Though imitation of God receives no specific mention in Dr. Luther’s Catechisms—for the gravity of justification pulls every doctrine into its orbit even as it distinguishes between the Creator and creature—imitation has an implicit role in Lutheran catechesis. For the Catechism’s purpose was not to convey bare theological data. Both Catechisms describe fides quae with texts, but the content was not set apart as impersonal objective knowledge: “On the contrary, the Catechism deals with statements concerning the personal God, back of which is God himself as the speaking and acting Subject.”[1] Catechesis may then be likened to an ongoing conversation between the heavenly Father and the baptized children, in which the Father speaks His gifts to His children, and by that very word the children are raised in the image of Christ into which they are baptized.
Yet that divinely conceived conversation intends no platonic catechetical ideal—exemplified by Jesus of Nazareth—to be attained by the catechumen; for the flesh cannot attain the sinless obedience of Christ Jesus. Rather, imitation begins with the incarnation, for God came to share humanity’s flesh and became like every person in every way. The primary biblical direction of the imitation is that Christ seeks to be formed within believers (Galatians 4:19) and manifested in believers.[2]
The Individual Imitation
The believer imitates not by personal strength, intellectual capacity, or strength of will; “Of ourselves we neither know what God is or what his will is nor can we change our “No” to God, the utterance of our whole nature, into `Yes.’”[3] That imitation or conforming to the image of Christ is created and mediated through the Word and Sacraments. Baptism identifies the believer with Christ; and therefore, as guided by the Holy Spirit, the believer is enabled to model life after His life.[4] Baptism, identification with Christ, buries the believer with him into death, the death of the flesh, and raises the believer with Him by the power of the Father to live a new life. Better said, the life of imitation, the image of Christ crucified and risen, is laid upon the individual in baptism; to that gift of death and life are believers conformed.[5] Because of the pressures of the world, the flesh, and the devil, “the gospel must be declared again and again that a person may be preserved in faith.”[6] God, active in His life-of-Christ-giving means of Word and Sacrament, is the creative power of imitation.
Imitation then exercises itself in outward form (e.g., Matthew 4:1-10; Hebrews 5:7-9), for imitation by its very nature is dynamic—content-biased catechesis alone might be called technical knowledge. In the experiential change that the gospel creates, imitation manifests itself in the exercise of faith. With Christ as example, the believer gives life “in service to your neighbor just as you see that Christ has given himself for you.”[7] One can be an imitator of Christ only by concrete obedience to the word and will of the Lord.[8]
However, imitation does not make the person a Christian; to teach Christ as an example exercises vocation. The works actually come forth from the believer because the person has already been recreated as a Christian.[9] The subtle danger of overemphasizing external imitation is that the content could be neglected or slighted.[10]
The Corporate Imitation
Beside the believer’s personal imitation, the entire church, as the body of Christ, imitates Christ. “The Church imitates the Mother of the Lord in treasuring the Gospel in her heart. She proclaims it, celebrates it, lives it, and she transmits it in catechesis” to all nations.[11]
What she receives, she also hands down. By what gives her life, she has become the mother of all living. She is the lively and permanent environment for growth in the faith;[12] she is an ecclesial culture created by the gospel. “The words `We should’ become an expression of the Spirit who creates the community;”[13] for the Church, as she catechizes, forms more fully her children into the likeness of Christ. Proper catechesis creates a mindset and cultivates a Christocentric worldview.[14]
Imitation mediated by the church does not deny that the Word alone is the power to conform and the power for renewal; instead, it affirms that the Word lives within the community and recognizes that imitation has a context. The communal aspect, created in baptism, is nurtured in the Holy Communion.
“When in the Lord’s Supper the new life of fellowship thus grows up under the impact of the present, active Christ and his Spirit, the result is the formation of the community or church of Jesus Christ. The church is the company of those who are united to Jesus Christ their Lord, and are constantly being reunited to him and therefore also to one another.”[15]
Concurrent with teaching is the experience of community life.[16] A content-biased “didacticism” cannot substitute for the common life in Christ, e.g., the guidance of and engagement with the liturgy, and mutual edification within the body.[17] As Jane Regan notes: “All learning is rooted in experience.”[18] The church’s life fosters rounded sociability, practically a vital necessity for personal formation; for adults that includes dialogue, as well as sense of Christian co-responsibility.[19] Such aspects of the church’s life provide an experiential medium “for exploring and assimilating the truths which constitute the objective content of Revelation.”[20]
Though occurring in a community, imitation imposes no ecclesiastical template on individuals; the person does not surrender individuality. Instead, in accord with Ephesians 4:7ff., the members of the body recognize that each member is not the same as another, for imitation willingly embraces the same way of faith (Hebrews 13:7). Imitation lives freely not defined by a schema legalistically dictated or a mold hierarchically decreed;[21] to imitate calls one “to keep the faith in one’s own life and death.”[22]
The church may be the contextual medium for the handing down of the faith, yet imitation is lived out rigorously in view of the world. The life of Christ in the world, the believer’s imitation, created and daily made new by didactic catechesis and experiential catechesis, is unfolded as it serves in vocation (e.g., I John 3:16-18).
The Imitation of Other Christians
While the imitation receives its primary shape as Christ forms himself in the Christian, imitating other Christians is not foreign to the Scriptures. St. John the Apostle exhorted the church not to imitate what is evil but what is good; follow not Diotrephes but Demetrius (III John 9-12); Paul urges believers to imitate him (I Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; I Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14); the author to the Hebrews summons the readers to imitate those who have gone before (6:12; 13:7).
Those exhortations to imitate do not express lording authority over another; imitation neither coerces with pious, human fervor and excitement by all too personal, nor influences directly by impure interference in the life of another. The believer says, “I must not fashion another in my image. God in His freedom has made me in His image and the other in His image.”[23]
Horizontal imitation grows on the basis of a relationship of fidelity, fellowship in Christ; for imitation is not specifically of the person, but of a relationship worked out with common values[24]—in this case the life of Christ and His Word.[25] The form or tradition for imitation comes from Christ; those summoned follow Christ in the believer.[26] The teachers of the faith call others to have the same experience (John 13:15).[27] So the call to imitate potently reminds the individual that “my believing always rests upon someone else’s teaching” and “my faith always rests upon the Holy Spirit’s use of the someone else’s using the Word.”[28] In II Thessalonians 3:7 to imitate implies recognition of the apostolic authority, which is seen by its parallel in the handing down of dominical tradition.[29]
The church year rightly celebrates that great cloud of witness. Hearing Hebrews 11 & 12, from the beginning Lutherans approved of an imitation of the saints: “Our confession approves giving honor to the saints. This honor is threefold . . .the third honor is imitation: first of their faith, then of other virtues, which people should imitate according to their callings.”[30] The liturgy also teaches the church to laud and magnify with all the heavenly host; as one wrote: “worship is always an echo of the distant triumph song of those who even now rest from their labors in God’s eternal presence.”[31]
Methodologies of Imitation
Heuristic structures for imitation include story telling, various media, lectures, and artful presentations, including drama. Specific environments, created and maintained for specific goals and ideas to be communicated, encourage learners to be more attentive to what will be passed on. Learning while doing, employing research and dialogue, and by exchanging points of view contribute to imitation.[32] Though regarded somewhat passé today, memorization remains valuable for imitation.[33] Experience must be combined with “documentary pedagogy,”[34] chiefly referring to the Scriptures as the normative content of the church and then secondarily the church’s liturgical and ecclesial rites,[35] so that experiences, with less substantial objectivity, are guided.
Conclusion
This essay has not described the precise content of imitation;[36] it begins to circumscribe imitation’s role in catechesis. For the Word of God, in Word and Sacraments, does not reside idly, like inert religious data, in the catechumen’s life. The word cannot just be recited; “it can be attended only as one’s own word which shapes one’s own conduct.”[37] Imitation belongs to the very nature of catechesis, because discipleship, in its essence, follows and learns from one’s master.[38] And catechesis, through fides qua and fides quae, intends to create a habitus, a life-long disposition, commitment and attitudes for imitating and echoing the life of the Father revealed in Christ and given by the Holy Spirit.
The church always teaches her members to imitate. The question is “How will she do it?” Intentionally aiming at imitation, rather than allowing a passive reception of the content of catechesis, will develop a deeper discipleship, a more passionate faith, a fuller response to Gospel, and a desire to acquire greater conviction in all areas of faith.
Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Translated and with an introduction by John W. Doberstein. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1954. Originally published as Gemeinsames Leben nd.
_____. The Cost of Discipleship. Revised and unabridged edition containing material not previously translated. London: SCM Press LTD, 1959. Translated from Nachfolge. München: Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1937.
Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Translated by Charles Arand, Eric Gritsch, Robert Kolb, William Russell, James Schaaf, Jane Strohl, Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. Ligouri, Missouri: Ligouri Publications, 1994
General Directory for Catechesis. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1997.
Girgensohn, Herbert. Teaching Luther’s Catechism I. Translated by John W. Doberstein. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1959.
_____. Teaching Luther’s Catechism II. Translated by John W. Doberstein. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960.
Goppelt, Leonhard. . Volume 8: . Edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translator and editor, Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1972. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Achter Band: . Edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag. Reprinted January 1983.
Groome, Thomas H. Sharing Faith. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1991.
Kolb, Robert. Teaching God’s Children His Teaching. Hutchinson, Minnesota: Crown Publishing, Inc., 1992.
Luther, Martin. Against the Heavenly Prophets in the Matter of Images and Sacraments. Part I translated by Bernhard Erling and Part II translated by Conrad Bergendorf. Volume 40: Church and Ministry. Edited by Conrad Bergendorf. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1958. Luther’s Works: American Edition. General editor Helmut T. Lehman.
_____. A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels. Translated by E. Theodore Bachmann. Volume 35: Word and Sacrament. Edited by E. Theodore Bachmann. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960. Luther’s Works: American Edition. General editor Helmut T. Lehman.
_____. Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows. Translated by James Atkinson. Volume 44: The Christian in Society. Edited by James Atkinson. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966. Luther’s Works: American Edition. General editor Helmut T. Lehman.
Lutheran Book of Worship. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House. Philadelphia: Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America, 1978.
Michaelis, W. . Volume 4: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translator and editor, Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Vierter Band: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag. Reprinted January 1983.
Regan, Jane E. Toward an Adult Church. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2002.
Reichert, Richard J. Renewing Catechetical Ministry. New York: Paulist Press, 2002.
Schlier, Heinrich. , . Volume 2: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translator and editor, Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Zweiter Band: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag. First printing March 1964. Reprinted September 1983
Schrenk, Gottlob. . Volume 1: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translator and editor, Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964. Translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament. Erster Band: . Edited by Gerhard Kittel. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag. First printing March 1964. Reprinted September 1983.
Senkbeil, Harold L. Sanctification: Christ in Action. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1989.
The Catechetical Documents. Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1996.
The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.
Thomas á Kempis. The Imitation of Christ. Translator unknown. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1940.
Wendt, Harry N. The Divine Drama-Our Narrative. Minneapolis: Crossways International, 1993. Reprinted 1995.
1
[1] Herbert Girgensohn, Teaching Luther’s Catechism I, translated by John W. Doberstein, (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1959), 4.
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, revised and unabridged edition containing material not previously translated, (London: SCM Press LTD, 1959), 272; translated from Nachfolge, (München: Christian Kaiser Verlag, 1937).
[3] Girgensohn, I.180.
[4] Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 274. Cf. “He who believes in Christ becomes a son of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and doing good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Ligouri, Missouri: Liguori Publications, 1994), ¶1709).
[5] Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 273.
[6] Girgensohn, I.186.
[7] Martin Luther, A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels, translated by E. Theodore Bachmann, Volume 35: Word and Sacrament, edited by E. Theodore Bachmann, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960), 120; Luther’s Works: American Edition, general editor Helmut T. Lehman. Cf. “Following Christ and united with him, Christians can strive to be `imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love’ by conforming their thoughts, words, and actions to the “mind . . . which is yours in Christ Jesus, and by following his example” (Catholic Catechism, ¶ 1964).
[8] W. Michaelis, , Volume 4: , edited by Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, translator and editor, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967), 672,673; translated from Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, Vierter Band: , edited by Gerhard Kittel, (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag), Reprinted January 1983.
[9] Luther, A Brief Instruction, 120.
[10]Book of Concord, edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, translated by Charles Arand, Eric Gritsch, Robert Kolb, William Russell, James Schaaf, Jane Strohl, Timothy J. Wengert, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), Apology IV. 211; Apology XV.24.
[11]General Directory for Catechesis, (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1997), ¶ 78; hereafter GDC. Cf. “`I believe’ is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both `I believe’ and `We believe’“ (Catholic Catechism, ¶ 167).
[12] John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1979), ¶ 24; as found in The Catechetical Documents (Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1996).
[13] Girgensohn, I.38. “`Credo’ and `Credimus’ necessarily imply each other” (GDC ¶ 83).
[14] Robert Kolb, Teaching God’s Children His Teaching, (Hutchinson, Minnesota: Crown Publishing, Inc., 1992), 1-1.
[15] Herbert Girgensohn, Teaching Luther’s Catechism II, translated by John W. Doberstein, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1960), 121. A post-communion collect of Lutheran Book of Worship reads: “Almighty God, you gave your Son both as a sacrifice for sin and a model of the godly life. Enable us to receive him always with thanksgiving, and to conform our lives to his; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord” (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House; Philadelphia: Board of Publication, Lutheran Church in America, 1978), 74. Italics added. The same prayer is also cited in Harry Wendt’s narrative catechesis, The Divine Drama-Our Narrative ([Minneapolis: Crossways International, 1993; reprinted 1995], 111). The aforementioned prayer appeared previously in The Lutheran Hymnal, though not connected with the Holy Communion: “Almighty God, who hast given Thine only Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for sin and also an Example of godly life, give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive this His inestimable benefit and also daily endeavor ourselves to follow the blessed steps of His most holy life; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord” (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941), 108. Italics added.
[16] Luther recognized that while the catholic church was the depository of the living faith, the household remained the chief locus of teaching: “In a simple way in which the head of a house is to present them to the household” (Small Catechism, Book of Concord, 351).
[17] Jane E. Regan, Toward an Adult Church, (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2002),13.