A tri-dimensional reality and symbol.

Jesus answered, "The first [commandment] is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord
our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength." The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself." (Mark 12:29-31 NRSV)

Is Lutheranism large enough to house more than one cultural tradition?
(1)

Motho ke motho ka batho babang [Southern Sotho, literally: A person is
only a person through other people]. (2)

Introduction

This essay, written in honor of Dr. Albert (Pete) Pero Jr., is grounded in the foundational biblical text of Mark 12:29-31. It uses a writing of Martin Luther King Jr. that speaks of the several dimensions of life in relationship. It ends with a quotation about teaching and offers some notes on the man honored in this issue of Currents.

The Measure of a Man, King's short yet potent volume, includes two essays that speak about relationships, both divine and human. From King's perspective, these relationships--founded upon Scripture--give us insight into the triadic nature of all of life. In the first essay, King raises the significant query "What is Man?" This article seems, among other things, to be the cryptic lens through which we can read the second essay.

That second piece of writing, "The Dimensions of a Complete Life," provides the skeleton for this paper. In it, King expands upon the tri-dimensional nature of a complete life. Here, while creatively using Rev 21:16, with its references to the "new Jerusalem" as a metaphor for life in all of its manifestations, King contends, "Life at its best is the life that is complete on all sides." (3) That is, life on an appropriate horizontal plane finds expression in two significant ways: apposite self-interest and other interest. The third factor in this complete life is, above all, a vertical interest.

Two observations surface: (1) that even as one listens to the words of Rev 21:16, thoughtful Christians equally hear the substratum words of Deut 6:4-6 and Lev 19:18 that are reflected in the above-cited text of Mark 12:29-31, and (2) that in this King essay, humans are encouraged to develop (a) the length of life, that is, a fitting maturity of one's own self; (b) the breadth of life, a vigorous concern for others; and (c) above all else, an ever-increasing dependence upon the height dimension of life--namely, the love and honor of God.

The words of 1 John 4:19, "We love because he first loved us" (NRSV), are ever fitting ones. These words prepare us to clearly and precisely hear and experience the words of Mark 12:29-31 and to receive the Spirit's prodding to move beyond confession to apt behavior.

Tri-dimensional relationships: biographical extracts

"A person is only a person through other people." (4)

Whether defining the word context, paying attention to its etymology, or seeking to understand it from a Christian perspective as revealed in the Bible, "we note that the Scriptures are contextual from beginning to end." (5) In a word, the gospel can never be appropriated ahistorically or aculturally! (6)

This functioning certainty about context did not escape the life experiences of Pero. On the contrary, this fact plays an irreplaceable role in sympathetic consideration of that which has contributed to the creation of the man who is currently an African American Lutheran Christian and who embodies in his person and vocation "dual ecclesial citizenship" (7) and a tri-dimensional mode of being.

Raised and nurtured with the songs of Zion, sensitized to proverbs that were often African in origin, alert to the witness and testimony that flowed from the mouths of his grandparents, parents, elders, and others--all of these gave the young Pero a sense of self, in relationship to God and others, within the African American experience. Most important, however, was the discernment that--in Christ--an African American hermeneutic was operative in these sundry experiences.

Even as the African American hermeneutic of the Christian faith and life experiences was demonstrably operative, it was equally apparent that a perspective beyond this indigenous community was fundamentally and decidedly unique to this Christian perspective. For, early in his life, the point of view that maintains a firm belief in "the parenthood of God and the kinship of all people" (8) was heard and experienced. Or, stated somewhat differently, a component of the community's witness and testimony is a self-identity that celebrates a concept of particularity and universality, in Jesus the Christ (Gal 3:25-28, Col 3:9-11).

Hence, his parents and other members of his extended family and community were proleptically sensitive to the Black Church and the world and exceedingly aware of the context in which their son--the yet to be Dr. Pero--would exercise his vocation. With the assistance of persons from the Lutheran Church, one of the ways in which he was prepared was through a more thorough investigation of and engagement with the thoughts and belief systems of European Americans as they understand and worship God. His indigenous experiences also carried paradigmatic implications for other communities of faith in their response to the gospel.

At this juncture, early flashes of the above-mentioned critical issues and lifelong concerns in Pero's life, thought, faith, and ministry appear in embryonic form. Creative tension from two seemingly disparate traditions of life provided him with the spiritual, academic, intellectual, and practical forum in which he could struggle continuously to reconcile his abiding sense of "twoness." (9) One needs only to follow discriminatingly Pero's historical progression and observe how the issues of relationships find manifestation by means of the self and others under God--a tri-dimensional reality--and play themselves out in a consistent mode in his life and in an interrelated world.

Throughout his life he has maintained the ongoing dialogue between thinking and acting in a holistic way. The commandment to love God speaks of the subject/object of Christian faith and response. That commandment also points to the necessity of loving God with one's mind. Christian behavior (ethics) is always manifested in a social context. Love for the neighbor, unconditionally, is love of God concretized! Behavior and thinking, then, are invariable declarations that edify or deny the context in both its immediate/indigenous expression and its global/universal reality.

It seems that the experience of growing up African American in a white world where it was assumed that "black folks had no rights that white folks were bound to respect" (10) gave shape to the theological challenge facing Professor Pero's way of being in this world. Furthermore, in a world where the church of which he was a part--the Lutheran Church--vigorously supported, defended, and embraced this fallacious way of being under God, underneath the banner of "separate but equal," provided the fertile fodder for his theological acumen, Christian reflection, and action.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A case in point is a social context of nearly forty years ago. The Detroit Rebellion of 1967 was a powerful reality with which African American and other communities had to wrestle. A meaningful voice for change, reason, justice, and love was heard in the city in the person of then Pastor Pero. It was also during this time and at the initiative and invitation of Pero that a group of four pan-Lutheran pastors came together to discuss the church's character, function, and responsibility in this troublesome situation and beyond. The group of young theologians gathered on a regular basis, at least weekly but usually three to four times a week. The question that occupied large segments of their time and challenged them was a relatively simple one: What does it mean for us and our posterity to be African American and Lutheran?

This powerful question, understood in the wake of Detroit, the group's own history, African Americans' current consciousness, and continuous encounters in the Lutheran Church is a profound theological question. It raises substantial issues related to how one should appropriate one's own culture as the gospel is affirmed. Beyond the immediacy of the moment, this question anticipated much of what would follow in this young scholar's ministry, both the teaching component and the element of praxis.

The question is not only for African Americans to consider. On the contrary, it is also paradigmatically and uniformly a question for all cultures that affirm the Lutheran Church's understanding of the gospel.

The cluster of Lutheran pastors in Detroit was not surprised when it learned of Pastor Pero's intention to pursue graduate work. As his late lifelong friend and colleague Will Herzfeld often stated, "Don't leave Pete alone for any length of time; that gives him additional time to think and makes more work for all of us." History has proven Herzfeld's perception to be not only insightful but accurate as well, for time apart became the prelude to major incursions in theological education and praxis.

For, whatever else graduate student Pero would focus upon, the Detroit group believed deeply that the question of the gospel's particularity and universality would never be far from the center of this scholar's mind, spirit, heart, and compassion. They believed that his future scholarly undertakings would corroborate their contention. How right they were!

Just as graduate school enlarged his parameters regarding the academy, his community of origin, holistic spirituality, creative scholarship, praxis, and the like, it also provided the opportunity to think anew relational thoughts and experiences. Graduate school provided a forum in which to reflect upon that ever-abiding paradigm of the African American Christian experience, that he knew so well, as a key to understanding other children of God in their specificity and catholicity.

When Dr. Pero emerged from graduate school and became a faculty member in the field of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, history was in the making. No Lutheran seminary in America had ever entrusted to an African American the teaching of Lutheran doctrine, especially to white students! Moreover, Lutheran seminaries, by their behavior, seemed content to maintain the status quo. On the other hand, African Americans seemed unwilling to undertake the rigorous academic schedule of study necessary to prepare them for this calling. Pero, in his faith response, had signaled the African American community that with God all things are possible, even becoming a systematic theologian. LSTC is to be acknowledged for its sojourn in faithfulness in this expression of the gospel.

Given the above, in the Pero pilgrimage, it would not be long before his "experimentation in the truth" regarding unity and diversity became existentially perceptible.

In 1981, remembering his history--the faith of the elders, female and male--and the evocative concern of Detroit, he found theological expression and "cultural resolution" in the Transcultural Seminar at LSTC as an expression of the gospel. Once again, it was his initiative and scholarly genius, in concert with others, that summoned this gathering of various cultures represented within the Lutheran Church. Furthermore, this assembly gave witness and testimony to the distinctiveness of each culture in Christ Jesus; yet, this gathering also affirmed the oneness we all have in him (John 17).

Dr. Pero is passionate about the body of Christ, the church, as well as about the world in its unity and diversity. This sums up his being and his theology.

Three years after the Transcultural Seminar, when the decree was issued to African American Christian theologians and scholars to reflect upon and speak theologically about divine and human relationships, Pero was there. He and other scholars present in Richmond, Virginia, December 14-15, 1984, addressed the topic "Toward a Common Expression of Faith: A Black North American Perspective." (11) Their quest was "in search of a common expression of the faith." (12) The context of more than two hundred years of black suffering, pain, and oppression--tempered by the gospel of Jesus the Christ--formed the panoramic landscape for their discussions. As they spoke, they articulated their reflections on behalf of the gospel, the Black Church--both those Christians who were historically separated from their white sisters and brothers and those black brothers and sisters who remained in white denominations. Therefore, their work spoke passionately about the "themes of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity of the Church of Jesus Christ." (13)

In his dual ecclesial citizenship, (14) Pero helped to provide meticulous and ongoing insight that permitted him and others to speak truth to the brothers and sisters with existential experience of theological uniqueness and universality.

History will reveal that this colloquium was crucial in that it anticipated by two years an event that gave expression to and about particular and catholic relationships. That subsequent conference was intra-Lutheran. This time, the mother continent of humankind, Africa, would make apparent the interconnectedness (unity) of the human family under God. This time, history's compulsory separation of the darker shaded brothers and sisters from each other would be bridged, redounding to the credit of the Lutheran Church.

The Harare, Zimbabwe, Conference of 1986 was historic. It was notable for several reasons: (1) it was the first gathering of Lutheran theologians of African descent and who were primarily from Africa and the United States; (2) these African and African American theologians collectively and fundamentally addressed Lutheran doctrine in its several dimensions; (3) these theologians also presented their own perspectives on ecumenism--a point of view that not only has been largely ignored by this church but also finds little if any embodiment in seminary curricula or congregational praxis. This stance on ecumenism was affirmed in the conference's "A Message from Harare by Black Lutherans":

Finally, we take issue with that European-American understanding of
Lutheranism that imposes upon black Lutheranism a culturally monolithic
expression of the tradition rather than culturally contextual and
diverse expressions of the tradition. We consider to be culturally
monolithic that approach to ecumenism which views it from the singular
perspective of creedal theology. While valuing an exploration of creedal
theology, our cultural experience and the biblical witness require us in
our ecumenical contacts with all Christians to raise the issue of ethics
or praxis in relationship to the concern for liberation, wholistically
understood." (15)

and (4) it would be the launching pad for the Conference of International Black Lutherans (CIBL).

The publication of the CIBL conference papers in a volume in 1988 gave witness and testimony about the necessity to contextualize the gospel within all cultures, when in the Preface to Theology and the Black Experience these penetrating words ensued:

"Following the example of Paul, the Church became Jewish with the Jewish
world and Greek with the Greek world. However, it has not become Asian
with the Asians, black with the blacks, Native American with the Native
Americans, Hispanic with the Hispanics. Viewed as a whole, the Church of
Jesus Christ has remained a European-American church." (16)

The persistent question that permeated the conference and challenged the conferees and the church of which they are members was that age-old question raised by Pero and Moyo, namely, "Is Lutheranism large enough to house more than one cultural tradition?" (17)

The profound question of Harare had scarcely been addressed when Pero moved on to another significant project. The city of Detroit beckoned again. Once again he found theological and practical reasons to demonstrate the holistic nature of theology; that is, lay people are never outside of the pale of the theological enterprise. Three years after the Harare Conference, in 1989, Pero, with assistance from the newly formed CIBL-US, inaugurated a theological education program in the Southeast Michigan Synod (Detroit) titled "Black/White/Black," referring to black communities, white pastors, and black mentors. This educational venture would in its initial phase last five years.

Too often seminaries of the ELCA do little to educate and train our white sisters and brothers for ministry in the urban context, especially where many persons of color live, not to mention those persons whose primary language is other than English. Furthermore, ELCA seminaries seemingly produce young theologians who often are capable only of ministry in a monocultural approach to the city and beyond. Pero was contending for a ministry that took the context and beyond seriously. This didactic effort involved a multitude of educational, theological, and ethical components. The syllabi of this effort included lectures from African and African American scholars, teaching locations in several places in the United States, an educational trip to several countries in the Motherland, and a covenantal agreement to implement in their own communities what had been learned. This phase was ultimately concluded with papers presented in a forum at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.

The second stage of the program founded by Pero and CIBL-US was the creation in 1997 of the Christian Lay Leadership Academy. Here again Pero's theological sharpness was apparent in his making clear that which often seems complex as such information moves from one culture to another. One of the lay students remarked, "Dr. Pero has that unique ability to make simple what often seems complex in one's initial investigation."

Many more pages could be written here, but let the following quotation sum up what Pero means to those who "know" him.

Being a teacher [theologian] refers less to one who gives answers and
expects conformity ... and more to one who is capable of providing
contexts and stimuli so each learner can discover for him or herself.
Such teachers are skillful intermediaries and guides in search for
meaning and self-understanding. Rather than creating followers or
imitators, their objective is to cultivate discoverers and seekers.
  One of the qualities that seem to characterize great teachers ... is
their willingness and capacity to go beyond given and inherited or
conditional boundaries. Part of their genius is to be able to see things
differently and act accordingly. (18)

This quotation seems to me to be both an apt description of and an appropriate way in which to celebrate Dr. Albert (Pete) Pero Jr. and his contributions to his community, church, ministry, the broader context, and to the vocation of teaching. His tri-dimensional way of being under God, with himself and others, indicates the stature and importance of this man. Moreover, the notion of Festschrift, a custom originating in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century to mark a festival occasion with a scholarly publication, is now being employed to honor an African American systematic theologian. How symbolic of his contributions to unity and diversity!

1. Theology and the Black Experience: The Lutheran Heritage Interpreted by African & African-American Theologians, ed. Albert Pero and Ambrose Moyo (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988), 9.

2. Allan Boesak, "An Ethic of Liberation for South Africa," in A Reader in African Christian Theology, New Edition, ed. John Parratt (London: SPCK, 1997), 127-28.

3. Martin Luther King Jr., The Measure of a Man (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2001, Facets Series reprint), 40. My review of this work appears in The Trinity Seminary Review (Columbus, Ohio), Winter/Spring 2004.

4. Boesak, "An Ethic of Liberation," 127-28.

5. Orlando Costas, Christ Outside the Gate: Mission Beyond Christendom (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1982), 4.

6. Alister E. McGrath, The Mystery of the Cross (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988), 180-86.

7. In the African American community, all African Americans historically are believed to be the responsibility of the church. Therefore, one is viewed as "a member" for whom the church has accountability. This is especially true at the time of a crisis or death.

8. Peter J. Paris, The Social Teachings of the Black Churches (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).

9. Theology and the Black Experience, 152.

10. Quoted in A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1996), 65.

11. Black Witness to the Apostolic Faith, ed. David T. Shannon and Gayrand S. Wilmore (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1985), 63.

12. Black Witness, 63.

13. Black Witness, 63, 64. It is of singular importance to be responsive to the very first conclusion of this document on p. 69. That conclusion gives witness and testimony--when speaking of Blacks in the Black Church--to acknowledge the presence of Blacks in black denominations as well as Blacks in white denominations.

14. See n. 7.

15. "Appendix: A Harare Message of Black Lutherans," in Theology and the Black Experience, 268.

16. Theology and the Black Experience, 9.

17. Theology and the Black Experience, 9.

18. Ronald L. Massanari, quoted in Vincent Harding, Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Movement (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990), 1.

Rudolph Featherstone

Trinity Lutheran Seminary Columbus, Ohio