Learning Together: An Approach to Sustaining a Community of Learning based upon a Lutheran Perspective on Adiaphora (Part 3)

A Suggested Model for Addressing Matters of Adiaphora within a Community of Learning

In order to properly assess whether a matter, be it an idea, a teaching, or a particular activity, is adiaphora we must first determine an appropriate standard by which this question may be discerned.  For Luther that standard was the Bible and more specifically the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith through grace alone.  Any idea, teaching or practice that was inconsistent with or distracted one from this foundational doctrine of salvation could not be adiaphora.  In the formulation of the doctrine of adiaphora that was later set forth in the Book of Concord, the standard was what God had commanded or prohibited in his Word.  What was neither expressly commanded nor forbidden by God’s Word was deemed adiaphora. 

For the later Lutheran theologians of the 17^th century, who engaged with Calvinists in debates over the use of music in worship, the standard for determining adiaphora combined both Luther’s particular demand for consistency with the Gospel with the general rule that considered matters indifferent when they were neither divinely commanded nor expressly prohibited in Scripture.  

Even into the 20^th century, Bonhoeffer’s reliance upon the Formula of Concord’s articulation demonstrates that the Lutheran standard for discernment of indifferent matters continued to exclude from adiaphora anything that would “obscure and pervert the truth of the gospel.”  Thus, Bonhoeffer concluded that the German Church’s adoption of the Aryan paragraph could not be an adiaphoron because it struck at the very substance of the truth of the Gospel and the nature of the church which is the Body of Christ.  In every case, the standard remained the essential truths of the Gospel as set forth in God’s Word.

In light of the standard used by Lutheran theologians, an approach to using adiaphora within the context of a community of faith and learning, such as a Christian university, should at its foundation recognize the authority of God’s Word as the principle means for determining what matters may be regarded as adiaphora.  But to hold up the Scriptures as the standard could very well prove meaningless if the Word were to be subject to individualistic interpretations of its doctrines.  

Rather, for a Christian community of learning, the commonly recognized and historic articulations of the essential elements of the faith must serve as a guide for its standard.  The historic confessions of the Church set forth in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed are clearly fundamental and so may serve to establish an objective limitation upon the numerous interpretations that might be offered from the variety of faith traditions composing a Christian community of learning.  Thus, the assessment standard for the adiaphorist approach suggested here may be stated as follows:

An idea, teaching or activity that is not expressly commanded nor prohibited by God’s Word, as understood through the expressions of the historic Christian faith in the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, and does not obscure or distract from the truth of the Gospel may be considered adiaphora.

This standard is itself, though, open to debate and revision.  The final articulation of a standard should be the product of dialogue among those participating in the community of faith and learning.  The standard offered here may serve as a starting point for such a discussion.  Once a standard for determining what qualifies as adiaphora is agreed upon, then the members of the learning community may begin to raise particular issues for evaluation.  

For example, is the teaching that God created the universe adiaphora in a Christian community of learning?  To resolve this question one need only look to Genesis 1:1 and Hebrews 11:3 as well as the First Article of both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creed.  Based upon these Scriptures and the historic confessions, we may firmly conclude that the belief that God created the universe is a foundational and essential teaching of the Christian faith.  So the answer is that the teaching that God created the universe is not adiaphora.

In contrast, though, when a question within the broader subject of origins is presented in a more specific form the outcome may be different.  For example, is the teaching that God created the universe in six literal 24-hour days adiaphora within a Christian community of learning?  If this question is examined by the Biblical passages that recount creation, one may view these Scriptures as supporting an interpretation of a six-day creation as one possible explanation.  

When those same Scriptures are viewed through the lens of the historic confessions of the faith, however, the essential truth is limited to the proposition that God created all things.  The First Article of the Nicene Creed confesses:  “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.”    By what means and when God’s creative acts occurred is not addressed as an essential element of the faith.  Thus, the best answer to the question presented is that the teaching that God created the universe in six literal 24-hour days is adiaphora.

It should be noted that the characterization of an idea, teaching or activity as one within the category of adiaphora does not mean that this particular subject is unimportant or deserving of less attention than essential matters.  Rather, the use of an adiaphorist approach to subjects on which a variety of beliefs exists will, it is hoped, help to encourage an appropriate openness to discussion and dialogue that should be the hallmark of a Christian learning community that holds to the absolute nature of truth while humbly acknowledging that humans are limited in both their ability to apprehend and understand truth.  

Those matters that God has clearly revealed in His Word – the truth, for example, that He created all things – are essential elements of the historic Christian faith as testified by the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.  Those matters which are not essential to the faith – not foundational to the Gospel – and which have no bearing upon our justification by God’s work of grace through the gift of faith may rightly be considered adiaphora. 

Once an idea, teaching or activity is characterized as adiaphora, we are presented with a second and potentially more significant concern.  Since matters of adiaphora may be addressed by a variety of diverse positions, should all positions and perspectives be welcomed and accepted within a Christian community of faith and learning?  In other words, if it is adiaphora, does that mean “anything goes”?  In answer to this question, the instruction of the Apostle Paul on the adiaphorist issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols provides essential guidance.  (1 Corinthians 8:1 – 10:33).  

Though Paul considers food, since it is an external matter, to be indifferent to our salvation (1 Cor. 8:8), the use and consumption of food is still to be guided by two essential objectives:  the glorification of God (1 Cor. 10:33) and the edification of others (1 Cor. 8:9-13; 10:23-24).  Based upon this Biblical pattern we may set forth the following guidelines when a community of learning seeks to evaluate what positions or practices within the realm of adiaphora should be respected:

First, does the idea, teaching or activity glorify God?  Does it direct the attention of others primarily toward God or toward the one engaging in the advancement of the idea, teaching or practice?

Second, does the idea, teaching or activity edify others?  Does it direct the other to Christ and his Word or does it focus on individualistic experiences without consideration of the practice’s influence upon others?

To illustrate a practical application of this aspect of the adiaphorist approach, we may use it to address a contemporary dimension of the debate over worship practices.  As we have seen above, questions involving what practices should be allowed in Christian worship has been the subject of considerations of adiaphora since the days of the early Protestant Reformation.  It should then be no surprise to any Christian community composed of a variety of faith traditions that questions would arise over what practices should be included in the community’s worship.  

One practice that poses such a concern is the use of speaking in unknown tongues in public worship.  It was an issue within the Corinthian church to which the Apostle Paul wrote his first epistle. (1 Corinthians 12:1 – 14:40).  This passage of Scripture contains explicit instruction regarding the use of the spiritual gift of tongues.  It may be properly deemed adiaphora because the possession and practice of this gift is clearly not essential to the Gospel, nor is it expressly commanded or forbidden.  Paul demonstrates that it is but one of a number of spiritual gifts that may or may not be granted to a believer depending upon the will of God.  

Whether this gift should be practiced as a part of worship must then be discerned by the community.  The guidelines for making this evaluation are whether the practice would glorify God (1 Cor. 14:20-25) and whether its practice edifies others (1 Cor. 14:13-19).  Following these guidelines, the community should discern both: (1) whether the activity of publicly speaking in unknown tongues causes those who hear it to direct their attention to God or, instead, to the one who is speaking the unknown tongue, and (2) whether this activity is edifying those who hear it. 

One this second part of the evaluation, Paul gives further instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 as follows:  “If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.”  In this case, edification of others requires that meaning be conveyed through what is publicly spoken.  If the means of conveying that meaning (i.e. an interpreter) are not present, then Paul instructs us that there should be no public speaking of an unknown tongue as a part of the worship of the community.  

While not all matters of adiaphora may be addressed by a direct appeal to Scripture, the principles that are set forth in the Word of God will still provide for our guidance to engage the question.  This approach to adiaphora recognizes that, while some matters may be allowable since they are indifferent to the essential elements of the historic Christian faith, an adiaphorist idea, teaching or practice will none the less always have an influence upon those who hear, see and participate in it. 

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper has been to explore the development and use of adiaphora both within the context of the Lutheran response to the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th and 17^th centuries and in more recent controversies within the Lutheran Church in Germany in the 20^th century.  From this exploration, we have discerned an approach to questions regarding: (1) what qualifies as adiaphora and (2) how a community should respond to matters of adiaphora.  

Using this Lutheran approach to adiaphora as an exemplar, we have suggested a model for sustaining a community of learning through an openness to understanding the range of ideas and practices that may be appropriately considered as adiaphora.  Such an openness will allow for a variety of perspectives on issues that are adiaphora.  The first step in the model considers adiaphora to be any idea, teaching or activity that is not expressly commanded nor prohibited by God’s Word, as understood through the expressions of the historic Christian faith in the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, and does not obscure or distract from the truth of the Gospel.  

Once a matter of adiaphora is identified, though, the model provides that the community of learning must evaluate whether the adiaphoron glorifies God and edifies others.  If it meets these objectives, then the adiaphoron should not only be respected and allowed, but encouraged so that the community of faith and learning may be sustained and continue to grow through a mutual interchange of thought and life.

Wholly Following – Living a Submitted Life (part 2)

If we desire to answer Christ’s call to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him today, in this very moment, we must depend wholly upon God’s promised work within and through us.  God is the one who forms faith as the attitude of our heart, and as he does, we begin to take the first steps of living a submitted life – a life examined by his Word and Spirit and fortified by Christ’s faithful mercy of forgiveness.  True self-denial can only occur under the authority of God’s Word.  The follower is called to submit himself and herself to its examining gaze. 

The Word searches and tests the hearts of its hearers. It is such submission to the Word that distinguishes a “different spirit” and enables the disciple to follow fully, to follow wholly.  Caleb yielded himself to the authoritative command to go into the land. He was firmly convinced of God’s purpose in giving his people the land.  Caleb’s confidence in the Word to which he submitted himself bolstered his exhortation to the people:   “The Lord is with us; do not fear” (Numbers 14:9).  Fear could easily have stalled Caleb, but by yielding himself to obey the Word, he was enabled to go into the land, and he called others to follow his path.  

The same is true for every follower of Christ.  We begin that journey by submitting our entire being to the full examining gaze of God’s Word.  His authoritative Word reveals the truth about who we are and shows us our desperate need for Christ to save us, to make us whole in himself, and to grant us ears that hear, eyes that see and hearts that obey his Word.  Only as we live submitted to daily examination under the scrutiny of God’s Word of Truth do we become ones who are wholly following after Christ.

Examinations are common place in human experience.  When we are young and going to school, testing is a regular occurrence.   From weekly quizzes to annual standardized tests, assessments are part and parcel of the educational experience.  But, it is not just in school that testing has a prominent role.  One visit to your physician will most likely result in a battery of diagnostic tests to disclose the source of an existing aliment or expose indicators of some impending disease. 

Even if you shy away from a doctor’s examining eye, you will still encounter tests as prerequisites to many of life’s routine activities. No one is granted a license to operate an automobile without successfully passing an examination.  And, nearly every professional or certified technician must achieve a passing score on a licensing exam before being qualified to practice a profession or to ply a trade.   Indeed, it would not be too much of a stretch to say that life, in its many stages, is all about testing.

And what is true today was also true in ancient days.  One of the most recognized wise men of ancient Greece was Socrates.  In his famous speech defending himself against the charge of corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates proclaimed, “The life which is unexamined is not worth living!”  Socrates spoke the truth that we as followers of Christ must likewise heed.  So, by faith we yield our lives daily, moment-by-moment, to God’s examining Word by the promptings of his Holy Spirit who indwells each and every follower.  We'll next explore how God cultivates an awareness of our soul to these promptings of the Spirit.

Wholly Following – Living a Submitted Life

Last semester I began a series of articles on the subject of discipleship. That series focused on discovering what it means to wholly follow Christ as an authentic believer in the midst of the realities of life here and now.  As a starting point, I suggested that Christ’s call to discipleship is best expressed when he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). 

As we thought through Jesus’ teaching, we learned that his call on our lives is three-fold:  to deny oneself, to take-up one’s cross and to follow him on the path he walked here on earth.  To deny one’s self is to live a submitted life.  To take-up one’s cross means living a singular life with every facet integrated together in Christ, and following him leads us to sacrifice our lives in real and practical ways for the sake of others.

In this semester’s series, I would like to explore further the first of these three aspects of wholly following Christ.  We’ll examine what it means to deny ourselves daily, to yield our will to God’s, and to submit our lives to Christ and his Word.  We will see, I believe, that we can only live a life of denial of self and submission to God by the grace and mercy of Jesus present and at work in our lives each day.  It is a life that is daily examined by the Spirit through the Word. 

As humans we have a natural tendency to assert and justify ourselves and to promote our self interests.  The disciple, though, is called to say no to these natural inclinations by denying self every day and submitting his will to God’s.  We live such a submitted life by God’s work within us.  He forms faith as the attitude of our heart, develops an awareness of our soul to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and disciplines us in the life practice of meditating upon His Word as we submit our lives to its examining gaze.

Let’s begin, then, with God’s work of forming faith as the attitude of heart that provides the foundation for living a submitted life.  Faith is God’s gift to us.  (Ephesians 2:8).  At its core, faith is absolute dependence upon Christ and his Word.  Our journey on the pathway of discipleship begins with the single step of faith that is wholly enabled by the grace of God. “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” (Colossians 2:6).  We receive Christ by faith, and so we take the first step to wholly following Christ – denying our self – by faith.

By faith, then, we daily deny our natural self-reliance and depend solely upon Christ’s life in us.  We deny our self-justification and acknowledge sins as they are exposed by the examining scrutiny of God’s Word applied to us by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.  By faith, we pray: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24).  As God forms faith as the attitude of our heart, we begin to take the first steps of living a submitted life -- a lofe examined by his Word and Spirit and fortified by Christ's faithful mercy of forgiveness.

Study Groups -- Bonhoeffer's Example

In her book, Bonhoeffer: Called of God, Elizabeth Raum includes this insightful depiction of a study group Bonhoeffer led for some of his students while he was teaching at the University of Berlin:

"In addition to attending Dietrich's lectures some of his students became part of a study group that met with him one evening a week in the room of Wolf-Dieter Zimmerman, his assistant. Dietrich's preferred teaching strategy was to ask questions and guide discussions. They gathered in Zimmerman's small room in groups of ten to fifteen to discuss theology.  Dietrich enjoyed such informal evenings because they allowed a more natural exchange of ideas than did lecturing.  The students learned to think clearly, to examine issues from all sides, and not to jump to premature conclusions.  At the end of each evening, Dietrich treated them to drinks in a local beer cellar" (52).

Professor-led study groups are a common occurrence here at Handong. I have been asked by my students to lead two this semester.  The Law & Advocacy Society meets each Tuesday evening to practice trial advocacy skills.  Our goal is to conduct a full mock trial by the end of the semester. We're working on a products liability case and will be starting with opening statements tomorrow evening.  As for refreshments, though, Domino's pizza and soda will likely be our best fare.



Law & Advocacy Society

 My second group consists of undergraduate law students who are planning to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) later this year as they look ahead to applying for entrance into an American law school in the fall of 2012 following their graduation in December.  This group meets on Saturday mornings to work through practice LSAT exam questions.  I have promised to cook them all an "American breakfast" in a couple of weeks.  Pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs are on the menu!

I hope to be feeding their minds as well as their stomachs as we study together in these informal group settings.

A Presence that Disturbs One with Joy . . .

In his provocative work on discipleship, Anthony Gittins describes five signs that he suggests "seem to mark those who really believe in the Spirit of God. "Such people . .

•  Actually go looking for trouble, for troubled people, as Jesus did;
• Pray to become aware, to be disturbed, lest they fail to hear and respond to the cries of the needy and the structures of sin;
• Are united though diverse, so that the world may believe (Jn 17:21);
• Are convinced that they can help change the world -- or that they will be found guilty if they fail to do so;
• Live exciting and worthwhile lives" (27).

Reflection upon these marks of genuine Third Article belief (as confessional Christians declare in the Third Article of the Creed, "I believe in the the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life . . ."), should cause a substantial pause for any one seeking to live a life examined under the Word of God.

Gittins continues, "Traditionally, we have prayed to the Holy Spirit to come and "renew the face of the earth." How on earth can that happen without some disturbance of what is going on in our own lives?  The challenge for us is to allow our lives to be interrupted.  

"But that is easier said than done:  as surely as our instinct pulls our hand away from a hot stove, so do we react against whatever interferes with our plans or patterned lives.  So what do we do?  Either we seek to be led by the Spirit of we resist the Spirit.

"But we cannot claim to be Spirit-led if our lives are governed and controlled by personal plans and structures. Some of the most gifted of use are the most rigid, making a virtue of being in control and leaving very little room for divine disturbances" (28-29).

As I sit here beside my mother's hospital bed, watching and waiting with her during her final hours upon this earth, I'm pondering Gittins' words.  May I yield myself, my life, my mother, my family, and my calling to your Spirit's guidance and control, Lord Christ.  May I this day continue to study and authentically practice, by your enabling grace, the lesson of being ready to be interrupted.

"Watch and Pray"

I find myself in a time of waiting.  As I ponder the options that are before me, I continue to wait on the responses of others to clarify what opportunities are presently open to me.  While prayer is always essential to the one who seeks to follow Christ, I'm realizing even more how necessary it is during these times of waiting.

Bonhoeffer's comments on the petition "Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth" are particularly poignant as I seek to practice living a submitted, singular and sacrificed life.  He writes:  "In fellowship with Jesus his followers have surrendered their own wills completely to God's, and so they pray that God's will may be done throughout the world.  No creature on earth shall defy him.  But the evil will is still alive even in the followers of Christ, it still seeks to cut them off from fellowship with him; and that is why they must also pray that the will of God may prevail more and more in their hearts every day and break down all defiance" (Discipleship 166).

Psalm 40 echoes this theme -- "my delight is to do your will, O Lord!" -- and so may my heart and mind!  Show me your way, O Lord; lead me in the path you have set out ahead of me.  Again, Bonhoeffer speaks to the heart of the matter:  "It is always true of the disciple that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and he must therefore "watch and pray" (Discipleship 170).

Lehr, Lehre, Lehrer

Over the past ten weeks or so, I've been attempting to study German -- not conversational German -- though, that would be tough enough .  No, my PhD program requires that all students demonstrate competency in Theological German (frequently characterized by compound words the length of entire lines and complex sentences as long as normal paragraphs in English) by satisfactorily passing a translation exam.  Mine is now set for one week from this Thursday.  I would greatly value your prayers!

My study has been and continues to be a formative and enlightening experience.  I'm finding that by learning another language, I'm also not only learning more about the meaning of words, but also about my own calling and mission in life.  Take, for instance, one of the words in German used to convey the concept of a "teacher."  That word is "Lehrer."  Cassell's German-English Dictionary defines this word as "teacher, schoolmaster, instructor, tutor."  It is based upon another word "Lehre" which may be translated into English with words such as "instruction, moral, warning, lesson, precept."

Both words, though, are built upon a more basic concept expressed in the word "Lehr"  Here's where the whole notion of being a teacher finds its foundation, its root.  "Lehr" has the meaning of a "pattern or model."  When I discovered this interrelationship of ideas expressed in the progression from Lehr to Lehre to Lehrer, I thought of the call of Jesus to his disciples -- "Follow me."  He is his follower's pattern and model, and, as it was in Jesus' life, so also everyone who would seek to be a teacher of others can only teach what that one's life models.

We will only be a Lehrer of the Lehr that our life embodies.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ~ 1 Peter 2:21


. . . to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.  ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:9

Student by Day -- Teacher by Night

Now that the fall quarter at Concordia and the fall semester at Fontbonne have gotten into full swing, I find my weekly schedule working itself into a somewhat manageable pattern.  My days are devoted, for the most part, to study.  I spend about three hours each day at various libraries (Covenant Sem's, Concordia's or a nearby public library -- though not at the library of Trinity College in Dublin) in reading for my studies at Concordia and in preparation for my teaching at Fontbonne.

Currently, I am also working through Miroslav Volf's The End of Memory and will be writing a brief paper on his ideas about the purpose of remembering wrongs suffered toward the ends of forgiveness and reconciliation. I've been invited to participate in a panel discussion during Fontbonne's upcoming conference on the topic of collective memory.  The focus of the panel will be memory and religious imagination.

In addition to my reading, I also try to study German for at least one hour each day.  I'm working through translation exercises. My goal is to be sufficiently competent to pass the Theological German qualifying exam by the end of the fall quarter (mid-November).  I also meet each Thursday afternoon for one hour with my German tutor, Mark Schreiber, who is also a PhD student at Concordia.  Mark taught German for eight years and in just our first session has already provided me with outstanding guidance.

I'm auditing one class at Concordia this term -- Prof. Schmitt's Classics of the Devotional Life.  We're reading Augustine's Confessions this week, and will be doing a survey of spiritual autobiographies including John Bunyan's and even Thomas Merton's Seven Story Mountain.  Quite a survey!  I'm thankful that I auditing the class.  It is very enriching, but it would be a heavy load if I had to write the papers for this course as well as prepare for my German exam this quarter.

So that takes up most of my day time.  Now to the evenings. At this point in the semester, I'm teaching each Wednesday and Thursday evening.  I meet with my students in the Honors Seminar each Wednesday evening. We're studying the topic of civil disobedience -- its history, theory and practice.  We are examining the ideas that underlie the use of non-violent resistance as well as its uses especially in the 20th century.

One of the key questions I'm asking my students in this seminar to contemplate is whether non-violence can be practiced out of a purely pragmatic motivation or whether there must be some principled foundation to sustain those who would engage a resistance struggle non-violently.  In the first three sessions of the seminar, I'm already hearing some very keen insights from my students.  I'm looking forward to an enlightening semester together with them.

On Thursday evenings, I teach a class on the legal and ethical issues presented in the area of corporate communications. It is essentially a specialized business law and business ethics course focused upon the various lines of communications within the corporate context: management and employees; company and customers; competitors to competitors, to name a few.

The make-up of my two classes, though, is different.  The Thursday class is composed of 19 adult learners all of whom have full-time jobs during the day.  They are interested in the practical applications of the topics of our study.  They also bring a wealth of life and job-related experiences with them.  Out of these experiences flow both real-life insights and some very probing questions.

The Wednesday evening seminar is a small group of nine young, full-time college students who have qualified for the University's Honors Program.  They bring a wealth of knowledge that they have gained from their prior studies.  Each class presents me with a challenge -- a challenge to engage minds in thinking through the ideas that are presented by the subjects we are studying together.

I'm seeking to lead them to ask the next question, to probe deeper, to examine their own thinking and to consider carefully what their thinking may be leading them to do.  So in both my studies by day, and my teaching by night, I'm seeking to follow the pattern -- from study into practice and then, to teaching.

Attempts at Practice

In my studies recently, I read in Renate Wind's book, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel, her description of Bonhoeffer as a student. It impressed me as setting forth a pattern worthy of following.

"[H]e . . . linked the theology which he was developing to the discovery of his own identity and his personal questions about existence.  It would later be called 'theology in the doing.' What the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer thought was a way of coming to terms with a life-style. Connected with this is the fact that he probably never said anything that he did not also attempt to put into practice" (37, emphasis added).

That is the pattern.  When our eyes are opened to truth about the life we are called and commanded to live in Christ, we are to act in faith and obedience.  Our acting, though, cannot be in our own human energy or effort but in full and complete dependence upon the life of Christ within us.  In this way, we "attempt" to put into practice the truth that we are being taught.  What we study thus shapes our practice.