Currents in Theology and Mission

October 2013 Volume 40 Number 5 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: Insights in the Modern Age CURRENTS in Theology and Mission Currents in Theology and Mission Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in cooperation with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary Wartburg Theological Seminary Editors: Kathleen D. Billman, Kurt K. Hendel, Craig L. Nessan Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Wartburg Theological Seminary [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Assistant Editor: Ann Rezny [email protected] Copy Editor: Connie Sletto Editor of Preaching Helps: Craig A. Satterlee Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago [email protected] Editors of Book Reviews: Ralph W. Klein (Old Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0773) [email protected] Edgar M. Krentz (New Testament) Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (773-256-0752) [email protected] Craig L. Nessan (history, theology, ethics and ministry) Wartburg Theological Seminary (563-589-0207) [email protected] Circulation Office: 773-256-0751 [email protected] Editorial Board: Michael Aune (PLTS), James Erdman (WTS), Robert Kugler (PLTS), Kristine Stache (WTS), Vítor Westhelle (LSTC). CURRENTS IN THEOLOGY AND MISSION (ISSN: 0098-2113) is published bimonthly (every other month), February, April, June, August, October, December. Annual subscription rate: $24.00 in the U.S.A., $28.00 elsewhere. Two-year rate: $44.00 in the U.S.A., $52.00 elsewhere. Three-year rate: $60.00 in the U.S.A., $72.00 elsewhere. Many back issues are available for $5.00, postage included. Published by Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, a nonprofit organization, 1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60615, to which all business correspondence is to be addressed. Printed in U.S.A. CURRENTS is indexed in ATLA Religion Database, Elenchus, IZBW, NTA, OTA, Religion Index I (formerly IRPL), Religious and Theological Abstracts, and Theologische Literaturzeitung. MICROFORM AVAILABILITY: 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm, 105mm microfiche, and article copies are available through NA Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Unless otherwise noted scripture references are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Contents 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: Insights in the Modern Age Nathan Montover 302 Reforming Formation: The Practices of Protestantism in a Secular Age Jason A. Mahn 305 Luther and His Jewish Conversation Partners: Insights for Thinking About Conversion, Baptism, and Saving Faith Kirsi Stjerna 319 American Appearances of Luther Maria Erling 336 From Luther to Bonhoeffer: A Clear Line Nathan Montover 351 Book Reviews 358 Preaching Helps In and Out of Season Kathleen Billman 363 First Sunday of Advent to the Third Sunday after the Epiphany Paul Bailie 365 500th Anniversary of the Reformation: Insights in the Modern Age In my role as a parish pastor one of my great honors is to help parishioners celebrate and commemorate significant anniversaries. The honor comes from the opportunity to reflect on the years that have passed and formulate a vision about what is to come. In my role as an academic and historian I am also honored to examine and teach the great events that have shaped the develop- ment of Christian doctrine. The honor comes from the opportunity to equip my students with information that will help them appreciate the diversity and the unity that makes up the collective story of disciples who have sought to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been articulated over the course of several thousand years. The editorial staff of Currents in Theology and Mission has given me the opportunity to help mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation movement in Germany. I am blessed with yet another honor and opportunity. Our combined efforts seek to bring together new insights provided by pastors and doctors of the church as a way of reflecting on the years that have passed, and formulating a vision about what is to come. In so doing it is my hope that together we will also contribute, in some modest way, to the task of appreciating the diversity and unity that makes up the story of global Lutheranism, and reflect on how Lutherans have sought to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been articulated through the lens of the Evangelical Movement for the last 500 years. In this issue I am pleased to present work done by three esteemed col- leagues. Dr. Jason Mahn, Associate Professor in Religion at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, reminds us of the unintended consequences of the Refor- mation as they relate to the secular age. Mahn examines the possibility that Lu- ther’s theology provides a resource that could enable us to “train ourselves to see God as hidden under opposite signs, even or especially in our secular society.” Dr. Kirsi Stjerna, Professor of Reformation Church History and Director for the Institute of Luther Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Get- tysburg, Pennsylvania, brings fresh insight into Luther’s problematic under- standing of Judaism and the Jews of Germany by examining several of Luther’s letters that address conversion from Judaism and advice concerning the baptism of a Jewish girl. In Stjerna’s words, “The letters add to the evidence on what is constant and what is changing in Luther’s relating to the Jews. Both letters offer helpful detail for re-examination of Luther’s sacramental theology with larger questions in mind.” Dr. Maria Erling, Professor of Modern Church History and Global Mis- sions, and Director of Teaching Parish at the Lutheran School of Theology at Gettysburg helps usher in our commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by considering the impact of Luther commemoration in the devel- opment of North American Lutheran identity. We are reminded that “Luther’s relevance to American Lutheranism, as contrasted with his relevance to Luther- anism, had to be presented in terms that fit the times, and spoke also to other Protestants.” My own small contribution highlights the connection between the ethi- cal dimensions of the theologies of Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Underneath the modest argument that I formulate concerning the reliance of Bonhoeffer on Luther’s theology is a plea to re-examine the ways in which the history of interpretation has impacted our most fundamental beliefs concerning the legacy of Luther in regard to ethics and the temporal realm. Taken as a whole each author provides a cogent challenge to readers to consider how a 500-year-old theological tradition can continue to provide theological insights and challenges. For the next several years you can expect more of the same in October issues of Currents. Nathan Montover Issue Editor Wartburg Theological Seminary Forming Valued Leaders for God’s Mission We invite you to consider your call to ministry... Conference on Ministry Nov. 9-11, 2013 1.800.225.5987 Exploring Seminary www.wartburgseminary.edu Online Course Jan. 6 - Feb. 14, 2014 Reforming Formation: The Practices of Protestantism in a Secular Age Jason A. Mahn Associate Professor of Religion, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois We’re approaching the 500-year anniver- moral relativism, far-reaching consumer- sary of the birth of the Reformation—or at ism, the privatization and then alleged least of the most widely known action by disappearance of religion, and a host of the most charismatic figure within various other conditions of the late modern era reform movements of sixteenth century that together we call “secularism.” When Europe: Martin Luther’s composition of religious historians reconsider sixteenth ninety-five pithy protests against the sale century Europe in light of modern discon- of Plenary Indulgences in October 1517, tent, they often portray the Reformation along with their fabled public posting and other late medieval reform movements to the door of the Wittenberg Church. as the beginning of the end. While some But as Lutherans and others get ready to are filling the 500th anniversary balloons, celebrate, it’s clear that the Reformation others wonder whether the helium can be has fallen out of favor in many academic put back in the tank. circles. Scholars often now point to the late Of course, it is possible to celebrate medieval/early modern era as a precursor Luther the man or even Lutheranism the to many contemporary ills. Fortunate movement while still coming to terms with for those ready to commemorate the the unintended, ironic, and undesirable Reformation, the historical appraisers consequences of both. It is also possible to often point to so many unanticipated, trace many of our modern troubles back to unintentional developments that no one Luther and the late medieval reformations figure or Protestant tradition bears the without attributing malicious intentions, brunt of their critiques. or even culpable ignorance, to any leading The disaffection seems to be in direct actor. Brad S. Gregory attempts the latter portion to other theological trends, includ- in his recent historical reconstruction: The ing: the recovery of Thomistic thought Unintended Reformation: How a Religious from easy caricatures of scholasticism; Revolution Secularized Society. Gregory renewed interest in the virtues and moral views “the” Reformation as including teleology, which ostensibly were eclipsed by various magisterial and radical reforma- Reformation understandings of grace alone; tions, as the culmination of various reform increasing attention to the importance of movements of the late middle ages, and Anabaptism and the Radical Reformation, as providing the ground of possibility for especially among those experimenting eventual developments in empirical sci- with countercultural forms of church or ence, political liberalism, global capitalism, writing political theology (whose numbers and modern foundationalist philosophy.

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