Glenn K Fluegge

What is theology? How is it related to personal faith and pastoral practice? How does one go about studying theology? This book explores how one prominent Lutheran theologian, Johann Gerhard (1582-1637), addressed these enduring questions at the beginning of the ‘Age of Orthodoxy’ during a time of tension between those who viewed theology as personal piety and those who considered it an academic discipline. This makes his understanding of theology rather insightful and quite unique. Fluegge closely examines a wide variety of Gerhard’s writings and proposes a more nuanced understanding of this important theologian’s transitional concept of theology and its connection to other aspects of life. Throughout one gains a deeper appreciation for this often neglected period of Christianity.

In sharp contrast with what are seen as the vibrant and creative years of the Reformation, the post-Reformation "Age of Orthodoxy" is often viewed as dead, rigid, and sterile and its theologians as overly concerned with dogmatic formulas and indifferent to the needs of the everyday parishioner. This study takes a new look at this often neglected "Age of Orthodoxy" by examining the homiletic advice of a Lutheran theologian by the name of Johann Gerhard (1582-1637). In his instructions on preaching, Gerhard makes it clear that a significant part of the preacher's (and theologian's) task is to apply Scripture to the needs of his parishioners using different "modes of application" - by instructing and reproving them toward the truth, by training and correcting them toward doing good, and by consoling them during adversity. In fact, interestingly, it seems that Gerhard's wide array of published writings can also be divided into these three "modes of application."  This means that Gerhard's multi-volume "Loci Theologici", often decried as tediously unconcerned with pastoral care, are actually "applications" of the scriptural texts written out of deep pastoral care and concern. Learning how one prominent post-Reformation theologian viewed the multi-faceted pastoral care of his ministry may lead us to reconsider the rather disparaging view that many have of this often overlooked "Age of Orthodoxy."

Christian Theology and Missions seem to have fallen apart in recent centuries. How can we bring the two back together again? In this essay I explore three different views of the relation between theology and missions - The eighteen century "Theory-Practice" solution, the seventeenth century "Theology as Praxis" solution, and Martin Luther's understanding of "Theology as Practical" in the sixteenth century. I contend that Luther's understanding of theology centered on the doctrine of justification is the best approach for bringing theology and missions back together. It is eminently and inherently missionary. My contribution is a chapter in the book: "Die einigende Mitte": Theologie in konfessioneller und ökumenischer Verantwortung.

How does one go about forming pastoral, missional leaders? That question is part of a larger ongoing conversation about the appropriate relation between theology and mission. In this article, I attempt to get at that question and add to the conversation. I do that by giving the reader a glimpse of how one pastoral education program—the Cross-cultural Ministry Center at Concordia University Irvine—strives to integrate theology and mission with the goal of forming what we often refer to as “missionary pastors.”

In what follows, I briefly describe the Cross-cultural Ministry Center, lay out the theoretical framework undergirding the curriculum, explain our educational model, and try to show how this plays out practically in our coursework and through the CMC missional vicarage (i.e., internship) experience. Then, two recent graduates of the Cross-cultural Ministry Center, Pastor Joel Rockemann and Pastor Carlos Velazquez, will offer personal reflections on their current ministries and describe how their time in the program helped prepare them for the mission contexts in which they now find themselves.

Online learning is not a culturally neutral form of learning, but, like any educational approach, has been and continues to be shaped by significant sociohistorical and cultural forces. Not just what is taught, but also the means by which it is taught - the technological medium of online education - is influenced by culture and should be adapted and adjusted accordingly. With illustrations and examples pulled from the author's experience of teaching theology to students from throughout Africa and the United States, this essay explores four "dimensions of culture" - collectivist versus individualist, high versus low power distance, high- versus low-context, and oral versus literate preference - and analyzes how students from more collectivistic, high power distance, high-context, and oral preference societies may be disadvantaged by commonly used and accepted approaches to online learning. It then offers some practical suggestions for adjusting online theological education to be more culturally responsive.

Johann Gerhard’s concept of theology lies between two ways of understanding theologia within Lutheranism. Both existed during Gerhard’s time, although one was waning while the other was waxing. The tension between these divergent views traces back to the rivalry between monastic and scholastic approaches to theological learning during and even before the Reformation and revolves around the disputed relation between spirituality (pietas) and erudition (eruditio). One’s position between these two conceptualizations of theologia could often be determined by one’s response to three questions: What is theology (theologia)? How are theology (theologia), faith (fides), and piety (pietas) related? And, how are the personal and professional orientations of theologia related? This study conducts a close linguistic analysis of Gerhard’s 1625 definition of theologia in its literary and historical contexts and concludes that, according to Gerhard, theologia is a God-given habitus that constitutes the “suitability” of the mind to understand the divine mysteries of Scripture and, as such, is part and parcel of the psychological faith event (fides), distinct from but inseparable phenomenologically from pietas, foundationally focused on personal faith edification and only secondarily oriented toward professional ministerial practice.

This study first traces the history of the term “contextualization.” It uncovers two underlying historical undercurrents that go back as far as the seventeenth century and then examines the theological agendas of those who first advocated the idea of “contextualization.” It concludes that dangers and cautions do indeed abound for the theologically conservative Christian. However, the study also makes the historical and theological case for the continued use of a more narrowly defined “contextualization" by underscoring the inherent translatability of the Christian faith and by focusing attention on the incarnation and the doctrine of justification as the foundation for a more conservative Lutheran approach to “contextualization.”

Some have described the Lutheran Church as a “sleeping giant.” The
implication would seem to be that the Lutheran Church is gigantic when it comes to theology but relatively inactive when it comes to missions. One could make a good case against the caricature itself, but the purpose of this essay is to ask a more fundamental question: Can this giant even sleep? I argue that it cannot and set out to develop a two-dimensional theology of missions as derived from the Lutheran Confessions that is categorically active and very much alive. It focuses on the mission of the Triune God (vertical dimension) which flows naturally into the mission of the Church (horizontal dimension).

This paper addresses the problem of the uncritical use of distance education strategies in theological education programs throughout the developing countries of Africa. Such a use of distance education ignores underlying historical and socio‐cultural differences between the educational situation in the United States and that in Africa. To address this problem, the paper first identifies and analyses certain major historical and socio‐cultural forces and trends that have shaped distance education in the United States. This is accomplished by means of a case study of Charles Wedemeyer and his influence on distance education. It then compares these forces and trends with those in developing African countries. It concludes that, when using distance education strategies, theological educators must critically take into consideration these fundamental differences and adapt distance education practices to the unique African context. Practical suggestions are then offered to aide the theological educator in responsibly implementing distance education in Africa.