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Theological Travel Seminar
By John C. Holden

THE First "English Language" International Theological Seminar was held, June 7-28, 1969, in Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich. The purpose of the seminar was to provide another model for the continuing education of selected clergy and laymen: an international seminar in June, focusing on new trends in German theology, using the resources provided in several German theological faculties and lay academies, and conducted in the English language. The Second "English Language" International Theological Seminar was held, June 6-27, 1970, in Rome, Munich, and Hamburg. Although in June 1969, Roman Catholics led and participated in seminar sessions on a small scale, a conscious effort was made in 1970 to have an equal number of Protestants and Roman Catholics as seminar leaders and participants. The effort was successful.

Continuing adult education, or life-long education, is one of the most rapidly developing movements of our time. Recently, several travel seminars for ministers and others interested in religious and theological issues have appeared in various places and under various auspices. There are summer theological institutes in this country and abroad. The Oxford and Canterbury programs are well known. We include in this issue a descriptive commentary on the English Language Continental Seminars, conducted by John C. Holden, as an illustration of the kinds of opportunities now available. Dr. Holden is the Director of Westminster House, University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago, Ill. He holds the doctor's degree from the University of Hamburg, and he is associated with several medical groups interested in the emerging and complicated problems on the borderline between religion and ethics, on the one hand, and medicine and biomedical research, on the other.

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The Third "English Language" International Theological Seminar is scheduled to be held, June 12-July 3, 1971, in Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich.

There were several indications of need for these "English Language" seminars. For most Americans, the language barrier has proved to be a serious obstacle to a direct introduction into the theology and culture of another country. The seminars have sought to facilitate continuing theological education on an international scale by taking into consideration the linguistic limitations of busy professional people. Hence European professors and speakers were selected as seminar leaders only if they had a knowledge of English. Another need for these seminars is indicated by the fact that it is regarded as a serious deficiency in the modern professional community to lack educational experience on an international level. As the director of a Christian house of studies in the West Side Medical Center of Chicago, I have observed the frequency with which the most competent people in the medical and psychiatric professions seize opportunities for learning in an international context. American clergy and laymen should be exposed to the exchange of ideas with intelligent and responsible leaders abroad. The church is now confronted with many religious, social, and political problems that transcend national boundaries. It is therefore imperative for its professional and lay leaders to pool their international resources to attack those problems in the best possible ways. Closely related is a third indication of the need for these "English Language" seminars. The religious communities of Europe have experienced drastic political and social upheavals in the twentieth century. They are in a position to offer some criticism and support to American church leaders who are now in a time of crisis for themselves and in need of the theological insights of churches on other continents.

Members of the first seminar departed from New York by trans-Atlantic jet flight to Europe on Saturday, June 7, 1969. Some were accompanied by their families. It was a group of 80 persons from the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, with the diverse perspectives of theological students, pastors, campus ministers, college religion teachers, seminary professors, deans, church executives, publishers, and interested laymen. Arriving Sunday noon at Hamburg, they were greeted by Helmut Thielicke and his gracious wife, along with other German friends whom I have known since student years

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at Tübingen and Hamburg. After the long overnight journey the members of the group were ready to retire to their hotel rooms for rest.

The first session of the three-week seminar began Monday morning at the Martin Luther King House, the new Protestant student center of the University of Hamburg, which was dedicated during the course of the week with two black clergymen from the seminar participating in the ceremonies at the request of the university pastors and some university students. Hans Jochen Margull, dean of the Protestant Faculty of Theology of the University of Hamburg, opened up the discussion with some observations on the German university in transition. Hamburg had become a major center of European student revolt. The Protestant university pastor, Hans Pfeifer, who had studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, chose as the topic of his afternoon seminar the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the abolition of religion. In the evening, a student of drama at the university, Berthold Thielicke, and other friends guided interested members of the group through notorious St. Pauli, where they danced to German music and visited a psychedelic cafe popular with the students.

Professor of church history and the history of dogma, Bernhard Lohse, stimulated the group the following morning to a discussion of main trends in Reformation research. Lohse, who has taught at Yale and genuinely enjoys the company of Americans, joined the group for a tour of the city in the afternoon, pointing out many interesting things about the history of Hamburg and its difficulties during World War II bombing attacks. In the evening Germany's controversial newspaper king, Axel Springer, gave a buffet party in honor of the Americans who had come to Germany for continuing theological education. His representatives tried to explain Springer's point of view, against which many students had protested with violence. Two seminar sessions during the week in Hamburg were led by Helmut Thielicke on such subjects as the death of God theology and the theology of hope.

The seminar participants had an opportunity to meet with revolutionary students for discussion. This was organized by Hans Pfeifer and other members of the staff of the Protestant student center. Members of the seminar also visited local churches and talked with people from many different walks of life. And since Hamburg

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has one of the great operas of Europe, there was an evening at the opera. Frau Thielicke invited the wives and children to her home for an afternoon tea. Some professors made themselves available to members of the seminar for private consultations, which proved especially valuable to those writing dissertations at home on some topic under discussion during the seminar period. Biblical studies also played a role in the seminar with Klaus Koch discussing recent directions in research on the prophets and Claus-Hunno Hunzinger on current problems in the interpretation of the synoptics. Professor of neurosurgery at the University of Hamburg, Rudolf Kautzky, an intelligent Roman Catholic layman who has given serious attention to the problems on the boundary of medicine and theology, charmed the group with his discussion of scientific progress and ethical problems in modern medicine. And Saturday evening the German professors invited the seminar participants and their families to a refreshing boat cruise on the Elbe.

On Monday the seminar group said farewell to Hamburg, catching a morning flight to Berlin where a second and different phase of this experience in continuing theological education began. Here the group was exposed to the thinking of several neo-Marxists willing to talk with Christian groups. Dieter Mende, who lectures at Berlin's Institute for Research in Education, discussed the economics of the German Democratic Republic, and the group visited the office of Senator König, who is the Senator of Economics, to learn something about the economics of West Berlin. Helmuth Fleischer of the Free University of Berlin, a student of Marxism who has published some important studies in his field of research, led a seminar on aspects of Marxism today. The group went to the Kirchliche Hochschule, where Martin Fischer, the founder of the institution, spoke about training for the ministry today.

At the invitation of the Bishop of Berlin-Brandenburg, the group met at the Evangelical or Protestant Konsistorium for refreshments one afternoon in Berlin. Bishop Scharf spoke on "The Church in West Berlin: Fortress or Bridge?" With the assistance of Winfried Maechler, director of the Evangelical Academy of West Berlin, and for a number of years pastor of Bonhoeffer's old church in London, members of the seminar went to East Berlin to talk with Elizabeth Adler, director of the Evangelical Academy of East Berlin, and several professors of theology at Humboldt University. I asked Eliza-

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beth Adler about the two men who had followed the group from the Friedrich Strasse station. We could observe them from the balcony, as they stood across the street from the door of the building. One could not be certain that they were secret police, but a nervousness did appear on the faces of our East German friends. At my request the visit to East Berlin also included discussion with the students and faculty of the Sprachenkonvikt, the underground theological seminary of East Berlin. Members of the seminar sat at Abendbrot with students who had spent two or more years in prison for their convictions. In West Berlin one seminar was led by Helmut Gollwitzer, professor of systematic theology at the Free University, on the revolt of the students. An American fraternal worker, Bob Starbuck, and others, discussed the ecumenical situation of East and West Berlin.

On Sunday the group took a morning flight to Munich, where the third week of the seminar was located. Professor of the science of mission and religion, Horst Bürkle, who had taught in Africa, explored the possibilities of an indigenous theology in Africa. Old Testament theology was represented by Klaus Baltzer, his topic being problems of the Decalogue, while New Testament theology had as its spokesman Leonhard Goppelt, who dealt with the social responsibility of the Christian according to the First Epistle of Peter. Jürgen Moltmann's seminar was concerned with problems of political theology, and Wolfhart Pannenberg's session was a discussion of theology and the kingdom of God. The social ethicist, Trutz Rendtorff, discussed human rights, and the church historian, Georg Kretschmar, examined the relation of church and state in Germany against the background of European church history. Christian faith and the understanding of the world came up for discussion in a seminar led by the young professor of systematic theology, Jörg Baur. A university pastor who has published many works on futurology, Reinhard Schmid, spoke about ideology and utopia. And the distinguished astrophysicist, Werner Heisenberg, talked with the group about the responsibility of the scientist in a nuclear age.

The Second International Theological Seminar was held, June 6-27, 1970, in Italy and Germany. The participants met with theologians in Rome, Munich, and Hamburg. In Rome such distinguished Roman Catholic theologians as Bernard Häring, Josef Fuchs, Charles Moeller, Roderick MacKenzie, and Max Zerwick led

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Seminars on the theology of protest, the possibility of Christian morality, theological problems after Vatican II, and recent developments in Catholic biblical studies. There was an audience with Pope Paul VI and many other events of special interest to church leaders. In Munich, Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians, J ürgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Heinrich Fries, and Johannes Gründel, discussed such issues as political theology, ecumenism, the foundations of moral theology, and the meaning of history for theology. In Hamburg the seminar encountered both outstanding theologians and creative experimenters in the ministry and mission of the church. Helmut Thielicke dealt with some basic problems of Protestant and Roman Catholic ethics. Gerard Pelletier and Denis Masurel of the Little Brothers of Jesus introduced the group to their charismatic ministry in Hamburg's St. Pauli district. The seminar also focused on recent European developments in the Christian-Marxist dialogue and Christian-Jewish relations.

The Third International Theological Seminar will be held, June 12-July 3, 1971, in Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich. Approximately one week will be spent in each German city with accommodations in local hotels. In Hamburg such distinguished theologians, philosophers, and scientists as Hans Bolewski, Klaus Koch, Bernhard Lohse, Hans Margull, and Helmut Thielicke will lead seminars on political theology, the social criticism of the prophets, the modern Catholic approach to the Reformation, theology and literature, comparative religion, and the theology of Teilhard de Chardin. In Berlin the seminar will focus on the dialogue between religion and medicine. Prominent German physicians, psychiatrists, and medical directors such as Hermann Domrich, Guido Groeger, K. W. Hommerich, and Rudolf Blomeyer will discuss such issues as the ambiguity of the hospital, theology and anthropology, psychological origins of disease, and Freudian psychology from a Christian perspective. Helmut Gollwitzer will deal with new questions in theology and sociology. In Munich the seminar will continue the emphasis upon interdisciplinary problems. Horst Bürkle, Jürgen Moltmann, and Wolfhart Pannenberg will direct seminars about religion and medicine, play and festivity, and the relevance of anthropology for theology. Klaus Baltzer and Leonhard Goppelt

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will offer seminars in biblical studies with special implications for contemporary social problems.

The Fourth "English Language" International Theological Seminar is already being planned. It is tentatively scheduled for June 10-July 1, 1972, in Rome, Geneva, and London. In Rome the seminar will focus on theology and the arts, in Geneva on the interdisciplinary problems of theology and law, and in London on the dialogue between religion and medicine.

Individuals who wish further information about the 1971 seminar should write immediately to the author at Westminster House, 729 South Paulina Street, Chicago, Illinois 60612. The deadline for registration is early May, 1971. Others who wish to receive information about the 1972 seminar should request to be placed on the mailing list for announcements of future seminars.