26 June 2001
Dear Dr. Ramseth,
Re: Complaint Concerning the Unsatisfactory
Scholarship of Professor Michael Root in Relation to Called
to Common Mission
With great reluctance and regret I submit
for your attention and for the attention of the board of
Trinity Lutheran Seminary a complaint concerning the unsatisfactory
scholarship of Professor Michael Root in relation to Called
to Common Mission. The enclosed document serves as the
basis for the complaint. If I were to compose an abstract
of this document it would read:
Called to Common Mission (CCM),
the ecumenical agreement between Lutherans and Episcopalians
in the USA, makes many unfounded assertions. For example,
CCM paragraph 11 claims that the Lutheran confessional
writings refer to the "pattern" of "historic
succession" in the episcopal office as "the
ecclesiastical and canonical polity" which the Reformers
deeply desired to maintain (Article 14, Apology).
However, a Lutheran drafter and proponent of CCM now admits
that he has known of research which refutes this notion,
and he further indicates that the text of CCM paragraph
11 is not accurate. This paper demonstrates that the members
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been
wrongly led to believe that their confessional documents
endorse an ecclesial tradition which the Lutheran Reformers
clearly rejected.
I would be grateful if you could give this
matter your attention. Such is my concern regarding this
matter that I would also be grateful if you could provide
me with the addresses of those bodies which accredit Trinity
Lutheran Seminary.
Yours sincerely,
Mark D. Menacher, PhD
Pastor
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