Good guys and bad guys

Are Lutherans the good guys and Pentecostals the bad guys? This was one of the question that were posed at the defence of a thesis at Uppsala University on Friday morning. A friend and colleague, Johannes Habib Zeiler, defended his doctoral thesis:

Crafting Lutheran Pastors in Tanzania. Perceptions of Theological Education and Formation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania

It was an interesting two hours conversation, mainly between the respondent (Johannes) and the opponent (Prof. Knut Holter, University of Stavanger).

The opponent began by giving an overview of the thesis and made sure that the respondent accepted his rendering. Johannes did and said:

It is obvious that we have read the same book.

After that the opponent said he would now change attitude. He revealed that he was equipped with a sledgehammer. He was prepared to use it if he found any cracks in the reasoning in the thesis. He could even consider making cracks in the construction himself. Of course the respondent and the audience laughed but I could also feel a sense of anxiety in the room.

After almost 1½ hour the opponent stood up and concluded that the thesis
in deed was a good piece of academic work.

After almost one and a half hour we were, however, relieved. Johannes was calm and relaxed throughout the disputation and gave good answers to the opponent. Johannes also admitted that he could have done things differently. (As a respondent you must show some humility).

Let me point out a few things that struck me. Johannes has conducted interviews with lecturers at Tumaini University Makumira, where Lutheran Pastors in Tanzania get there education. He has also interviewed a number of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In order to get access to these informants he has made use of his contacts. He has met them both as a scholar and as a Lutheran Pastor from Church of Sweden. It has been important to build good relationships with them. This could however have interfered with his ambition to act critically, as a scholar. On the other hand, if he had not done this, he might have come across problems in even getting to talk with them. The opponent and some of the members of the committee, who ultimately would decide whether or not the thesis would be approved, raised some concern on this point. Johannes should have asked more critical questions and not relied on the informants so much. One of the committee members, Professor Eila Helander, University of Helsinki, also asked about the set of questions that Johannes had used in the interviews. They were nowhere to find in the thesis. Of course she was right, it would have been interesting to see them.

Another committee member, Professor Joram Tarusarira, University of Groningen, asked about the role of traditional African religion in the context of formation of Pastors. This could also have been interesting to find out. My remaining question is whether or not Johannes had asked the informants of this connection. It was obvious that they did not take up this issue on their own. Traditional belief systems probably play an important role. But again, how can you as a scholar get information about this if the informants don’t speak about it themselves? (I need to admit that I have no experience when it comes to interviews. I have mainly worked with written texts.)

What about the Pentecostals? If I understood the conversation correctly this is one of the finding in the thesis. Those who are responsible for the formation of Pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania regard Pentecostalism as a threat. They want to safeguard the Lutheran identity from to many charismatic influence. These influences also come from within the Church. Johannes states:

This study shows that the informants are constantly negotiating and wrestling with the influx of ideas and practices from the ‘inside’, i.e. from dynamic Lutheran pastors in charge of charismatic and flourishing congregations across the country (Zeiler 2018:193).

To me it is clear that we face similar challenges at the Church of Sweden Institute for Pastoral Education. There is a conversation about our own chapel life and our different forms of worship, such as folk church inspired, low-church, high-church, charismatic and many other forms. If I as a teacher find that students prefer a more charismatic worshipping style, do I welcome that? Do I try to “craft” that student in a different way? Does our new Altar Book allow a charismatic liturgy and accommodate Pentecostal influences?

Johannes is coming to us in a few weeks’ time as a guest lecturer. He is going to teach about Ecumenism. I think I will ask some of these questions to him during that lecture.