ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 20, 2009  

Lutheran Theologians Respond to ELCA Task Force Documents
09-069-MRC

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Three theologians of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) responded unfavorably to
content in two documents released by the Task Force for ELCA
Studies on Sexuality.
     The task force released Feb. 19 a proposed social statement
on human sexuality and a report recommending a process to
consider changes to ministry policies that could make it possible
for Lutherans in committed same-gender relationships to serve as
ELCA associates in ministry, deaconesses, diaconal ministers and
ordained ministers. Recommendations for both documents will be
considered at the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the church's
chief legislative body, Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis.
     According to the Rev. Carl E. Braaten, the ELCA is at a
crossroads.  Braaten, Sun City West, Ariz., is co-founder and
director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.
He's also professor emeritus of systematic theology, Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago, one of eight ELCA seminaries.
     The social statement "professes not to know the difference
between right and wrong on crucial matters of human sexuality,"
he said.  The task force has made "a proposal to the church that
takes one side of a controversial issue on which it does not
expect that a consensus will emerge soon or ever."
     If the ELCA assembly is to adopt the social statement and
approve the task force's recommendation, Braaten said, "That
would constitute a radical departure from the overwhelming
consensus that has prevailed in historic Christianity through 20
centuries."  He said many pastors and congregations will choose
not to leave the ELCA but "remain and protest as a confessing
movement."
     According to Dr. Robert D. Benne, the social statement
avoids making "normative judgments about homosexual conduct by
neglecting the testimony of the Bible and the Christian moral
tradition on that issue."  Benne is professor emeritus and
director of the Center for Religion and Society, Roanoke College,
Salem, Va.  Roanoke is one of 28 colleges and universities of the
ELCA.
     "I believe it is incontestable that the Scriptures and the
moral teaching of the Christian church throughout the ages -- and
presently that of the ecumenical church -- proscribe homosexual
relations of any sort," Benne said.
     "I am not satisfied with appeals to sincerity and tolerance,
especially since I think Christian teaching is clear.  And I am
certainly not satisfied with those appeals when the
recommendations of the task force lead to no teachings at all on
the subject, but yet lead to sharp changes in practice," he said.
     "There definitely is a sense in which we can live with our
differences when it comes to public policy," Benne said.  "But
the sexuality issues under discussion have to do with the
teaching and practice of the church.  They strike much closer to
the core of Christian life and teaching -- what does it mean to
love the neighbor in sexual matters?"
     The Rev. Paul R. Hinlicky, Roanoke's Tice Professor in
Lutheran Studies, said he's contemplating a "divorce."  "Not from
my wife of 35 years, but from my denomination."  He wrote for The
Lutheran Forum that the ELCA "has come up with a different plan
for a new future," putting "our covenant itself to a vote in
August."
     "The historic Christian tradition and the Lutheran
Confessions have recognized marriage as a covenant between a man
and a woman," said Hinlicky.  But they appear in the proposed
social statement "as memories of the way we used to be."  He
noted that some in the larger Christian community conclude that
marriage is "also the appropriate term to use in describing
similar benefits, protection, and support same-gender couples
entering into lifelong monogamous relationships."
     "The real voice of the people of God across the world and
through the ages seems to matter not at all," said Hinlicky, "any
more than Holy Scripture as parsed by the Lutheran Confessions.
Surely, this church's congregations, if given an honest and
secret ballot would overwhelmingly reject the manipulation of
language and meaning involved in calling marriage anything other
than that relation in Scripture and Confession."
- - -
     The task force's report and recommendation on ministry
policies and social statement are available at
http://www.ELCA.org/faithfuljourney on the ELCA Web site.

Robert Benne's comments are available at
http://tinyurl.com/cjtxwu

Carl Braaten's comments are at
http://tinyurl.com/d22hg8 and

Paul Hinlicky's comments are at
http://tinyurl.com/cz4jar
on the Internet.

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
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