Dancing the Lutheran Walz
Minnesota nice governor, Timothy Walz, is the prudential choice of Kamala Harris for her vice presidential running mate. Strike up the three-step music for dancing the Lutheran Walz.
The spry and loquatious Walz is a member of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, an ELCA parish. We don’t know how many stanzas of Ein Feste Burg he has memorized. But we certainly may ask whether Minnesota Lutheran Tim Walz will humbly extend God’s left hand on behalf of justice, sustainability, and peace. According to the Desert News…
“The way Walz presents it, Minnesota Lutheran is both a religious identity and a cultural one. It’s someone who will tell a self-deprecating story while sharing a jello mold with you at a potluck after church.”
Ressentiment and the Public Theologian
In this Patheos series where the public theologian analyzes the current U.S. presidential election cycle, I have stressed the importance of widespread anxiety over loss. Our ignored midwesterners and southerners feel a loss of traditional values, trusted institutions, the rule of law, and American history. The gray hairs in our pews fear their tatooed grandchildren will forget the words to Christmas caroles.
Our progressives are anxious too. They fear the loss of social advancements in gender equality, racial justice, LGBTQ+ acceptance, and Roe v. Wade. Anxiety is rife.
This broad blanket soaked with anxiety drips with the fear of replacement. This fear of replacement prompts a resentful and potentially violent attitude our French friends call, ressentiment. I have labored in previous posts to map the riverbeds where ressentiment flows into American political rhetoric.
It is my judgment that dancing the Lutheran Walz will put a smile on our face and a chuckle in our voice as well as a swing in our step. It is my prayer and hope that Tim Walz will help the nation gain some relief from our anxiety and reduce the dangers of ressentiment.
Lutheran Public Theology
The public theologian dancing the Lutheran Walz recognizes that governmental authorites exercise the divine law in its first use, the civil use. The White House is subject to God’s guidence and judgment. The Lutheran Walz entices us to tap toes to the rhythms of justice while huming a melody of grace.
PT 3250 Dancing the Lutheran Walz
PT 3251 Walz and Lutheran Public Theology
PT 3244 No Threat of Christian Nationalism
PT 3246 Project 2025 on Christian Nationalism
PT 3247 Anti-Anti-Christian Nationalism, Part 1
PT 3248 Anti-Anti-Christian Nationalism, Part 2
PT 3249 Anti-Anti-Christian Nationalism, Part 3
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For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. He recently published. The Voice of Public Theology, with ATF Press. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com and Patheos blog site on Public Theology.
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