public
adjective
of or concerning the people as a whole.
"public concern"
theology
noun
the study of the nature of God and religious belief.
I remember when I first began at LTSP as a full time student. Every first year student was obligated to take "Introduction to Public Theology" with JP. Professors and community leaders of interfaith organizations would come to our class to speak about specific topics. We had these obscure readings that caused classroom wide debates. By November we all were throwing up our hands in frustration. "What the hell is public theology? Why has no one given us an actual definition yet." We were tried and upset at what seemed like a pointless class. That was the same semester that Michael Brown's murderer was not indicted by the Ferguson Grand Jury. After the announcement I walked back to my apartment while four other seminarians sat on my couch talking at the news. I threw on my clergy shirt, my black dress suit, and my black Jordans with my red pastoral care book and took the train into the Center City where my skinfolk were protesting. That was public theology.
Public theology is the outward presentation of ones understanding of God. For me, I understand God to be with my people as we grieve our brothers and sisters being murdered by public servants. How I express that understanding is by being present as a reflection of the living Word. Public theology is the faithful commitments we keep to our neighbors like the Global Missions Unit of the ELCA. We as a church believe in enhancing the quality of life of all people therefore we fund doctors, nurses, seminary professors, teachers, and volunteers to accompany these neighbors. In its most simplest form, public theology is the religious version of actions speaking louder than words.
Two years after that class I am serving a church body that is in the process of a restructuring of sorts. I sat in a meeting of other pastors, vicars, youth, and lay people all present to discuss the línea estratégicas. We broke into small groups to discuss the first point:
- Ser iglesia de comunidades evangelizadas y evangelizadoras (to be church of evangelical communities and evangelical people)
Three pastors went back and forth for a few minutes about how to reach the youth. They spoke about their dying churches and how hard it was to do outreach. Everyone seemed to be on different pages. When I first arrived, I was introduced to a church here for the poor and disenfranchised. I was informed that this was a progressive church that advocated for the marginalized only to later find out there are not many diakonia outreach programs, the congregations are more commonly middle class, and we have not played a significant role in much of Argentine History. Yes this is a church of 30 congregations, and I was still surprised with how much more talk there was then action. (This is not to diminish the importance of the 6 schools of IELU and the few social welfare ministries in the country.) I finally asked the group,
"¿Que está nuestra teología pública como una iglesia?" and "¿Cómo nosotros expresamos nuestra fe y como nosotros mejorar?" "What is our public theology as a church? How do we express our faith and how do we improve?" There was a moment of silence followed by, "Did you say public theology? That is a great question. What is our public theology?"
The conversation continued with examples of public theology, references to the American church's role in the Underground Railroad, and a debate of how IELU can profess their public theology and who in the pews would be offended. I sat there thinking of Metro New York Synod's banner at the New York City Pride Parade in 2007 when I first attended. How happy I was to see my church at my event. This was the year after I began my discernment into ministry. I was reminded of how Advent Lutheran Church of Havertown goes to the train station to give ashes to commuters. Most distinctly, I thought of the second Saturday night of every month when St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Philadelphia drives the church van around Center City to hand out 100+ dinners to the homeless packaged with a bulletin. How fortunate have I been to grow up in a tradition where we are present where it is needed. The ELCA committed themselves to being active in mission both domestic and international. As much criticism as I give my dear church, they have a universal understanding of their Public Theology.
Being a guest at the IELU table has been informative and reflective. After small groups we came back together as a whole and shared notes. Every single group was different. One of my greatest take backs was a question Wil posed, "Do we want to be inclusive or integrative?" To include implies a dominant and a recessive, a norm and an other. There is power connected to the word inclusive. We have the ability to determine whether or not someone else can assimilate. That is not the role of the church. To integrate is to acknowledge there are multiple different and equal parties involved. Integration is intentional and cohesive. Although I will say as history has shown us, integration is often one sided. Whites did not start attending black schools, it was blacks that went to white schools. Gender neutral attire incorporates pants options but not skirt or dress options. When integration is in fact mutual, problems within the culture arises. Notice how our country flips out when automated messages of corporations say “press 1 for english.” Personally, I rather people be upset that pressing 1 is an option over a resource being inaccessible due to a language barrier in 2016. Maybe our public theology will reflect integration of all cultures whether it is baby boomers and millennials, european and pueblo originales, or traditional and modern styles of worship. That of course is not my call. I am merely a guest at the banquet, not the host.
I never thought public theology would be the tool I pull out of the shed during internship. Then again, I did not necessarily expect to be doing half the things I am doing this year. I am curious though where this understanding of public theology has taken my peers and students before me in their ministry. How many of us have taken this very vague model and applied it to our contexts where we serve today? Are we still trying to discern what Public Theology means to us? I hope we are all still playing with this subject. public theology, like most theologies, is ever growing and ever changing and also still relevant. We may not be harboring slaves across the Mason Dixon but there are congregations aiding refugees as they cross the border. We are still writing social statements to tell the world we do not support illegal settlements in Palestine or that we stand against mass incarceration. Public theology is all around us, some more obvious than others. I conclude with a question to the reader:
What is your public theology?
#ReclaimMissionary
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