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By Daniel J. Lehmann
Words packed with meaning
Educational while understandable C
onstructive criticism is a good thing. It’s like editing. Even the editor needs an editor. During the six-plus years of serving this publication, perhaps the most consistent criticism encountered has been the charge that The Lutheran
is “too lightweight”—that is, there aren’t enough articles of substance, stories that challenge the reader to grow intellectually as well as spiritually. That’s why over the past few years the magazine has attempted to increase the flow of ideas and number of news articles that require more consideration than say the typical feature of ELCA members putting into practice the basics of their faith: spreading the good news, feeding the hungry, sheltering the poor and so on. We’ve expanded the amount of news stories carried each month and have used scholars such as Karl Donfried, whose articles on Paul kicked the content up a notch, to borrow a popular phrase. Perhaps most importantly, The Lutheran engaged the ELCA’s seminary presidents to shepherd a series focused on what one church leader termed “the base notes” of Lutheran theology. “Deeper understandings” (page 18) brings a monthly exploration of key church teachings in a bid to expand readers’ comprehension of what it means to be a Lutheran today. So when a pastor in Pennsylvania emailed to say that a member approached him for help with 15 words and phrases she culled from a recent issue, I paid attention. “They would have been quite at home on a seminary campus but in the context of lay readership were hopelessly inaccessible,” he wrote. As an alternative to simplifying the vocabulary, he suggested staying the
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course but printing “in each issue a glossary of the more complex terms so readers might gradually build a more robust theological vocabulary and still feel included and edified while that vocabulary is under construction.” Many “church” words contain powerful ideas that need to be unpacked so the deep well of Christian thought can be understood. So the magazine will take a crack at this constructive idea, either by immediately defining key words in the text of articles or publishing a standing glossary of words in each edition, perhaps at the end of the opening news pages. If we miss some or go overboard, let us know. On another matter, a few readers complained that The Lutheran lists suicides among causes of death for clergy under age 65 or who are still serving beyond that age. This is a policy inherited from previous editors and one that this editor endorses. Religious taboos about suicide fell away decades ago. The prob- lem remains for the broader understanding of mental illness and, when it tragically comes to pass, suicide. To be fair, the magazine’s advisory committee will be asked to review the entire obituary policy.
Many ‘church’ words contain powerful ideas that need to be unpacked so the deep well of Christian thought can be understood.
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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