Full Text for Confessions 1- Volume 64 - Do the Augsburg Confession, Apology, Smalcald Articles and treatise serve as a roadmap for ecumenical relationships today? (Video)

ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CUE NET CONFESSIONS CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK CONFESSION 1 QUESTION 64 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. 3238 Rose Street Franklin Park, IL 60131 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. *** >>Do the Augsburg Confession, Apology, Smalcald Articles and treatise serve as a roadmap for ecumenical relationships today? >>DR. CHARLES P. ARAND: I really like the question that you posed. Because I think at times within our Lutheran circles, we too often think about these confessional texts almost as abstract statements of doctrine apart from their historical context. And we can use them exclusively for the purpose of handing on the faith which isn't at all a bad purpose. But by losing sight of the historical context, we lose sight of the fact that these were produced in an ongoing conversation with one's opponents. The diet of Augsburg, the Lutherans and the Catholics are discussing and debating -- maybe not getting very far -- on issues of doctrine. And the Smalcald Articles are prepared for the purpose of going to the council. Indeed, Lutherans continue to debate with the Catholics and are trying to find some form of reconciliation some form of conciliation all through the 1530s up until 1542 and even a little ways after that. So the documents produced in the midst -- there are documents produced in the midst of conversation. I think that has a couple of ramifications for us. 1: It is important for our Lutheran confessions and should be for us today to be engaged in ecumenical conversation with others. If we aren't always as involved in an officially synodical level as we would like to be, we also have to recognize, though, that our people are engaged in ecumenical conversations each and every day. Whenever they engage in interdenominational Bible studies or prayer breakfasts, they are more likely than not engages in ecumenical conversation. And the question rises have we equipped them for that conversation? What are to be the goals and purpose of that conversation? Are they simply to say oh, well we say the same thing in a different way or yeah we disagree but that's okay or is it to convert them? You know, have we even thought about the purposes of such conversation. And then when we talk about it and how you go talking about it. I think the confessions particularly the Augustine Apology provide a good case study on how to go about that. For example, one begins by listening. Listening so that you'll understand the other side is accurately and as fairly as possible. Listening so you know the exact point of difference or the point of controversy between them. If you were to summarize the other person's position you could say yes, that's exactly what I am saying. By both sides doing this, one has the opportunity of removing caricatures and stereotypes and the like. One can also, see, especially in the Augsburg Confession an attempt to go as far as possible in extending the hand of fellowship as one can go. I can't say that it was really a negotiating document in the way that labor negotiations take place where one side makes a proposal way over here and the other side makes the proposal way over here. Where both sides recognize that they are going to probably meet somewhere in the middle. The Augsburg Confession is written in a very conciliatory fashion in such a way that in some respects I think Melanchthon almost hardens their minds because to borrow a line from the musical Oklahoma -- I'm dating myself but to borrow a line from Oklahoma in the Augsburg Confession you might say he's gone about as far as you can go. In other words, he's tried recasting or tried forming a Lutheran position as far as he can in reaching out to his opponents. But in doing so, he can't go any further. That's why I say, in some ways almost hardened. But by looking at the Augsburg Confession and in the computation and in the Apology, one can get a sense for how that dialogue took place. Sometimes there wasn't as congeal as we would prefer it today in the 21st century but you can still see how they argue and use the scripture and passages and the like. Finally, in terms of these texts being ecumenical, we should bear in mind, the Augsburg Confession was never intended to be simply and exclusively a Confession of the Lutheran church. The former Concord describes the Augsburg Confession as a creed for the entire Christian church to some extend the Lutheran proposal was to offer the Augsburg Confession as the next ecumenical creed. To that end, they sent a copy of it down to the patriarch of the eastern ortho docks church. For that end they shared it with John Calvin that agreed with a large portion of it, in fact, he subscribed to a 1540 slightly revised edition of the Augsburg Confession. It formed the foundation of the 39 articles at the ancient. It was very influential. Well, in many ways I think we need to take up that banner once again in our day and age to say we have something to offer the wider Christian church. Even as we need to listen to their critiques of us, we have something to offer that they need to hear. And they are the confessions. In particularly the Augsburg Apology and Smalcald Articles help us to identify what that is and how we go about expressing it.