Involvement in politics a 'high calling'
for Lutherans, Professor Timothy Wengert says

Professor Timothy J. Wengert (right), with Seminary President Philip D. W. Krey (left) and Dean J. Paul Rajashekar.

Listen to the inaugural address online: Introduction by President Krey and Address by Professor Wengert, Complete Introduction only Address only Requires free RealAudio player

Reformer, humanist and teacher Philip Melanchthon set an agenda for politicians of his sixteenth century day to view their work as magistrates as a genuine calling from God to inject honesty and justice into their efforts. "He saw it not as a secret Christian agenda but a stop sign useful for the protection" of others, said Professor Timothy J. Wengert April 16. The advice, not always popular in Melanchthon's day, can bear fruit to political practitioners in this day too, Wengert said.

Professor Wengert gave his remarks in delivering an inaugural address as the designee to be awarded this coming October the Ministerium of Pennsylvania Chair.

Wengert made the point that modern-day Lutherans are well-equipped "to engage and struggle in this world" and said that Americans are unique in that they enjoy a call "not only to be governed but also to govern." This reality represents, he said "a double calling, the highest, noblest calling" on a par with the calling to be a parent, a pastor, or the laity. Such a calling means at times governing with restraint and also doing the hard and dirty work of passing good laws to defend the weak and the poor.

Wengert spent considerable time in his remarks tracing the history and development of Melanchthon as a teacher, humanist, and man well-connected into the political life of his day. And he used that background to quell any possible misperception that Lutherans are supposed to be passive about politics, even though they may be experiencing a challenge to fully involve themselves into modern society's political mainstream. Throughout his remarks, he sprinkled in anecdotes about the involvement of his father, Norman, and his grandfather in the unsettling and controversial social and environmental issues of their day, noting how their acts had inspired him as a teacher and pastor. He also alluded to eight previous occupants of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania Chair and their courage, including the Rev. Dr. John H. P. Reumann, professor emeritus, New Testament and Greek, who was there for the delivery of Wengert's address, and the Rev. Dr. O. Frederick Nolde. Nolde, Wengert said was "single-handedly responsible" for restoring a section on freedom of religion into the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.