6.5 Critical reflections on Luther‟s theology from a gendered perspective
6.5.2 Weaknesses of Luther’s theology
There are two weak points which can be identified in Luther‟s theology of care in relation to the bubonic plague. The first is Luther‟s usage of rude or abusive language in particular towards people who are already in a difficult situation. The second is his denial of women to the priesthood.
In terms of his harsh language, one example which can be cited is related to individuals who have stopped going to church but who expect the church services at their time of illness. Luther said:
A person who wants to live like a heathen or a dog and does not publicly repent should not expect us to administer the sacrament to him or have us count him a Christian. Let him die as he has lived because we shall not throw pearls before swine nor give to dogs what is holy. Sad to say, there are many churlish, hardened ruffians who do not care for their souls when they live or when they die. They simply lie down and die like unthinking hulks.623
623 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague,” p. 134.
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Generally, people living with HIV and AIDS are considered to be responsible for their situation. Although words such as those of Luther above may not be openly spoken, the prejudice against people living with HIV and AIDS is still evident among church leaders as they acknowledged themselves during the HIV and AIDS evaluation workshop held at the Mwangaza Teachers‟ Resource Centre in Arusha in 2003. Although these leaders fall outside the perimeters of this study, their views may well be representative of the attitude of other church leaders in the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. The leaders who were pastors, evangelists, parish workers and leaders of women‟s groups from local parishes pointed out that they began to visit PLWHA and their families only after attending an HIV and AIDS seminar organized by the Mwangaza Centre which reminded them of their responsibility to reach out to persons living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.624 This suggests that home visits, which are part of their pastoral ministry, had until then excluded PLWHA possibly because of the assumption that they were themselves responsible for their condition. It is then clear that HIV and AIDS education for church leaders is a vehicle to refute the concept that PLWHA are being punished by God for their promiscuous behaviour. The importance of educating church leaders on issues related to HIV and AIDS is also emphasized by Ezra Chitando who says: “One strategy to help the church break through this theological rigidity is to train and retrain its ministers in the area of HIV.”625 Regular HIV and AIDS seminars for church leaders are crucial in mitigating the negative perceptions associated with HIV and AIDS. If clergy are well informed about the pandemic, they have the potential to encourage their congregants in turn change their attitude towards PLWHA and become a welcoming and a caring community for HIV positive people.
Luther had also used harsh language regarding the infected persons who intentionally spread the pandemic to others as discussed above. He therefore expressed: “My advice is that if any such persons are discovered, the judge should take them by the ear and turn
624 Kari Hartwig, “Confronting Religion, AIDS and Gender in Tanzania: Church Leaders at the
Crossroads,” in Journal of Constructive Theology, 12, 2, (2006), p. 33.
625 Ezra Chitando, Living with Hope, African Churches and HIV/AIDS, Vol. 1, Geneva: WCC Publications, 2007, p. 24.
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them over to master jack, the hangman, as outright and deliberate murderers.”626 Luther had no mercy to those who did not have mercy to others. Their intention was to kill and they too were to be killed. “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Mat.5:38). In this view, Luther was too extreme and he was going contrary to the gospel of love and forgiveness.
Secondly, a great weakness of Luther‟s theology was his refusal to allow women access to the priesthood. Based on Scripture, Luther acknowledged that through baptism every Christian is commissioned to participate in God‟s mission by their witness and service (1 Pet. 2:9). However, Luther singled out the ministry of preaching the Word of God and the administering of the sacraments as tasks that could only be performed by males and thus denied women the opportunity to utilize their gifts. Luther‟s stance is based on two arguments. First, he argued that although every Christian has an equal share in the priesthood of all believers not everyone can be a teacher, a preacher or a counsellor.627 This is to say that an individual has certain skills but not others, and cannot therefore perform all the possible tasks. For this reason, there are professions which are, according to Luther, reserved or meant to be carried out by a specific gender only in spite of all humankind being one in Christ. In this case, pastoral ministry is regarded as a male profession, and women are excluded and assumed to be incapable because of their gender or their low status in society. This low status appears to be linked – both in African and Western thought – with women‟s biological make up. In other words, the ordained ministry is regarded as holy whereas women are considered by some to be unclean due to their biological nature628 and would therefore defile this holy ministry were they to take part in its administration.
Another argument made by Luther was that an individual cannot assume the office of a pastor without the call from a parish or congregation. Luther stated: “In a Christian community one should not “draw attention to himself” by assuming this office on his
626 Luther, “Whether one may flee from a deadly plague,” p. 132, 133. See also Luther, “Advice in Time of Epidemic and Famine,” p. 243.
627 George, Theology of the Reformers, p. 97.
628 Letty Russell, Church in the Round: Feminist Interpretation of the Church, Kentucky: John Knox Press, p. 1993, p. 142.
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own. Rather he should “let himself be called and chosen to preach and to teach in the place of and by the command of the others.”629 Luther made clear that it is the community of believers (the parish) which calls a person to serve in this position. For both Luther and the Catholics from whom he had split, this person must be a male. Even the language used by Luther specifies the pastor as male. If Luther was at all conscious of the possibility of including both genders in this ministry, he would have been the appropriate person to introduce this inclusiveness in the church as part of the Reformation that he initiated.
In relation to my study, I argue that it is crucial that more women become involved in pastoral ministry. Women‟s struggle to fight for their rights are relevant to Nunberger‟s argument that Christians have to confront issues that the Reformers and their descendants
“have never been aware of or that they have neglected.”630 The exclusion of women in the leadership of the church is one of those issues that have been ignored, as is evident in my study of the ELCT Northern Diocese which still has only 20 (7%) women clergy in the diocese. Although the struggle has begun, in that women are being ordained in the diocese, the pace is very slow and sometimes deliberate barriers are put in place, which continue to make it difficult for women to enter the ministry on a par with men. Feminists regard the exclusion of women in the church as contrary to the mission of God which focuses on bringing life, healing and freedom.631
Women form the majority of the church membership, and of those attending worship,632 and are also those disproportionately affected by HIV in Tanzania (see appendix 12).
Cuthbert Omari observes that in Tanzania there are men who oppose the involvement of women in leadership merely because they regard women‟s place to be in the home,
629 George, Theology of the Reformers, p. 97.
630 Nurnberger, Martin Luther’s message for us today, p. 148.
631 Sarojini Nadar, “On Being Church: African Women‟s Voices and Visions,” in Isabel Phiri and Sarojini Nadar (eds), On Being Church: African Women’s Voices and Visions, Geneva: WCC Publications, 2005, p.
19.
632 Oduyoye, Daughters of Anowa, p. 186. See also Janet Crawford and Michel Kinnamon, In God’s Image: Reflections on Identity, Human Wholeness and the Authority of Scripture, Geneva: WCC
Publications, 1983, p. 28. Mary Tororeiy, “Voices from the Periphery: Being Church as Women in Kenya,”
in Isabel Phiri and Sarojini Nadar (eds), On Being Church: African Women’s Voices and Visions, Geneva:
WCC Publications, 2005, p. 165.
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giving service but not leading.633 Given that the HIV and AIDS programmes are not sufficiently gendered, this suggests that perhaps an increase in the number of women in leadership positions could have an effect on the gender consciousness of the programmes, as women will be able to bring their issues to the table for discussion. The fact that Luther excluded women from the pastoral ministry was an indication that he intended them to carry forth the traditional roles assigned to them by society.