THE SPRINGFIELDER is published quarterly by the faculty
cordia Theological Seminary, Sp~gf ie ld , Ilhois, of the L
Church-Missouri Synod.
EDITORIAL COMMIIITEE
ERICH H. HEMTZEN, Editor
R~YMOND F. SURBURG, Book Revitxu Editor
DAVID P . SCAER, Associate Editor
JOHN D. FRITZ, Associate Editor
PRESIDENT J . A. 0. PREUS, ex officio
Contents
EDITORIALS
R.I. Luther, b. Nov. 10, 1
iVho speaks for the bliss
A DANISH LUTHERAN DOGMA
RAYMOND F. SURBURG, Department of Exegetical
Theology, Springfield, Illinois
................ EVANGELICAL TESTIRIONY AT SITTENSEN.. ::
OTTO F. STAHLKE, Departme
Springfield, Illinois
\VHO CAY THIS BE? A R
EUGENE F. KLUG, Departme
Springfteld, Illinois
BOOKS RECEIVED .............................................................. .i
Missouri, mill also cover mailing change of The Springfielder.
of address should be sent to the Business Manager of The Spring
cordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois 62702.
Address communications to the Editor, Erich H. Heintzen, Concor
logical Seminary, Springfield, Illinois 62702.
Evangelical Testimony At Sittensen
Preparatiotz in 1 967
HE BERLIN CONGRESS on at which even FIaile T Sclassie appeared, 1~;:s the inspiration for r rallying of the
'\'angelical nlovenlents in European Lutllc.ranism ;it Sittcnsen near
Hamburg in February of this year. In preparation for this mccting
Lektor Erik Petrkn, an emissary of the Swcdish Bishop Bo Giertz,
and Pfarrviknr Studer had visited all tllc leaders of the ev;inglicsl
nlovenlents and had arranged a prcIiminar?. meeting at Sittensen
under Pastor Peter Hartig, \vho shepherds the local stronghold of
confession oriented Luth~ranislll.
The theme chosen for the 1968 assembly nras "l:e\.cl;ltion-
Sc r i~ tu rc -~hurch" , because these kerr ~irords bcs t cxpresscd the areas
of concern and protest, in mhicl~ ' the c\~angJical groups, called
S a m ~ ~ ~ l l ~ l z ~ ~ l ~ , wished to offer testimonr to their churches. The
Purpose \$'as rather to offer such testimon\ than to i i ~ \ ~ i t e "nlodcnl"
theologians to a debate. (Such a debate 1;ild bccn hcld at Sittcnscl~
in October 1964 bct~vecn .II7altcr Kuenncth clnd Ernst F L I C ~ S 011 t l ~ ~ '
resurrection of Christ). It n-as exprcsced tba t tllc projected sssrmbly
be held without aut]lorilatio1l by tIic lcatlers of thc various
state-related church bodies, e\cn at the risk of their disfn\or-. It \\,as
~icrtz, ~011- tllerefore greatly appreciated that a Swedish bishop, Bo C'
salted to chair this ilsselllbly iind was active1~- interested.
T ~ c discussion at the plallning ~llcrting rojenlcd s o w of the
1"Ovocations which nloVctl the Germall a l l t l Scanclinavian theologian5
to undertake this couragcolls step. ;\lnollg tllcsc grn17nvtirm rrcril
1 )o l i t ic i~ in~ of tile churc]lcs, thC illflur~lcr of esistcntinlisol. the
toleration of r i ~ o d c r ~ ~ j ~ t ~ in the pulpits and in ccclesiasticnl 0ilicc~.
the efforts of church lca(lcrs to s;l\'e t l ~ c institiltion L'ro~u schisnl at
all costs, the r()lc as fllncti()~lnrjcs o f t11c pastor\ a ~ i c l ~~~~~~~~~s
(c\iclcnt in the clecisic)ns rcgordinp thc ordination of \ \ O I I I U ~ ) ~ 3 r d
the baleful i ~ l f l ~ ~ e ~ ~ ~ ~ of ;l prc\-ailillgll) nnodcrnistic unircrsih ~ h c -
ol()gJ . Silggeslions for olcrcomirlg thc-c conditions 1, crc alu) offered:
i~lf(jrn1a tion to tllc congrcSntiolls- pcrh;~lx in tllc fortn of P o d
catechisms, seminars for stlldcnts and incmbera still actire; wfiliccs of
relwnt;incc i l l conyreyaliolls; and tllr founding of their olrn
tllcological seminaries. Suc]l qnestio~ls as the creation of fret
churches and the ordillatjon of norncn ucre to be avoided at
coming ~ssell lbly. TIlc purposr should hc to unite the cr3ngr1ica1
1lloVc.cments and to prepare the rvay for organircd tcstim@n!'.
closillg 011 Sundas shoulcl hale tlic charactel- of a mission
fcstiral rat]lcr than that of a ser\,ice uilh IJol! C~)lllnlunion:
latter would r:lise the qllcsfion of open co~llmunion, \\hilt
\r.oulcl offcr the opporrunitr to heor norldnidc rcl)ortr the critical
situntion in the church. onc hu~~l l re t l and t ~ c n t r tlleoJo~ii'ns
br in\ ite(], of jrhonl it ,$.as hope(] that one thlril coul(1 fron1 l'lc I
Scandinavian countries, so that the Scandin;l\~ians \vould not be too
I I greatly outnumbered and appear as ;m csotic marginal illumination''
at the illceting in Germany.
I. Theological Consideratio\~s, February I 9 68
Lactherischer Rundblick (Oberursel) has reported extensively
on the meeting at Sittensen, as has Der Lrrtherancr of the Gerlllan
Lutheran Free Churches. The antithesis is to be seen primarily in
Lutherische Monatshefte (Hamburg). The ~ammlurrgen, repre-
senting Sweden, Norway, Denmark, IVest Berlin, and the various
Landeskirchcn of West Gernlanv arc recorded under their state-
ment below. Groups in ~ o l l a n d , ' France, and Austria were sympa-
thetic but not in attendance. T h e Lutheran Frec Churches in fel-
lowship with the Lutheran Church-hlissouri Synod were also repre-
sented.
Three morning scssions were devotecl to hearing essays, the
afternoons to discussion meetings of the theologians. Any report
on these essays must neccss;nily he sketchy, based on very brief con-
densations. The complete essays, pb l i shed by Pastor Peter Hartif9
edited by Pastor Hans-I.ut~ l'oetsch, are in c;lrly fall,
available from the Verlag~~emcinschaft R. Brockha~~s in \ITuppertal
and Stcltcn & Co., Bremen.
Sverrc Aalcn, the Oslo New 'I'estamc>nt scholar, lectured on
"The Iic\.clation of Christ and Scientific Research". He stated that
the revelation offercd in the person of Christ and in the Word of Holy
Scripti~rc must hc unrlcrstood as ;I supernatural reality; tha t man
dcccivcs himsclf if he believes that he can attain to the kllowledge
of objective t r ~ ~ t h h! the use of cerebration and rescarch, based
on rcasun and cxpcricncc alonc; therefore a historical-critical method
of research cannot Icad to an understantling of revelation u~l less it
is applied \vitllin tllc t'ramcn-ork of thc faith transmitted by the
cllurcll. Sccol:lr methods can ir used in problems of archeology a n d
gcogr;~ph?.. ctc.. as loner as thcy arc kept \vit]lin the bounds character- ? istic of thc auxiliar). sclcnccs.
\\'alter Kuenncth of Erlangcn presented the tllenlc, "Christol-
0 ~ 1 ;I I'roblcm 'Tod;nf". I-Ic cniphasizetl that the groond of f a i t h
lies P . X ~ ~ U holairlela. ill God's savillg acts. Faith is thus nourished by
an antccccle~lt c\ cnt, \vhicl~ prcdetenni i~c~ its content a n d is ade-
c~ufitc to it\ purpose. Faith rccogni~cs ~I ia t God has intervened
t11r011~11 Christ. ;I filct s~~bsta~l t ia t rd by the earthly witness given
by Christ. Cliristology is tllcreforc tbeoioRy, for thc encounter with
Christ is ,111 encounter \\.it11 God. Historical criticism i s able to
dctcrlnillc matters of factual cznctlless; beyond that i t cannot go.
-rhfi)log\' lllllst csprcss itself in lanouag conformable to the con ten t
c)f faith order to S ~ O \ Y the unit\, oT. and troth in Christology.
Tllc a~l'licalioll of COncc13ts fro111 pag;m ieligionS (Greek) or other
\ollrccs lnL1st be s~lbjcct to :I reintcrprctntion in with
'c'c.l'(:(l tllmlogl. If old theological tclms ;Ire cscllanged for n e w t o
b r i n ~ tl1vl11 illto corrc~pondanre \\.it11 contenlpornr\, language, thev
L
Evangelical Testimony at Sittensen 3 1
must always be capable of rctranslation into the NCW Testamen
witness. T h e possibility of a rational, empirical explanation of th
New Testament witness is not granted. The comn~ission of Mat tha
2 8 means that the content of the good news is to be nladc intclligibl
to the man of cverg age.
Martin Wittenberg of Neuendettelsau treated "Thc Relati01
between History and \Nor(l in the Old Tcstarnent". His epigrammati(
forlnulations, "IVord beconles historyw, an(] "Historv beconrs IVord"
do llot attain the same clarity by the other essayists. HI
stated "The Word is an effective, creative power; it not only an
nounces history but creates it. II7e kno\\r the authors, ~ 1 1 0 at tinle!
w o t e historin. The\l nlade the effort to relate that which had occur
red; but above all they strove to give a witness of the lirlin:: God
Thus have interpreted histor\, which brings us to the contfnlpor
"Y problenl. God is not only's snper-historical rcalitjr, the Old
Testament also expresses a bet~veen God and tllc jlrorld,
be twen God and people. . . E ~ l c ~ ~ l historiiln can describe the signifi-
cance of religion in history, but he cannot say that God iliakes histor\'
. . Problc~ns in the hisfor\ of Israel: sillcc the rc~or tcd facts
eraluations in part varv the books, ;I unified st;ltcm!nt can-
not always bc arrived i t . '\\Then history becainc l170rtl, it becanlc
i~ords, ' -)et they remain a syn~phon! i n the Old TCst~mL'nt." The
discussion ~horved that t]lose procll t nladc ;111 issue of taking the
Old Testament seriously. T]ley asked: does thr Holy Spirit work
through "fiction", sucI1 as the [1bra]lam storics h:lvt. hccn tlcclare(l b!.
critics? \Vhat is llleant by synlpl1ony of \.nrio~is thcd()gics in tllc
Old Testament?"
Joachi~ii Hcubach of I(ic] rc.ad an cssaj on "'The Spirit\\ rollght-
neus Historicit) of Holy Scriptureu. Hc stated tllnt c rcn thr
scientific study of the ScriptLlrcs call be rUcccssf~ll on]! llntlcr the
"~lidancc of the IIolrr Spirit; that the llistoricitr of God i n Scr ip t~~rc P
1s a realit\, r ~ h i c h h$torical research can pcrllips not at all pcrcci\.c.
for llistorical research is a hVothcsjs ;lnd n*orki nit11 hypoth~se~: that
it must not bc said that n.c cannot go d c g e r than hiatoricnl-critical
research; that the union of and distinctiolls bct\\.ccn s/?iritt(s
litters are annlogous to the (]octrinr of tllc t ~ s o rintrlrcs of Christ:
that the historicity anrl the SpiritrvroLlgJt rh:lr.~cIcr 01 Srripturc ~llust
seen together. '
D r . Hcubach clistingulshed four hinds of t i l t i o ~ of Scrip-
ture : 1 . the rcientific-exegctical. ?. t ] ~ ccluc,~tional. 3 . liturgical*
and 4. the private deI,otiollnl. The last, which incrcasingl) hccolnes
the center of illtercst, he slated, i the true startincl,oint f the
other kinds of Lltiliz;ltiun Scripture. From this i t bcconlo clear
that a proper of tile Spirit and of llistoricil! arc i r lse~2rabl~
(Schlntter) lvha tmnt ters is that tllc Hol>r Spirit is tllc Spirit of
the Scriptllrcs, not nlerdr a conlp]cmcn tar) cpistcmologic:~l
Our acccpt;lncc of scrif;turc i c truly o u r \ , but i \ hcn l r c "accept".
a p)\r.cr has lllac~e itself er idenc in I , < , r v h i t l l doe\ Jln[ llrqcccr1 fn)nl
US.
I