Post: Readers Respond

Enclosed find an anonymous donation to Pietisten, your valued work. If the source of this communication gnaws at you, you (1) may want to use part of it to provide a free subscription (as I’m sure you do already for many people) for a deserving (or a near-lost) soul, (2) enjoy the idea that you don’t have to document the contribution and send a return (here’s your deductible amount for IRS purposes) letter, and (3) be assured that even basic agnostics (at least one) enjoys your work — keep it up. Anonymous.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

I just received the Winter issue of Pietisten.... I haven’t finished the issue yet, but I have dipped into it. Naturally I read the Fox’s [Ed Mampel’s] hymn first. Then I turned to Susan Hawkinson’s review of “Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration.” Her lucid and, if I may be so bold, soulful writing made me want to hear this creative new interpretation of the “Messiah.” I have only one gripe with her piece, and that’s that she didn’t tell us where she picked up the tape. The address of Reprise Records would've done as a substitute.

I'll find that tape because she did make me want to hear it. I would suggest that you entice her to be a regular contributor to your soulful rag. Dennis Jones, Princeton, Minnesota.

The addresses of Reprise Records are: 3300 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91505-4694; 75 Rockfeller Plaza, New York, ; NY 10019-6908; 1815 Division St., Nashville, TN 37903- 9736. A copy of the tape can be purchased at Inside Africa in Galtier Plaza, St. Paul and in many other fine stores. — Ed.

Thanks for Pietisten. I got the package you left at your door, as well as the Winter 1992 issue. I gave them to my professor [in Sweden] and got a big smile, a small laugh, and “What? They’ve brought it back?” Christine Swanson, Stockholm, Sweden.

Since I am now the proud owner of a 1957 20' Christ Craft Continental, my brother (Karl) passed along the Summer 1992 issue of Pietisten.

I have been looking for a boat for the past seven years (looked at over 30) and finally came across this beauty.

My question is, is there really a Covenant Chris Craft club? Your editorial word says that there is, but for me this is too good to be true . . . Covenanters who appreciate Chris Crafts.

Anyway, please send me information on how to join, etc. (I have cash). Thanks.

P.S. An old green Mercury outboard also came along with this deal — to be honest, I don’t know what I got! Bob Klockars, Middleton, Wisconsin.

Dear Bob:

Yes, there is a Covenant Chris Craft Club. Led by me, its hard charging President. So far no by-laws, meets, newsletter, etc. But I do put ads in that fine religious periodical, Pietisten. And I am trying to keep track of Covenant Chris Craft owners. I think there are well over a dozen Chris Crafts owned by Covenant navigators. Consider yourself a member.

My intention is to make more of this outfit, publish a Directory, and perhaps convene a Covenant Chris Craft owners meeting either in Chicago or Spread Eagle, Wisconsin within the next five years! We are ona fast track here.

I, too, have a 1957 Continental which, incidently, is pictured on page five of the November/December 1992 issue of Classic Boating.

What lake are you on? Send me a photo and any other relevant specs and I will add it to my file for the future Directory.

I am also active in Covenant Chris Crafts’ sister organization, the Museum of the American Outboard. That old green Mercury you mentioned . . . if by some remote chance it's a 25 hp Thunderbolt from 1949 or the early 1950s (the KF9 or KG9 or possibly a Mark 40) it would be just what I have been looking for for my fledgling Outboard Museum in Deerwood, Minnesota. Sincerely, Bruce Carlson.

We are sending a check to you and would like you to send Pietisten to our pastor. Would it be possible to start with the winter issue?

All of our friends really enjoy Pietisten and of course, we do!

Sue and Norm Vetvick, Pinellas Park, Florida.

Once again I gladly renew my subscription to Pietisten. I love the work you are doing and eagerly await each issue. I am working on my dissertation here at Princeton and hope to finish soon. Blessings on you all. Dave Freedholm, Princeton, New Jersey.

Unfortunately I haven’t had very much time to read through the new issue of Pietisten. To be honest, my periodical reading time has been consumed by the magazine Cigar Aficionado. I did, however, read the Magnuson article and I caught a WCCO TV report on the cases. One thing struck me about it. They played a tape of a meeting Magnuson had with a parent of one of the children he allegedly abused. The meeting took place years ago, after the child had told his mother about an alleged abuse incident, and after the church had been told about the incident. Magnuson was sternly addressing the parent saying they should absolutely forget this, and never bring it up again. Those words are very powerful. It is very tempting for the listener to follow this command. It comes from a person of authority, and it covers up a very sensitive and embarrassing situation. The problem, however, is that by covering up, forgetting, and never bringing the incident up again, it allows the problem to continue and grow.

Growing up in my home church, I think I have seen some of the same response to differing situations. When something happens which is negative, sensitive, or embarrassing, a voice within says absolutely forget this, and never bring it up again. I’ve seen friendships broken, feelings hurt, and anger fester as a result of this cover-up. Ironically, I think some of the supporting reasons to cover up a painful situation are to keep friendships, spare feelings, and control anger. On the contrary, it allows the problem to continue and grow.

It was important to print the article on the Magnuson case to move a small step toward breaking this powerful command of silence and cover-up. It’s important to open the lines of communication and discuss this issue to prevent something like this from happening again. I think we all have a responsibility to bring issues such as these into the light, to discuss and learn from them. May God give us the strength and the courage to do that. Nels Elde, Northfield, Minnesota.

Thanks for sending Pietisten to my new address. And thanks for your good work in this publication. I am appreciating it even more with each issue. God be with you. David Johnson, Durban, Manitoba, Canada.

I recently received — and enjoyed — the Winter 1992 issue of Pietisten. The subscription is a gift from my father (Bill), whose letter was noted in the issue. I am looking forward to being part of the Pietisten community.

Although I rarely write letters to the editor, I thought I’d get in the spirit of things and respond to one comment you made that jumped out at me. In your article about Albert Magnuson and sexual abuse, responding to the denomination’s settlement of some litigation, you said: “Though Covenant officials acknowledge no liability, their insurers must have, or they would not be willing to pay any damages.”

As a lawyer (and former insurance defense litigator) who now works for a business and sometimes is involved in decisions about litigation from the client’s side, I would like to respectfully suggest that your conclusion is incorrect. It seems to me that, for your conclusion to be correct, following good deductive reasoning, the syllogism would go something like this:

1. Major Premise: Every defendant (more precisely, every defendant’s insurer) who settles a lawsuit and pays something to the plaintiff does so because it knows it is liable for the claims made by the plaintiff. 2. Minor Premise: The Covenant (more precisely, its insurer) was a defendant who settled a lawsuit and paid money to the plaintiff. 3. Conclusion: Therefore, the Covenant’s insurers admit that their insured (the Covenant) was liable for the claims made.

I can assure you that the major premise is not correct. I know nothing about the Magnuson case and nothing about why the Covenant’s insurers decided to settle. I do know from personal experience that parties to litigation often settle regardless of their beliefs about the merits of the case. In my judgment, a party takes extreme risks litigating any case; there is never certainty about the outcome. Furthermore, litigation costs are enormous, and these costs not only include legal fees, they include emotional and relational costs and the time of employees (depositions, research, responding to discovery, court time, etc.). Also, there is a cost of adverse publicity. All this is to say that a party to litigation may have excellent reasons to settle a case even if it believes the other party’s claims have no merit and even if it is very confident it will prevail at trial (and on appeal).

The Covenant and its insurers may indeed have believed there was some “fault” or liability on their part. You did not, however, state any facts or evidence supporting your conclusion that they believed such liability existed. All I am saying is that the conclusion you stated does not follow logically from what I believe is the necessary major premise. If you think another major premise is appropriate, one that would support your conclusion, I’d be interested in hearing it.

Again, I offer this in a good-natured manner in the interest of dialogue, and hope you receive it that way. John Liljegren, Portland, Oregon.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to John. He is correct. There is no other major premise the author can offer, and he officially withdraws his assertion. — Ed.

Thanks again for your good work. Your Winter 1992 number particularly has prompted my note of appreciation, comment, and reflection. David Hawkinson’s insightful “Behavior Befitting a Covenant” contained a quotation from Kierkegaard with a query about its source. The statement about philosophical systematizers who don’t live where they think comes from S.K.’s journals in 1846, and can be found in Howard V. and Edna H. Hong, eds., Soren Kierkegaards’s Journals and Papers (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), vol. 3, 519 (#3308). S. K. repeated the image, with some variation, in the 1849 publication of The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition and Upbuilding and Awakening (see the Hong edition in the definitive Kierkegaard’s Writings series, published by Princeton in 1980, pages 43-44).

One other reflection. Thank you for your perceptive comments on “Sexual Abuse and the Church,” and the objective coverage of the Magnuson case in the courts. While this case is an extremely sensitive one for the denomination, the conference, and the local church, it does compare with, and no doubt far exceeds in magnitude (in human and material cost), the infamous Number Nine Above Alaskan gold scandal, now almost a century old. This is the only reporting that I, at least, have seen in a Covenant-related public forum, and the coverage was not only fair but highlighted the urgency of addressing abuse in the church, no matter what its form. Thanks to all of you! Phil Anderson, Chicago, Illinois.

To the Crew at Pietisten, Greetings!

Your recent issue was, as always, excellent. I especially appreciated the thoughtful tributes to my good friends and former colleagues, Irving Erickson and Earl Dahlstrom. How deeply they are missed! Donald Frisk, Batavia, Illinois.

Sincere thanks for printing, in your Winter edition, two beautiful tributes to Earl — one by Fred Holmgren and the other by Art Bowman. Earl would have felt very honored.

Rosalie Dahlstrom, Batavia, Illinois.