Luther Renaissance

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Martin Luther (drawing by Karl Bauer , in: Hjalmar Holmquist: Martin Luther: Minnesskrift till reformationsjubileet, Uppsala 1917)

The term Luther Renaissance , coined by Erich Seeberg , describes a theological renewal movement within German and Scandinavian Lutheranism. It began around 1910 and was alive well into the 1930s. Since some leading representatives got involved with National Socialism, it has been considered discredited since the Second World War. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans Joachim Iwand , whose works were formative for the Protestant Church in the post-war period, were influenced by the Luther Renaissance.

The magazine for systematic theology served as the organ of the group, which had only seen itself as a separate school since around 1923 . The dialectical theology can be considered as an alternative to Luther Renaissance, but sometimes grouped mainly by researchers in the United States, together with her under the term "neo-orthodoxy".

Karl Holl: Luther's breakthrough in reform

The year 1910 is considered to be the beginning of the Luther Renaissance, in which Karl Holl discovered Martin Luther's Roman letters lecture from 1515 to 1516 (only edited by Johannes Ficker in 1908 ) as a document of his Reformation breakthrough. "Holl found the epitome of western religion of conscience in the justification theology of the 'young Luther' of the Roman epistle lecture." Holl dealt with Max Weber's theory of modernity.

In 1921, under the impact of the First World War, Holl discovered a heroic figure in the 'young Luther' who was suitable as a “moral reconstruction icon for Germany”.

Emanuel Hirsch: Political Christology

Emanuel Hirsch founded a political theology as Christology , which was derived from Luther's theologia crucis (i.e. the readiness of the individual Christian to suffer in following Christ). He took this key term from Luther's Hebrews lecture, especially from Luther's gloss on ( Heb 12:11  LUT ).

In the situation in 1934 that meant for him to recognize Adolf Hitler as sovereign of the Protestant Church. This “völkisch sovereign” was meant as an alternative to the rule of law as it was represented in liberal theology . Willingness to suffer then specifically meant the soldier's willingness to make sacrifices and his willingness to be entangled in guilt in industrial warfare. Paul Tillich criticized as early as 1934: "You are turning the prophetic- eschatologically conceived Kairos teaching into priestly-sacramental consecration of a present event."

Theologians assigned to the Luther Renaissance

Germany

Scandinavia

literature

  • Heinrich Assel : The other departure: The Luther Renaissance - origins, aporias and ways: Karl Holl, Emanuel Hirsch, Rudolf Hermann (1910–1935) (= research on systematic and ecumenical theology, volume 72). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 978-3-525-56279-6 .
  • Heinrich Assel:  Luther Renaissance . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 4th edition. Volume 5, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen 2002, Sp. 606-508.
  • Christine Helmer, Bo Kristian Holm (eds.): Luther Renaissance Past and Present (= research on the history of the church and dogma, volume 106). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-525-56415-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ e.g. Glenn T. Miller: Piety and Plurality: Theological Education since 1960. Wipf and Stock, Eugene / Oregon 2014, pp. 214f.
  2. ^ Heinrich Assel: The Luther Renaissance in Germany from 1900 to 1960 . In: Christine Helmer, Bo Kristian Holm (Ed.): Lutherrenaissance Past and Present . S. 29 .
  3. ↑ Christine Svindt-Værge Põder: conscience or prayer. The reception of the Roman letters lecture by Karl Holl and Rudolf Herrmann . In: Christine Helmer, Bo Kristian Holm (Ed.): Lutherrenaissance Past and Present . S. 59 .
  4. ^ Heinrich Assel: The Luther Renaissance in Germany . S. 40 .