Affirming, Entrusting, and Acting: A Baptismal Grounding of Affirmative Action in Lutheran Higher Education
Intersections No. 60 · Fall 2024
“How do you define affirmative action in the context of Lutheran (NECU) higher education, and what are its main objectives?”
This provocative question was asked to those of us who attended this past summer’s Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education Conference at Augsburg University after a panel discussion on our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at institutions of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU).
We were asked to respond to this question while gathered in small groups with colleagues who occupy similar positions at other NECU institutions.
When this question came up on the screen, it immediately stimulated my imagination.
I thought perhaps, as the whitest Christian denomination in North America, institutions of the ELCA had little to say about the practice of affirmative action in our society.
As institutions grounded by the vision presented in “Rooted and Open: The Common Calling of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities,” I began to imagine how it was that Lutheran theology and practice might support and affirm the ways our institutions strive to create spaces for all students, particularly for those who come from under-represented populations on our campuses.
To this end, I asked myself, “Where in the shared practice of Lutheran communities do we make affirmations and where do we take action?”
As a Lutheran pastor, I immediately thought of the sacrament of baptism because it is through baptism that individuals are welcomed and incorporated into the community of the church.
Baptism is a sign of radical welcome into a community, where the baptized now unconditionally belong.
To do this, the Lutheran baptism liturgy includes a moment where the pastor presiding over the baptism asks the entire gathered assembly to make a profession of their faith.
“Where in the shared practice of Lutheran communities do we make affirmations and where do we take action?”
In this profession of faith, the pastor asks the assembly a series of six questions. The first three ask the gathered assembly to renounce ways of the world that defy God’s desire for humanity and creation, including evil and sin. The second three ask the assembly what they believe, using the words of the Apostles’s Creed to affirm faith.
The assembly is ritually asked what they say “no” to and what they say “yes” to. In their responses, they make affirmative statements about the content of their belief.1
Earlier in the liturgy, the presiding minister lists the responsibilities that are entrusted to those who are baptized, concluding with the effect these responsibilities have on the baptized, namely “so that [they] may learn to trust God, proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.”2
In the sacrament, the act of affirming belief entrusts the baptized with responsibilities, through which they are called to action in the world.
Action that promotes care, justice, and peace in our world.
As all these thoughts swirled in my head, I shared some of these initial ideas with colleagues at the conference. Speaking together, they helped me articulate a connection between my thinking and our shared work. Because similar to the way the gathered assembly affirms what they are for in the baptismal liturgy, our colleges and universities are also called to affirm what it is that we are for.
“Because similar to the way the gathered assembly affirms what they are for in the baptismal liturgy, our colleges and universities are also called to affirm what it is that we are for.”
In “Rooted and Open,” the authors affirm that “In their appreciation and cultivation of diversity in its many forms, Lutheran colleges and universities welcome all and learn from all.”3
This is an affirmation echoed by many of our schools in mission statements and college or university values. At my own school, St. Olaf College, our mission statement specifically names that we strive for our students to learn in an “inclusive, globally engaged community.”4
In this mission, we make an affirmative statement about the community of which we are a part.
“As the sacrament of baptism reminds us, our affirmations also entrust us with responsibilities, which move us towards action in our communities and the world.”
But, as the sacrament of baptism reminds us, our affirmations also entrust us with responsibilities, which move us towards action in our communities and the world.
The questions for our communities, then, are: What responsibilities do our affirmations to create diverse, inclusive communities create for us? And what actions do our responsibilities call us towards?
A Lutheran perspective on affirmative action argues that we will create truly inclusive and just communities when we clearly affirm our commitments, name the responsibilities that our affirmation entrusts to us, and act in ways that embody our affirmations.
May our work be grounded in such affirmations, responsibilities, and actions that we continue to move our communities to be places of belonging so that all our students may flourish.
Endnotes
1. “Holy Baptism,” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2006), 229.
2. Ibid, 228
3. “Rooted and Open,” May 18, 2018, https://elcamediaresources.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/wp-content/uploads/Rooted_and_Open.pdf.
4. “Mission,” About St. Olaf, June 7, 2023, https://wp.stolaf.edu/about/mission/.
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