“The Lutheran Hermeneutic: How It Shapes My Life and Ministry(Personal Observations and Reflections)”
Rev. Merlin Hoops

Some Preliminaries:

1. Thank you, Bishop Lohrmann and staff, for asking a retired clergy person to engage in a personal and general sharing.

2. Because of the nature of this paper, terms and descriptions will often be presented in a general way.

3. Krister Stendahl wrote an article on Biblical Theology (I.D.B.I., 429) which continues to set the stage for many of us. He refers to the “Perfect tense” element in Christian theology. As such, he writes, the Perfect tense element affirms the acts of God as unique in Christ and his apostles, but this element points toward the ongoing history of the theological existence of the church.

Thus far, preliminaries!

A dream of many years was fulfilled for me several weeks ago. It was fulfilled in that my wife and I, her two sisters and their husbands were able to spend a vacation in the Poconos. As anticipated, the leaves and hills were beautiful. Two side trips offered some surprises. One involved visiting Manhattan Island and the other a small assembly hall in Hamden, Connecticut (north of New Haven).

All of us had visited NYC at a prior time before 9/11. As many of you, we too had seen the plane crashes against the towers (on TV). But the personal visit offered a reality that seemed indescribable. Our guide must have been aware of the visit of first-time tourists. At any rate, she remained silent as we observed the devastation, read the list of the victims and mixed with the crowds. A large cross was still planted on a platform on the northeast side. It evidently had been used as a backdrop in a memorial service. How unexpected! Yet for Christian preachers, how appropriate. Here one is faced with the hermeneutical arch – an available gospel message and a vivid contact with the world. In my reflections, words such as evil, judgment, dialectic, diabolic and hatred came to mind. But the cross also brought forgiveness, justification, God’s love, mercy and grace. Right there, the evil of humanity and the need for and love exhibited in the crucifixion were very apparent.

The experience in Hamden was entirely different. This happened in the context of a visit with a relative. Our nephew by marriage is both a teacher and a carpenter. He is a good teacher but has made carpentry an art. During the visit, our niece showed us a lecturn or speaker’s table which her husband had completed. It was exquisite. What was surprising was the assembly hall in which it could be seen. The only hint that the hall was a church were the pews. No baptismal font was to be seen, no table, no choir chairs, no Bible and not even a cross.

Imagine! The 9/11 area with such total devastation featured a cross. A church, in a wealthy area, was crossless. In their own way, the exhibits both showed the need for a Lutheran hermeneutic – particularly justification by grace through faith. Both showed the need for a Lutheran emphasis in proclamation and life.

An emphasis on grace is central in the Lutheran hermeneutic. And why not?

• It affirms our Christian stance.
• It is central in our engagement with Scripture.
• It encourages a community in dialogue.

I. It affirms our Christian identity and stance.
Since my 9/11 and Hamden visit, I have paid close attention to what is conveyed by the very way we arrange the chancel and nave. Of course, I was interested before. In the parish of which I am a member, the font, the table, the pulpit and the cross are all positioned carefully. We thereby, upon entering, are reminded of the means of grace, the Word and Sacrament. These elements in turn help us to focus on passages such as Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 11, and 1 Corinthians 1:18. Even a pall over the casket at the time of a funeral draws attention to the centrality of grace, so essential to stance and identity.

For me and all of us, the cross and all that this entails is the one hope after 9/11. The creeds and (specifically Christian) hymns, which some contemporary worship leaders are wanting to discard, are a necessary part of the life we live. Justification by grace through faith enables us to focus on our ministry as a call, not just as a profession!

God chose to reconcile us while we were enemies, by the self-giving love of Christ on the cross. The way God relates to enemies is our model of reconciliation. Forgiveness, understanding and compassion are the marks of what it means to follow Jesus.

An example appears in the devotional book titled “Daily Reading from Spiritual Classics …” (p. 81): “After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was talking about being reconciled to the South. One of the members of his cabinet, Thaddeus Stevens, banged his fist on the table and said: ‘Mr. President, I think enemies are to be destroyed!’ Mr. Lincoln quietly responded, ‘Do I not destroy my enemy when I make him my friend?’”

II. The Lutheran hermeneutic incorporates a focus on grace.
This is evident in the Engagement with Scripture. That engagement involves both the personal and the corporate.

Joseph Sittler once shared this information regarding the personal [engagement], particularly with respect to the devotional and the matter of spirituality: Each person’s pilgrimage into a profounder spirituality is a highly personal matter. One cannot lay out a pilgrimage for spirituality. These are models but one cannot teach that sort of thing. Thus far Sittler. Models of using Scripture for our lives vary greatly as we all know. Those who follow a scheduled routine have provided the most useful models for me.

In our teaching, my colleagues (and I earlier) shared a design in our New Testament Introductory courses. It has been identified as a hermeneutical or interpretive arch. It was not unique to our department or seminary but shared with the student as a service and reminder.

The existence of some sort of graph is a continuing reminder that there are struggles in presenting a correct interpretation. A graph or design is also a reminder that the struggle did not begin in Cambridge nor in Chicago in the 19th and 20th century. I did not begin in the Reformation period, in Marburg or Basel. It began rather in Antioch, Alexandria, Caesarea and Constantinople. In a way, it began before the 2nd and 3rd century, C.E. Conflicts are apparent when we read about Jerusalem, Antioch and Galatia. Through the centuries we seem to have had the problem of finding a method that does justice to honest critical scholarship and to an apprehension of the Bible as the Word of God.

The design we use, or the graph we suggest, has a contemporary foundation in the studies offered by a contingent of World Council of Churches representatives in 1947. Here scholars (including Lutherans) offered basic principles of interpretation which continue to receive recognition. A listing of a few presuppositions will have to suffice for showing the mood and flow (cf. “Biblical Authority for Today,” p. 241):

• It is agreed that the Bible is our starting point, for there God’s Word confronts us.
• It is agreed that the primary message of the Bible concerns God’s gracious and redemptive activity for saving of sinful humanity that God might create in Jesus Christ a people for God’s self. (Note – attempt at providing inclusive language is mine)
• It is agreed that the starting point of the church’s interpretation lies with the redeemed community of which by faith one is a member.

Krister Stendahl clarified the matter in a later article on Interpretation (I.D.B.I.). He articulated a broad challenge when he used two expressions: “What Scripture meant” and “What it means.”

He suggested that scholars of varied backgrounds could be mutually engaged in the descriptive task (what the Scripture meant). All of us have thus been engaged. The “what it means today” referred to by some as the hermeneutical aspect seems more narrowly conceived. Engaging in the descriptive task does not then automatically resolve the challenge of proclaiming the meaning in every age.

The “what it means today” has surely led to messages of grace when dealing with a lectionary text. I would suggest that the pastors have been faithful and responsible. But the wrestling with specific issues in our lives and that thrown to us by the world has led to considerable frustrations. All of us have repeatedly been humbled. Note what we face

• The Bible is God’s story but it is easy to make it a rule book.
• No “final” framework is available in making the Bible contemporary.

The Lutheran hermeneutic encourages a community to dialogue.
In our age dialogue seems to be a difficult venture in which to engage. “Dialogue,” of course, is given a breadth of meaning in a latest college dictionary. Two definitions can be used here:

• An exchange, idea or opinion
• A discussion between representatives of parties to a conflict that is aimed at resolution

Dialogue is difficult in our age Why? One radio commentator has said recently that it is difficult because our age has reached “the High Tide of Particularity.” Whatever his total meaning, he surely intended to refer to “one-issue people.” Andy Rooney, in his commentary on Nov. 9 (“Sixty Minutes”), spoke of the varied reactions which he received from listeners. Some, he said, accused him of being a conservative and others of his being a liberal. In offering a response and a conclusion, he said, “I am actually all over the road,” neither Republican nor Democrat.

The phrase “High Tide of Particularity” is surely an apt description of our culture. May it not also be a description of how culture has invaded our Christian community? If you have doubts, read the letters to the editor of The Lutheran [magazine] or the editor of the Biblical Archaeological Review.

What does all this mean for our situation today? Should we not all be prepared at times to be “all over the road”? Should we not be prepared to re-analyze our positions when we are humbled by our unsuccessful wrestling?

Before beginning this paper of reflections and observations, I used the opportunity to read Galatians, Ephesians, I Peter and the Corinthian Correspondence. For all their differences, once again I saw the emphasis on grace. In I Corinthians, Paul deals with societal and community problems. Again and again, he challenges the reader with such a question as: Does what you are doing BUILD UP the Community? His treatment of glossolalia may well be one exhibit. He offers a very balanced approach in analyzing the use of this gift. That balance is already apparent when one asks two questions:

• What are the positives which one can state about this gift and its use?
• What are the negatives when the gift is misused?

Critical questions lead to a new balance and a clearer understanding of context. Paul never allows the Corinthians to forget the community and responsibilities therein. Such insights given us by Paul will surely lead to joy and satisfaction in our relationships and to an appreciation of dialogue in our communities touched by grace.

I am nearly finished with this paper which is to share observations and reflections. Hang on. We are nearly finished.

A few years ago a staff worker involved in the Franklin Program for the Retarded asked me about my church affiliation. I mentioned that I was Lutheran. She immediately responded: “I do not know much about Lutheranism but I do know about its central focus on the Grace of God.”

Grace is central for us, even in our hermeneutics. With such a focus on grace, we want to live as those “grace-filled” and as those who always desire to build up the community.

Permit me to conclude with final questions and a prayer.

1. Societal and ethical problems in our age often seem to lead to general disagreements. Can we disagree and still “build up”?

2. As grace-filled pastors, may we support each other when we disagree?

3. Does our grace stance lead to prayers for our brothers and sisters said to be “all over the road”?

Let us pray: Almighty God, draw our hearts to you, guide our minds, fill our imaginations, control our wills, so that we may be wholly yours. Use us as you will, always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (LBW, P. 47)