{"id":15906,"date":"2014-04-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=879"},"modified":"2014-04-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T00:00:00","slug":"catholic-luther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/04\/catholic-luther\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Luther"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

I go back again and again to David Yeago\u2019s seminal article on the \u201cCatholic Luther\u201d in\u00a0The Catholicity of the Reformation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This time around, this passage on Luther\u2019s early theology of the cross stood out. Yeago argues that Luther\u2019s main question was not, \u201cWhere can I find a gracious God?\u201d but \u201cHow do I know I have encountered the true God and not just a useful idol that soothes me?\u201d And Luther\u2019s initial answer is to say that the true and living God crucifies <\/em>rather than soothes. You know you\u2019ve got hold of the real God when you don\u2019t get any benefit from knowing Him.<\/p>\n

Then this from Yeago: \u201cThis strategy utterly excludes the sort of confident assurance of God\u2019s favor that Luther later came to teach; on the contrary for the early theologia crucis<\/em> our uncertainty of salvation plays an important role in weaning us from self-interested piety: we must learn to cling to God even though it seems most like that he will damn us\u201d (23).<\/p>\n

Luther doesn\u2019t stay there, but it\u2019s intriguing that his first way station doesn\u2019t reassure or give certainty but keeps him in anguish on the cross.<\/p>\n

Luther\u2019s shift, according to Yeago, came in the context of the dispute about indulgence and penance, in short, in sacramental theology. And this dispute forced Luther to move away from any notion that the internal act of God is more critical or prior to the external sacramental action of God in Christ. Yeago writes, for Luther \u201cthe concrete, external, public sacramental act in the church is the concrete, external, public act of Jesus Christ in the church. When we come to the sacrament, we run into Jesus Christ: his word, his act, his authority. The question with which every participant in the sacraments is confronted, therefore, is simply this: Is Jesus Christ telling the truth here? Can he do what he promises? Can we count on what he says?\u201d (25-6).<\/p>\n

He quotes a passage from Luther (1525) to illustrate his adherence to \u201ccatholic sacramentalism\u201d: \u201cNow that God has let his holy gospel go forth, he deals with us in two ways: on the one hand, outwardly, on the other hand, inwardly. Outwardly he deals with us through the oral word of the gospel and through bodily signs, such as baptism and the sacrament. Inwardly he deals with us through the Holy Spirit and faith along with other gifts. But all this in such measure and in such order that the outward elements should and must come first. And the inward things come afterwards and by means of the outward, for he has decided to give the inward element to no one except by means of the outward element<\/em>. For he will give no one the Spirit or faith without the outward word and sign<\/em> which he has instituted\u201d (31-2, emphasis added).<\/p>\n

\u201cCatholic Luther\u201d indeed.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I go back again and again to David Yeago\u2019s seminal article on the \u201cCatholic Luther\u201d in\u00a0The Catholicity of the Reformation. This time around, this passage on Luther\u2019s early theology of the cross stood out. Yeago argues that Luther\u2019s main question was not, \u201cWhere can I find a gracious God?\u201d but \u201cHow do I know I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholic Luther<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I go back again and again to David Yeago’s seminal article on the “Catholic Luther” in The Catholicity of the Reformation.This time\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/04\/catholic-luther\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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