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

Bright Stars of Bethlehem

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 here and here.

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.”

Another long-time Lutheran pastor, theologian, and leader in that region, whose son is a graduate of Valpo, told me last week:

“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.”

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."

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!

To learn more about Bright Stars of Bethlehem, go here.