The Theology of Martin Luther: A Critical Assessment
Overview
Does Martin Luther have anything to say to us today? Nearly five hundred years after the beginning of the Reformation, Hans-Martin Barth explores that question in this comprehensive and critical evaluation of Luther’s theology. Rich in its extent and in its many facets, Barth’s didactically well-planned work begins with clarifications about obsolete and outdated images of Luther that could obstruct access to the Reformer.
The second part covers the whole of Martin Luther’s theology. Having divided Luther’s theology into twelve subsections, Barth ends each one of these with an honest and frank assessment of what today can be salvaged and what’s got to go. In the final section he gives his summation: an honestly critical appropriation of Luther’s theology can still be existentially inspiring and globally relevant for the twenty-first century.
Get this volume and more on Lutheran studies with the Augsburg Fortress Lutheran Studies Collection (6 vols.).
Key Features
- Examines systematically the theology of Martin Luther
- Provides critical analysis of the whole of Luther’s theology
- Shows the relevance of Luther’s thought for us today
Contents
- Luther: Objectively and/or Subjectively
- Methodological Problems
- Entry Points
- Difficulties in Approaching Luther
- Alternatives: Between Cross and Self-Determination
- Breakthrough: From the Hidden to the Revealed God
- Tension: Between Law and Gospel
- Identity: “Both Sinner and Justified”
- Dialectics: Freedom and Limitation
- Complementarity: Word and Sacrament
- Struggle: Between the “True” and the “False” Church
- Division of Labor: God’s Left and Right Hands
- Christian Existence: Secular and Spiritual
- Intercalation: Time and Eternal Life
- Conflict: Between Theology and Philosophy
- Rivalry: Between Sacred Scripture and Human Tradition
- What Endures
- What We Should Let Go
- What Needs to Be Developed
- Martin Luther’s Theology: Existentially Inspiring and Open for Global Integration
Top Highlights
“Knowledge of God (and thus an adequate theology) comes only through the cross—the cross of Christ and that of whoever believes in him.” (Page 80)
“The church of Jesus Christ is church for others, and being a Christian means being a man or woman for others. This should be verified also in regard to non-Christian religions and their adherents. With the message of the cross and of the meaning of suffering the church intends to protect individuals, and humanity itself, from destroying themselves in their intoxication with success and self-determination.” (Page 95)
“Access to the knowledge of God by way of creation, or reason that analyzes creation, is closed. Human beings have misused this way by confusing the creation with its Creator, and now the reverse path from the visible to the invisible is no longer possible. God has chosen a new way—in Christ. The one who does proper theology is instead the one ‘who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross’ (Thesis 20). What is at issue is recognizing God hidden in suffering, in the lowliness and shame of the cross.” (Page 80)
“Believers are aware of their vulnerability in temptations, through doubt, failure, and concrete guilt; the individual believer is neither morally nor otherwise an impressive figure. Our external life is like a sack that arouses disgust—but everything depends on what it contains; there is ‘beautiful gold in it!’” (Page 87)
“Those who do not practice the theology of the cross misuse the best thing God has to offer, namely Christ.” (Page 80)
Praise for the Print Edition
Like a scalpel, Hans-Martin Barth’s The Theology of Martin Luther exposes, analyzes, and evaluates the unique body of Luther’s theology. It provides, like never before, criteria for a realistic celebration of five centuries of Luther research (1517–2017).
—Eric W. Gritsch, lecturer, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
Barth’s forthrightly critical but passionately appreciative reading of Luther in the context of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries models how we may fruitfully engage Luther’s discerning, perceptive reading of Scripture and sensitivity to the human struggle in ways that speak to the people of our time, who live in a vastly different world than his.
—Robert Kolb, Emeritus Mission Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Seminary
This magnificent study offers an honest and compassionately critical account of Martin Luther’s ‘provocative theology of existence’ with its tensions and integrative possibilities for future generations. Hans-Martin Barth is bringing Luther back to the ecumenical center, especially with the reformer’s Trinitarian foundations, and invites the readers to contemplate on what of Luther may endure for the future, and to whom. An indispensable companion for teachers and students alike, now available in an engaging English translation.
—Kirsi Stjerna, professor of Reformation church history Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
- Title: The Theology of Martin Luther: A Critical Assessment
- Author: Hans-Martin Barth
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Print Publication Date: 2013
- Logos Release Date: 2013
- Pages: 600
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Luther, Martin, 1483-1546; Theology, doctrinal › History--16th century; Religion › Christianity--Lutheran
- Resource ID: LLS:THEOLUTHERBARTH
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T06:18:44Z