more heavily sedated during this past week. I am also grateful that his suffering has now ended and that he has entered that perfect peace prepared and granted by the risen and glorified Christ. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmQeaJ1xFLqGrjboyUDBhcRFFUDZjf_QWScmb0HglhxeiUrHQAdW4UrLXMX2wxb8qfyX5wVI77onCnFUng4HWnZtOq4-ZVCwGPk6-jkc1AfPDF5GLSlEyCKDfuTCc-pSrO9Lkq3VOC3bIBLGxLN-RFOWlLSXCbKpr5RhdrrBl0ABLkszXc5hI4BQ-zg/s4032/IMG_0169.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmQeaJ1xFLqGrjboyUDBhcRFFUDZjf_QWScmb0HglhxeiUrHQAdW4UrLXMX2wxb8qfyX5wVI77onCnFUng4HWnZtOq4-ZVCwGPk6-jkc1AfPDF5GLSlEyCKDfuTCc-pSrO9Lkq3VOC3bIBLGxLN-RFOWlLSXCbKpr5RhdrrBl0ABLkszXc5hI4BQ-zg/s320/IMG_0169.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />I will say more about him at his memorial service, but these are a few thoughts that come to mind this morning: Professor Spalteholz taught me to love the Holy Scriptures, to wrestle with them for the sake of faithful interpretation, and to apply them to the world’s deep needs and hurts. He taught me the distinction between law and gospel by unpacking the theology of the Lutheran Confessions. His love of books and of learning and of the German language rubbed off on me. He pointed me the way to the University of Chicago, and he later carefully proofread my doctoral dissertation. He modeled a truly ecumenical approach to the question of theological truth. He and Professor Richard Reinisch made room for me to join the faculty of Concordia University, Portland. In so many ways, the death of Hans marks the end of an era. He and others in his generation were among the best and brightest that the Missouri Synod educational system ever produced.<p></p><p>Since the fall of 1980, down through these many decades, Hans became a second father to me. At various times of crisis he was a spiritual counselor (serving multiple times as a "paraclete" when I was facing one charge or another in the LCMS). More importantly, he became the most influential and significant theological conversation partner in my life. For more than two decades we worked very closely together on several book projects, including the first two volumes of our translation of the writings of the German Lutheran theologian Edmund Schlink.</p><p>Since Hans and his wife Christa had no biological children of their own, I became one of their "adopted children." On many occasions, he let me know that he considered me his son. My son Jacob calls him "Opa Hans." So his death is hitting us hard, even though we knew this day was coming. We are experiencing what Hans' and my teacher and friend Martin Marty has called "the cry of absence."</p><p>The memorial service for Hans will be held at St. Michael Lutheran Church, Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, May 13. Dr. Robert Schmidt, our former colleague in the theology department of Concordia, will be preaching. </p><p>Please keep Christa and her extended family in your prayers.</p><p>Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his saints, who from their labors rest, and who sing their songs in endless light. Shalom, shalom, dear Hans!</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S. Linda Borecki interviewed Hans two years ago and uploaded her three-part interview to Youtube. Below are the links to that interview. Thank you, Linda, for doing that! This interview is so meaningful to me. It really captures Hans' personality as well as his spiritual and intellectual depth. What an amazing person he was!</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQXDzYAynI">Part One</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLd2Ob89Opk">Part Two</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wr4MNPTM3M">Part Three</a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-30999897078036391352023-03-15T12:46:00.003-05:002023-03-15T13:02:04.051-05:00A New Republic Article on the Controversy at Valparaiso University<p>David Masciotra, a Valpo alumnus who writes for <i>The New Republic</i>, has published an article in the current issue of that national magazine: "A Georgia O’Keeffe Painting and the Battle for the Soul of a Liberal Arts College." </p><p>The article is given prominence at the top left corner of the homepage of the online version of the magazine: https://newrepublic.com/</p><p>In my judgment, Mr. Masciotra frames the issues in precisely the right way. </p><p>"What is the purpose of studying at a university beyond job training? How can schools like Valparaiso, which emphasize learning outside of vocational courses, survive when a corporate-consumer model has overtaken higher education and exerted a powerful influence on administrators and students alike?"</p><p>Masciotra writes: "Valparaiso University’s student body is shrinking and its dormitories are aging. But is selling the campus museum’s most famous artwork the right solution to the problem?"</p><p>As you can tell from the quotations by yours truly that he included in his article, I think Valpo can take a different, better path here. </p><p>(The university recently constructed a huge, expensive residence hall, Beacon Hall, which is only partially full--and partially paid for. Valpo has also recently built a couple of rows of sorority houses down the hill from our athletics building, and Valpo has recently made renovations to at least one of its freshmen dormitories. These expensive on-campus housing projects have largely gone unmentioned in the reporting. Valpo has been making capital improvements to its campus housing in recent years.)</p><p>A larger issue, at least in my view, is the expensive and oversized role that athletics plays on our campus. We are moving toward becoming an athletics institution that offers some college-level classes on the side. Toward that end, the university's administration wants to build a huge, new, very expensive athletics complex. In my judgment, that will be a mistake. We will be digging ourselves into an even deeper hole of debt--and then forced to make even more cuts to our academic programs (further weakening the liberal arts).</p><p>Meanwhile, in light of the reporting by Mr. Masciotra, one wonders, "From where will the funding come?" Part of the administration's answer to that question, at least so far, has been: "We'll sell off what we consider to be our non-essential assets to raise the money."</p><p>And that is how a church-related academic institution eventually loses its soul.</p><p>To read the entire article, go <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/171163/georgia-okeeffe-rust-red-hills-valparaiso-battle-soul-liberal-arts-college">here</a>.</p><p>P.S. I also encourage you to read another piece on the Valpo situation that came out today. John Fea is a former Lilly Fellow at the university. To read his article, "What Is Going on at Valparaiso University?," go <a href="https://currentpub.com/2023/03/15/what-is-going-at-valparaiso-university/">here</a>.</p><p>P.P.S. Inside Higher Education also ran a piece today on the Valpo matter. To read it, go <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/03/15/strong-opposition-art-sale-valparaiso">here</a>.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-27468001519088949752023-03-10T13:43:00.003-06:002023-03-10T13:51:45.046-06:00A New York Times Article on the Valpo Controversy<p>The <i>New York Times</i> published an article today on the decision of Valparaiso University's board of directors to deaccession three paintings from the university's Brauer Museum. The article contains a link to the letter I wrote, opposing this decision. This letter was signed by more than 90 current and former Valparaiso University faculty members (75 current ones; 17 former ones; and two staff members who work at the Brauer).</p><p>I'm grateful for the service and leadership of John Ruff and Dick Brauer, who are dear friends and valued colleagues! Stop the sale!</p><p>To read the NYT article, go <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/arts/design/valparaiso-museum-paintings-sale-okeeffe.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">here</a>.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-68661838339948485792023-02-23T20:38:00.003-06:002023-02-24T07:03:07.230-06:00Stop the Sale!On February 8, 2023, in a campus-wide email, Valparaiso University’s president, Jose Padilla, announced that he and Valpo’s board of directors would be selling three masterpieces of art from the university’s Brauer Museum to provide funding for the renovation of two on-campus residential buildings. <a href="https://www.artisacoreresource.com/presidents-statement">Here</a> is a link to his statement.<div><br /></div><div>In a subsequent statement, President Padilla said, “Our actions will be based on the best interests of our students, mission, and entire campus. Not just one small piece of it, especially when that piece is not part of our strategic plan and our core mission of educating students and giving them the best campus residential experience.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Both the decision and the justification for it deeply disturb me. As someone who regularly takes students to the Brauer Museum as a part of my teaching, and who frequently visits the Brauer for my own edification and enlightenment, and who works closely with people who support the mission of the Brauer, I consider that museum to be near the core of Valpo’s mission and a key feature of its unique identity. The artwork there relates directly to my vocation as a university professor of theology and the humanities. I have a particular interest in Christian theological interpretations of art, about which I have written in my book on fundamental theology. I am especially pleased that we have three central works that demonstrate excellence in the visual arts, precisely the three pieces that the university board wants to sell. These three pieces comprise the anchor for the whole collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>I should add that I had met privately with President Padilla in his office exactly one week before he made his announcement. It was my first face-to-face meeting with him. I presented him with my recently published edition of Schlink’s <i>Ecumenical Dogmatics</i>, I explained a little about it and my scholarly work in ecumenical theology, and I discussed matters of shared interest (e.g., politics). We had a very pleasant meeting. I wanted him to know that he could count on me to help him as a resource, especially with respect to Lutheran theology and the American church scene. </div><div><br /></div><div>My meeting and conversation with him that day would have been very different had I known about this secret board decision. </div><div><br /></div><div>So on February 9, I began to write a letter to our faculty senate, to criticize this presidential/board decision.
That letter, whose rough edges were polished with the help of a few others, was sent to the faculty. After only two days, 75 current faculty had signed it, as had 17 emeriti or retired faculty. To read the letter, go <a href="https://www.artisacoreresource.com/faculty-letter">here</a>. (At last week’s faculty senate meeting, President Padilla referred to the letter as “the Matthew Becker letter,” but it is not my letter. I may have written the first four drafts, but it was ultimately submitted as a letter from the faculty who signed it.)</div><div><br /></div><div>For more details on this controversy, go <a href="https://www.artisacoreresource.com/in-the-news">here</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>The <i>New York Times</i> has assigned a reporter to the story. I learned today that her article will be coming out perhaps already next week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, at a special meeting of Valpo’s faculty senate, a few of us presented a memo, which we hope will become the basis for a senate resolution that would call upon the president and board to rescind their decision. Here is the content of that memo: </div><div><br /></div><div>1. The sale constitutes a gross violation of professional museum ethics.
VU will be censured by professional organizations, lose credibility with those associations, and the museum will be unable to lend, borrow, or collaborate with other museums in the world.
The president claims he has his own “ethic” to uphold—a confusion of ethics and expediency? Will that “ethic” trump ethical standards across all disciplines, professional schools, and university organizations? </div><div><br /></div><div>2. The sale violates the trust of artists, the public, donors, and faculty.
The Brauer Museum is at the core of Valpo’s liberal arts identity. The three masterpieces anchor the collection and its international reputation. Artists want their work to be displayed in notable public collections. Donors expect their gifts to contribute to the strength of the museum in perpetuity. Faculty count on these works as crucial pedagogical resources. This action tramples on the generosity and trust of current and past donors. It conflicts with the strong support for the arts and humanities in the Lutheran intellectual tradition.
What is the presidential and board rationale for breaking these basic and long-term trusts for the sake of short-term, perishable goods? </div><div><br /></div><div>3. The sale may be illegal.
The sale clearly violates the terms of the trust agreement signed by the VU board president when the core collection was acquired in 1953. The Church painting was part of that gift; the other two paintings in question were purchased with funds from the restricted Sloan endowment fund. The president claims that will not be a legal problem. That remains to be seen. And, does it not matter that violating the trust is clearly unethical? </div><div><br /></div><div>4. This sale is a poor management of assets.
To sell an asset of appreciating value and use it to buy something of depreciating value (dorms) is problematic. Furthermore, by selling these pieces through a private auction, Sotheby’s will be entitled to at least a 25% commission. Add in PR and legal fees, and that is a very poor return on the value of these assets. Selling university assets in a reckless and/or unethical manner has already resulted in the loss of major donors and negative press. More will come. This could also have a negative effect on our bond rating.
Is this short-term sale really worth the net outcome, especially in view of Valpo’s long-term future? </div><div><br /></div><div>5. This sale seems very rushed.
Do we understand why a dorm renovation suddenly rose to the top of the university’s priority list? What is the urgent necessity for this project? The administration could provide no concrete evidence. </div><div><br /></div><div>6. The process of making the decision to sell these masterpieces lacked transparency.
The plan to select and sell the works has been conducted with deliberate secrecy. The paintings were selected purely for cash value, without any investigation into or concern for their importance to the museum and the community it serves. No one with any knowledge of the collection was consulted, as if the details of the works themselves were irrelevant to the process. This is a shocking way to approach the sale of university assets, and not a path to a sustainable future. </div><div><br /></div><div>7. The administration’s withholding of knowledge of the impending sale resulted in an unethical hiring process.
Last summer, while in the process of finding and hiring Jonathan Canning, representatives of Christie’s Auction house were on campus. This information was withheld from the search committee, and more importantly from Canning when he accepted the job. Any association with this sale will be devastating to his career. The university asked Canning to participate in a sale that would violate his professional ethics. </div><div><br /></div><div>8. This impending sale represents a further attack on the arts and humanities at VU. Student response has been spontaneous, strong, and often emotional. They immediately connected this action to the administration’s ongoing dismantling of the arts on campus. Notably, among the nearly 400 signatories on the student petition, approximately half are STEM majors. The board/presidential decision is contrary to Valpo’s stated mission. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t know what will happen here. We want to stop the sale of the paintings. Thankfully, for now at least, the masterpieces remain on the walls of the Brauer. But as I indicated at yesterday's senate meeting, my confidence about the leadership of the president and the board has been deeply shaken by the decision and by subsequent presidential behavior that I will not write about here. Indeed, I wasn’t able to control my emotions very well yesterday as I tried to thank the students who publicly spoke so eloquently, passionately, and persuasively about their reasons for opposing this decision. Those students give me hope. My heart is not the only one around this place that is broken right now.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to sign a petition to stop this sale, please go <a href="https://www.artisacoreresource.com/petition">here</a>.</div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-64059983550220482612022-12-28T15:25:00.009-06:002022-12-28T15:38:34.246-06:00Rev. Dr. John Scheck+<p>On Sunday night I learned that Dr. John Scheck died on Christmas Eve. Some of us had him as our beloved professor at Concordia University, Portland, Ore. He was my academic adviser, and I think I took every course he offered during those four undergraduate years (1980-1984), e.g., freshman humanities, several courses in American history, one on American thought and culture, and his introduction to philosophy. In addition to being a great teacher, he was an excellent preacher and musician. He wrote the lyrics for the school song. (A few decades later, he also composed a hymn for my son's baptism.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgW7C7yNkZE1PgDgFBvgYnrCMRAnlm71ZSO94KMDpFvW8xc6pNUvPZA4LfjrXnzDFNXvemPRanh0O62gt8qRZ_5UKDLyYyVtSUsQtxHzRK2HpE-xv_fUsnolvbfxAo8T8COrsXrIDfalNKKIRLdsVWx8A1bZykovl4Yf8XpeEtQy0aetAee1Zho64wz3A" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="650" data-original-width="394" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgW7C7yNkZE1PgDgFBvgYnrCMRAnlm71ZSO94KMDpFvW8xc6pNUvPZA4LfjrXnzDFNXvemPRanh0O62gt8qRZ_5UKDLyYyVtSUsQtxHzRK2HpE-xv_fUsnolvbfxAo8T8COrsXrIDfalNKKIRLdsVWx8A1bZykovl4Yf8XpeEtQy0aetAee1Zho64wz3A=w193-h320" width="193" /></a></div><br />John was among the shining stars that Dr. Thomas Coates, president of Concordia, Portland, brought to the school during his tenure (1946-1957). People called those faculty members "Tommy's boys." In addition to John, that illustrious group included Art Wahlers ("Mr. Concordia"), Don Lorenz, Dick Reinisch, Karl Keller, George Weller, Al Roth, and Hans Spalteholz.<p></p><p>When I started teaching at my alma mater, John helped to mentor me. (It took me a while to become comfortable using the first names of people who had been my esteemed professors just a few years earlier. They kept insisting that I was now their colleague, not merely their former student, and that I should thus call them by their Christian names, but every now and then I still referred to them as "Dr." or "Prof.") John graciously gave me many of his course notes and teaching aids, and he kindly took time to offer advice on how to deal with various higher-ed situations. </p><p>(When Martin Marty received an honorary degree from Concordia, John served as the M.C. at one of the accompanying events--Marty had been John's resident assistant [is the right term "dorm buck"?] at Concordia College, Milwaukee, Wis. Needless to say, that evening we learned some new things about Marty and about John that we hadn't known before. Indeed, I need to underscore that John is the one who introduced me to Marty's writings when I was an undergraduate. In one of John's classes, we used a Marty book on American religions as one of our texts. I don't think I would have gone to the U. of Chicago had it not been for that introduction to Marty and for the encouragement that John Scheck and Hans Spalteholz gave me to go to there.)</p><p>I got to know John's first wife because she was a librarian at Concordia. I have known John's second wife, Nan, my whole life. She, her first husband, and their family spent a lot of time with our family when I was growing up in Salem, Ore. (Nan, whose father was Rev. Amos Schmidt [who served at St. Michael's, Portland, and was at one time the LCMS' campus pastor at U.C.L.A., and who was also a close friend of my grandfather Emil], is the baptismal sponsor for my sister.) Nan and John were joyfully married for more than thirty years.</p><p>In so many ways, John represented the best that the Missouri Synod produced among its clergy in the twentieth century. Today, more than one of my former classmates has commented that Dr. Scheck helped them to know what the gospel is and how to preach it effectively. Many of us are remembering sermons he preached in Concordia's Chapel of the Upper Room and at St. Michael's. His wry humor always helped to bring a little spice to the message he shared.</p><p>John was a gentleman and a scholar. He was a kind man--and a forgiving grader of freshmen term papers (!). Always prepared to offer a quick and witty reply to an offhand comment by one of his conversation partners, John modeled the kind of Christian humanism he hoped his students would embrace, one that would resist the inroads of Protestant fundamentalism in the church body that he served, but also one that would maintain the essential, mandatory content of the classic Christian faith. Needless to say, his relationship to the Missouri Synod was always tenuous, especially after 1969, and he wasn't too surprised when some of his former students were eventually pushed out of the LCMS. (His funeral will be taking place at the main ELCA church in Salem.)</p><p>I will always be grateful for all that Dr. Scheck taught me, and for how he did that teaching and preaching. I am so grateful for the mentoring he later provided. I wouldn't be where I am today were it not for him and his example.</p><p>Here is a link to his obituary:</p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/salem-or/john-scheck-11078414&source=gmail&ust=1672346228344000&usg=AOvVaw03nCthdjpSFrmbNcZo6YGb" fg_scanned="1" href="https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/salem-or/john-scheck-11078414" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.dignitymemorial.<wbr></wbr>com/obituaries/salem-or/john-<wbr></wbr>scheck-11078414</a></p><p>Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints. May John rest in the peace of the Lord, and may the Lord's light shine perpetually upon him.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-81206742532915699082022-10-12T17:12:00.002-05:002022-10-12T17:31:14.335-05:00Edmund Schlink's Ecumenical Dogmatics<div style="text-align: left;">I’m pleased to announce that Edmund Schlink’s <i>Ecumenical Dogmatics </i>will be published in early December, just in time for Christmas. It is coming out in hardcover in two half volumes (1277 pages total). The work is really the equivalent of four 320-page volumes of church doctrine. It is the culmination of Schlink’s many decades of ecumenical work and teaching (principally at Heidelberg University, where he established an ecumenical center after WWII). The work reflects his deep understanding of both Western and Eastern traditions of Christian doctrine and practice. (Schlink has influenced many American Lutheran theologians, including esp. Walt Bouman, Won Yong Ji, Robert Jenson, Carl Braaten, Eugene Skibbe, and others.) He was the principal Lutheran participant in the WCC in the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s, and he served as the official observer from the German Protestant Church at Vatican II, where he became a leading spokesperson for the non-Roman observers. </div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyGyMtPTXp1b7tDfZS3Qgw0HEEZU2RGMdL4IoOrBRasA40NxV2gbGScN_osE4UYdkq8O6VIfkW741GJhym8ku5vhaLhFrzfcPOLgd3Fu9N4ypl1LNVja03sv1jib6muTunF_5VXUUFzePAp0MzD1DCidti_fDP3UM-MFC3GzitOovX_JCkbCDGFnfnQ/s600/978-3-525-56075-4_600x600.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNyGyMtPTXp1b7tDfZS3Qgw0HEEZU2RGMdL4IoOrBRasA40NxV2gbGScN_osE4UYdkq8O6VIfkW741GJhym8ku5vhaLhFrzfcPOLgd3Fu9N4ypl1LNVja03sv1jib6muTunF_5VXUUFzePAp0MzD1DCidti_fDP3UM-MFC3GzitOovX_JCkbCDGFnfnQ/w216-h320/978-3-525-56075-4_600x600.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span> </span>His dogmatics is the most significant summary of Christian doctrine written between Karl Barth’s <i>Church Dogmatics </i>and Wolfhart Pannenberg’s <i>Systematic Theology</i>. Indeed, his work contains material that is found in no other dogmatics text with which I am familiar. While Schlink is most known among Americans for his <i>Theology of the Lutheran Confessions </i>and his little book on baptism, his <i>Ecumenical Dogmatics </i>was his opus magnum. It has never been translated into another language until now. In its German form, it has continued to be an important resource for university theology students who are preparing for their exams in Christian doctrine. I’m hoping that the book will be read by American pastors, seminarians, and graduate students, but given the editorial notes that are unique to the American Edition, I think even lay people will find its content accessible and edifying.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Pannenberg (who was Schlink’s assistant for many years), wrote the preface. One of the two forewords was written by Schlink’s long-time friend, the Roman Catholic theologian Heinrich Fries. The other foreword was written by another of Schlink’s friends and WCC associates, the Greek Orthodox theologian Nikos Nissiotis. The afterword is by one of Schlink’s last assistants, Michael Plathow. In addition to serving as the principal translator (assisted by Hans Spalteholz, Robin Lutjohann, Mark Seifrid, Ellie Wegener, and Ken Jones), I wrote the 25-page introduction and all of the editorial notes (more than 500 of them). </p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The abiding strength of the work is the way in which Schlink brings theological insights from all of the principal church fathers and subsequent key theologians (both Eastern and Western) into conversation with one another, identifying points of convergence and areas of ongoing disagreement (and suggesting ways forward for overcoming the differences/historic conflicts). While Luther is clearly Schlink’s most important non-biblical influence, other thinkers who receive significant attention include Irenaeus, Augustine, the Cappadocians, Cyril of Jerusalem, John of Damascus, Gregory of Palamas, Anselm, Aquinas, Calvin, but also Schlink’s most important contemporaries (e.g., Barth, Bultmann, Rahner [who was also a friend, as were Ratzinger and Kueng, who also make appearances in the book], Fries, and the principal Orthodox participants in the WCC). So the book is not only a contemporary summary of the Christian faith but also an excellent resource for gaining a deeper understanding of the history of Christian doctrine. There are more than 2000 Scripture references, but Schlink also draws heavily upon the Lutheran confessional writings and other historic confessions in the history of the churches. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I’m hoping that the book might be used in ecumenical study groups or as a text that invites theological dialogue among pastors and other church leaders. It could serve as a discussion starter for a set of pastoral circuit meetings. I’m hoping that at least a few professors of systematic theology will use the book in their teaching, and perhaps will even assign it as a text for their seminarians or graduate students. And I do think that the work could serve as a kind of “refresher course” in Christian doctrine for pastors and other church leaders.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The book is now available to be pre-ordered: </p><p style="text-align: left;">https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/57719</p><p style="text-align: left;">Also on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ecumenical-Confessional-Writings-Dogmatics/dp/3525560753/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZJH7VMB0D6S5&keywords=schlink+ecumenical+dogmatics&qid=1665606738&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAzIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=%2Caps%2C316&sr=8-1</p><p style="text-align: left;">If someone wants to order a review copy, it will be available through V&R’s American distributor in Bristol: tel. 860-584-6546</p><p style="text-align: left;">Even if you don’t want to add this important resource to your personal theological library, may I encourage you at least to encourage your regional church-related college or seminary library to add the book to its holdings? Or perhaps to your congregation's library? </p><p style="text-align: left;">May I also encourage you to share the above links and phone number with professors and pastors whom you know who might want to purchase the book or review it for a journal?</p><p style="text-align: left;">Given the book’s size and quality, it is reasonably priced. (Comparable volumes by Barth and Pannenberg are more expensive, at least according to what I saw this morning on Amazon.) Whatever proceeds I receive from the sale of the book will be given to charities, e.g., Bright Stars of Bethlehem, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, as well as local Lutheran congregations.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Here is a sampling from the table of contents:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><p></p><p>Chapter I: The Knowledge of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Beginning with the Gospel of Jesus Christ<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Hiddenness of God in the Gospel<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Revelation of the Divine Mystery<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Knowledge of God by Faith<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Knowledge of God as Being Known by the Triune God<br />Chapter II: The Knowledge of the World<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Self-Knowledge of the Human Being<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Knowledge of Other Human Beings<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Knowledge of the History of Humanity<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Knowledge of the Universe<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Believing and Knowing<br />Chapter III: The Knowledge of God and the Doctrine of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Basic Forms of the Theological Statement<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Structural Issues Regarding the Dogmatic Statement<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Excursus: The Relationship between the Theological and Philosophical Analysis of Language<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Task of an Ecumenical Dogmatics<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Doctrine of the Acts of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Theology as Doxology<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Anthropology as Repentance<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. The Organization of Dogmatics</p><p></p>FIRST PART<br />The Doctrine of Creation<br />Chapter IV: The Creation of the World<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Introduction: The Starting Point for the Doctrine of Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Freedom of God the Creator<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Act of Creation in the Beginning<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Universe<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Purpose of Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Originally Good Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. The Order of Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. God’s Continuous Creative Action<br />Chapter V: The Purpose of the Human Being<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Introduction to Chapters V-VII: The Starting Point for the Doctrine about Human Beings<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Response That Is the Image of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Community That Is the Image of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Dominion That Is the Image of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Life That Is the Image of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Origin and Purpose<br />Chapter VI: The Failure of the Human Being<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Turning Away from God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Imprisonment in Guilt<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Urge to Sin<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Dominion of Sin<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Judgment into which Human Beings Have Fallen: Death<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Origin and Failure<br />Chapter VII: The Preservation of the Human Being<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Preservation of the Sinner in the Midst of Having Fallen into Judgment<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Witness of God through the Works of Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Commandment of the Preserver<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Establishing of Just Authority<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Conservation of the Distorted Image of God<br />Chapter VIII: The Preservation of the World<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Corruption within the Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Service of the Angels<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Dominion of the Powers of Corruption<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Judgment into which the World Has Fallen: The End<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Time of Divine Patience<br />Chapter IX: The Governance of the World<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. God’s Dominion over World History<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Hiddenness of God in World History<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Mystery of World History: Jesus Christ and the New Creation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. The Revealed Action of God through the Gospel<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Humiliation of God in His Governance of the World<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Theodicy<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. Providence<br />Chapter X: The Confession of God the Creator<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. God the Father, the Creator<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. God the Eternal Father<br /><br />SECOND PART<br />The Doctrine of Redemption<br />Chapter XI: The Old Testament Law<br />Introduction to Chapters XII and XIII: The Exaltation of Jesus as the Presupposition for the Doctrine of the Humiliation of the Son of God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Honorific Titles of Jesus<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The History of Jesus as the Basis for His Honorific Titles<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Reversed Sequence of the History and the Recognition of Jesus Christ<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. Historical Investigation into the Earthly Jesus<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. The Apostolic Message as the Basis of Faith<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. The History of Jesus and Christological Dogma<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. The Organization of Christology<br />Chapter XII: The Humiliation of the Son of God<br />Chapter XIII: The Exaltation of Jesus<br />Summary of Chapters XII and XIII: The Doctrine of the Threefold Office of Jesus Christ<br />Chapter XIV: The New Testament Gospel<br />Summary of Parts A and B: God’s Action of Grace and Human Action<br />Chapter XV: Baptism<br />Chapter XVI: The Lord’s Supper<br />The Conclusion to Chapters XIV-XVI: The Richness of God’s Action of Grace and the Number of Sacraments<br />Summary of Chapters XI-XVI: The Distinction between Law and Gospel<br />Chapter XVII: The Confession of God the Redeemer<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Jesus the Redeemer<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Eternal Son<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. “Truly God and Truly a Human Being”<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">THIRD PART<br />The Doctrine of the New Creation<br />Chapter XVIII: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit<br />Chapter XIX: The Church<br />Chapter XX: Spiritual Gift and Ministerial Office<br />Chapter XXI: The Preservation of the Church<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Introduction: The Indestructibility of the Church<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A. Holy Scripture<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>B. Confession<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>C. Church Order<br />Chapter XXII: The Unity of the Church and the Disunity of Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Dangers of Ecclesial Self-Preservation<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Scandal of a Disunited Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Question Concerning the One Church in a Disunited Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Traditions of Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Apostolic Tradition and the Traditions of Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Recognizing the One Church in a Disunited Christendom<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. Representing the One Church in the Unification of the Separated Churches<br />Chapter XXIII: The Consummation of the New Creation<br />Chapter XXIV: The Confession of God the New Creator<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. The Holy Spirit, the New Creator<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Eternal Spirit of God<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">FOURTH PART<br />The Doctrine of God<br />Chapter XXV: The Adoration of God<br />Chapter XXVI: The Triune God<br />Introduction to Chapters XXVII-XXIX: The Holy God and the Doctrine of the Divine Attributes<br />Chapter XXVII: The Lord<br />Chapter XXVIII: The All-Consuming God<br />Chapter XXIX: The Self-Giving God<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">CONCLUDING PART<br />Chapter XXX: God’s Decree of Love<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. Solely by Grace<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. The Eternal Decree of the Triune God<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. The Issue of Double Predestination<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. Election<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. Rejection<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. The Incommensurability between God’s Electing and Rejecting<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Excursus: On the Issue of the Theological Syllogism<br /><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. The Warning to the Church and the Invitation to the World</div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-43146351243354227692021-12-22T18:01:00.002-06:002021-12-22T18:03:44.490-06:00A Christmas Message from Valparaiso University's President<p>I haven't uploaded a post in recent weeks, mainly due to a whirlwind of activity since the start of November. </p><p>But I couldn't pass up the opportunity today to share the link to this year's Christmas message from our university's new president. You can access it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bs0h9R5PwE" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p>God's peace and joy in Christ Jesus be with you this Christmas season and always!</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-49873737047979915532021-10-25T23:18:00.005-05:002021-10-25T23:22:12.763-05:00The Paraklotos - Valpo's Morning Chapel for 10/25/21<p>This fall semester, the theme for Monday's morning prayer at Valpo's Chapel of the Resurrection has been the comfort that God provides us. The chosen biblical text for these prayer services has been Isaiah 1.1: "Comfort, comfort my people...."</p><p>With the permission of the our campus pastors, I was able to use a different pericope today, namely John 14.25-41. The focus of my message was on the Holy Parakletos, i.e., the comforting Advocate, our advocating Comforter, the Holy Comforter.</p><p>For the link to the video recording of that service of prayer, go <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTFpL6doe5s&t=296s">here</a>.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-33733881765790568952021-09-03T10:45:00.004-05:002021-09-03T10:59:17.504-05:00The Robert W. Bertram CollectionI'm pleased to announce that the Christopher Center at Valparaiso University has finished cataloging books from the library of Dr. Robert W. Bertram (1921-2003). These are materials that I received as a gift from the Lutheran School of Theology in St. Louis, which were then transferred to the Special Collections in Valpo's library. Included in these materials are typed and handwritten notes, letters, sermons, and many books containing Dr. Bertram's marginal comments. <div><br /></div><div>I am grateful to Cathy Lessmann, who had been Bob's close friend and the administrator of Crossings and the Lutheran School of Theology in St. Louis, who kindly arranged for these materials to be given to me. Years earlier, the Bertram family had graciously donated Bob's library to LST-SL.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also want to thank Judith Miller and Rebecca Ostoyich, who oversee Valpo's Special Collections and who spent countless hours organizing and cataloguing these important materials. Thank you, Judy and Rebecca! </div><div><br /></div><div>My friends and Valpo theology colleagues, Fred Niedner and Jim Albers, also provided helpful counsel and advice about how best to set up this collection, for which I thank them, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>To learn more about the Bertram Collection, go <a href="https://archives.valpo.edu/repositories/3/resources/68" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycx1Dk3NnQ8qkSu7pLjJliYJIEQwogVnwFkHfFgs48cyCq7WGCY49k65oWt4N5l46pfmvUrow3gLcbg7I0yuJwPp4gZT0yXa5kgbw49PcJBSNuF3v6S3ISwP-FIXHpWhP9u4FSFF_Xeij/s2048/faculty_and_staff_individuals_robert_bertram_head_shot_minister_clothing.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1460" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycx1Dk3NnQ8qkSu7pLjJliYJIEQwogVnwFkHfFgs48cyCq7WGCY49k65oWt4N5l46pfmvUrow3gLcbg7I0yuJwPp4gZT0yXa5kgbw49PcJBSNuF3v6S3ISwP-FIXHpWhP9u4FSFF_Xeij/w229-h320/faculty_and_staff_individuals_robert_bertram_head_shot_minister_clothing.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br />Dr. Bertram was my teacher at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (LSTC) when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School (1988-1993). For several of those years, I lived in LSTC housing, which was more affordable than what the U. of C. had offered me. The trade-off was the requirement that I take at least one graduate seminar per term at LSTC, which I gladly did. That is how I met Bob and got involved in the Crossings Community, which he co-founded with Ed Schroeder.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bob deeply shaped my own theological orientation and understanding. His theological interests have largely become my own. Indeed, I would not be serving in my present vocation were it not for him, his example, and his encouragement.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7q8OdzBRPIddqE4a8muPsrMP0zJcYFqNBuP6wmkqj7i3fnCzmD1I5SgY96NBE8uOEnI2Nh7B6hGApGPXHmugLa5f0XuC_vVmb7XRpSWDHgmTvakhUMdt7Np1ViCuJvBIAAwjkqXJ7cLA/s1786/Bob+Bertram+2.tif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1786" data-original-width="1184" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW7q8OdzBRPIddqE4a8muPsrMP0zJcYFqNBuP6wmkqj7i3fnCzmD1I5SgY96NBE8uOEnI2Nh7B6hGApGPXHmugLa5f0XuC_vVmb7XRpSWDHgmTvakhUMdt7Np1ViCuJvBIAAwjkqXJ7cLA/w213-h320/Bob+Bertram+2.tif" width="213" /></a></div>After leaving Chicago, I remained in regular contact with him until his death in 2003. I feel a personal connection to his life and work, not merely because I was his student at LSTC but also because of our joint connection to a few other institutions: Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (he graduated in '46; I in '88); the University of Chicago Divinity School (he received his Ph.D. from there in '64; I received mine in '01); and Valparaiso University (he taught here between 1948 and 1963--see the photo above from that period of his life--while I've been a professor here since '04). </div><div><br /></div><div>And we both were kicked out of another institution in which we served: the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod! In that connection, I don't mind being labeled a "Seminex-er"--maybe the last of them!--even though my path crossed his several years after that seminary faculty and its students had been dispersed.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I hope pastors, theologians, and students of theology will come to Valpo to study these materials, perhaps especially Bob's handwritten notes in the books he once owned. I know there's at least one doctoral dissertation that is waiting to be written about his life and theology! If you are interested in pursuing that project, come and see me. I have some ideas for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, you might also want to read the chapter on Bob and Ed in a recent book by their former LSTC colleague, Carl Braaten, who also was once my teacher. The title of that book is:</div><div><i>A Harvest of Lutheran Dogmatics and Ethics: The Life and Work of Twelve Theologians 1960-2020</i> (ALBP, 2021). I'll write more about this book in a subsequent post.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-88924634302135423872021-07-30T09:53:00.000-05:002021-07-30T09:53:15.799-05:00European-Christian Art and Architecture - July 2022<p>I would like to
invite you to join my colleague, Dr. Gretchen Buggeln, and me on a special
tour through Germany, France, and England in July 2022. Assuming that travel
restrictions will be lifted by then (and all tour participants properly vaccinated), we
will depart for Germany on July 17, 2022, and return to the US on July 30. Travelers on the tour will experience the history of European Christianity
(early, medieval, and modern), Christian art and architecture, as well as
contemporary European cuisine and culture. The tour will visit museums and cathedrals in
such places as Cologne, Trier, Reims, Paris, Chartres, London, and Coventry.
Along the way, the group will experience a Rhine-River cruise, a visit to a
champagne cave, and guided tours of Versailles, Buckingham Palace, Westminster
Abbey, and Oxford. Participants will have free days to explore Paris and London
on their own. The price of the tour includes roundtrip airfare, ground
transportation, lodging in 4-star hotels, all breakfasts, most dinners, local tour
guides, all entrance fees, and “color commentary” by Professor Buggeln and
yours truly. (Dr. Buggeln teaches art history and the humanities in Christ
College, while I teach modern Christian theology and church history in the
College of Arts and Sciences.) Each morning of the tour will begin with an
optional devotion and “mini-lecture” on a theme for the day.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv32-pyIh2iV1sO_mKqzZNcD61r6LgNzkB77D-fLPrh5R5-40uAfBJZFDivwqAEySyA0ZLCogkZWTonISvY1bDzwaIgfbmvNRkEuxduJHfK79r9nPMMbCflRM8jr0PbpX-Ii8XLlF1PX9S/s1200/1200px-Notre_Dame_de_Chartres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1200" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv32-pyIh2iV1sO_mKqzZNcD61r6LgNzkB77D-fLPrh5R5-40uAfBJZFDivwqAEySyA0ZLCogkZWTonISvY1bDzwaIgfbmvNRkEuxduJHfK79r9nPMMbCflRM8jr0PbpX-Ii8XLlF1PX9S/s320/1200px-Notre_Dame_de_Chartres.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />While the tour is sponsored by the Alumni Association of
Valparaiso University, <u>anyone is welcome to join and participate with us.</u><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For more information, go to: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thedaystarjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/EE22_071722V_55514_Becker_002_FINAL.pdf">http://thedaystarjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/EE22_071722V_55514_Becker_002_FINAL.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>You may also contact me via my university email address: matthew.becker@valpo.edu</o:p></p><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-72114615389591939432021-05-17T17:33:00.001-05:002021-05-17T17:35:27.274-05:00Bright Stars of Bethlehem<p>Just when the political situation in Israel seemed like it might be getting better, matters have taken a radical turn for the worse. For insightful analyses, go <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/opinion/israel-netanyahu-hamas.html?smid=url-share" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/opinion/israel-palestinians-gaza.html?smid=url-share" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>Last week I reached out to Lutheran pastors I know from that region. One of these friends wrote back, “The situation is very critical. Several of our students were detained and injured, and some in Gaza have lost their homes.”</p><p>Another long-time Lutheran pastor, theologian, and leader in that region, whose son is a graduate of Valpo, told me last week:</p><p>“It is truly a very difficult time. We are watching war erupting. But worse than that, the long years of incitement have caused hatred, discrimination, and racism. It is very worrying to watch that. Thank you for praying for us, our safety, and for justice in Palestine and Israel. This means we, as Palestinian Christians, have a holy task to swim against this wave of incitement and teach to see the image of God in the other. Certainly, the USA has a responsibility to end the occupation and to work for the two-states solution. We want you to promote the role of Christians in that [effort] and to teach that the longer the occupation, the longer the hatred. Freedom and justice are the need of this country.”</p><p>In addition to praying for a just and peaceful resolution to this situation of injustice and violence, I encourage you to support Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a non-profit organization that promotes peace and justice in Palestine through Dar al-Kalima University of Arts & Culture "and its initiatives for youth, families, and older adults, as well as public advocacy for basic human rights."</p><p>The co-founder of that organization, Dr. Mitri Raheb, is a Lutheran pastor and theologian in Bethlehem. He is a friend who has also spoken on our campus several times. He and the people he serves need our prayers and support!</p><p>To learn more about Bright Stars of Bethlehem, go <a href="https://brightstarsbethlehem.org/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-66201164989264136532021-05-10T11:40:00.000-05:002021-05-10T11:40:06.113-05:00An Online Discussion of Bob Bertram's Essay "How Our Sins Were Christ's"<p>The people at "Crossings" have asked yours truly to lead a free online discussion about an essay by the American-Lutheran theologian Robert Bertram. Dr. Bertram's essay, "How Our Sins Were Christ's," analyzes key emphases in Martin Luther's 1531 commentary on Galatians.</p><p>The discussion, which is part of a monthly Crossings series called "Table Talk," will take place on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at 1:00pm Central Daylight Time. It is open to all.</p><p>For a brief "trailer" about this upcoming "Table Talk" and to register for it, go <a href="https://crossings.org/table-talk/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>To read Dr. Bertram's essay, go <a href="https://crossings.org/how-our-sins-were-christ/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-43198004873635305702021-04-15T01:32:00.007-05:002021-04-16T13:49:35.171-05:00Luther at Worms (at 500)<p>This week marks the 500<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Martin Luther’s
famous “non-recantation” at the Diet of Worms. His first appearance there, on
April 17, 1521, did not go well. Asked if the books on the table before him had
been written by him, he answered “yes.” But when he was then asked if he would revoke
the ideas they contained, he hesitated and appeared uncertain. He said he needed
more time to think about the question. Surprised by this timid reply—after all,
could he not have anticipated this move? —the emperor nevertheless granted him
a night to further ponder his fate.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The next day, April 18, 1521, Luther was asked the main
question a second time: “Will you recant?” </p><p class="MsoNormal">No longer hesitant or uncertain, he replied
at some length in Latin. After stressing that his cause was one “of justice and
of truth,” he again took responsibility for the books he had written, but he noted
that they were “not all of the same kind.” Some were about basic Christian
faith and morals. (What could be wrong with these, he asked.) Other writings did indeed attack the papacy, but to retract these, he argued, would amount to “adding strength”
to what he considered to be “the tyranny” of that institution. Still other
books attacked individuals. Here, he admitted, he had been “more violent” than either
“his religion or his profession” really required. Still, he would not recant these books either, since such a revocation would allow “tyranny and godlessness” to “rule
and rage… more violently than before” among the people of God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9D-MEvEtl9yp7Klc1RzkgGLiyLNRv6CaHEbY_B2bLKruTQeEAZFTm7RQvQfdB40gZm6msYB8OOKu2W7g8fhWoeYNM8TI0i853flAk0XcRLFwsakIh64HWZdja41XNV1MyK7O8f9NBRu_/s1000/Luther_at_the_Diet_of_Worms.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="1000" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9D-MEvEtl9yp7Klc1RzkgGLiyLNRv6CaHEbY_B2bLKruTQeEAZFTm7RQvQfdB40gZm6msYB8OOKu2W7g8fhWoeYNM8TI0i853flAk0XcRLFwsakIh64HWZdja41XNV1MyK7O8f9NBRu_/w400-h211/Luther_at_the_Diet_of_Worms.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Despite his intransigence, Luther confessed that he “was only a man and
not God.” He then stressed that if someone, anyone, could teach him his errors, have them exposed and
overthrown by the clear statements of the prophets and evangelists (he did not mention Moses or the OT Ketubim), then he would be “quite ready to renounce
every error,” and he would “be the first to cast [his] books into the fire….”<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After drawing attention to the dissention that God’s own
word creates in the world--and after stressing that we all need to fear God--he then concluded: “I do not say these things because there is a need of either my
teachings or my warnings for such leaders as you, but because I must not withhold
the allegiance which I owe my Germany. With these words I commend myself to
your most serene majesty and to your lordships, humbly asking that I not be
allowed through the agitation of my enemies, without cause, to be made hateful
to you. I have finished.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Luther was not finished, for the emperor’s speaker was
not satisfied. Luther had not answered the main question: “Will you recant?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then came (extempore?) what must be considered among the
most famous and consequential words to have been spoken in the history of Western
civilization in the past half millennium:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Since, therefore, your serene majesty and your lordships seek
a simple response, I will give it in this way, neither sophistical nor pointed:
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures, or by the evidence of
reason (for I trust in neither the pope nor councils alone, since it is a settled
fact that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the
Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the words of God. I
cannot and I will not retract anything since it is neither safe nor right to go
against conscience.” (WA 7.838.1-9; LW 32.112-113 [modified]).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These Latin words were followed by a few German ones, perhaps only
the final four of them (sotto voce?): “Ich kan nicht anderst, hie stehe ich, Got helff mir,
Amen.” [I can (say) nothing else. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Keep in mind that nearly a year earlier some forty-one
statements of Luther’s had already been condemned by the pope as “either
heretical, scandalous, false, offensive to pious ears or seductive of simple
minds, or against Catholic truth.” It didn’t matter that some of the quotations
were inexact, and all had been torn from their original contexts. Luther had 60 days to
recant.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of course, instead of recanting, Luther burned the papal bull
(document) on December 10, 1520. (I have stood at that very spot many times, contemplating that bold act of ecclesial defiance.) Luther refused the pope’s demands, he didn’t recant or repent, and, as a result, his excommunication became effective on January 3, 1521, just over two months after Charles had been crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rather amazing were the subsequent actions taken by the twenty-one-year-old
emperor. Despite the promise he had made on the day of his crowning—to preserve
the Catholic faith, to protect the Catholic Church and clergy, and to show proper
devotion to the pope and the Roman Church—Charles agreed to give the
excommunicated heretic a hearing. While the pope had already made up his own
mind, and the pope’s own representatives had opposed Luther’s invitation to the diet, Charles kept the matter open, at least in principle. (He had to know by that point that the cat was out of the bag, so to speak. Erasmus had told him as
much.) But it didn’t matter. By the end of Luther’s second appearance, on that 18th of April, 1521, Charles was convinced that this lone, renegade monk was in error “in his opinion, which
is against what all of Christendom has held for over a thousand years…” “After
the impertinent reply that Luther gave yesterday… I declare that I now regret
having delayed so long the proceedings against him and his false doctrines. I
am resolved that I will never again hear him talk.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The edict against Luther was formulated on May 8, 1521, and
signed by the emperor on May 26, at the end of the diet. Charles’ edict affirmed
the execution of the pope’s judgment against Luther, it enjoined all to refuse
Luther any “hospitality, lodging, food, or drink,” or any assistance, and
it instructed all people to take Luther prisoner so that he could be delivered to the
authorities. (It should be noted: no one was authorized to kill Luther. He was simply to be arrested and handed over.) The edict
also authorized individuals to proceed against Luther’s friends and followers, to
attack them, and to take their property. Of course, Luther’s writings were
strictly <i>verboten</i>. Bottom line: Luther and his adherents were not merely
heretics, they were outlaws.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At Worms, Luther refused to recant because his conscience
was “held captive” by the words of God (notice the plural). “Precisely because
his conscience was bound by the words of God, he had to demand freedom, that
is, respect for his conscience. But Luther also knew that it was <i>his</i>
knowledge of the words of God that bound him, and as a human being he could
err. Therefore, he had to be prepared to subject his knowledge to a test.
Because no disputation had taken place in Worms, let alone any testing by a
group of impartial theologians, no revocation could be expected from Luther. A
revocation would have presupposed that Luther had been taught better by
scriptural arguments so that he would have been able to correct his previous
understanding. This became the standard legal argument of Saxon politics when
it later defended Luther’s refusal to recant” (Theodor Dieter, “The Diet and
Edict of Worms (1521),” <i>Lutheran Quarterly</i> 35 [Spring 2021], 4). [Other theologians who have been accused of "teaching false doctrines" and have also been expelled from their church bodies might make the same argument. Just saying....]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps most important in all this, maybe even more important
than Luther’s famous testimony in that imperial courtroom, were the actions taken by Luther’s prince, Elector Frederick (the Wise). Not only did Frederick hide Luther
at the Wartburg Castle in the wake of Luther's "stand" at Worms, but he made sure that the edict was not published in electoral
Saxony, and thus the edict was without effect in the land where Luther lived. The
failure to implement the edict in northern, German-speaking territories allowed
the Reformation to become more entrenched than might otherwise have been the
case. Luther owed much to his local prince. (BTW, the term “Protestant” originated
later, in the wake of another diet, that of Speyer [1529], which tried to impose
the conditions of Worms upon the estates that had accepted Luther’s reforms.
Those estates considered the terms of Worms invalid since they had been passed “against
God and his holy word” and were against “the salvation of all our souls and
good conscience.”) And nothing the emperor or the pope did, could put Western Christendom back together again. (Thankfully, ecumenical efforts toward reunification of the Western Church have been afoot for more than a century.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luther is not without blame here. In light of his own theology, his denial of conciliar
authority presents, at best, an inconsistency. After all, Luther consistently accepted the dogmatic
decisions of the first seven ecumenical councils. Luther's attacks on the papacy also seem extreme. (Melanchthon’s position on the Petrine
office remains much more ecumenically promising, even if the dogmas of papal primacy, universality, and infallibility, not to mention the papal promulgations of the recent Marian dogmas, complicate the ecumenical situation further.) A lot of what Luther wrote
against the papacy and conciliar authority has to be subjected to sober
criticism and viewed in the context of the heat of a most anti-ecumenical
moment…. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">Luther’s excommunication and the Edict of
Worms remain obstacles to the reunification of the Roman Church and the
churches of the Augsburg Confession. If such a reunification remains an
ecumenical goal, what are the next steps that need to be taken by both sides
(the Roman Church and the LWF) to move closer toward that goal?</span></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-46196152211846923332021-03-19T13:17:00.009-05:002021-03-20T09:21:23.783-05:00Hate Crimes and David Brooks<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The famous Swiss-Protestant theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) supposedly once said that a Christian pastor should "preach with the Bible in one hand and the current newspaper in the other." I'm not sure I fully agree with that counsel. (At least I have never preached with a newspaper in my hand!) It seems to me that a pastor who preaches "in light of the news" can easily get so wrapped up in social-political events of the current moment that he or she loses sight of God's own "good news," God's central message of judgment and grace, of Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins, a message that is aimed at the individual heart and life. We sometimes refer to that central message as God's words of "law" and "gospel." Through this twofold message, God summons us to repent of our sins and to trust in his promises for the sake of Christ our Savior and Lord.</span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">But that divine message does not come to us in a vacuum. The biblical prophets remind us that God always aims the divine message toward humans in the here and now. Moreover, God is not "disconnected" from social and even political events, at least according to the biblical prophets. "Justice" sure seems to matter to God, at least according to the Holy Scriptures. Then, too, the "repentance" to which God calls us is not merely an abstract idea or a mere private matter. Just as the Old Testament prophets’ call to repent went out to the whole people of ancient Israel, so there are also New Testament calls to repentance that are directed to entire churches. God calls us to repent of all sins, both those that are more personal and individual and those that are more corporate, social, and even political in nature. An aspect of repentance is acknowledging "the heart of darkness" that resides in each of us ("original sin"), confessing our sins, receiving by faith God's mercy and forgiveness, and then seeking to amend one's sinful life. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I was thinking about the specificity of sin when I was reading today's edition of <i>The NW Indiana Times</i>. In it there is a story about the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans. Of course the immediate context for the story was the murder of six Asian-American women and two others in Atlanta earlier this week. The larger context, however, goes back to last year when some political leaders frequently referred to the covid virus as "the China virus." This rhetoric helped to inspire some individuals to act aggressively and even violently against Asian people in our midst. Since March 2020, nearly 3,800 "anti-Asian" incidents have been reported to one agency that keeps track of such things. According to the article, nationally women reported hate crimes 2.3 times more than men. Asian-American organizations have been trying to call attention to this problem for many months. There is real fear among our Asian brothers and sisters here in the US. (Some of what I have heard reminds me of what happened to German Americans during the First World War. During that time, when America was at war with Germany, many German Americans, a lot of them Lutherans, experienced "hate crimes" as well. My grandfather once told me that he knew a German-American Lutheran pastor who had been pulled from the pulpit of his congregation in 1917, and was tarred and feathered by locals who thought "he must be a propagandist for the German Kaiser.")</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This story about the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans hits close to home. One of my colleagues and friends, whose office is just down the hall from mine, teaches theology at Valpo. She is a very devout Roman Catholic laywoman, who grew up in a mixed Chinese and Dutch-American family. She is an American citizen. In addition, she has earned graduate degrees in theology from Georgetown (Ph.D.) and Yale (M.Div.). Her expertise is in Chinese Christianity as well as East-Asian religions. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I recently learned from her that she herself experienced a hate crime last year in Valparaiso. She was shopping with her newborn daughter at our local Aldi when a group of "boogaloo civil war" guys, as she describes them, came up to her and started spewing hate-filled rhetoric at her and her infant. They were echoing language about the covid virus that they had heard from one of our political leaders at the time. She told me yesterday, "I didn't engage them or try to finish shopping. I just immediately lifted [my daughter] out of the shopping cart and walked straight out the door, and they didn't follow us...." Thankfully, that is the only such incident she has experienced since moving here a few years ago. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What are we to do in view of this sad and disturbing situation of racist hatred in our country and community? </div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">It seems to me that we can begin by asking God to forgive us for the times that we have harbored hate in our own hearts or have acted in hateful ways toward others. None of us is free of that problem. The "old Adam" lurks in each of our hearts. Only the medicine of Christ and the Holy Spirit can address that inborn disease. Second, we can pray that the Lord would not only change our hearts and minds but also the hearts and minds of others who are hell-bent on hating people who are different from themselves. Instead of "scapegoating" others, we can ask the Lord to direct us to the true "Scapegoat," our Lord Jesus Christ, who on the cross has borne away the sins of the world. And we can ask the Holy Spirit to guide our ways, to lead us to discern how best we can help our neighbors in need, and to do what needs to be done. Right now, those neighbors in need are our Asian brothers and sisters. (When one of the Lord's sheep is in trouble, he leaves the 99--whom he also loves [all lives matter!]--and goes after the one who is in most need of help!)</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Today's edition of the other paper I read each morning, <i>The New York Times</i>, has a very thoughtful editorial by one of the most important and influential Christians writing and speaking in America today, namely, David Brooks. (A high-point of my week is listening to him on Friday evenings on the PBS NewsHour.) His editorial today speaks to the problem of social injustice and inequality in the US. Brooks doesn't get too theological too often, but this is one of those times when he does, and, if you ask me, he is spot on. It's the kind of article that invites you, the reader, to engage in self-examination and prayer, to seek the change that God wants you to undergo (i.e., "repentance"), and to take steps that reflect that change. It's worth underscoring that such themes fit with the current church season, Lent.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here's the link to Brooks' article: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/social-justice-christianity.html?smid%3Dem-share&source=gmail&ust=1616253848361000&usg=AFQjCNEXK8WTj8vX1VAXGBBOfqCPxxQIJg" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/opinion/social-justice-christianity.html?smid=em-share" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/<wbr></wbr>03/18/opinion/social-justice-<wbr></wbr>christianity.html?smid=em-<wbr></wbr>share</a></div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-50717517588776979002021-03-06T16:08:00.002-06:002021-03-15T19:57:51.453-05:00Happy Birthday, Prof. Schlink!<p>Today marks the 118th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Schlink (1903-1984), one of the most important Christian theologians and ecumenists of the last century. After earning a doctorate in psychology (Marburg, 1927), he completed a doctorate in theology (Muenster, 1931), under the direction of Karl Barth. (Between these two doctorates he had suffered a crisis a faith, which led him to work for a year as a field hand on a Silesian farm. There he encountered Pietistic Christians, who helped him through that period of spiritual struggle and renewal.) </p><p>He submitted his theological <i>Habilitationsschrift</i> (yet another doctoral dissertation) to the faculty at Giessen in 1934.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LkBG8zPqPMXXYrNWBb8R7D7lYi_ISHt9S0dHTzc0ax6HyXaRjK613AcAtez8xGtUEL7bCTEXCXA_ySxJBOAo5CfPdE-WYbdBRzqZeqsohvEp15OGdrlPh-O0SXDObNh3MlNcb20DHO3Z/s1920/Schlink+Photo+for+Frontpiece.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LkBG8zPqPMXXYrNWBb8R7D7lYi_ISHt9S0dHTzc0ax6HyXaRjK613AcAtez8xGtUEL7bCTEXCXA_ySxJBOAo5CfPdE-WYbdBRzqZeqsohvEp15OGdrlPh-O0SXDObNh3MlNcb20DHO3Z/s320/Schlink+Photo+for+Frontpiece.jpg" /></a></div>During the German dictatorship, he was active in the so-called "Confessing Church." After the war, he was called to teach theology at Heidelberg University. He remained on that faculty until his retirement in 1971. Between 1946 and his death, he was very active in the World Council of Churches, serving on its Commission on Faith and Order. He founded and led the Ecumenical Institute at Heidelberg, he was active in a circle of Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologians in West Germany, and he served as the official representative of the German Protestant Church at the Second Vatican Council.<p></p><p>For the past decade, Schlink's work has been my main scholarly interest. I am currently editing and translating his 804-page <i>Ecumenical Dogmatics</i>, his <i>magnum opus</i>, which will be published late this year or early next year by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (which recently merged with Brill).</p><p>In honor of Dr. Schlink's birthday today, here is an excerpt from his classic 1957 essay on "The Structure of the Dogmatic Statement as an Ecumenical Issue":</p><p>Among the various forms of prayer <i>doxology</i> assumes a special place in view of its pronominal structure.</p><p>In doxology believers do not ask God anything for themselves, nor do they ask God to act for other people, but they only worship God. While the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer pray for the coming of the kingdom, the doxology of the congregation confesses “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.” Doxology is all about the praise-filled recognition of the reality of God. God can thus be addressed in the second person—as, for example, in the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer. But, as a rule, doxology speaks of God in the third person: God is not addressed as a <i>Thou</i> but praised as a <i>He</i>. When we translate the original Greek “Glory be to God on high…” (Lk. 2.14) or “to him be glory forever and ever” (Rom. 11.36), that does not imply that God is first granted “glory” or majesty through the doxology. Instead, the doxology “gives” God the “glory” that God already has. More precisely, it praises the majesty that God has and is, and indeed has and is even if a person does not give God the honor. Doxology is the reflection of the eternal divine majesty in the praise of human beings.</p><p>Doxology is based on God’s act of salvation. Because God has accomplished his action for human beings, in fact for the world, God is praised by the believer. This is quite clear in the praise psalms in the Old Testament: Because God, who is enthroned on high, has shown mercy in his act of salvation in history for those who are nobodies, he is praised without end as the Lord, who graciously stoops down from on high and who indeed <i>is</i> without end majestically sublime and merciful, gracious, kind, and lowly. Adoration arises from the acknowledgment of God’s historical act. This praise is the unfolding—in the literal theo-logical sense—of gratitude for God’s action in that the psalmist’s gratitude breaks out into hymnic praise and adoration of the eternal God himself.... </p><p>Likewise, doxologies found in the New Testament live from God’s act of salvation, from the act of salvation <i>in Christo</i> which, despite the Parousia yet to come, is already entirely fulfilled. The congregation on earth may now already thus participate in the songs of victory of the glorified, who celebrate the defeat of all the powers hostile to God and the fulfillment of God’s lordship, and who praise God and the Lamb. Because doxology is grounded in God’s act of salvation, the latter is also referred to frequently and explicitly in the words of New Testament doxology. But their use is not essential to the wording of the doxology, and even when they are explicitly mentioned in a doxology they appear there more as the occasion and basis for the doxology than as constituting its actual content (compare, for example, Rev. 4.11; 19.1ff.). Doxology is ultimately about God himself—about God on the basis of his mighty acts toward us and toward the world—yet about God who does not fully disclose himself in these acts but does them in the freedom of the almighty and loving Lord, who already existed before his acts and who will continue to be after them, who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Doxology is not merely about God’s action in history, but about God himself, about his eternal reality. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is. 6.3). This statement is valid regardless of whether or not the earth gives glory to the Lord. “Holy, holy, holy is God the Lord, the almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4.8). “To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever” (1 Tim. 1.17). “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever” (Rev. 7.12). The central concern in these and many similar statements is the acknowledgment of God as God, who forever and ever and who before his mighty acts of salvation and after them is the same holy, almighty, glorious and wise one. Statements about God’s being, essence, and attributes thus occur in the etymological unfolding of doxology that praises God’s eternal all-history-encompassing aseity. The same holds true for the adoration of Jesus Christ, who is praised not only as the crucified and risen one but also as the eternal who encompasses time, and thereby also as the pre-existent one, who, like the Father, is the first and the last, the beginning and the end.</p><p><br /></p><p>--Edmund Schlink, "The Structure of the Dogmatic Statement as an Ecumenical Issue," in <i>Ecumenical and Confessional Writings</i>, vol. 1 (<i>The Coming Christ and Church Traditions</i>; <i>After the Council</i>), ed. Matthew L. Becker, trans. Matthew L. Becker and Hans G. Spalteholz (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017), 70-71.</p><div><br /></div>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-19991581671411154362021-02-13T13:14:00.007-06:002021-03-01T15:27:17.607-06:00Retiring the Valpo Crusader<p>When I was student-body president at Concordia University--Portland ('82-'83), we had some discussions about whether "the Cavaliers" was an appropriate mascot/symbol for our Lutheran institution. We knew enough about the term to know that, in its adjectival form, it was synonymous with "reckless," "haughty," "disdainful," "contemptuous toward others." The mascot did not seem to fit with the ideals of Christian leadership and service that were emphasized by Concordia's faculty and administration. Still, I had more important goals to attain that academic year, such as starting the school newspaper and trying to get better food served in the cafeteria, so we didn't pursue a mascot change at that time. (It has been almost a year since that school was shut down.)</p><p>In the foundational theology course that I teach at Valparaiso ("The Christian Tradition"), we spend a few class periods examining the Crusades, not merely because of Valpo's historic mascot (which dates back to 1942, when it replaced a German symbol that was out-of-step with where the country was at that time), but because those two centuries marked significant cross-pollination between Europe and the so-called Middle East, between Latin and Greek Christendom, and between Latin Christendom and Islam. It's a mixed, ambiguous history, one that has mostly negative connotations, if not entirely negative consequences.</p><p>Despite whatever positive cultural and economic outcomes may have inadvertently developed from that period of church history, the crusaders' overall impact on civilian Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Syrian and Armenian Christians was very negative, to put the matter mildly. While the image of a crusader can be romanticized or interpreted in Christian vocational terms, that seems to minimize and marginalize the horrific actions that certainly happened in abundance to such civilians in those centuries.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB7x-IaMsx5iUdqBn4FXE3OOibWhbubkP09ZvChg5RVD2S-shIf3EV2xsoqMt1IsIADdXCQpcLnzB8HxqRJnRewqygifzxGLnVOnKsIjdweP3QKl6LbVWYxVFyH1QaUXeNXKsx7G5MLjuU/s650/Crusader.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="650" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB7x-IaMsx5iUdqBn4FXE3OOibWhbubkP09ZvChg5RVD2S-shIf3EV2xsoqMt1IsIADdXCQpcLnzB8HxqRJnRewqygifzxGLnVOnKsIjdweP3QKl6LbVWYxVFyH1QaUXeNXKsx7G5MLjuU/w400-h234/Crusader.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Because of these negative, historic connotations and in light of our university's mission to be an inclusive academic community that seeks to welcome individuals from groups that historically were targeted by those medieval crusaders, I have quietly encouraged a change of mascot for several years (as has my wife, who helps to run our library).<p></p><p>This past week Valpo's interim president, Colette Irwin-Knott, announced that the university would indeed be "retiring" the Valpo Crusader mascot. To listen to her message, go <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGHrmYXNHJ0&feature=youtu.be">here</a>. </p><p>While some will object to this change, it makes sense to me for all sorts of reasons. Let me focus on merely a theological one. Luther himself criticized the <i>cruciata</i> for all "the heartbreak and misery" that they and indulgences and crusade taxes had caused. (The practice of selling indulgences, which Luther had criticized in his 95 Theses, had largely arisen to help pay for those crusaders.) In a treatise that the Reformer wrote a little over a decade after posting his famous theses, he noted that "with [indulgences and crusade taxes], Christians have been stirred up to take sword and fight the Turk when they ought to have been fighting the devil and unbelief with the word and with prayer" ("On the War against the Turk" [1529], LW 46.186). Luther here drew attention to Christ's teaching in Matthew 5.39-41 and to the theology of the cross. "Christians shall not resist evil, but suffer all things and surrender all things" (LW 46.164). Luther criticized previous popes who, in his judgment, had never intended to wage war against the Turks, but had instead used "the Turkish war as a cover for their 'game' and had robbed Germany of money by means of indulgences whenever they took the notion." Luther was angry that Christians and princes were "driven, urged, and irritated into attacking the Turk, and making war on him, before they amended their own ways and lived as true Christians" (LW 46.165).</p><p>For Luther, the history of the crusades is not positive or uplifting. The symbol of a medieval "crusader" certainly does not fit with Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. That symbol seems to run counter to the ethos and identity of a liberal-arts university that is grounded in the Lutheran tradition of scholarship, freedom, and faith. This ethos, to which our interim president referred in her message, is antithetical to crusader militarism, bloodshed, destruction, and fighting. As Luther noted, nothing but ill fortune ultimately accompanies "the crusader." (Aside: Some of Valpo's athletic history supports this Luther-an observation.) The crusader image inherently entails un-Christian, anti-Christian actions of pillaging, raping, and murdering; it inherently represents individuals who misuse the image of the cross to "fight against the infidel in the name of Christ," when, according to Luther's teaching, Christians should only be using God's gifts of word and Spirit, accompanied by prayer. The "crusader" image contradicts the basic theology of the cross that is at the heart of Valpo's Lutheran identity. That theology opposes all crusading "theologies of glory." The latter turn the cross into a bludgeon and sword and spear, and they turn the cross of Christ into a symbol of hatred and violence. (It is interesting to me that certain religious combatants in our contemporary American "culture-wars" end up doing the same thing to the cross that so-called "Christian" crusaders did between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.) </p><p>In view of the violence and (culture) wars in our own world that are so frequently tied to religious symbols, the leaders of Valpo have decided that now is the time to retire the Valpo Crusader mascot and to move to a more positive image, one that fits better with Lutheran values. For Lutheran Christians, "CRUX sola est nostra theologia," the cross alone is our theology, not in the way of the cruciata, but rather according to Paul's teaching in First Corinthians and to Luther's arguments in the Heidelberg Disputation.</p><p>As a Lutheran theologian at Valpo, I want to use Luther's Heidelberg insights, where he classically set forth what would come to be called "the theology of the cross," to criticize all such theologies of glory, medieval as well as contemporary.</p><div>As retired LCMS District President David Benke stated in another forum earlier this week, on the same subject of Valpo's change of mascot: "Of course Martin Luther was no fan of Crusader theology. It's a theology of glory, of conquest, a mixing of the Realms, and outgrowth of Empire - which Luther also spoke candidly about - and it takes us away, most especially in these times, from our own roots in Divine reconciliation for the world through the foolishness of the cross. The cross used as a symbol of war and conquest is 180 degrees from the cross as an instrument of the death of God's only-begotten Son and the Savior of the world. The Empire began with the vision "in hoc signo vinces," during a battle with swords and staves. In "post-Christian" times, we have a deeper cruciform message and witness to offer the world than the Crusaders."</div><div><br /></div><p>What should replace the outdated mascot?</p><p>I suggest we move away from animals and martial symbolism. </p><p>Our motto is "In luce tua videmus lucem" (In Thy Light We See Light). So why not something like "The Valpo Flame"? That fits with the title of the book about Valpo's history by my late friend and colleague, Dick Baepler (<i>Flame of Faith, Lamp of Learning</i>). "The Flame" is simple, almost elegant, and much of the school's "branding" could easily be tweaked to fit with that image. True, a "flame" can also be negative in some contexts--as can most any object, e.g., a knife in the hand of a murderer in contrast to a knife in the hand of a skilled surgeon--but the biblical symbolism outweighs the negative. (I can imagine Valpo athletic contests being graced with students shouting and dancing to Cheap Trick's "The Flame," or to the songs of the same name by the Fine Young Cannibals and Arcadia. Tina Arena's "The Flame," which was the official song of the 2000 summer Olympics, could also be sung.)</p><p>Perhaps "The Valpo Lightning," which ties nicely to our university's motto and to Luther's experiential-spiritual turning-point, when lightning was the catalyst for his decision to enter the Augustinian monastery, and it also ties nicely to one of Valpo's strongest degree programs, meteorology. (Not too long ago, Wheaton College changed its mascot from the "Crusader" to "the Thunder." Valpo's Lightning, Wheaton's Thunder....)</p><p>Valpo Light? (That sounds too much like a low-cal beer or, worse, a suggestion that Valpo offers an inferior form of education.)</p><p>The Valpo Torch? (That is already the name of the school newspaper, but it could work.)</p><p>The Valpo Torchbearers? (too many letters and it could also give rise to students as an angry mob, as in <i>Frankenstein </i>or what we witnessed in Washington on Jan 6. We ought to move away from symbols that bring to mind angry mobs, crusaders of a different bent....)</p><p>The Valpo Flash? (We wouldn't need to have red athletic uniforms with a lightning bolt on the front; we could keep our current school colors and develop our own unique symbol....)</p><p>The Valpo Storm? (Also fits with Luther's personal experience and the meteorological emphasis; the Valpo Tornadoes is a bit over the top, imo.)</p><p>Regardless of what is ultimately decided, I'm pleased we're moving away from the crusades. It is difficult to reconcile Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount with a celebration of "the Christian crusader" who sought to lop off the heads of infidels in the name of Christ and who welcomed the booty and other rewards/prizes (material and purgatorial) that were promised to come from such militaristic pilgrimage and conquest. The crusades reflect the pagan Germanization of Christendom, the melding of anti-Christian militarism and Christian discipleship, a synthesis that is at odds with Jesus' teaching about discipleship. Crusading ideology praises the killing of infidels and rejoices in the (re)-taking of property and turf for the sake of the church's earthly power and glory. That Germanic tribal-pagan holdover of militarism and its influence upon medieval understandings of Christian discipleship represent a perversion of Christian teaching. Instead of "blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, the peacemakers, etc.," for the Germanic Christian of the crusading type the beatitudes were changed to become: "Blessed are the rich, for they will possess the earth and all its glory," and "Blessed are the war-like, for they shall win wealth and renown" (to cite the hyperbolic quip of one historian). As important as Karl der Grosse was for the historical development of European Christendom, he, too, reflected this pagan ideology that would directly contribute to the rise of the ideal Christian disciple as "crusader."</p><p>Valpo ought to find a better symbol/mascot that actually reflects our university's mission and motto.</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-81603369946330088972021-01-16T00:46:00.001-06:002021-01-16T00:46:32.491-06:00Pericope of the Week (and really of the past four years)<p>Why do you boast, O mighty one, of mischief done against the godly? All the day long you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery. You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous will see, and fear, and will laugh at the evildoer, saying, "See the one who would not take refuge in God, but trusted in abundant riches, and sought refuge in wealth!"</p><p>Psalm 52.1-7 (NRSV)</p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4803669143432955486.post-78203015763712837162021-01-12T16:03:00.001-06:002021-01-12T16:11:43.830-06:00A Very Important Statement from the President of Georgetown University<p>A friend of mine, who is retired from Georgetown University, sent me the following statement from that university's president. I am forwarding it here because I think it is a message that all of us who are American citizens need to heed in this time of national crisis. While President DeGioia's message is grounded in the Jesuit tradition and aimed at his university community, what it affirms is fully consistent with Lutheran emphases and the values that my church-related university upholds as well. (When it came to civic matters and responsibilities in God's "left-hand kingdom," Luther also praised Cicero most highly....)</p><p><br /></p><p>January 12, 2021</p><p>Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:</p><p>Every four years, in January, the city of Washington is home to a defining moment for our nation: the inauguration of a president, a citizen of our Republic, who commits to an oath, “to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Elected representatives across the country share this oath.</p><p>In the events of January 6, and the actions that led to them, this oath has been violated at the highest levels of our government and by the president of the United States. As I shared in my statement on January 6, that day we “witnessed a violent attempt to disrupt the democratic process and prevent our Congress from fulfilling its Constitutional responsibilities. These acts are reprehensible and have no place in our country." At the instigation of the president, there was a violent assault on the Capitol Building; disruption to the process of the formal recognition of Congress of the votes of the Electoral College; a parade of violent imagery, words of hate and further threats of violence; and later, after order was restored and members of Congress were able to re-convene, there was a continued brazen attempt by some lawmakers to block the process of validating the will of the electorate. Neither the mob attack nor the obstruction of some legislators was able to stop the fundamental work of our democracy. We can be grateful to the members of Congress who honored their responsibility to our Republic.</p><p>For our community, these days have been particularly challenging. This assault happened here—in the city that our University calls home. And all this took place, of course, as COVID-19 continues its rampage in virtually every corner of our country, leaving us with record-setting numbers of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths—revealing, once again, indefensible inequities in our society and disproportionate impacts on Black communities and communities of color.</p><p>This is a defining moment for our nation in how we choose to respond. This moment demands a moral and civic imagination equal to the scope of the challenges we now face.</p><p>Understanding the challenges—through scholarship, research, and civic engagement—and crafting responses—policies, laws, programs, new institutions—all this is the work of universities. And in all of our work, we follow the truth, wherever it may lead. This is among our most important contributions to civic life.</p><p>For a university located here in the heart of this Capital City—we recognize a special responsibility. We are animated by a commitment to the common good. This is deeply ingrained in the more than two-century history of Georgetown, as well as the four-century tradition of the Jesuits.</p><p>The last sentence of the mission statement of the Jesuits, the Formula for the Institute, written by St. Ignatius himself, ends with these words:</p><p>"Moreover, he should show himself ready to reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those who are in prisons or hospitals, and indeed, to perform any other works of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good."</p><p>The Jesuit Historian, Father John O’Malley, a longtime faculty member here at Georgetown, identifies Cicero’s <i>De Officiis</i> as a foundational influence on Ignatius and the first Jesuits. <i>De Officiis</i> is often translated as <i>On Public Responsibility</i>.</p><p>Father O’Malley identifies this passage of Cicero as having foundational resonance within our tradition:</p><p>"We are not born for ourselves alone…we, too, as human beings are born for the sake of other human beings that we might be able mutually to help one another; we ought therefore to…contribute to the common good of humankind by reciprocal acts of kindness, by giving and receiving from one another, and thus by our skill, our industry and our talents work to bring human society together in peace and harmony."</p><p>Father O’Malley calls this the foundation of a civic spirituality. In the tradition upon which our university is built, we acknowledge that we have a civic commitment to seek the common good.</p><p>As we look to the days ahead, and confront the many challenges we face as a people, we do so as a community—shaped by an unwavering commitment to truth, service and the common good.</p><p>Sincerely,</p><p>John J. DeGioia</p><p><br /></p><p>https://president.georgetown.edu/our-democracy/</p><p><br /></p>Matthew L. Beckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15151325894351289123noreply@blogger.com1