190 - Theological Table-Talk

Theological Table-Talk
By Seward Hiltner

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN HOLLAND

DURING the autumn semester, the first half of my sabbatical leave, I lived in the Netherlands in the village of Vleuten, a suburb of Utrecht. On each Monday before Christmas I taught two courses at the Rijksuniversiteit van Utrecht's theological faculty. One course was an introduction to pastoral care for students, and the other was for faculty members concerned with teaching the practical subjects and relating them to the others.

My courses were sponsored by the Katholieke Theologische Hoogschool Utrecht, the Catholic section of the newly merged Utrecht theological faculty. Although the merger is a reality, each group is permitted to offer some unique elements in the curriculum. Partly for that reason, but not entirely, all the faculty members who worked with me were Catholic, and all the students but one.

The merger, which began operation just as I arrived in September, is genuine. Large numbers of courses are taken by Catholics and the several kinds of Protestants who participated in the merger. Each group retains some freedom, especially in the introduction of its students to doctrine and the practical areas of ministry.

Before going to Holland I had heard of this union, and was impressed by the apparent maturity of ecumenism in Holland that could create a unified faculty crossing Catholic and Protestant lines. On arrival I found that some of my anticipation was well-founded. But I also discovered that the most powerful motive for merger was the offer by the Dutch government to pick up the tab. All the

Seward Hiltner, member of THEOLOGY TODAYS Editorial Council, is known for his extensive work in the field of pastoral counseling. The above article is a report on his recent sabbatical leave in Europe. Among his numerous publications, the most recent are Ferment in the Ministry (1969) and Pastoral Care in the Liberal Churches (1970), edited with James Luther Adams. A festschrift in his honor, The New Shape of Pastoral Theology (1969), was edited by William B. Oglesby. In addition to his regular teaching responsibilities at Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as Pastoral Consultant to Pastoral Psychology and is currently Edward F. Gallahue Consultant on Religion and Psychiatry, the Menninger Foundation.

191 - Theological Table-Talk

merging faculties. Catholic and Protestant, had found increasing difficulty in supporting themselves. Even the Reformed faculty, part of which had been previously supported by the state, was having trouble with the rest. So all agreed to go in, and the first result is that faculty salaries are taken care of with few exceptions. Generally speaking, the state leaves it up to the faculty and its constituent parts as to what is taught and how.

Elsewhere in Holland, state support for Reformed faculties has been the rule for a long time for most members. It is only rather recently that such support has been accorded to Catholic faculties. By now virtually all theological faculties in Dutch universities are state-financed. A relatively new Catholic faculty will receive government support next year. Some faculties remain Protestant and others Catholic, but in both instances there is an increasing trend to accept students from the other group as well as one's own.

A government document of 1970, compiled with the help of several theological faculty members, sets forth some guidelines for theological education. It recognizes the significance of learning about the Bible, the history of the church, doctrine and ethics, and the history of religions. But it also argues vigorously for instructing the student in understanding the world in which he is to minister. This latter section of the guidelines is being resisted by some faculty members, especially Protestants. To what extent the state will simply let its document remain as guidelines, or will seek to enforce the recommendation, remains to be seen. At the moment it is clearly hoping for voluntary compliance.

Now that it is supporting most theological education in Holland, the government thriftily wants to get its money's worth. Some pressure is being applied to all faculties to get students may (not all do so) begin theological studies immediately after high school or gymnasium, some might now be graduated as young as twenty-two. Rightly enough, most theological teachers question such a goal. To what extent they may have to conform to it is still unclear.

At the University of Leiden the pressure is especially strong. This Protestant theological faculty has the most favorable student-faculty ratio in Holland, and the government regards it as too favorable. The message seems to be: get more students, or shift

192 - Theological Table-Talk

your work so that you are making some unique contribution not made by other schools.

The government is also supporting many, if not most, of the creative experiments in theological education and continuing education. At Utrecht there is a continuing education program in which about forty priests and ministers at a time commit themselves to two days a week every fortnight for a period of two years. The course is imaginative, conducted primarily in small groups, and effective in relating theory and practice. The experimental urban training center in Rotterdam is also supported by the state through the University of Utrecht.

Whether independent or university-related, U. S. and Canadian theological schools are facing increasing financial problems even though most of them have doubled their budgets in the last ten or fifteen years. Unless church or other philanthropic sources move in during the next five years to close the gap between costs and income, there is likely to be severe financial crisis among even the best endowed schools. Whether it will come to requesting, or getting, government support some day remains to be seen. If it does, we can probably expect something similar to what is happening in Holland.

DUTCH PROTESTANTISM

Partly because I was occupied in teaching Catholic students and faculty members, I did not have the time to seek out Dutch Protestantism in activist fashion. My closest contacts were in theological education, where the conviction continues to prevail that the practical subjects should be taught, if at all, after the regular course and not during it. As already noted, the post-school courses are improving both in quantity and quality. But it is not clear that the churches are doing much to support them.

The largest Protestant group is of course the Hervormde Kerk, with a long history of special privilege. Within its membership there is a broad spectrum, all the way from very liberal to very conservative. As with churches in this country, inflation demands that a higher proportion of the gate receipts be devoted to the support of local churches, with less available for trans-parochial causes. Rightly or wrongly, I had some feeling that this church is a bit like

193 - Theological Table-Talk

an older woman who was once prestigious and wealthy, who is now living in semi-shabby gentility, and who pines secretly for the good old days instead of investing herself in her present surroundings. Since the church is far from broke or without influence, the analogy is too strong. But that is the direction.

The Gereformde Kerk is the smaller Reformed body that split off from the Hervormde group when it felt the latter was accommodating itself too much to the world. Small as it is, it has succeeded in maintaining influence out of proportion to its numbers by closing ranks and having a unified position. Founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, this group must now be having qualms as it witnesses the growing secularization of that university.

There are some other smaller Protestant groups, including Baptists, which have influence much beyond their numbers, especially the Mennonites and the Remonstrants. The Mennonites have always drawn heavily on the upper classes for their membership, and have never known any of the retreat postures adopted by some groups of U. S. Mennonites. A good proportion of the Remonstrant membership has also been upper class. Both groups seem relatively stable as to membership.

Political parties in Holland are closely allied with the churches. Even though the party names do not always reveal the truth, a Catholic voter ordinarily votes for the Catholic party. The group is now close to fifty per cent of the country's voters. The head of the party receiving the most votes becomes head of the government. But for his cabinet he selects -representatives from all the Verzuilingen, or "pillars," of the state. This group includes Catholics, Protestants, and the free-thinking pillar. All this procedure is done so carefully that it takes months to form a cabinet. Even the groups that are conservative religiously make few objections to the increasing social services and securities, and consequent high taxes, that Dutchmen pay. In Holland one never votes for a person, only for a party.

Like the Catholics, Protestants are now beginning to complain about reduced church attendance and participation. To my eye, however, this is much less marked than elsewhere on the European continent and in Great Britain. Further, both Protestants and Catholics have a remarkable built-in security for the future in terms of the ubiquity of tax-supported denominational elementary and secondary school systems. Almost everywhere, Protestant or

194 - Theological Table-Talk

Catholic parents can send their children to a school where they get competent religious instruction from kindergarten through high school. From all reports, a large proportion of these teachers of religion are well trained. So long as this system prevails, the Christian churches will continue as important forces in the life of the Netherlands.

DUTCH CATHOLICISM

Netherlands' Catholicism has been so widely reported in the press in recent years, often with an overtone as if it were about to break with Rome, that I must begin by noting the loyalty of Dutch Catholics to their church even though many of them hope that some things about it will be changed.

Some of the minor liberalizing tendencies are more overt or widespread in Holland than in the U. S. A., such as the wearing of neckties, the use of modern music in worship, or the selection of private living quarters by some priests as against the old monastery or monastic-type rectory. There are more religious than secular priests in Holland partly because the costs of education have been less for priests joining an order. Even these "order" priests now tend toward liberalism in such minor matters, although they may not in fact be minor in terms of a style of life or ability to reach the people.

The discussions about clerical celibacy, whether it should be enforced as at present or voluntary, still go on apace, but this is now not different from what is going on in our own country. Last year the Dutch bishops as a group issued a statement to the clergy, not forbidding such discussions but attempting to tone them down. In regard to counseling with parishioners about birth control, some priests take the same stand in regard to the responsibility of the individual conscience that a lot of priests also take here at home.

The big recent disagreement with Rome occurred while I was in Holland, and it had nothing to do with the touted issues of marriage of the clergy or contraception. The Pope appointed a new bishop of Rotterdam, a young man of thirty-eight, but reputed to be an archconservative with a poor record for working with colleagues. Exercise of the regular procedures had brought the names of three persons to the Vatican, the appointment of any one

195 - Theological Table-Talk

of whom would have been generally welcome. The Pope ignored the list. At once there was a lot of verbal protest. The cardinal was in a sense humiliated since all his channels had been by-passed, and a group of conservative Catholic laymen began to exult at the appointment, even going so far as to subsidize sky-writing in thanks to the Pope.

After a short while, however, it was decided to accept the appointment, since the consequences of not doing so would have been shattering. My understanding is, however, that what would normally have been the new bishop's staff resigned; and it is apparently up to him to see if he can find a staff who will work with him. Some are betting that he may get a staff but will be unable to hold it.

From a considerable number of priests both in orders and in dioceses, I have the impression that, for them, the most notable difference from U. S. Catholicism is the access they have to their bishops or superiors and the understanding they receive once they get there. Both bishops and heads of orders seem remarkably able to serve as pastors to their priests, along with their administrative responsibilities. Especially where this is so, the protests that priests make, while quite serious and critical, are not basically inimical to loyalty to the church.

If the Rotterdam appointment does not fail, and the Pope or his successors should name other new bishops of the same kind in due course, it is difficult to predict what might happen. If there is ever a collision course, it is likely to be on an issue of power like this, rather than around the various sex-related questions. The successor to Pope Paul will affect the Dutch church more than most others, whichever way it goes.

PASTORAL THEOLOGY IN EUROPE

Much of my attention during the trip was on the development of my own field on the continent and in the British Isles. Clearly both in clinical pastoral education and in theological school courses in pastoral theology and pastoral psychology, the greatest -recent advances have been made in Holland, despite its small size.

But I also found encouragement elsewhere. Germany has had a long history of concern for this field in the abstract, but programs are now underway there that give promise of eventually removing

196 - Theological Table-Talk

the gap between theory and practice. The first clinical pastoral education course in Germany was conducted last fall in Hanover by a supervisor who qualified in Holland. At the moment, Germans are better able to learn these things from Dutchmen than from Americans. In German eyes, the American movement is not sufficiently oriented in a theological direction. To my sorrow, I must admit that there is some truth in this critique.

In Catholic Belgium, long a source of progressive policies in Catholic theological education, I found some good men and programs, but an opaque reluctance on the part of theological faculties to acknowledge this field as a proper object of theological study.

In England, I visited two interesting programs at Birmingham and Oxford, and heard about others, of which there are few that compare with our many schools and centers in the U. S. Neither church nor state in Britain has money to support programs like those of clinical pastoral education. The training that clergy and students do get (except at Oxford and one or two other places) tends to be on a loose kind of social work model. I found that some Englishmen believe that we in America have become entrapped in a medical or psychiatric model for such education.

I did not get to France on this trip although I understand there is a clinical training center in Paris plus long-standing competent theoretical work by Catholics in this field. I did have short visits to Scandanavia and Italy, but in both instances the sight-seeing took precedence over professional contacts. So I have no report from there.

Except for Holland, where the American influence is thankfully acknowledged, I am impressed that Britain and the continental countries, even at the points where they begin to move in the direction we have pioneered, are reluctant to do anything that smells American. Some of this aversion may be a reflection of the place of the U. S. as a world power. But more of it is due, I think, to the fact that only afterthought attention to theology has been given by a large part of our otherwise excellent movement for pastoral theology and pastoral psychology in the U. S. The message seems clear. If we want them to look at our wares, we had better help pastoral psychology move toward becoming a true pastoral theology.