对2021年1月6日事件的回应

亲爱的同学们、同事们:

1月6日, 2021 the world watched in horror as the Capitol of the United States of America was breached for only the second time in history. 这一次不是外国军队，而是我们自己的公民. This violent mob sought to undermine the constitutional duty of the Congress to count the Electoral College votes. This certification process is the final step in the ordinary peaceful transition of power of the world’s oldest democratic republic. 发生的事情是不可原谅的, and each individual who broke the solemn laws of the United States during this insurrectionist riot needs to be brought to justice.

美利坚合众国是一个法治国家. Each citizen is afforded the right to petition their representatives and the courts to bring grievances they seek to redress. The storming of the world’s greatest deliberative body for the purpose of stopping this certification, 不是通过请愿，而是通过暴力, tears deeply into the fabric of this nation that has been woven together, 唉，不总是完美的, 近250年来.

There were many arresting images from yesterday’s incursion—a Confederate Flag outside the Senate chambers, 戴着防毒面具的议员, Capitol Police with drawn weapons—but one image to my mind is the most arresting of all. A man dressed in tactical gear dangled from the balcony in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in front of the inscription of one of the two mottos found on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States: 上帝保佑吾人基业 他[上帝]喜欢[我们]的事业.”). 我猜, 根据罗马书第13章, that our Lord does not favor the undertakings that happened yesterday.

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther set off a catalytic reformation of western civilization. The principles of the Reformation transformed theology, education, economics, and politics. It has been argued many times that the Reformation birthed the very concepts that led to the Enlightenment which in turn provided the intellectual underpinnings of the American Revolution and the eventual drafting of the Constitution.

A key principle of the American political experiment is found in Luther’s writings. 解释圣经经文，如罗马书13章, Luther understood that civil government was a gift of God to be used as an instrument of peace. The duty of the government is to establish and maintain peace and to thwart evil to provide a setting for citizens to live out the commandment of our Lord: to love our neighbor. 这就完成了, 在某种程度上, 通过和平地生活, 体面的, 在临时政府的统治下, especially one that allows for the peaceful petitioning of grievances.

Our nation is deeply hurting and the social fabric is being str等hed thin. 我们目睹了这一大流行病的破坏, 种族正义运动的清算, 2020年大选季的苦涩, anarchy and irrational violence on the streets of many American cities, 等. As faculty, 工作人员, 以及欧文康考迪亚大学的学生, what should we do? 我们从这里往哪里走?

提示奥尼尔, 前美国众议院议长, 有句名言, “所有的政治都是地方性的.” I would encourage 欧文康考迪亚大学 to remember these words. While the challenges facing our nation seem overwhelming, the nation ultimately is us. 欧文康考迪亚大学 is a Lutheran Christian university that prepares wise, 可敬的, 有教养的公民. To this end, I commend this citizenry to live out our calling to love our neighbor as ourselves. But what does this mean concretely at this time of deep division and pain?

几年前，牧师. Dr. Chad Lakies and I drafted an intellectual and social contract that I want to commend to the faculty, 工作人员, 以及欧文康考迪亚大学的学生. It starts with a simple premise rooted in our Christian love and commitment to each other to engage in civil dialogue and is followed by a pledge of tenets. 我相信像这样的新人是有能力的, 如果我们共同致力于此, to offer healing in our community and a constructive path forward to address many grievances experienced even 在欧文的康考迪亚大学. 作为大使命大学, it is my hope that this spirit would in turn shine forth from this hill into our community, 状态, 和国家.

公民对话的智力和社会契约

在欧文的康考迪亚大学，我们思考和批判思想. 同时, we resist with fortitude the temptation to 批判 the people who adhere to those ideas. 为此，我们相互承诺如下:

1. 我们会仔细考虑, 讨论, 辩论, 批判, 并按照对真理的追求探索一切思想, 善, 美丽是为了我们邻居的幸福, which is a foundational characteristic of the Lutheran Intellectual Tradition.
2. We will remain open and honest in all inquiries and aware that we may shed our previous positions and assume new ideas.
3. 我们谦卑地对待所有的询问, knowing fully that we ourselves are imperfect beings in our thoughts, 言行举止.
4. We will commit ourselves to the care of and hospitality toward our peers, 尤其是那些信仰与我们不同的人.
5. 我们将保持文明的品质, 慷慨地对别人的言行做出最好的诠释, 在所有的对话中衡量我们的言语.
6. We will demonstrate concern first and foremost for others rather than for ourselves, 这是, we will endeavor to listen primarily to understand another’s position, 不要反应或回应.
7. 我们将永远把宽恕挂在嘴边, for we know that difficult dialogues sometimes produce unintended offenses, 需要温和的纠正, 耐心, 以及基督宽恕的礼物.

我希望我们的教师, 工作人员, and students can work together on this project to forge and commit to a social and intellectual contract as a community. 我祈祷我们, 欧文康考迪亚大学的公民们, can heal the wounds locally that have riven our nation during these last several months. I beseech our Lord to bring peace and healing to our citizenry through justice, 宽恕, and reconciliation through the hands and feet of His followers throughout the United States of America.

罗马帝国统治下的主宰,