Being Promised and Boba Fett

Make sure and read all the way to the bottom, to see an exclusive video, Theology, Gift, Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite

An Interview With Professor Gregory Walter of St. Olaf College on his recent book, Being Promised: Theology, Gift, and Practice, in the Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age series)

1) You and I have talked about the process of writing theology, and your own development as a writer through this project. Tell me more about that, what you learned, how your sabbatical went, how you balance family and writing life, etc.

The background of the book:  I started this project in 2010 with a proposal to Eerdmans.  I had written some of the initial work that became chapter 2 that was reviewed as part of the book proposal.  I also had published an essay on Giorgio Agamben and political theology that supported part of chapter 3. The rest was unwritten and in draft format at the time.

I had already worked through a great deal of the anthropological and phenomenological material on the gift by the time of my 2011-2012 sabbatical. The really new material that I really enjoyed developing was the stuff on place in chapter 5.  I learned a lot studying phenomenological topology and was able to make sense of the late Heidegger a little bit more.  I had completely ignored Graham Harman’s development of the late Heidegger toward his object-oriented ontology and started thinking about connections of my work to that project only after I had finished the manuscript.  There’s a bit to work on there.  I’m amazed at how far I’ve come to only find myself staring Heidegger in the face once more.

I wrote the bulk of it during a sabbatical in the 2011-2012 school year; I finished revisions and submitted the final draft during June of 2012.  I spent the year writing on MWF and caring for our then one-year old son.  I knocked off work most of those days at 2pm and started at 830am.  For a while I had daily word quotas but that gave way to a steady rhythm.  I tried my best to write in such a way to integrate it in the rhythm of our family life.  I wouldn’t say that this balanced out all the time or that I was able to pull it off without any problems, but I’m glad I don’t have to go into hermit-in-the-woods mode to write.  I still do and still am glad. I think it has made me a much more economical writer.  I can’t really afford to wait around for inspiration.  I’m more like a hack than a genius, I guess.

2) What initially drew you to "gift" and "promise"? Having written this book, what are the next steps for you relative to gift and promise?

Promise is easy.  It’s such a basic category in the Bible and so central to the Lutheran tradition, the theological tradition to which I belong. 

Gift, however, was newer to me.  I first started reading about it in Robert W. Jenson’s Systematic Theology where he made an aside about the postmodern problem of whether the gift can be given.  I had long been a student of Jacques Derrida.  After that, the work of John Milbank and Jean-Luc Marion led me down the rabbit hole.  Marion and Derrida’s constant pressure on phenomenology to clarify its relationship between the given, givenness, and the gift was the soil in which I was nurtured as a student of phenomenology.  An abiding interest and a few writing projects where I used aspects of Axel Honneth’s work on recognition and Adorno’s negative dialectics reinforced my interest in the relationships between gift and practice.  Oswald Bayer’s writing on the “categorical gift” brought it all together for me, which, when pared with my work on promise in the Luther Renaissance, convinced me that promise was worth thinking about in the terms of gift-exchange.

I think I can do more with place and promise.  In the book I drew in outline the character of community and gift and the fourfold of Heidegger and non-human objects.  The fourfold that composes the thing has become very important in Graham Harman’s object-oriented ontology.  I have a monograph on sacramentology, community, and practice in the works. 

3) I understand that some people want you to translate this book into a more "practical" idiom. Yet one of the things I value most about our friendship and theological conversations is that you push me to consistently think theologically. What is it about remaining thorough-goingly theological, anyway?

I don’t really know how to do anything else! God help me!

4) God, being, phenomenon, promise. Help me think about these things a little bit more.

I think that phenomenology is a useful theological tool even though it isn’t something that is necessarily theological in its character.  In fact, it can be remarkably agnostic and even anti-theological in its employment. 

The use of this complex and sometimes technical approach called phenomenology, I think, can be easily felt in how we deal with God as each of us takes God to be good, kind, and so on, and whether that is really how God is.  This relationship between reality and appearance is also a form of the general modern problem where appearance eclipses reality.  What things seem to be is all we can have, never what they are.  That is, we have learned so much of how human culture, the mind, our bodies, and our histories actively shape the world around us when we perceive it that many of us are reluctant to say that what we perceive is in fact what things are.  And rightly so!  So much the more with God because we are willing to say that “God is thus-and-so to me” and refuse to say that whatever “God is to me” is how God is.  There’s more than just the triumph of appearance over reality, I think, especially when dealing with religious matters in the West because we are trained to hedge our bets on the way things are owing to our history of religious conflict and the privatization of religion.  These are good habits so far as they go but they are also habits that can keep us from holding that appearances might have something to do with what we think is appearing!

Phenomenology can help with this.  It’s not the only aid that can be found, but it goes pretty far because phenomenology started when Edmund Husserl developed and renewed some traditions with the slogan “to the things themselves!”  and “so much reduction, so much givenness.”

5) I understand you collect action figures. Can you talk about actions figures in terms of gift, theology, and promise?

Theology, Gift, Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite from Gregory Walter on Vimeo.

Other blogs on the blog tour:

http://sinibaldo.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/greg-walter-book-blog-tour-day-3-religious-consumerism-the-gift-economy/

http://pastorstephenschmidt.com

http://revdavidh.blogspot.com/2013/10/interview-gregory-walter-being-promised.html

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In a future post, I will respond to Greg's question for me: "What, if anything in the book is fruitful or demands a certain way of acting as a congregation or as a missional, evangelical pastor?"

Lutherans: Move Beyond Ethnic Enclaves or Die Out

The following chart shows how many ELCA congregations there are in each state. 25% of all ELCA congregations are in Minnesota and Pennsylvania. 40% of all ELCA congregations are in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin. To be clear, the population of those four states makes up 11% of the U.S. population. Which means 40% of our churches are strategically located to reach just 11% of U.S. citizens.

Another way of saying it is that 40% of our churches are located in 8% of these United States. I live in a state (Arkansas) with 21 ELCA congregations, which means we make up less than .5% of the population of our state, and there are vast regions of Arkansas where you might have to drive 50-100 miles (or more) to get to a church in our denomination. I enjoy being the leaven rather than the lump, but nevertheless our overall distribution as a denomination in a multi-cultural and diversifying and growing nation concerns me.

In some ways, this chart is not surprising. You could overlay it over a history of U.S. immigration in the 19th century and it's a close match. Scandinavians tended to move to Minnesota and Midwestern states where Lutherans are densest. German Lutherans settled in large numbers in Pennsylvania (as did Slovak and other Lutherans albeit in lesser numbers). 

Apparently, the difference is that Lutherans moved into their new ethnic enclaves in the United States and then stayed put. They neither developed strong regional or national missions, nor continued to migrate in significant numbers to other parts of the country. Nor did they do what evangelicals and Roman Catholics and Pentecostals have done much more successfully, which is become indigenous to our country and not tied to specific ethnic communities. 

I think this pattern is replicated by some other ethnic-centered denominations such as the Reformed and Moravians, but I haven't analyzed stats on those denominations.

I don't mean to say that every Lutheran has to move out of Pennsylvania and Minnesota in order to be in mission. God's Spirit calls some but not all to that kind of mission. But certainly I think God calls more of us than are currently taking up the call. 

I also don't mean that we can't connect with ethnic communities different from the ones we originated in only by moving. If you do ministry in any major urban center (or these days even a small town like Postville, Iowa) the opportunities from cross-cultural engagement are immense.

Another Crazy Idea: Orphan Trains

A friend who pastors Kaw Prairie Community Church near Kansas City, Missouri (68 ELCA congregations in MO, definitely more leaven than lump), had this crazy idea lately in our ELCA Clergy group below. I think he gets it at least in part from his engagement with Exponential, a group of evangelical church planters who often inspire their own members to move to new places in the country to which God is calling them to plant new congregations.

Kaw Prairie CC is a committed-to-growth, weekly-communing, contemporary, bi-denom congregation (ELCA and PC-USA). Our vision is "to be a disciple-making, reproducing [ie, satellite-planting] church where the passionate find their purpose, the struggling find support, and the skeptical find their Savior"….all the while having a vibe that’s "casual on the outside, serious on the inside, changing lives with Jesus' love."

Dan wrote: 

Seeing Clint Schnekloth's post on MN v. PA church density reminded me of a curious chapter of American history. Back in the mid-1800's a phenomenon called Orphan Trains carried trainloads of homeless, orphaned and abandoned children from big east coast cities for the west, to give those kids a chance to live and work with families on the prairie who had farms or future prospects but no or few children to help them get there.

I wonder whether there might be ELCA congregations around the country who might likewise prayerfully decide "to send their assets west" in a similar fashion. If there were healthy sister churches close by for their current worshipers to migrate to, struggling but faithful congregations could sell their assets and send them cross-country to more prospect-filled church-plants, or to growing churches with more vision than money. Like the heartbroken parents of the children who went west, who likely still had a holy consolation knowing the future could be brighter for their children somewhere far from home, faithful churches facing long odds could rejoice in knowing their trust in the Resurrection was sufficient to part with their treasure in a long-distance way. The difference would be now the sacrificing donor Christians could watch online as those assets took root and bore fruit in a more numerical way than even their faithful attempts at home could ever bring to bear.

Dan's idea is compelling and practical. I can imagine ELCA congregations also simply sending more of their own members out in mission to new locales, but the church is most church together when it shares not just people but also financial resources. Money is mission, there's no way around it.

For more crazy comments on why Lutherans are dying out, readers may also appreciate reading David Housholder's classic post, Lutherans Sterben Aus (Die Out): http://robinwoodchurch.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/the-lutherans-sterben-aus-die-out/

Preaching, Praying, and a Postmodern Advent

Looking ahead to Advent, I'm planning (based on input from our congregation on our spiritual needs) to preach a series on prayer. I plan to structure each sermon so there is Christocentric, eschatological proclamation for the day, followed by "activity," prayer practices that connect organically to the preaching and lectionary texts for the day.

Although I don't plan to make this an overt part of the sermon series, it is my "geek pastor" plan to have each sermon topic evoke the way specific philosophers would come at the concept of prayer. For example, John D. Caputo's recent work on a theology of "perhaps" is, according to him, about prayer. Similarly, Derrida emphasized frequently the impossibility of prayer even though it is necessary.

Or, there is D.Z. Philips classic work on prayer from a Wittgensteinian perspective (http://lib.free-college.org/view.php?id=542012

D.Z. Philip's The Concept of Prayer

). This and Caputo's books have inspired me to consider the untapped resources for deepening our prayer life based out of the philosophical tradition.

Similarly, I might take Enrique Dussel's Ethics of Liberation as a starting point for proclaiming Mary's song, because of the obvious connections.

I do not plan to offer a series of lectures on postmodern philosophy. That would be pedantic and daunting. Instead, I'm thinking of this as a way to riff off great thinkers in order to make new discoveries re: the very practical implications of prayer.

I think sometimes we approach prayer in too "pat" of a fashion. We think we know what prayer is, then we live into prayer based on what we think it is and signifies. This traps us, and stultifies our prayer. Coming at prayer from these outside resources can help us rediscover prayer as if for the first time, especially deepening our sense of how to "pray without ceasing."

And so on. What I wonder... have you read any books like Philip's that come at prayer from new perspectives? What do you recommend? What are the resources that have nourished your own life of prayer?

Random Pastor: What Goes Around Comes Around

Yesterday our Pastor of New Communities, Abigail Letsinger, was ordained at GPS Faith Community in Machesney Park, IL. Abigail recently graduated from Wartburg Seminary, and begins her work developing a second site of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, AR, later this month.

As the pastor of the community calling her, it was a privilege to travel and be present for this Spirit-filled event. I can still remember the power of many clergy laying hands on (and processing in red stoles) at my own ordination at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa ten years ago. The weight of all those hands was heavy on my head, but their presence and the gift of the Spirit has made the work of pastoral ministry a delight. Continuity in apostolic succession with those who have gone before in the proclamation of the gospel means much.

My former youth pastor, Michael Rinehart, now bishop of the Gulf-Coast Synod of the ELCA, flew up for my ordination at the last minute. He told me he just couldn't miss it. Similarly, there was no way I was going to miss participating in this ordination.

It's a long drive from Arkansas to northern Illinois, but it was totally worth it. Added bonus: it offered ample time for conversation, so it was a pleasure to drive up with Jody Dilday, a member of our congregation who served on Abigail's call committee, and the director of the Single Parent Scholarship Fund in NWA. There's really nothing like a long drive for faithful conversation. And lots of McDonalds.

On the left, holding the flashlight, is Rob James, pastor of GPS Faith Community; in the purple is the bishop of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod, Michael Girlinghouse; on the right, in the red pants, is Abigail's brother Christiaan, who serves as the lead musician at GPS; and preparing to kneel for her ordination is Abigail.

When we got to GPS, they were setting up for the service. The worship leaders were wearing the traditional red (albeit as pants). Most of the rest of the congregation was wearing leopard pattern. The tech crew was running the slides dress rehearsal style, and the band was warming up, when suddenly... no power. Fire trucks were working outside trying to regain power, but apparently that portion of Rockford lost electricity for the rest of the evening.

What this meant practically: we were no longer able to worship in the sanctuary, because it was already getting dark. GPS is a great community of faith, very flexible, and they clearly know how to roll with the punches. We quickly moved chairs out to the foyer, set up a worship space, and began the service.

The band rocked it with an acoustic set, the sun continued to set, we prayed, we heard a sermon from Abigail's internship supervisor, and by the time things were in place for the ordination, it was completely dark outside and inside. Here's the picture of the actual moment of ordination. The only light comes from a) Rob's flashlight, b) my iPhone, and c) a truck that pulled up to the windows of the foyer and left their headlights on.

After the service, many people commented on how powerful it was to gather in the dark of that foyer for the ordination. It certainly was memorable. It felt like camp. It was a blessed day, and I was honored to be a part of it, and look forward to Abigail's partnership in ministry with us here in Arkansas.

Bhutanese/Nepali Music Videos

However, this doesn't even begin to catalog the interesting developments of the day. On that long drive north, I received two important messages, one on Facebook and one by e-mail. The first message was from Govinda, a young man our congregation (East Koshkonong Lutheran) helped resettle as a refugee from Bhutan four years ago when we were still in Wisconsin. 

Govinda is a tremendously creative young man. He recently traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, to produce a music video for a musician friend of his. I can still remember how much Govinda wanted to get set up with a computer in their small apartment when they arrived here from Nepal. He spent a majority of his childhood in a refugee camp in Nepal, and has, since his migration here, done incredibly well in school,  in work, and more. Here's the video on Youtube:

Govinda is the young man in the video with the tall, bleached hair.

There's a lot I love about this video. It's great to see Govinda thriving and creating. It's even more fun that he produced the video in Des Moines, Iowa! Congrats, Govinda, and I hope to see many more videos from you in the future.

Copyediting

Finally, I received an e-mail from my copy editor at Fortress Press, and Mediating Faith: Faith Formation in a Trans-Media Erahas now gone live on Amazon.

I have some work to do. I now have the copyedited manuscript in my hands, and I need to get them back by the end of the month so they can typeset proofs.

Here's the fun part. My copy editor, Marissa Wold, was (back in the day) a youth at Peace Lutheran in Plymouth, MN, where I served as Director of Youth and Family Ministry. Who would have guess--those many years ago--that we would be working on a book together? In any event, I'm proud to say she is now the Senior Project Manager at Fortress Press.

So (hint hint), pre-order the book now if you have the chance. The link is below. What goes around comes around, so who knows what connections you ordering a copy of the book might make?