Theological education - a subjective perspective

A few days ago I got into trouble. And rightly so.

I made a rather off-the-cuff, off-colour remark on facebook, which really generalised and disrespected a group of people. Sometimes I am an idiot. And sometimes I fail. This is one of those times. 

And I got called on it. And rightly so.

What happened?

Well, one of my facebook-buddies had posted a link to this year's General Ordination Exams (GOEs) of The Episcopal Church (TEC). For most Episcopal ordianands the GEOs is one of the final steps before ordination. I took them in 1999 and so did most of my seminary friends. (Whether or not the GEOs are a good or bad thing can be discussed - but not today).

My response to my friend's posting was a re-post and an inappropriate comment:

http://episcopalgbec.org/previous-exams/questions/2013.pdf

My evil side wonders how VST students would do on this. And my even more evil side wonders what would happen, if this was a closed book exam... And, yes, I think our theological education is crap!

Now, of course the problem is this: It is a blanket statement that demonises students and the Vancouver School of Theology (VST) as a whole. I apologise. There is no excuse for this kind of comment. Period.

But what sparked my comment?

I believe that much of our theological education is not sufficient anymore when it comes to exegesis, theology, liturgics, ecclesiology and polity, and ecclesiastical history. And, yes, I do think this is true for VST.

Why?

Because I have seen it many times over. I know from my own experience as a priest in the Diocese of New Westminster.

Of course, it is a rather subjective position. 

Furthermore, I am biased: I think Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in my time did an amazing job in training people to be good parish priests. I left Seabury ready to serve the church and engage the world. This is not because I am more clever than others (I am not!) and I don't even think it is because the faculty at Seabury at the time was brilliant. But I think it is because the curriculum focused on the right issues and because the church valued theological training more than it does now. 

But I think there has been a shift.

I think there has been a shift towards training leaders rather than theologians. 

On some level, I support the shift. We do need good priests who know what it means to be servant-leaders.

When I was reading theology in Germany, there was no leadership training. And there was no spiritual formation either. It was all highly intellectual and academic. And this shows in ways that make me raise at least both eye-brows when I read about how the German church deals with societal and global issues and when I consider pastoral care, congregational development, mission and evangelism in Germany.

But I also find the shift in theological education troubling, as the requirements for biblical, theological, historical, liturgical, and denominational classes have unfortunately decreased. (And, yes, I know I sound like an old curmudgeon.) VST, for example, does no longer employ a liturgics professor with a PhD in liturgy...

I do not blame the seminarians. (Heck, I do not believe I have enough theological knowledge and skills - so maybe I am projecting...). And I do not blame individual faculty members. There are great teachers at many of our seminaries, VST included!

I blame the shift in theological education I spoke of earlier. And I think this shift puts us in danger of losing  our identity, our unique Anglican way. Maybe this is not a bad thing. Maybe our tradition has outlived its time. But I don't think so. In fact, I do believe that Anglicanism (with its focus on incarnational theology, with its identity marked by prayer and not by creedal statements or a magisterium, with its emphasis on a liturgical carrying-out of worship and of life itself, with its openness to change while firmly being rooted in the traditions of the Early Church and the Reformation, with its sacramental understanding of the church and of the world, with its empahsis on mission (cf. http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/mission/fivemarks.cfm)) has an unparalleleld position to engage and to offer profound insights for post-modern people in a post-modern world. We are not just another Protestant denomination and we are not just Catholic-lite. We are a unique expression of the Christian revelation. So unique, in fact, that I believe our church's unique way creates the tools needed to offer meaning and healing in a searching and hurting world. 

But we will lose these tools, if we do not hand them on. We will lose our unique way that has so much to offer, if we continue the way in theological education we have engaged. We will stop being Anglican. This is not a problem in itself. It is a problem, because people who look for different answers in the 21st century - answers that are profound and true, answers that save souls and lives, answers that make the Reign of Christ real not just in an afterworld, and answers that equally connect us with our true selves and with one another - will not find these answers.

I believe the shift in theological education first and foremost jeopardises God's mission.

But I am preaching again. Sorry...

So, where do I think we should go?

Well, here are my $0.02:

For the sake of the church and more importantly for the sake of God's mission (and also for the sake of our seminarians...!) we, the church, must take theological education seriously. It must not just be a hurdle on the way to ordination. It must be a prime focus. And this must be reflected in how we provide resources for theological education. (And, btw, theological education is not just a means to train priests. It is something the whole church and all its members must engage.) We need financial support for seminaries as much as we need financial support for seminarians. Theological education should not bankrupt those engaging in it. Furthermore, we need scholarships for members of our church to do PhDs and ThDs in biblical, systematic, ecclesiastical, practical, liturgical, and missiological theology. And we need to encourage clergy to pusue DMins not just in congregational development... What if the church would actually "take over" seminaries and run them from general resources? What if we were to offer theological education for seminarians and qualified lay-folk for free, incl. doctorates? Yes, there is a danger that this could stifle independent scholarship. But surely, we would find ways to safe-guard academic freedom. We are Anglicans, after all...

Secondly, I believe we need to reverse the trend to do off-campus theological formation. Yes, there are financial issues. And, yes, there are cultural issues. But is theological formation really possible as a part-time experience when seminaries are supposed to challenge your faith and dismantle your assumptions, and when seminarians engage with something that goes to the core of one's being? Furthermore, doesn't a condensed part-time training not only limit exposure to our theological tradition, but also cut into time to engage and listen to the issues, fears, concerns, joys of, and threats to the lives of people outside the church?  

Finally, rather than cut the curriculum, I think we need to extend it - we might have to add another year or two. No, I do not want to give up on leadership-training. But I also do want to see once again solid teaching of theology in all areas. Stop the cuts to teaching theology! Stop the cuts to teaching liturgy! Stop the cuts to spiritual formation!

This might all not sit very well with some. But there you are... As I said above, this is a subjective analysis based on my own experience. I.e. it is based on anectodal evidence. But I do hope this will spark discussion...

 

 

Follow up to the last post.

Today, I received a response form the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church:

Dear Fr. Duenzkofer,

Thank you for your heartfelt letter and plea for reconciliation.  I continue to work toward that end, and I crave your prayers, as well as your efforts in your own context.  There is something both ancient and intensely contemporary about the division around us, and it is not beautiful or holy.  Teach, write, advocate, and challenge yourself and others to reject violent methods in word and deed.

I give thanks for your ministry, and pray that it may be a blessing to many.   I remain

Your servant in Christ,

Katharine Jefferts Schori

I am honoured to receive this answer. I do agree "this is not beautiful or holy"
And so I continue to pray for reconciliation and a willingness on both sides to make sacrifices.

We are not like Ann Coulter or Al Franken

[Here is a letter I wrote to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church]


Your Grace, dear Presiding Bishop,

I am writing to you today to ask you to reach out to the Diocese of South Carolina and to find a way out of the looming crisis. I am doing so as an openly gay priest in the Anglican Communion, who has performed blessings of same-sex couples. But, I am especially doing so as a member of the Body of Christ.

Over the last decades there has been a lot of changes in the church. And thanks be to God! We have moved towards a fuller embrace of women in all orders of the church and in every ministry. And we have also moved to a fuller inclusion of GLBTQ folk in the life of the church. And again: Thanks be to God.

Yet, we have done so at high cost, which so far I was able to accept as prophetic.

However, I do believe we have reached a point now where we must redirect our energies: I believe we have come to a place where the Spirit calls us to prayer and to the hard work of reconciliation.

No, there is no turning back. But maybe we need to allow for others to catch up...

I do not agree with a number of theological convictions held by the Bishop of South Carolina. Heck, he probably wouldn't ordain me. Still, I am imploring you: Without the Diocese of South Carolina the church will be poorer, much poorer. We need them and they need us.

When the North American Churches started to discern the movement of the Spirit many years ago, I was hopeful: Yes, I wanted for people like me to be less fearful, less closeted, and more able to live into who and what God created us to be.

[And] I was hopeful that our way of dealing with the crisis will be a witness to the world that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed us to something quite different. I was hopeful we could show the world what it means to be friends and children of the living God, what it means to become truly human as we see others despite of our strongly held convictions as sisters and brothers. And I am still hoping. Are we going to be different from the cultural war exploding all around us?

I hope and pray that the Spirit will guide you and Bishop Lawrance to find a way out of this current crisis. For the sake of our common mission. For the sake of the church's witness and unity. And for your own sake.

Yours in Christ,
Markus Duenzkofer

All Saints'

Almighty God, whose people are knit together in one holy Church, the mystical Body of your Son, grant us grace to follow your blessed saints in lives of faith and commitment,

and to know the inexpressible joys you have prepared for those who love you; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Collect for All Saints, Book of Alternative Services, Anglican Church of Canada, p. 428)

All Saints' is one of my favourite feats of the year. In fact, outside the Triduum, it probably is my most anticipated celebrations every year. For me, it is not just a commemoration of the great cloud of witnesses and not just a celebration of the saints who were, who are, and who will be. But for me, All Saints speaks deeply of the Incarnation, of God's coming into the flesh, an event that is unique in Jesus of Nazareth, but that is also re-revealed over and over again in the lives of those who are faithful to the call of our triune God, whatever the call me be. And yes, this means that I do not believe that in the economy of God there is a difference between those saints on the one hand, whose faith is known to God alone and those saints, who are venerated in special way in the life of the church. Which also means that I believe we really have to rethink our theology and liturgical practises around All Souls' and All Saints'...

The two festivals came into existence in the Western part of the church in their current format some 900 years ago. The underlying theology for having two separate days was a development in Western theology that maintained that before entering the glory of God after death, we all need to be purified - since we all die as sinners. And saints were those who had finished this purification, while the other faithful departed (All Souls') were those who were still being worked on in order to be good enough to enter the glory of God.

Now, I can appreciate that we are all sinners at death. We are. But I also believe that the idea of a post-mortem purification process is highly problematic:

First of all, it takes away from the saving acts of our God, completed and fulfilled once and for all in the Incarnation, i.e. in the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Christ.

Secondly, I believe this theology lifts "time" out of the realm of the created into the realm of the uncreated. But "time" has no power in the life to come and hence a "process" of purification connected to our understanding and experience of "time" would take away from God's omniscience...

Thirdly, I wonder if this purification- theology is the result of a creeping Gnostic influence on Christianity. N.T. Wright has written about this extensively, and I recommend his books "For All the Saints" and "Surprised by Hope" on this issue.

So, what to do.

Well, I still do believe that there is a place for the veneration of particular saints in the church. But not because they were better or more valuable or more valued members of the Body of Christ. I believe that the saints we venerate publicly, were touched in a special way by God. God revealed something particular in the lives of these saints about God's reign - and hence venerating these saints ultimately means venerating God's saving acts. Just like in the veneration of an icon we do not worship the created mater of wood and paint, but what the icon signifies, so in the veneration of the saints we do not worship flesh and blood of the saints or their character (and some of these characters were not pleasant...!), but we worship the particular insight into God's love and compassion for us revealed by these saints through their lives, their deaths, or their teachings. The veneration of saints ultimately is a worship of God who became one of us, flesh of our flesh in Jesus Christ. (And this, btw, might even leave space for the veneration of relics, something I have been contemplating more intentionally since reading (of all books!) Phil Rickman's "Midwinter of the Spirit" ...)

Yet, All Saints' should not be an observation of these "public saints." That's why we have feast days.

So then what do? What to do with All Saints' and All Souls'?

Well, with all due respect, I believe that the practise of St Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver's West End might teach the Church Catholic a thing or two about this...

At St Paul's we celebrate both feats days with gusto - and with a a bit of a twist.

On All Saints' (usually celebrated on the Sunday following 1 November), we celebrate exactly what it says: All saints. We will commemorate all the faithful departed, great and small, known and unknown, and particularly those members of the Body of Christ we love and see no more. But that is it: it is the faithful departed throughout the centuries. And we reunite with them at the altar during the celebration of the Eucharist.

On All Souls' we also celebrate the Eucharist, but it is truly a Thanksgiving for all the faithful departed, regardless of wether they were members of God's people, or wether their faith was known to God alone, or wether they had no faith at all. And we provide space in our Labyrinth for people to come and mark those who have gone before us and who have marked our lives. There is no judgement. None. We leave this to God. There is only thanksgiving - mixed with grief and sadness for lost human lives, all created and loved by God. All Souls' therefore equally becomes a celebration that reflects its name. It becomes a celebration of the Creator of all souls. And in this way I think it can become an opening for the church to offer generous hospitality, to welcome strangers and friends alike, to serve those on the "in" and those on the "out", and to offer in a celebratory and honouring way our own insights about death and resurrection. It is quite a wonderful experience. People bring pictures, walk the Labyrinth, and write prayers of remembrance. The Labyrinth is bathed in a soft light of candles and, I believe and trust, also bathed in the compassionate, consoling, and comforting embrace of the Holy Spirit.

In this way, both All Saints' and All Souls' still have a place in the life of our church - without becoming complicit with unbiblical teachings.

This year, we once again, went all out for both All Saints' and All Souls'. But it was particularly special as we baptised Arash, a refugee from Iran, who had come to discover life in Canada. And he did - in more than one way.

And this is why I decided to celebrate his baptism in grand style. In celebration of the abundance of God's life and love, I used a whole bucket of water that I poured over Arash (see above). It was a great celebration! And reminded me once again what a privilege and honour it is to serve in God's vineyard.

re-kindle the fire

A long time has past, but I thought I would try to reconnect with this form of communication and see what happens. Maybe it will be just a feeble attempt, but there we are.

So, as I restart this blog:

Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eileison.

Church attendance on Sunday is rather important to me. It is not just something I do, because I am paid to do it or because of a sense of duty. No, I believe there is deep and profound value in weekly service attendence for one's well-being, for the well-being of fellow co-worshippers, and indeed for the well-being of the cosmos. Worship can move mountains!

While on sabbatical, I had the unique opportunity to attend all kinds of churches (unique, because usually I attend the same church over and over again - which is also quite wonderful!). Here is an alphabetical list of and a link to the congregations I attended (the denominations are also linked):

- Altkatholische Kirche Bayreuth (Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany), Bayreuth, Germany Germany
- Altkatholische Kirche Nürnberg (Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany), Nuremberg, Germany
- Altkatholische Kirche München (Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany), Munich, Germany
- Altkatholische Kirche Weidenberg (Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany), Weidenberg, Germany
- Church of the Ascension (The Episcopal Church (Convocation of American Churches in Europe)), Munich
- Kirchengemeinde Leezen (North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church), Leezen, Germany
- QueerGottesdienst (Ecumenical, with a pastor from the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria), Nuremberg, Germany
- St. Cosmae's (Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover), Stade, Germany
- St. James' (Church of England), Westminster, London, UK
- St. James-the-Less' (The Episcopal Church (Convocation of American Churches in Europe)), Nuremberg, Germany
- St. Peter's (Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria), Nuremberg, Germany
- St. Mary-Magdalene (Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria), Behringersdorf, Germany
- St. Matthew's (Church of England), Westminster, London, UK
- St. Michael's (Communität Casteller Ring, Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Bavaria), Schwanberg, Germany
Germany
- St. Sebald (Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Bavaria), Nuremberg, Germany

Nuremberg has a real saint.

Indeed, one of the two city churches houses the shrine of the city patron: St. Sebald. And his relics are still in the shrine! This is more surprising than one might think, because the Free Imperial City of Nurember signed the "Augsburg Confession" and has traditionally been a Lutheran city from the get-go. In fact, one of my old professors at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg maintained in one of his “History of the Reformation” –lectures that if it had not been for the strong support for the Reformation by the burghers of the city of Nuremberg, the Reformation probably would have failed. Such was the importance of the city within the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Indeed, each newly-crowned emperor had to hold his first diet in the city of Nuremberg. And, no, this had nothing to do with eating habits. (Neither did the Diet of Worms, by the way…).Yes, it is true: the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg (an independent territory answerable only to the Emperor) was one of the major players in the Middle Ages and might have been a prime candidate for an Imperial capital, if there ever had been one. But I do believe my professor’s assessment was a bit of an exaggeration.

One of the fascinating discovery for any newcomer and visitor tp Nuremberg are her city churches. And despite the Gothic splendour with altars and statues, the old city churches are almost exclusively Lutheran. The Lutheran Reformation was not iconoclastic and appreciated the beauty and the value of art. Martin Luther himself had some strong words against those burning icons and removing statues. No Puritan cleansing like the one that happened during the Reformation and the Commonwealth in Scotland and England. No smashing and stripping of altars like in Zurich, Geneva, or the Netherlands. It was all rather civil… and rather conservative. This is why in Nuremberg the shrine of St. Sebald was conserved (relics and all) in the church named after him.

But who on earth was St. Sebald? Well, there are all kinds of legends. Some say he was a Danish prince. Some say he was a pilgrim to Rome. We don’t really know. We don’t even really know when he lived. What is fairly certain though is that he was a hermit in the forests surrounding Nuremberg, a holy man living not far from where I was born and raised.

I like the idea of having a holy hermit as the patron saint of a busy and industrious city. It is a subtle reminder that wealth and success are not all that matter and cannot be taken to the grave. There are larger and more profound truths. There are eternal truths to which St. Sebald gave witness. He was signpost pointing towards the eternal truth of our triune God.

That his veneration developed quickly and in large ways, is both an attribute of St. Sebald’s holiness and an indicator that he was not a hermit totally disconnected from the world. People sought his advice and he probably interacted with people inside the city walls too, retreating to the trees on a regular basis. In a way he balanced the essentials of the Christian faith and of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ: he reached out both to God and to his neighbour.

I have been drawn to St. Sebald for a while now. Of course, this has to do with local patriotism. I am a child of the city of Nuremberg. But it also has to do with the person of St. Sebald and with my biography. I am city dwell and I live in a busy and industrious place. In fact, years ago I read an article in a German news-magazine that stated that Vancouver will be the New York City of the 21^st century. So, Vancouver’s importance might be similar to Nuremberg’s importance in medical Europe. And in places like this, saints like St. Sebald are needed. We are in dire need for holy women and men that can retreat to a silence that is flooded with the love of God and that proclaim that there is a truth much larger than what we see, experience, and accomplish, or indeed fail to accomplish. And we equally need people who because they are grounded in the love of our triune God can recognise the face of Christ in whomever they encounter, can embrace stranger and friend as fellow sojourners alike, and can reach out to those who are hurting. And sometimes these holy women and men have to come from the outside, have to be aliens first before they settle and identify with a certain location. St. Sebald seems to fit this profile. Which makes him definitely a saint worth venerating n my book.

The city of Nuremberg had bit of a hard time to convince the Pope, though. The process of canonisation did move like molasses and only after some substantial sums of money had exchanged hands, did the Pope declare St. Sebald officially a saint. The citizens of Nuremberg and many others could not be perturbed though and pilgrimages to the shrine are well documented. It is only a bit of an irony that within a few generations after the canonisation, Nuremberg introduced the Reformation. This ended a lot of ecclesiastical abuses and it ended the pilgrimages. However, the shrine was not destroyed and stands tall as a witness to the refined skills of medieval Nuremberg artists, to the power of the burghers of Nuremberg, and last but not least to the holiness of St. Sebald and his life, which he tried to live in accordance with the Gospel.

I have struggled with the veneration of saints for large junks of my life. And the veneration of any part of creation easily bears the danger of idolatry. But as I do think the way it is handled in the Anglican Church is for the most part “meet and right so to do.” Our prayers for saints’ days are not addressed to the saints, but they glorify God for what aspect of God’s love was revealed particularly through the life of the saint commemorated. And while I agree with N.T. Wright that saints have no better access to God than any Christian , dead or alive, I do believe they have access and just like I can ask my friends Heather, David, Marnie, Tanja, Anett, Ted, or Jonathan to pray for me, so I can ask deceased saints, who are as much members of the church as I am. But in the end, any veneration must be careful to make clear that only Jesus is Lord. In and though him, and only in him and through him are our prayers acceptable before God.

In this context I was looking forward to St. Sebald’s patronal feast day on 19 August with great anticipation and great expectation. I had prayed at the shrine (particularly for the unity of the church) a few times before, but there was to be an ecumenical vesper service on the actual day. The fact that the Lutherans, who really do not remember saints’ days in Germany anymore, and the Roman Catholics who no longer had jurisdiction of the shrine was intriguing enough. St. Sebald was bringing together Christians for worship even now…

I did, however, not anticipate many people. As I said above, there is no tradition in Lutehranism for this kind of thing anymore. And St. Sebald is too obscure for most Roman Catholics. Or so I thought. But the church was full, not packed, but full. What I didn’t know was that over the last few years the service has morphed from a celebration by some very committed Christians to an communal event, including politicians and other celebrities. It was the city at prayer, asking for God’s guidance and the revelation of God’s justice and mercy for the people of Nuremberg. And this is another accomplishment by the saint, methinks…

The service was held in a church that was heavily destroyed during World War II. Bombs rained all over Nuremberg, not just because there was heavy military industry in the city, but also because Nuremberg was the home to the annual party rallies, the “Reischparteitage.” The fire-storm, not the least kindled by the so-called “Nuremberg laws,” which codified the oppression of those who did not fit into the Third Reich, burnt down the Church of St. Sebald and many of her parishioners, too. Only the bare skeleton survived. The church was rebuilt and restored with its art, which, thankfully, had been stored in basements during the war. After twelve years of God-less terror in Germany, new life had to be brought back, not unlike in the vision of Ezekiel. Even to churches… And I believe the restoration of the shrine was an important aspect of this resurrection. (I have been thinking about this particularly since I read the second Merrily Watson mystery novel, which was recommended to me by a parishioner). Today, the parish is a member of the Reconciliation fellowship, started at the Cathedral in Coventry, which was destroyed by German bombs. The church stands as a witness to God’s love and as a symbol for peace.

Almighty and everlasting God,

we thank you for your servant Sebald,

whom you called to preach the gospel

to the people of Nuremberg.

Raise up in this and every land,

heralds and evangelists of your kingdom and of your peace,

that your Church may make known the immeasurable riches

of our Saviour Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(adapted from, Book of Alternative Services, Anglican Church of Canada, p. 434)