Seminary Dean J. Paul Rajashekar answering questions during his opening convocation in Benbow Hall of the Brossman Center.

Seminary dean opens academic year with thought-provoking convocation

J. Paul Rajashekar

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The Rev. Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar opened the 142nd academic year of The Lutheran T heological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) with a truly thought-provoking convocation. In his lecture, “Theology and Practices in the Global Church,” Seminary Dean Rajashekar identified several issues related to the rapidly growing changes impacting the expression of Christian faith in the ecumenical global community.

Dr. Rajashekar raised the challenge of globalization toward the expression of Christianity within the growing global consciousness. On a pragmatic level, LTSP addresses this concern as it provides learning for a wide range of students with many different cultural heritages, he said. In a new curriculum design, LTSP explores this expression of basic Christian faith in a world with a growing awareness of the changing economic, political and sociological dimensions represented in its student population. However, this is a microcosm. Addressing the global macrocosm issues is much more complex, he continued.

Dr. Rajashekar questioned how Lutherans ultimately communicate specific Lutheran expressions of Christian faith and remain faithful to what we believe at the same time. He suggested that perhaps our expression of Christian faith has been deformed by the consumer oriented, capitalist set of values in our culture. This orientation may have distorted a greater consciousness of what finally constitutes our world, he said. As a result, we have confused the essential expressions of Christian faith with our pragmatic cultural, political, and social values, he suggested.

Another concern Dr. Rajashekar raised was related to the styles of leadership and the exercise of power in our culture. In response to our faith, Christians simply impose our understanding of Christian faith upon other cultures, societies, and national bodies. Perhaps the process of globalization suggests we analyze our doctrines and expressions of faith more carefully, he said. This analysis may include engaging in meaningful dialogue with other cultures, societies and national entities to further the understanding of the Gospel in terms of others, he said.

According to Dr. Rajashekar, it’s not surprising that this thought raises alarmist responses from a variety of sources. Technology enables such dialogue to be spread globally almost instantaneously and the opportunity for profound growth exists. "Are we able to take advantage of this or do we use technology to impose belief and understanding globally?" he asked. The issue of the use of technology or dialogue includes issues related to human rights, economic changes and political influences.

Yet another concern Dr. Rajashekar raised has to do with the complexity of theological impact in a climate of dramatic change. Citing the development of Liberation Theology as an example, he suggested that local sociological and political ideology was co-opted by a particular expression of theology and ultimately used to challenge a capitalistic world-view.

"As an awareness of the global church grows, how might we avoid a limiting, paternalistic cultural impact on society?" Dr. Rajashekar asked. "How we understand and enable the differentiation in the global church is a complicated issue. How we recognize the changes as they occur and we avoid ignoring the existence and development of neo-culture and sub-cultures among various global populations is a very complex and important matter," he said.

Dr. Rajashekar continued, "Effectively understanding the differences in the ultimate expression of a global church is another very complicated issue. What defines the importance of the changes to be made? How do we recognize what makes up the changes? What finally defines the terminology and related meanings?"

Dean Rajashekar ended with a most profound question. "He suggested that the theological foundations of Christian faith as we know them are being challenged by the impact of globalization. In the beginning, Christianity included a global definition of our relationship with God. How then do we answer the questions raised by our changing global awareness and reality?"