Marginal Readings of Bible Help Discern New Way of Being Church

Diversity in the Bible Is Great Treasure for Lutheran Communion

"In our day-to-day work of theologizing we hardly take seriously the concerns of our partners from different contexts," emphasized Dr Monica J.Melanchthon, professor at Gurukul Lutheran Theological College in Chennai, India, on 27 March in Augsburg, Germany. Speaking to some 120 participants at the Lutheran World Foundation (LWF) consultation "Theology in the Life of Lutheran Churches - Transformative Perspectives and Practices,"Melanchthon explored the topic "Marginal Readings: Implications for the Lutheran Communion."

"The first and foremost issue that is central to marginal readings of the Bible is the context of the interpreter,"Melanchthon claimed. "These readings challenge the community to discern a new way of being church," she added. It is important to realize that "theologians are called to see the revelation of God shining in the faces of others, those who are different."

How biblical theology can be made more relevant for the life of Lutheran churches all over the world was the issue taken up by Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the United Evangelical Mission (VEM) in Wuppertal, Germany, in a lecture on27 March. In Mwombeki's opinion, the hermeneutic of resonance is the best way of making biblical theology relevant worldwide. "But biblical theology can be relevant only if it is resonant with the text,with the confessions, with the aspirations and identity of the church as well as with the sociocultural situation of the readers," the Tanzanian theologian stated.

In a keynote lecture, Rev. Dr Dean Zweck from the Australian Lutheran College in Adelaide, Australia, asserted that "in thelight of the gospel, our theology and practice, our faith and life, can be deeply enriched and made more relevant as we hear one another interpret the Bible in our different contexts in the unique global communion of faith in which we as Lutherans belong." At the same time, Zweck insisted, this will mean encountering not only "affirmation and appropriation, but sometimes also refutation.

This calls for wisdom, for discerning what God wants to give us not only in God’s word, but also in God’s world." In her presentation on the topic "Diversity in the Bible as a model for Lutheran Hermeneutics," Dr Barbara Rossing from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Illinois, USA, argued that "diversity in the Bible is a great treasure that we very much need for mission and ministry today." Rossing stressed that "when responsible biblical scholars disagree" perhaps the crucial question was "whether and on what issues diversity must be church-dividing." She claimed that scholars "have not been persuasive in making the case that canonical diversity can be a blessing for people in the pews."

Over 120 theologians from more than 30 countries are taking part in the consultation "Theology in the Life of Lutheran Churches: Transformative Perspectives and Practices Today" in Augsburg,Germany, under the auspices of the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS). The 25 to 31 March meeting, held in collaboration with the Institute of Protestant Theology of the University of Augsburg, is the culmination of the DTS study program "Theology in the Life of the Church," which has been ongoing since 2004.