that we can gift to our larger society. It encompasses our work, our families, our citizenship (how we make a difference in the public arena) and how we engage with the rest of the world. Vocation gives us a deep sense of God’s sustaining activity in the world. A sense of voca- tion challenges us with questions such as “Who benefits from our work?” and “Who is harmed by it?” A Gustavus Adolphus (St. Peter, Minn.) graduate, an ophthalmologist, told me that every morning he won- ders: “What is my vocation today? Will it be the way I talk with my staff or my patients?” Vocation has sometimes slipped from American church life, but ELCA colleges and universities are retrieving it and holding it up for celebration. ELCA colleges and universities are a setting in which
civil discourse can take place, trust can be built and we can find solutions to common problems. I think [this] comes from Luther’s heritage and his caution about claiming to know too much about God. On other cam- puses, there’s a tendency to overvalue discoveries and say we now understand genetics and other advances. But with every advance, we need to acknowledge what we don’t know or knowledge will become ideology [and] oppressive, demanding that everyone agree with it. Just because you have knowledge doesn’t mean you always know how to use it in a way that benefits society. We need wisdom with knowledge.
How is an ELCA college or university different from a school where decisional theology is taught? What does it mean to be a Lutheran institution when some other Christian universities understand themselves quite differently? In recent years a particular kind of Christianity in the U.S. has talked about the “Christian view.” That’s turned out to be counterproductive, as seen in the growing number of people unaffiliated with a faith group. If the Lutheran understanding of Christianity were better known, the word Christian wouldn’t be co- opted by a narrower, decision theology that says, “You need to have faith and then you will be saved.” Luther’s breakthrough was realizing that the bibli-
cal message is of a God who takes the initiative, repairs the broken relationships and comes to us where we are. What builds or repairs a relationship is unconditional, steadfast love. Faith comes later.
Over the years, some Lutheran schools have dropped “Lutheran” from their names. What is happening? I’m not a proponent of this. It’s better to reclaim the “Lutheran” and reinterpret it in a way that makes clear what we stand for as colleges.
When I visited California Lutheran University, Thou- sand Oaks, someone in charge of branding asked many questions about what it means to be Lutheran. There was no intention of changing the “Lutheran.” They simply wanted to know how they could help people in Califor- nia understand a word that means nothing to them. Fifty years ago, when I attended a college of the church (St. Olaf, Northfield, Minn.), there wasn’t a lot of talk about Lutheranism on campus because it could be assumed that nearly all of the students were Lutheran. Today Lutherans have to find words to express what we stand for and what we offer to the larger society. Every member of our church is called to clarify the treasures that we have as Lutherans. Lutheran colleges and universities can help you put those treasures into words so you can explain them to anyone and everyone.
Should we expect ELCA colleges to form new Lutherans? Should we measure them by numbers of Lutheran students or faculty? There is a tendency on the part of some to think col-
lege should be an enclave or protective environment. The Lutheran vision of college is more than that. ELCA colleges, for example, are going to push you to wrestle with the challenges of politics, economics and more while inviting you to explore and take faith seriously. To do that, we have conversations on campus with people of other faiths. We begin to see our own faith with a deeper appreciation and understanding. Colleges do help prepare people to be deeply thought- ful committed members of church councils, teachers of Sunday school and confirmation classes, and all those other roles. But the colleges are not Bible camps. I disagree with insisting that the health of the colleges depends on having a certain number of Lutherans in colleges. There do need to be Lutherans at Lutheran col- leges. But we need to shift our view from the people to the principles that make a Lutheran college work. At the same time, we do need to encourage young
people to go to ELCA colleges and universities. Pastors need to talk about the value of a Lutheran college. Peo- ple shouldn’t be put off by sticker shock because there is such a high amount of financial aid and many offer four- year guarantees.
And because of faith, often far deeper questions are being addressed at a Lutheran college than at a public university. Lutheran colleges are an excellent place to grow one’s faith.
Download a study guide for this article (free to print/Web members) at
www.thelutheran.org (click on “study guides”).
November 2013 49
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