Friday, August 06, 2004 AD
The Catholic Luther (I)
Josh recently linked to David Yeago's excellent 1996 article, "The Catholic Luther". While I'm sure many people will have read this article following Josh's link, there were a couple of key areas covered by Yeago that I wanted to look at in more detail.
In his article, Yeago argues that the key development in Luther's theology at the threshold of the Reformation is best understood as a "'catholic turn' that anchored Luther's work much more solidly within the framework of catholic Christianity", in contrast to the usual "Protestant reading of Luther's story", in which Luther's breakthrough is seen as coming about in "a historical, unmediated encounter with the naked Pauline kerygma", and Luther's teachings are seen "as saying something radically incompatible with anything said in the Church since the death of Paul (except perhaps for a few glimmers in Augustine)".
Of particular interest to me is Yeago's emphasis on Luther's developing sacramental theology as being the crucial point to consider, and my next post on this subject will look at this. But before we get to that, first of all let's look briefly at what Yeago says about Luther's early, pre-1518 theology.
Yeago argues that, before 1518, the driving force in Luther's theology (as distinct from his own struggles on a personal level) was not the question, "How can I get a gracious God?", but rather, "Where can I find the real God?". Luther's theological concern was the threat of idolatry rather than a craving for the assurance of forgiveness. In particular, how could we come to love God for His own sake, rather than just "using" Him for our own ends (the natural tendency of the sinful man, homo incurvatus in se, man turned in on himself).
Luther's initial approach to this problem of idolatrous self-seeking used what Yeago describes as a "strategy of contrariety":
However, this was still a long way short of the "undialectical confidence in God's mercy that Luther later came to teach". In my next post, we will look at how Yeago describes the development of Luther's theology to encompass this straightforward sense of assurance. In particular, we will see that - while it is often supposed that Luther's teachings on the sacraments were incompatible with his teachings on justification by faith, a regrettable hold-over from his papist past - Luther's sacramental teachings are in fact inseparable from justification by faith, and justification by faith can only be properly understood in the light of the church's ministry of Word and Sacrament.
In his article, Yeago argues that the key development in Luther's theology at the threshold of the Reformation is best understood as a "'catholic turn' that anchored Luther's work much more solidly within the framework of catholic Christianity", in contrast to the usual "Protestant reading of Luther's story", in which Luther's breakthrough is seen as coming about in "a historical, unmediated encounter with the naked Pauline kerygma", and Luther's teachings are seen "as saying something radically incompatible with anything said in the Church since the death of Paul (except perhaps for a few glimmers in Augustine)".
Of particular interest to me is Yeago's emphasis on Luther's developing sacramental theology as being the crucial point to consider, and my next post on this subject will look at this. But before we get to that, first of all let's look briefly at what Yeago says about Luther's early, pre-1518 theology.
Yeago argues that, before 1518, the driving force in Luther's theology (as distinct from his own struggles on a personal level) was not the question, "How can I get a gracious God?", but rather, "Where can I find the real God?". Luther's theological concern was the threat of idolatry rather than a craving for the assurance of forgiveness. In particular, how could we come to love God for His own sake, rather than just "using" Him for our own ends (the natural tendency of the sinful man, homo incurvatus in se, man turned in on himself).
Luther's initial approach to this problem of idolatrous self-seeking used what Yeago describes as a "strategy of contrariety":
It is a very specific, very simple, and quite perversely brilliant theological move. How can we tell that we are really clinging to God and not to an idol of our own? Luther answers that the gracious presence of the true God is so excruciatingly painful and distastefully unpalatable to our nature that we can have no imaginable self-interested motivation for enduring it.Far from being a depressing and tormenting teaching, this early version of the theology of the cross "allows the sinner yearning for God under the cross a sort of paradoxical assurance, a sense of being at least in the appropriate place before God, which sustains the heart and enables it to endure to the end."
"Therefore the excellent God, after He has justified and given His spiritual gifts, lest that ungodly nature rush upon them to enjoy them (for they are very lovely and powerfully incite to enjoyment), immediately brings tribulation, exercises, and examines, lest the person perish eternally by such ignorance. For thus a person learns to love and worship God purely, when one worships God not for the sake of His grace and gifts, but for Himself alone."
The problem is that we do not want to come into God's presence for God's sake, but for the sake of all the good things He can do for us: we want to use God. And Luther answers: If it is really God, then He will crucify and torture you as He did Christ, your pattern, and thus leave you no reason to cling to Him except for His own sweet sake.
However, this was still a long way short of the "undialectical confidence in God's mercy that Luther later came to teach". In my next post, we will look at how Yeago describes the development of Luther's theology to encompass this straightforward sense of assurance. In particular, we will see that - while it is often supposed that Luther's teachings on the sacraments were incompatible with his teachings on justification by faith, a regrettable hold-over from his papist past - Luther's sacramental teachings are in fact inseparable from justification by faith, and justification by faith can only be properly understood in the light of the church's ministry of Word and Sacrament.
