Lutheranism- A Misnamed Tradition?

What does it mean to be a Lutheran? Throughout the centuries many Lutherans who have pondered this question have assumed that our name answers the question. We are Lutherans. Therefore we are followers of Luther. Therefore to be Lutheran is essentially to believe as Luther believed. Ironically this likely would have been out of step with Luther’s own conception of the tradition he started. For Luther, the core of the reformation was a focus on Jesus Christ.

As Luther stated: “The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification.” Though Luther’s ego might have been pleased with the adulation he received from the German masses, at his best I do not believe Luther would have wanted his own name or even his own words to become the centerpiece of the tradition. For Luther, Christ was always to remain at the center.

With this in mind, it has sometimes troubled me when Lutherans start to treat Luther as the commander-in-chief in questions of faith. Certainly I have participated in many wonderful discussions with fellow Lutherans about God, faith, ethics, and other complex life issues. That being said, here’s the one phrase that I think is overused by Lutherans- Well you know, Luther said, [insert answer to question.]

Now before I go on, let me qualify this. I am a proud Lutheran and I am fine with Lutherans wanting to reference Luther as a great conversation partner in questions of faith. I certainly am fine with giving Luther a prominent place at the table in our discussions because his perspectives are certainly foundational. But what I believe we should not do is assume that Luther has the answers to all of life’s hardest questions.

One reason we should not overly depend on Luther is because despite having a brilliant mind that offers some great insights for today, Luther was also a very flawed man. He was extremely intolerant towards those who disagreed with him. He held views about non-Europeans and Jews that were horribly racist and even encouraged violence towards them. And he actively encouraged the violent suppression of peasants who had rebelled against the horribly oppressive conditions of their day. So in some ways, he really wasn’t so insightful.

Now I am not saying that all of Luther’s views are invalidated by these flaws. As saints and sinners sometimes we get things right and sometimes we get things wrong. Many times we are limited by the culture of our day, which I have no doubt Luther was. My only point here is that sometimes Luther is not a reliable source of truth and therefore his perspectives need to be scrutinized.

Furthermore we need to be cautious about trying to use Luther to support our causes, because often this is wishful thinking. Some have tried to appeal to Luther in the fight against racism. This seems problematic considering Luther’s anti-Semitic writings, which in fact helped inspire Nazism. Some have tried to appeal to Luther as an inspiration for ecumenism. Again Luther had many good qualities, but he was not exactly someone who prioritized unity in the midst of difference.

So yes, Lutherans should give Luther a place at the table as we ponder questions of faith. But we also need to remember that in some cases Luther was simply wrong, which means that sometimes we need to get over needing Luther’s permission or approval. If we are looking for a guide and a savior, that role belongs to Jesus Christ. And that’s the truth, because you know… Luther would have agreed with me.

Maybe Luther Got This One Wrong

For some Christians it has become stylish to reject reason in favor of “sticking to what the Bible says.” The great reformer Martin Luther once said, “Reason is the Devil’s greatest whore.” The idea that Christian faith and reason are at odds has been a major feature of Protestant theology ever since. As a life-long Lutheran I have always been uncomfortable with Luther's demonization of reason, but how should Christians think about the role of reason in faith? Is reason, as Luther argued, the enemy of Christian faith? Or is there a sense in which faith and reason can serve as complementary tools for the Christian life?

Luther’s lack of appreciation for reason can only be understood within the context of his rejection of a branch of theology called scholasticism. Scholasticism was a dominating philosophical movement of Luther’s day which attempted to use reason to harmonize classical Catholic theology with the philosophies of Aristotle and Neoplatonism. Though these philosophies initially attracted Luther, he eventually came to the conclusion that they failed to provide what was most essential, namely the promise of a loving God. Luther claimed that we can never reason our way to knowing God’s love. Rather God is only made known through self-revelation, which can only be found in Scripture. Hence when Luther was calling on Christians to reject reason, he was primarily encouraging people to search for God in the gospel of Jesus Christ rather than in the philosophies of reason.

In a sense I believe Luther was right. If God really is most fully revealed in Jesus, then reason is not the best instrument for discovering God. After all, one could never deduce the story of Christ crucified by philosophizing in an armchair. The problem with Luther’s comments on reason is that they were probably overstated, as he was prone to doing. Even if we accept that God cannot be initially discovered through reason, this does not mean that reason has no role to play in faith. In fact Jesus himself gives us some examples of how reason can enhance our understanding of God.

Take for example the story of Jesus’ healing of a man that he encountered on the Sabbath. According to the letter of the Mosaic Law, no significant activity was to be done on the Sabbath, and many believed that this would include healing. And yet when Jesus encounters a man with a deformed hand he breaks the literal interpretation of the Law and heals him. When some of the hardliners accuse him of unlawfulness Jesus responds: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” Mark 3:4

I think what Jesus was basically saying in the above story is, “Use your brains people!” He’s arguing that if God really loves his people then God is probably more concerned with showing compassion to someone in need than abiding by a strict Sabbath legal code. He's challenging religious people to have a better appreciation for the Spirit of God in Scripture, which at times overrides the more literal meaning of Biblical texts. In other words Jesus is asking them to use their reason to learn something new about God’s will. God gave us our brains, so maybe using our reason in service to our faith is actually what Jesus wants us to do. After all, if using reason was good enough for Jesus Christ, shouldn’t it be good enough for Christians?