Other new faculty appointments:
Wilda Gafney, Frederick H. Borsch

New professor urges church
to ‘reclaim’ global identity

Dr. H.S. Wilson believes the church has a wonderful opportunity to reclaim its global identity.

PHILADELPHIA (May 23, 2003) -- A newly appointed LTSP professor believes that Lutherans and other Christians have an exciting opportunity to refocus on being a global community.

"We’re in a time when people the world over are becoming more conscious of their diversities," says Dr. H.S. Wilson. On July 1, Dr. Wilson officially becomes the occupant of the new H. George Anderson Chair for Mission and Cultures at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. The primary focus of the new chair will be to help future leaders do ministry in growing multicultural contexts, especially in new immigrant communities. He’ll also direct the work of a new Multicultural Mission Resource Center at the seminary not only to benefit students, but also to support congregations by offering workshops on evangelism, outreach, leadership and other mission concerns.

For the past five years Dr. H.S. Wilson has served as the Wilhelm Loehe Associate Professor of World Mission at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA. Wilson has also directed that seminary’s Center for Global Theologies. His expertise is in world mission, global Christianity, gospel and cultures, ecumenism, world religions in the USA, and interfaith relations.

A native of India, Dr. Wilson grew up in a multi-religious context that has left him comfortable about dealing with inter-religious and ecumenical challenges. "Two movements are colliding that put pressure on us to think about what it is like to be part of a world community," he says. Those pressures are the crafting and imposition of a global economy and a networking of political alliances on the world scene. He notes that the complex religious landscape includes the "Abrahamic" faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – and also the Eastern traditions – including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. In addition, he says primal and "new religious" movements are claiming the loyalties of people. Some, he says, see the emerging influence of these religions together on the world scene as a threat. But Wilson sees the networking of them as an opportunity.

Wilson with daughter, Kaivalya, a nursing student, and spouse, Eva, a science teacher.

"I think our starting point needs to change from focusing on our differences to what we have in common in thinking about our different religious traditions," Wilson says. "It’s especially important for the people who belong to these different traditions to know that without exception the founders of these traditions were visionaries in discussing that the entire human community should celebrate what we have in common. If we are to talk meaningfully about pluralism in the world we need to recapture together what the pioneers of these traditions had to say about their vision for the grandeur of the human community, a grandeur that needs to manifest itself in our practices."

Wilson said that throughout his life in all his experiences of multi-religious situations, "I have not come across anyone who had a difficulty with the historic person of Jesus and what he stood for. The problem comes when those in the Christian community want to go with a single interpretation – that there is only one way to understand and follow Jesus – and that is their way." He said that within the wider Christian community believers have a difficult time completely comprehending Jesus across cultures and backgrounds and such influences as feminist interpretations. "The methods by which some Christian communities have practiced mission has led some to dismiss the Christian message as not relevant for today." He used an example where in some parts of Native America children were removed from their families and placed in boarding homes "to Christianize and civilize them."

Wilson adds that demographic changes in populations across the U.S. have led many to consider the growing sense of pluralism as a "threat. But I think the climate in the U.S. affords us a creative forum because many different parts of the world are being brought together to consider what it means to be in community that incorporates diversity. It’s a challenge to all Christian communities to be part of this context." Wilson said God’s intention is for "Us all to be a part of one Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. New disciples keep coming to our churches with new gifts, and it is a challenge to us to make appropriate use of those gifts. These gifts are all gifts of God and using them appropriately is part of being a universal church." He said that making appropriate use of such gifts "may call for a change in the existing community and may be found uncomfortable. However, such challenges have to be faced for the sake of the gospel."

Being open to the promptings of the spirit, to being shaped and reshaped by new opportunity is critical, he says. "It is irrelevant to think of today’s Christian church as part of a scene that is cast in stone, as being an unchanging blueprint," he says. "We must be rooted in the past appropriately and open to a new kind of future. We are intended to be part of a global community without any one religious, cultural or ethnic group dominating the others."

A challenge of the seminary’s new Multicultural Center will be to begin by listening, he said. "We want to make a survey of the multicultural realities and concerns that are part of Lutheran church life. We want to hear stories of accomplishments, struggles and aspirations. That way we can discover how to address matters and figure out the best kind of role for the seminary to play." He said the Center would first focus on Lutheran congregations, then expand to incorporate the issues of concern to Lutheran full communion partners, including the Episcopal and Reformed Churches. "Ultimately, we don’t want to be limited," Wilson says. "We are looking for a road map of faith."

Dr. H.S. Wilson is married and the father of two adult daughters. Eva, his spouse, is a science teacher. Daughter, Shruti, is a medical student at the University of Minnesota. Daughter Kaivalya is a nursing student soon to enter La Salle University. Dr. Wilson likes to be referred to as "H.S." rather than by his full name of Henry Steward Wilson.