New pencils and new Crayolas[R].

I write these words at the beginning of another academic year, and I am reminded of different times in my life and in society, when life was simpler, family resources quite limited, and the beginning of the "academic year" in first or second grade was marked by the newness and freshness--and affordableness--of pencils and Crayolas. A lot of "grades" have flown by in the nearly six decades since I forged those memories. This year I bought a new computer instead of the pencils and Crayolas to celebrate the new academic year. September still has that same old magic for me, as it did when Mrs. Colvin was my teacher and knickers my uniform.

Life really was probably not so simple then--people were searching for meaning and striving to be faithful then too, against all the odds. But it seems so much simpler. Back then we stood up to sing the "Battle Hymn of the Reformation." Today we stand up for all the hymns and wouldn't be caught dead talking about the "battle hymn" of the Reformation. Today we assess the positive--and negative--effects of the Reformation on women, discuss issues of sexuality unmentioned then (the fierce sexual debate then was about dancing!), and our country considers toppling militarily the leader of another sovereign state (World War II, at least in retrospect, was a lot simpler ethically).

The first four articles in this issue were delivered at a conference in Germany dealing with the impact of the Reformation on the role of women. Christian Albrecht shows how the role of women after the Reformation was enhanced by a changed legal concept of marriage. While the medieval church encouraged a form of marriage based on mutual consent, the church's stress on the superiority of the celibate life had a devaluating effect on the religious understanding of marriage. Luther argued that the marital relationship between a man and a woman was true chastity and of higher value than monastic asceticism, just as one's daily work represents true worship of God and was to be more highly valued than monastic life with its seclusion. The concept of marriage was grounded in the functions it fulfills; the sacramental view is replaced by a functional view. The pragmatic justification of marriage was to the advantage of those traditionally less privileged in marriage, namely, women.

Christoph Bultmann assesses what the Reformation had to contribute to the relationship of men and women by focusing on Luther's interpretation of Genesis 1-3. He notes that at one time Genesis was understood as the last word on when and how the world was made and on the relation of men and women. He notes that neither opinion should hold sway today. Luther's exegesis reduces woman's role to the bearing and raising of children, and he stresses explicitly the subordination of women in a way that is not counterbalanced even by the aspect of mutual love as it is in Ephesians. Luther's preoccupation with the problem of monastic vows and other similar issues of the day prevented him from fully realizing the consequences of what he himself pointed out in his exposition of passages like 1 Corinthians 7. Hence we need to move beyond Luther's own biased interpretation of Genesis to the biblical text itself to find a more wholesome picture of the role of sexuality in general and of women in particular.

Ute Mennecke-Haustein reviews the positions of Luther and Caritas Pirckheimer in the sixteenth century on why one should leave a convent or remain in a convent. A widow by the name of Ursula Tetzel tried to free her daughter Margarete from a convent where Caritas Pirckheimer was the abbess, and she eventually succeeded with the help of political authorities, who based their opinion on the fourth commandment--the daughter who was a nun should obey her mother. Luther argued that God gave humans an irresistible sexual drive in order to maintain the species and to subdue the flesh so that it does not "rage wherever and however it pleases." While Luther argued for freedom to get married, some of his followers concluded that marriage was an obligation--one ought to be married. Two kinds of freedom were at stake in the debate: freedom from sensuality through asceticism and freedom from the agonies of conscience through the discovery that one's natural condition of sexuality was in accordance with the will of the cre ator. Still, the aspect of personal freedom and self-determination was not what lay at the heart of the debate about life in a convent or in marriage. A number of feminist critics have called into question the idea that the Reformation contributed to the emancipation of women. For them the ideal of personal independence is not met by the Reformation's understanding of marriage. Is what we are doing now better than what they were doing then?

Andrea Schulte notes the importance of education in the program initiated by the Lutheran reformers. They stressed education so that people would better understand the faith, and the responsibility for education devolved on the home, the church, and the state. Luther advocated education for girls, at least in a limited fashion, since its purposes were limited to deepening in the faith and preparation for domestic activities. In his view only men should be offered higher education. Because of their education women in the Reformation era were active participants in the life of the church, including doctrinal debates. The heritage of an emphasis on education, however limited such education was for women, should motivate us to engage further in debates about the opportunities and limitations of education.

John Rollefson writes about the discussion on homosexuality in his congregation that has a special hermeneutical ecology because of the open presence of gays and lesbians in the congregation. He also believes that wisdom theology urges human beings to make ethical decisions by paying attention to science and human experiences. Our hearing of Scripture does not occur apart from our empirical location. Experience and other empirical realities are not separate sources of authority within the church, but they contribute to the creation of the hermeneutical lens. The author used this approach to discuss the Yahwist's version of creation in Genesis 2 in two small groups in his congregation, one heterosexual and one homosexual. Much of the focus was on Yahweh's judgment: "It is not good that the man should be alone." The article shares the wide-ranging thoughts evoked by this story, including the idea that on a university campus it's easier to be accepted as a lesbian than as a Christian. All this is related to a no vel by Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love, and the proposal that theological anthropology involves the personal stories of love and human relationships as experienced and interpreted in the light of Scripture's master story. Paul Lehmann wrote: "What the text says does not yet tell us what it teaches; that happens only when the text is perceived from some angle of vision." I suspect readers may struggle with the role played by experience in this article, and this struggle may be a worthwhile end in itself. As the ELCA continues the church-wide discussion of sexuality and homosexuality in the years ahead, Currents intends to publish a wide variety of views on all sides of this question.

David Berg preached a stirring sermon on the Beatitudes as he reflected on his visit by bus to an African village. He takes note of his "privileged" life and the generosity, hospitality, and celebration--amid indescribable poverty and hunger--of their Christian hosts. But to learn more about the mixture of haunting, unpleasant, and ugly images and images of unparalleled beauty and breathtaking greatness, you'll have to read the sermon.

At the height of the U. S. attack on Afghanistan, Jerry L. Schmalenberger sent in his reflections on stewardship--in the context of war. We do not actually own anything; we just look after it for the next generation. Rarely during warfare do we consider the stewardship of natural resources, human lives, social programs, and the cost to future generations. The stewardship implications are huge when we calculate in war's collateral damage for years to come.

This summer I visited my brother, nine years my elder and locked in the impenetrable darkness of Alzheimer's disease. No sentence he attempted made it clear through to a period at the end. He accepted my presence as if we were supposed to converse, but with no obvious indication that he knew at all who I was or even who he was. Life for him has become absolutely simple as it has become incredibly complicated for his spouse and family. Childhood delights in new pencils and new Crayolas are now tinged with sadness and the experience of the toughness of life, but bolstered nonetheless by our uncommon hope in the One who still promises to make all things new.