ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 3, 2005

17 Theologians Urge ELCA To Reject Proposal On Homosexuality
05-036-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Seventeen theologians of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) issued "A Statement of Pastoral
and Theological Concern" March 1, warning their church against
accepting three recommendations on homosexuality that a task
force for the ELCA Studies on Sexuality developed for the 2005
Churchwide Assembly in August.
     "We urge that all three recommendations of the task force be
rejected since, if adopted, they would alter fundamentally the
ecclesiology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
that, in turn, would threaten not only the unity and stability of
this church but, as a consequence, its ability to proclaim the
truth of the gospel," the theologians said.
     On Jan. 13 the task force released a report on its first
three years of work.  The report included three recommendations
for the assembly to consider in August, when it is expected to
answer two key questions on homosexuality:  Should the church
bless same-gender relationships?  Should the church allow people
in such relationships to serve the church as professional lay and
ordained ministers?
     After the recommendations became public, several Lutheran
theologians began sharing their impressions of the report with
each other by e-mail, said the Rev. Karl P. Donfried, professor
of religion and biblical literature, Smith College, Northampton,
Mass.  The exchange continued until the statement was drafted, he
said.  Seventeen of the participants signed on to the statement
by March 1, Donfried added.
     The task force recommended that the ELCA:
 + concentrate on finding ways to live together faithfully in the
midst of disagreements
 + continue to respect the pastoral guidance of a 1993 statement
of the ELCA Conference of Bishops opposing the blessing of
homosexual relationships but remaining open to pastors wanting to
provide pastoral care for gay and lesbian Lutherans
 + continue under current standards that expect unmarried
ministers to abstain from sexual relations -- defining marriage
as being between a man and a woman -- but respecting the
consciences of those who find these standards in conflict with
the mission of the church, the ELCA may choose to refrain from
disciplining gay and lesbian ministers in committed relationships
and from disciplining those who call or approve partnered gay or
lesbian people for ministry.
     "Based on our careful review of the report and its
recommendations, we maintain that the third and primary
recommendation of the task force, contrary to its stated
intention, threatens to destabilize the unity and constitution,
as well as the historical, biblical, and confessional teachings
and practice of this church," the theologians said.
     "Further, this final proposal places the first two, although
in principle containing some assertions that are indeed admirable
and commendable, into an interpretative context that makes them
objectionable as well," they said.
     The theologians said "the most conspicuous logical
inconsistency" in the report is that it said it is recommending
"no change in policy" while it advocates a fundamental shift in
policy -- asking the church to refrain from disciplining those
who act contrary to policy.
     "The task force proposes that permission for such activities
be granted on the basis of 'conscience' and a 'pastoral approach'
in lieu of the traditional criteria employed by this church.
This proposal, in our view, suffers from several flaws," they
said.
     The statement addressed the recommendations on matters of
conscience, pastoral care and ecclesiology -- theological
doctrine relating to the church.
     The task force said the ELCA should "trust congregations,
synods, candidacy committees and bishops to discern the Holy
Spirit's gifts for ministry among the baptized and make judgments
appropriate to each situation."  The theologians said the New
Testament's "criterion for the discernment of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit is a broadly based, ecclesial determination and not
an individual, local preference."
     The theologians said if the third recommendation was
implemented the ELCA "would abdicate its theological and moral
constitutional responsibility by relegating the decisions for
which it alone is responsible to regional and local components."
Such an action would jeopardize the church's voice "in matters of
doctrinal and ethical substance" so that it could no longer
address other churches in the Lutheran World Federation or other
churches that it engages in ecumenical dialogue, they said.
     In addition to "structural dissolution of the ELCA," the
theologians said implementing the third recommendation would
create "intense division and disunity" at the church's more local
expressions.
     "The task force imposes a subjective understanding of
'conscience,' one bound only by private judgment, upon Scripture
and Luther, thus misrepresenting both. Whenever conscience severs
itself from faith in Christ and fidelity to the Word it is no
longer conscience in the true sense," the statement said.
     The theologians cited the New Testament, where St. Paul
dealt with "weak consciences" influenced by "social pressures and
alien ideologies," and Martin Luther, who said an "erring
conscience" responds to selfish desires resulting from weakness
in faith.
     On pastoral care the theologians said the Bible always holds
pastors to a standard of sound teaching "governed by that which
is righteous and holy in the eyes of God."  The statement said
"pastoral concern" cannot be employed to discern "the correctness
of actions or behavior."
     "In listening to the contemporary 'voices of the baptized
children of God' we cannot and must not disregard the voices of
the church universal over the past two millennia; Scripture can
never address us independently from that communal history," the
statement said.
     Seventeen Lutheran theologians signed the statement:
+ Dr. Robert Benne, director, Center for Religion and Society,
Roanoke College, Salem, Va.
+ The Rev. Carl E. Braaten, retired professor of systematic
theology, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
+ The Rev. James R. Crumley Jr., presiding bishop of the former
Lutheran Church in America
+ The Rev. Karl P. Donfried, professor of religion and biblical
literature, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
+ Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain, professor of social and political
ethics, Divinity School and Department of Political Science,
University of Chicago
+ The Rev. Gerhard O. Forde, retired professor of systematic
theology, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
+ Dr. George W. Forell, retired professor of religion, University
of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
+ The Rev. Roy A. Harrisville, retired professor of New
Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
+ Dr. Hans J. Hillerbrand, professor of religion, Duke
University, Durham, N.C.
+ The Rev. Robert W. Jenson, senior scholar for research, Center
of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, N.J.
+ The Rev. Marc Kolden, professor of systematic theology, Luther
Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
+ The Rev. William H. Lazareth, former bishop of the ELCA
Metropolitan New York Synod
+ The Rev. James A. Nestingen, professor of church history,
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
+ Dr. Michael J. Root, ELCA associate in ministry, dean and
professor of systematic theology, Lutheran Theological Southern
Seminary, Columbia, S.C.
+ The Rev. William G. Rusch, director, Foundation for a
Conference on Faith and Order, New York
+ The Rev. Walter F. Taylor Jr., professor of New Testament
studies and director of graduate studies, Trinity Lutheran
Seminary, Columbus, Ohio
+ Dr. David S. Yeago, professor of systematic theology, Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C.
---
     Information about the Studies on Sexuality is at
http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/ on the ELCA Web site.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
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