ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK CUENET LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS 2-9 DR. ROBERT KOLB CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1024 LOMBARD, IL 60148 800-825-5234 *** THIS TEXT IS BEING PROVIDED IN A ROUGH DRAFT FORMAT. COMMUNICATION ACCESS REALTIME TRANSLATION (CART) IS PROVIDED IN ORDER TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION ACCESSIBILITY AND MAY NOT BE A TOTALLY VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS. *** LC2-9 >> ISN'T IT PRETTY OBVIOUS THAT THERE IS A PERSONAL GOD WHO IS THE CREATOR? >>DR. ROBERT KOLB: I ALWAYS THOUGHT SO, ERIC. BUT AS A MATTER OF FACT, I RUN INTO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE IN OUR DAY AND AGE WHO COME WITH A DIFFERENT UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS ULTIMATE OR WHAT IS ABSOLUTE IN OUR WORLD AND DIFFERENT STRUCTURE FOR REALITY. ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO THERE WAS A GERMAN THEOLOGIAN/SOCIOLOGIST, MORE SOCIOLOGIST THAN THEOLOGIAN, NAMED ERIC TRAUSCH (PHONETIC) WHO SAID THERE ARE BASICALLY THREE KINDS OF RELIGIONS IN THE WORLD. THERE ARE CREATOR GOD RELIGIONS. THEY INCLUDE, WELL, THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND ITS TWO MAJOR HERESIES, JUDAISM AND ISLAM. AND THEN THERE ARE RELIGIONS THAT HAVE ONE SINGLE ULTIMATE AND ABSOLUTE -- BUT NOT A PERSON -- AN IMPERSONAL SPIRIT OF SOME KIND. ANCIENT NEOFASCISM WOULD BE ONE FORM OF THIS RELIGION. AND BUDDHISM IN ITS MANY FORMS WOULD BE ANOTHER EXPRESSION OF THIS FAITH. THAT SOMEHOW REALITY IS HELD TOGETHER, WHATEVER IT IS, BY THIS ETERNAL SPIRIT. IN BUDDHISM YOU'RE ACTUALLY TRYING TO MOVE AWAY FROM ANYTHING THAT WE MIGHT LABEL REAL INTO THE ULTIMATE REALITY OF NOTHINGNESS. THEN THERE'S A THIRD KIND OF RELIGION TRAUSCH SAID WHICH THINKS THAT THE ULTIMATE AND ABSOLUTE IS SUBDIVIDED INTO MANY PARTS. THERE ARE LITTLE LOCALES OF POWER HERE AND THERE IN THE WORLD. HE SAID THAT THE PRIMITIVE RELIGIONS THAT HAVE THIS KIND OF FAITH ARE DISAPPEARING FROM OUR WORLD. HE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW 100 YEARS LATER THAT THOSE KINDS OF RELIGIONS HAVE COME BACK AND COME ON. AND THEY HAVE COME ON VERY STRONG. I SUSPECT THAT'S TRUE BECAUSE ANY SUBSTITUTE WE INVENT FOR THE TRUE GOD IS NEVER GOING TO BE ADEQUATE TO DO EVERYTHING WE NEED FROM GOD. AND SO THOSE RELIGIONS ARE POLYTHEISTIC. PROBABLY WE ARE ALL POLYTHEISTIC IN OUR SINFUL SELVES BECAUSE WE'RE TRYING TO SEEK AS MANY WAYS OF FILLING THE GAP OF THAT HOLE THAT'S LEFT WHEN WE DON'T TRUST GOD IN OUR LIVES. I THINK THERE'S ACTUALLY A FOURTH KIND OF RELIGION. AND THAT'S THE KIND OF RELIGION THAT TRUSTS SOMETHING HUMAN RATHER THAN SOME IMPERSONAL SPIRIT OR A BUNCH OF MAYBE SEMI-PERSONAL SPIRITS IN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS OR IN MODERN ASTROLOGY OR WHATEVER OR A CREATOR GOD. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY TRUST THEIR POLITICAL PARTY, THEIR RACE, THEIR NATION. OR WHO TRUST THEIR SOCIAL CLASS OR MAYBE WHO JUST TRUST THEMSELVES AS INDIVIDUALS FOR GIVING LIFE ITS REAL MEANING. FOR GIVING THEM THEIR OWN IDENTITY. SO EVEN THOUGH THE PSALMIST SAYS THE FOOL HAS SAID IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO PERSONAL GOD AND CREATOR, THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, THERE ARE MORE FOOLS AROUND THAN I THOUGHT. BUT WE DARE NOT SAY TO THEM THAT THEY ARE FOOLS BECAUSE THEY DON'T THINK THEY ARE FOOLISH AT ALL. THEY HAVE BUILT A RATIONAL SYSTEM OR AT LEAST A SYSTEM THAT'S CONVINCING. IT MAY BE MORE EMOTIONAL THAN RATIONAL. BUT THEY'VE BUILT A SYSTEM THAT KIND OF HOLDS LIFE TOGETHER. THE WORD RELIGION THE LINGUIST TELLS US REALLY COMES FROM A LATIN WORD RARAGARA (PHONETIC) WHICH MEANS TO STAND IN AWE OF. BUT THERE'S ALSO A WORD LARAGARA (PHONETIC), ALMOST THE SAME SPELLING, THAT MEANS TO BIND TOGETHER. AND EVEN THOUGH THAT'S NOT REALLY THE ORIGIN OF OUR WORD RELIGION, I LIKE TO USE IT TO INTERPRET OUR RELIGION. IT'S WHAT BINDS AND HOLDS LIFE TOGETHER. I THINK THAT LUTHER WAS RIGHT IN HIS LARGE CATECHISM WHEN IN THE FIRST COMMANDMENT HE SAID OUR GODS ARE WHATEVER WE PUT OUR TRUST IN OR WHOMEVER WE PUT OUR TRUST IN. WHATEVER HE SAYS GIVES US A SAFE HAVEN IN TIMES OF NEED. WHATEVER WE COUNT AS THE SOURCE -- ULTIMATE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD. IT MAY BE OUR CHILDREN OR A SPOUSE. IT MAY BE OUR MONEY. IT MAY BE SOME SPIRITS IN THE TREES OR THE STARS. IT MAY BE AN AMULET WE PUT AROUND OUR NECK. BUT WHATEVER GIVES US A SENSE OF IDENTITY, DEFINES WHO WE ARE, A SENSE OF SECURITY OR SAFETY THAT WE HAVE A HAVEN IN NEED. AND WHATEVER GIVES US A SENSE OF MEANING OR WORTH FOR OUR LIVES. THAT IS WHAT WE OUGHT TO UNDERSTAND AS OTHER PEOPLE'S GODS. SO WE'LL BE RUNNING INTO A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN A CREATOR. WHO DON'T BELIEVE THEY CAME FROM A MAKER'S HAND OR BREATH. AND SO WE NEED TO BE EQUIPPED TO BEGIN THE CONVERSATION. MAYBE ONE STEP BEFORE LUTHER BEGINS THE CONVERSATION. HE PRESUMED EVERYBODY KNEW THAT THERE IS A GOD. THERE IS A GOD WHO, AS WE READ IN DEUTERONOMY 5 OR EXODUS 20, WHO LED US OUT OF EGYPT THAT IS A LIBERATING GOD. AND THAT THAT GOD DEMANDS THAT HE BE BEFORE ANY ONE OF HIS CREATURES AS THE PRIORITY, THE POINT OF ORIENTATION OF OUR LIVES. AND TODAY SOME OF OUR CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION WILL HAVE TO ADDRESS THOSE PEOPLE WHO IN OUR CULTURE SIMPLY DON'T KNOW THAT THERE IS A PERSONAL GOD, A CREATOR GOD AT ALL. AND THAT DOES SHIFT THE ORIENTATION A LITTLE BIT WHEN WE'RE CATECHIZING ESPECIALLY ADULTS WHO COME FROM OUTSIDE THE FAITH. BUT I THINK ALSO CHILDREN WHO GROW UP IN THE WORLD OF MEDIA, TELEVISION AND OTHER MEDIA, THAT DON'T SHARE OUR CONVICTION. THAT THE ULTIMATE AND THE ABSOLUTE IS THE PERSONAL GOD, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB. YAHWEH, WHO HAS MADE US AND WHO HAS REDEEMED US. *** THIS TEXT IS BEING PROVIDED IN A ROUGH DRAFT FORMAT. COMMUNICATION ACCESS REALTIME TRANSLATION (CART) IS PROVIDED IN ORDER TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION ACCESSIBILITY AND MAY NOT BE A TOTALLY VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS. ***