LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Sheet 383

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374 OTHER REPORTS

Division of Theological Studies

The Division of Theological Studies provides a theological
forum through which teachers, pastors, students, laypersons,
and church officials can meet to discuss topics of concern
within the Lutheran family and topics of interest in Christen-
dom generally. The division uses “‘official” and “free” confer-
ences, papers, publications and a number of other procedures
in carrying out its studies. The division is also responsible for
arranging interconfessional and interreligious theological
discussions involving Lutherans.

“The Full Involvement of All of God’s People—Men and
Women—in Christ’s Mission to the Whole World” is the subject
of a major new division study which commenced in December
1980 and is to be completed by 1982. The study is examining
such issues as the “image of God’ presented in Scripture,
implications of Galatians 3:28—“there is neither male or
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus’ —and parallel
passages, and Martin Luther’s revolutionary insight on
vocation.

A specific issue in the field of biomedical ethics—in vitro
fertilization—is to be the subject of another new study carried
out at six two-day meetings by nine professionals in medicine,
law, and theology—if funding is secured. According to the
study proposal approved by the division’s standing committee,
the study will seek to answer: “What would be a Lutheran
approach to this issue? Are we in favor of in vitro fertilization
or not? What are the issues? What do the various professions
have to say?”

A third new study in progress is dealing with “eccles-
iology.” It was launched with two theological forums held at
the fall 1980 meeting of the DTS standing committee. It is
concentrating on the implications and meaning of “unity and
uniformity,” “church structure,” “ecclesial implications of
inter-Lutheran cooperation,” and other aspects of the theme.

The practice of holding a conference for Lutherans in
attendance at the joint annual meetings of the American
Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature con-
tinued in November 1979 in New York City and the next
November in Dallas. At the former, George W. Forell, religion
professor at the University of Iowa, discussed “The Signifi-
cance of the Augsburg Confession Today,” and at the latter,
Robert W. Jenson of Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettys-
burg, Pa., asked, “Is It Possible to Proclaim the Gospel
Through Electronic Media?”

Forell’s lecture was one of several ways the division was
involved in the commemoration of the 450th anniversary of the
Augustana in 1980. It joined with the Office of Studies of
Lutheran World Ministries to prepare a paper on ‘The Augs-
burg Confession in the United States: Commemoration and
Self-Examination.” The paper was shared at an international
Lutheran consultation held in France last October. For the
1980 annual meeting of the Lutheran Council, the division
arranged a debate on the topic, “Should the Roman Catholic
Church Recognize the Augsburg Confession?” between noted
Catholic and Lutheran theologians, Avery Dulles and George
Lindbeck, respectively.

During the biennium one new item was added to the
division’s “Studies” series: a 43-page history of the DTS
entitled “Growing Together Theologically” by the executive

director from 1971 to 1979, Paul D. Opsahl. Papers given as
part of a division-sponsored study of hermeneutics were
published in the summer of 1979 by Fortress Press, Philadel-
phia, in a volume, Studies in Lutheran Hermeneutics.
Developments concerning interconfessional dialogs were:

—The start in April 1979 of a six-session, three-year
Lutheran-Baptist dialog having as its purpose “to
encourage greater understanding between the two
traditions.”

—The ninth and last session in November 1980 of the
Lutheran-Episcopal dialog which began in 1976. The
participants issued joint statements on the Gospel, justi-
fication, apostolicity, Scripture, and eucharistic presence.

—The start in October 1979 of a four-session, two-year
dialog involving faculty members from Lutheran and
Conservative-Evangelical theological seminaries in the
Midwest. So far they have discussed the topics, ‘“New
Birth and Baptism,” “Faith and Experience,” and “The
Church and the World.”

—The completion in December 1979 of the six-session, three-
year Lutheran-United Methodist dialog and the issuing
of acommonstatementon Baptism. It affirms Baptism as
God’s gift, act, and promise in which the Holy Spirit is
given and as the sacrament of entrance into the church
which proclaims its profound unity. One of the two LCMS
participants in the dialog, Arthur Crosmer, abstained
from adopting the final statement. The other, Jerrold
Eickmann, “dissociated” himself from it and submitted a
separate report.

Developments concerning interreligious dialogs included:

—A one-day conference in November 1979 at St. Olaf
College, Northfield, Minn., on ‘The Holocaust, the
Uprooted People of Our Time, and the Christian Con-
science.” The division was a cosponsor but did not share
in the costs. ‘Only in telling the tale of the past can we
save the future,” said writer and Holocaust survivor Elie
Wiesel, one of several speakers. “The Holocaust, which
resulted partly from a division among people, must never
be a cause of divisiveness. I believe, today, it must bring
us together,” declared Wiesel.

—A one-day Lutheran-Jewish consultation cosponsored by
the division and Union of American Hebrew Congrega-
tions in May 1980 in Milwaukee with Lutheran and
Jewish presentations on “The Bible as a Source of
Authority,” ‘““Nonbiblical Sources of Religious Authority:
The Role of ‘Tradition,’” and ‘What Shapes Reform Jews
and Lutherans in the Present Era?”

—The continuation in October 1980 of a series of Lutheran-
Jewish colloquiums cosponsored by the division and the
Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, this time with
Roman Catholic participation. Discussion centered on
the book, “Towards a Christian Theology of Judaism” by
Clemens Thoma.

Joseph A. Burgess, a New Testament scholar who has

taught at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, became
executive director of the division in August 1979.

Herbert A. Mueller, President
John R. Houck, General Secretary