1 / 31

Catholicity

Catholicity. Lutheran Catholicity Today. NE District Pastors’ Institute April 2013. What does “catholicity” imply for our modern WELS churches?

stefan
Download Presentation

Catholicity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Catholicity Lutheran Catholicity Today NE District Pastors’ Institute April 2013

  2. What does “catholicity” imply for our modern WELS churches? “Luther had to locate where the constancy and permanence of the church resides and where the inconstancy and impermanence of the church resides.” - W. Weinrich Meaning? … Lutheran Catholicity Today

  3. The Church Catholic in Our American World: The “Nones” Lutheran Catholicity Today

  4. George F. Will – Religion and Politics in the First Modern Nation Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 • 7 PM Graham Chapel, Washington University in St. Louis Lutheran Catholicity Today http://rap.wustl.edu/event/2012-fall-keynote-george-will/ I also recommend for individual / circuit study: Robert N. Bellah, "Civil Religion in America," Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96, 1 (1967). Also available at http://www.robertbellah.com/articles.html

  5. “This expressed the logic of [Luther’s] theological radicalism, his determination to found Christian faith on the unmediated relation of the faithful person to God. Without fully intending to do so, he celebrated individualism at the expense of tradition and hierarchy. Because Luther was in humanity’s past, democracy was in humanity’s future.” Lutheran Catholicity Today http://rap.wustl.edu/event/2012-fall-keynote-george-will/

  6. Lutheran Catholicity Today NPR Story on "The Nones"

  7. Lutheran Catholicity Today Nones on the Rise: Pew Forum Report (Oct 2012) NPR Story on "The Nones"

  8. Q 1: • Does the concept of “catholicity” resonate at all with highly individualistic Americans? Is it something we should even emphasize? • How do we reach these people who are so highly disillusioned with organized religion? (Think of what the word ‘catholic’ means to people these days, in light of all the clerical problems in the RCC) Lutheran Catholicity Today

  9. The Church Catholic in Our American World: The WELS: Synod or Sect? Lutheran Catholicity Today

  10. “ The doctrine [of Unionism] was transplanted to America, given fuller and more rigorous definition by the Missourians. Eventually it was passed on to the Wisconsin Synod. Unless very carefully disciplined and seen in relationship to other spiritual issues, Unionism as a doctrine carries with it all the seeds for a full blown sectarianism.” - L. Jordahl Lutheran Catholicity Today

  11. P. Schaff noted: • … that the Old Lutheran branch of Lutheranism forfeits the designation ‘catholic’ due to its harsh stance against the rest of Christianity. • L. Rast, Jr. • “Catholicity in Missourian Orthodoxy” Lutheran Catholicity Today

  12. Q2: • How do we “carefully discipline” the doctrine of “Unionism” (fellowship)? • What “other spiritual issues” do you think he is talking about? • What does “sectarianism” look like? (non-catholicity!) Lutheran Catholicity Today

  13. The Church Catholic in Our American World: 3. “Catholic” Worship Lutheran Catholicity Today

  14. Lutheran Catholicity Today

  15. “There are two basic ways to approach Sunday morning. Either we can submit ourselves to the accumulated wisdom of the ages and allow it to form and shape us, or we can cast it aside and create a liturgy of our own making, one that reflects our predilections, interests, and supposed needs.” - P. Grime Lutheran Catholicity Today

  16. “First of all, there is no golden age. If you think things were perfect and fine at the time of Luther, think again…. “The truth is that God graces His church in every age with poets and composers who enliven the Word of God in verse and song.” - P. Grime Lutheran Catholicity Today

  17. “To be catholic in our worship means, finally that we do not turn our backs on the gifts that God has given to his church in every age.Of course, catholicity doesn’t mean that we simply take everything from everybody. It is here that the qualitative dimension of catholicity…must come into play.” - P. Grime Lutheran Catholicity Today

  18. Q3: • But what is “the qualitative dimension of catholicity” in worship? • What does a “catholic” worship service look like? A “catholic” worship facility? Lutheran Catholicity Today

  19. The Church Catholic in Our American World: 4. Missions Lutheran Catholicity Today

  20. C. Lawrenz “A Definitive Study of Proselytizing” Feb. 4, 1975 Here: http://www.wlsessays.net/node/1319 Lutheran Catholicity Today

  21. 1872: First Synodical Conf. Convention “What is our mission over against the English population of our country?” Thesis 1: “The Evangelical Lutheran Church indisputably has the mission to proclaim the great deeds of God here in this country; Lutheran Catholicity Today

  22. 1872: First Synodical Conf. Convention “What is our mission over against the English population of our country?” Thesis 2: “The Synodical Conf. is not excused from this obligation for the reason: a) That it must provide for the German and Scandinavian brethren without neglect; (don’t have time for the English) Lutheran Catholicity Today

  23. 1872: First Synodical Conf. Convention “What is our mission over against the English population of our country?” Thesis 2: “The Synodical Conf. is not excused from this obligation for the reason: b) That other church organizations provide sufficiently for the English speaking population; Lutheran Catholicity Today

  24. 1872: First Synodical Conf. Convention “What is our mission over against the English population of our country?” Thesis 2: “The Synodical Conf. is not excused from this obligation for the reason: c) That heterodox have already occupied the field and that with its activity in English it would therefore become a busybody in the field of others; Lutheran Catholicity Today

  25. 1872: First Synodical Conf. Convention “What is our mission over against the English population of our country?” Thesis 2: “The Synodical Conf. is not excused from this obligation for the reason: d) That we dare not leave the English work to the heterodox because they in part bring false doctrine among the people, and in part treat pure doctrine lightly, and in part carry on the work very half-heartedly Lutheran Catholicity Today

  26. “These neglected and dispersed sheep need to be contacted, and become our concern, since they are like sheep who have no shepherd. “Still our task is not the one facing the church among heathen, but rather that of bringing the full saving truth to a people which indeed still knows portions of divine truth, but at the same time clings to great and dangerous errors.” Lutheran Catholicity Today

  27. Q4: • How does ‘catholicity’ play into our relationship with those in our schools who belong to other church bodies? Does it at all? • How does a proper understanding of ‘catholicity’ help in questions of proselytizing? Lutheran Catholicity Today

  28. The Church Catholic in Our American World: 5. Dialoguing, Conferencing, Blogging Lutheran Catholicity Today

  29. “The level of societal, cultural, and ecclesial upheaval on moral issues and changes of long-standing church practices at the present time compel us to consider the importance of a united Christian voice on specific issues, wherever that is possible without compromise in other areas of doctrine and life. Where Christians from varying traditions share a common truth, the strength of their voice is clearer and stronger if they speak together.” Lutheran Catholicity Today

  30. Q5: • What could possibly be some forums in which we (WELS) could, as ‘catholics’, participate with other church bodies? • What might be some long-standing ‘catholic’ terms that have been completely emptied of meaning by various denominations … rendering “a common voice” a virtual impossibility? Lutheran Catholicity Today

  31. Lutheran Catholicity Today finis

More Related