Edmund Schlink's Ecumenical Dogmatics

I’m pleased to announce that Edmund Schlink’s Ecumenical Dogmatics 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. 

    His dogmatics is the most significant summary of Christian doctrine written between Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics and Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Systematic Theology. 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 Theology of the Lutheran Confessions and his little book on baptism, his Ecumenical Dogmatics 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.

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). 

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. 

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.

The book is now available to be pre-ordered: 

https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/57719

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

If someone wants to order a review copy, it will be available through V&R’s American distributor in Bristol: tel. 860-584-6546

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? 

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?

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.

Here is a sampling from the table of contents:

Chapter I: The Knowledge of God
1. Beginning with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
2. The Hiddenness of God in the Gospel
3. The Revelation of the Divine Mystery
4. The Knowledge of God by Faith
5. The Knowledge of God as Being Known by the Triune God
Chapter II: The Knowledge of the World
1. The Self-Knowledge of the Human Being
2. The Knowledge of Other Human Beings
3. The Knowledge of the History of Humanity
4. The Knowledge of the Universe
5. Believing and Knowing
Chapter III: The Knowledge of God and the Doctrine of God
1. The Basic Forms of the Theological Statement
2. Structural Issues Regarding the Dogmatic Statement
Excursus: The Relationship between the Theological and Philosophical Analysis of Language
3. The Task of an Ecumenical Dogmatics
4. The Doctrine of the Acts of God
5. Theology as Doxology
6. Anthropology as Repentance
7. The Organization of Dogmatics

FIRST PART
The Doctrine of Creation
Chapter IV: The Creation of the World
Introduction: The Starting Point for the Doctrine of Creation
1. The Freedom of God the Creator
2. The Act of Creation in the Beginning
3. The Universe
4. The Purpose of Creation
5. The Originally Good Creation
6. The Order of Creation
7. God’s Continuous Creative Action
Chapter V: The Purpose of the Human Being
Introduction to Chapters V-VII: The Starting Point for the Doctrine about Human Beings
1. The Response That Is the Image of God
2. The Community That Is the Image of God
3. The Dominion That Is the Image of God
4. The Life That Is the Image of God
5. Origin and Purpose
Chapter VI: The Failure of the Human Being
1. Turning Away from God
2. Imprisonment in Guilt
3. The Urge to Sin
4. The Dominion of Sin
5. The Judgment into which Human Beings Have Fallen: Death
6. Origin and Failure
Chapter VII: The Preservation of the Human Being
1. The Preservation of the Sinner in the Midst of Having Fallen into Judgment
2. The Witness of God through the Works of Creation
3. The Commandment of the Preserver
4. The Establishing of Just Authority
5. The Conservation of the Distorted Image of God
Chapter VIII: The Preservation of the World
1. The Corruption within the Creation
2. The Service of the Angels
3. The Dominion of the Powers of Corruption
4. The Judgment into which the World Has Fallen: The End
5. The Time of Divine Patience
Chapter IX: The Governance of the World
1. God’s Dominion over World History
2. The Hiddenness of God in World History
3. The Mystery of World History: Jesus Christ and the New Creation
4. The Revealed Action of God through the Gospel
5. The Humiliation of God in His Governance of the World
6. Theodicy
7. Providence
Chapter X: The Confession of God the Creator
1. God the Father, the Creator
2. God the Eternal Father

SECOND PART
The Doctrine of Redemption
Chapter XI: The Old Testament Law
Introduction to Chapters XII and XIII: The Exaltation of Jesus as the Presupposition for the Doctrine of the Humiliation of the Son of God
1. The Honorific Titles of Jesus
2. The History of Jesus as the Basis for His Honorific Titles
3. The Reversed Sequence of the History and the Recognition of Jesus Christ
4. Historical Investigation into the Earthly Jesus
5. The Apostolic Message as the Basis of Faith
6. The History of Jesus and Christological Dogma
7. The Organization of Christology
Chapter XII: The Humiliation of the Son of God
Chapter XIII: The Exaltation of Jesus
Summary of Chapters XII and XIII: The Doctrine of the Threefold Office of Jesus Christ
Chapter XIV: The New Testament Gospel
Summary of Parts A and B: God’s Action of Grace and Human Action
Chapter XV: Baptism
Chapter XVI: The Lord’s Supper
The Conclusion to Chapters XIV-XVI: The Richness of God’s Action of Grace and the Number of Sacraments
Summary of Chapters XI-XVI: The Distinction between Law and Gospel
Chapter XVII: The Confession of God the Redeemer
1. Jesus the Redeemer
2. The Eternal Son
3. “Truly God and Truly a Human Being”

THIRD PART
The Doctrine of the New Creation
Chapter XVIII: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Chapter XIX: The Church
Chapter XX: Spiritual Gift and Ministerial Office
Chapter XXI: The Preservation of the Church
Introduction: The Indestructibility of the Church
A. Holy Scripture
B. Confession
C. Church Order
Chapter XXII: The Unity of the Church and the Disunity of Christendom
1. The Dangers of Ecclesial Self-Preservation
2. The Scandal of a Disunited Christendom
3. The Question Concerning the One Church in a Disunited Christendom
4. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Traditions of Christendom
5. Apostolic Tradition and the Traditions of Christendom
6. Recognizing the One Church in a Disunited Christendom
7. Representing the One Church in the Unification of the Separated Churches
Chapter XXIII: The Consummation of the New Creation
Chapter XXIV: The Confession of God the New Creator
1. The Holy Spirit, the New Creator
2. The Eternal Spirit of God

FOURTH PART
The Doctrine of God
Chapter XXV: The Adoration of God
Chapter XXVI: The Triune God
Introduction to Chapters XXVII-XXIX: The Holy God and the Doctrine of the Divine Attributes
Chapter XXVII: The Lord
Chapter XXVIII: The All-Consuming God
Chapter XXIX: The Self-Giving God

CONCLUDING PART
Chapter XXX: God’s Decree of Love
1. Solely by Grace
2. The Eternal Decree of the Triune God
3. The Issue of Double Predestination
4. Election
5. Rejection
6. The Incommensurability between God’s Electing and Rejecting
Excursus: On the Issue of the Theological Syllogism
7. The Warning to the Church and the Invitation to the World

A Christmas Message from Valparaiso University's President

I haven't uploaded a post in recent weeks, mainly due to a whirlwind of activity since the start of November. 

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 here.

God's peace and joy in Christ Jesus be with you this Christmas season and always!

The Paraklotos - Valpo's Morning Chapel for 10/25/21

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...."

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.

For the link to the video recording of that service of prayer, go here.

The Robert W. Bertram Collection

I'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. 

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.

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! 

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.

To learn more about the Bertram Collection, go here.

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.

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.

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). 

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.

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.

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:

A Harvest of Lutheran Dogmatics and Ethics: The Life and Work of Twelve Theologians 1960-2020 (ALBP, 2021). I'll write more about this book in a subsequent post.

European-Christian Art and Architecture - July 2022

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.

While the tour is sponsored by the Alumni Association of Valparaiso University, anyone is welcome to join and participate with us.

 

For more information, go to:

http://thedaystarjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/EE22_071722V_55514_Becker_002_FINAL.pdf

 

You may also contact me via my university email address: matthew.becker@valpo.edu