Clouds of the Cross in Luther and Kierkegaard

Clouds of the Cross in Luther and Kierkegaard
Author: Carl S. Hughes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2024-07-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1666951331

What do Christians mean when they talk about revelation? What sort of truth do Jesus and the Bible disclose? Knowledge or doctrine, required beliefs or a moral code, the answers Christians give to these questions tend to be objective in form: something they “have” that others lack. In Clouds of the Cross in Luther and Kierkegaard: Revelation as Unknowing, Carl S. Hughes draws on Martin Luther and Søren Kierkegaard—two of the most Christocentric and biblically oriented theologians in history—to suggest a much-needed alternative. Hughes blends historical, philosophical, and constructive approaches to theology in lively and engaging prose. He spotlights the objectifying tendencies in Luther’s thought that become so influential in modernity, while also finding resources in Luther’s own theology for a very different approach. Then, Hughes turns to Søren Kierkegaard—one of Luther’s fiercest critics and, at the same time, most faithful inheritors. Hughes argues that Kierkegaard carries some of Luther’s most provocative themes further than Luther himself ever dares. The result is a “Kierkegaardian-Lutheran” theology of revelation that resonates with mystical and apophatic theology, resembles art more than information, and transforms lives to incarnate the love of Christ in diverse and ever-changing ways.

Radical Lutherans/Lutheran Radicals

Radical Lutherans/Lutheran Radicals
Author: Jason A. Mahn
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2017-06-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498234925

Can a Lutheran be sociopolitically radical? Can a radical be theologically and faithfully Lutheran? This book answers yes. Written by teacher-scholars from five ELCA colleges, Radical Lutherans/Lutheran Radicals follows Martin Luther, Soren Kierkegaard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothee Soelle, and others as they sink deep roots in the Lutheran Christian tradition while simultaneously resisting the status quo with their words, their deeds, and sometimes their very lives. Each chapter shows how the Lutheran theologian returns to the roots of Luther's life and writing and puts them toward radical social and political ends, including critiques of cultured Christianity; resistance to state or market; preferential options for the poor and suffering; deep commitments to peace, justice, and ecological sustainability; and direct nonviolent resistance. The book highlights theological themes popularized by Luther (justification by grace, two-kingdoms thinking, theology of the cross, and vocation) and then shows how these theological staples--when deeply and creatively retrieved--can inform political protest, intentional living, and other countercultural movements. The compelling claim throughout is that Luther's theology at its root has resources for radical political participation and social transformation, as exemplified by the writings and lives of these radical Lutherans/Lutheran radicals.

Kierkegaard and Luther

Kierkegaard and Luther
Author: David Lawrence Coe
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2020-07-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978710844

Søren Kierkegaard denounced nineteenth-century Danish Lutheranism for exploiting Martin Luther's doctrine of justification "without works" as justification for an antinomian easy life. Kierkegaard saw his own writing as a corrective: “I have wanted to prevent people in ‘Christendom’ from existentially taking in vain Luther and the significance of Luther's life.” In 1847, Kierkegaard began an eight-year reading of Luther’s sermons, forking through them for extracts to confirm his theological corrective rather than to comprehend the breadth of Luther’s thought. While he found much to laud, Kierkegaard also found much to lance, privately commenting that Luther was partially responsible for what he considered the problematic Lutheranism of his own day. Furthermore, David Coe argues, Kierkegaard was unaware that his copy of Luther's church and house postils was a heavily abridged edition of extracts from those postils. Therefore, his appraisal of Luther begs to be investigated. Kierkegaard and Luther examines the Luther sermons Kierkegaard read, what he praised and criticized, missed, and misjudged of Luther, and spotlights the concord these two Lutheran giants actually shared, namely, the negative yet necessary role that Christian suffering (Anfechtung/Anfægtelse) plays in Christian faith and life.

The Hidden God

The Hidden God
Author: Marius Timmann Mjaaland
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015-11-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 025301820X

In this phenomenological reading of Luther, Marius Timmann Mjaaland shows that theological discourse is never philosophically neutral and always politically loaded. Raising questions concerning the conditions of modern philosophy, religion, and political ideas, Marius Timmann Mjaaland follows a dark thread of thought back to its origin in Martin Luther. Thorough analyses of the genealogy of secularization, the political role of the apocalypse, the topology of the self, and the destruction of metaphysics demonstrate the continuous relevance of this highly subtle thinker.rabbi

Kierkegaard and the New Nationalism

Kierkegaard and the New Nationalism
Author: Thomas J. Millay
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1793640343

A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Nationalism is a globally resurgent phenomenon. From Britain to India to the United States of America, we find nations vociferously reasserting their own sovereignty, ethnic composition, and intrinsic superiority. Thomas J. Millay demonstrates how Kierkegaard’s ascetic voice speaks directly to our present crisis.Kierkegaard and the New Nationalism: A Contemporary Reinterpretation of the Attack upon Christendom analyzes the late writings of Kierkegaard in light of this new relevance, for Kierkegaard’s attack upon Christendom is also an attack upon nationalism. For Kierkegaard, taking on nationalism is not simply a matter of undermining false identity constructions. Attacking nationalism is a matter of renunciation: it requires ascetic discipline, such that the selfish motives at the core of one’s identity construction are uprooted and replaced by a self-giving love marked by the willingness to suffer.

Ethical Silence

Ethical Silence
Author: Sergia Hay
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2020-10-14
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1793614490

Ethical Silence: Kierkegaard on Communication, Education, andHumility examines a new area of Kierkegaard scholarship: the ethical value of silence. Through exegesis of Kierkegaard’s later writings, works in what is known as his second authorship, Sergia Hay argues that silence is an essential element of his Christian ethics. Starting with an overview of Kierkegaard’s ideas concerning ethics and communication, Hay builds a case for a Kierkegaardian notion of ethical silence by showing how silence contributes to the fulfillment of ethical imperatives by halting chatter, setting the “fundamental tone” for ethical activity, curbing excessive self-love, and providing another mode for educating and expressing love. Most importantly, silence can be used to humble the self and elevate the neighbor, creating conditions of Christian equality. Ethical silence is not the silence of the ineffable or what cannot be said, this is the silence of what can be said but should not.

Kierkegaard for the Church

Kierkegaard for the Church
Author: Ronald F. Marshall
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2013-08-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1620323974

Most of what is written on Kierkegaard today is for the college classroom and academic conferences. The guiding question of this book is that if Kierkegaard's words about Christianity are true, how do they change the way we learn and practice the Christian faith today? This book is an answer to that question. It does not enter into an extended critical discussion over the truth of Kierkegaard's ideas. Instead it just believes what Kierkegaard said and runs with it. It does that by showing how his ideas change our understanding of Christian identity, suffering and illness, worship and preaching, the Bible, baptism, prayer, marriage and divorce, criticism, and the Christian minister. Interspersed are many quotations from Martin Luther, whose thought significantly shaped Kierkegaard's. At the end of the book is a hefty collection of sermons to show how all of this can be preached in the church. What Kierkegaard for the Church adds to our understanding of Kierkegaard is the place of the church in his thought. Because of his criticisms of the Danish state church and his stress on the need for the single individual to appropriate Christian teachings, it could be imagined that he rejected the church. But that would be to throw the baby out with the bath. The fact is that Kierkegaard remained a loyal son of the church even while he attacked it. And he did this only so he could strengthen what he loved.

Metaphysics in the Reformation

Metaphysics in the Reformation
Author: Silvianne Aspray
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2021-01-28
Genre:
ISBN: 9780197266939

This book argues that the anti-metaphysical stance of many reformers is itself a metaphysical position.

Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty

Martin Luther's Theology of Beauty
Author: Mark C. Mattes
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149341030X

Many contemporary theologians seek to retrieve the concept of beauty as a way for people to encounter God. This groundbreaking book argues that while Martin Luther's view of beauty has often been ignored or underappreciated, it has much to contribute to that quest. Mark Mattes, one of today's leading Lutheran theologians, analyzes Luther's theological aesthetics and discusses its implications for music, art, and the contemplative life. Mattes shows that for Luther, the cross is the lens through which the beauty of God is refracted into the world.

From Conflict to Communion

From Conflict to Communion
Author: Lutheran World Federation
Publisher: Eerdmans
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Christian union conversations
ISBN: 9780802873774

Over the last fifty years, Lutherans and Roman Catholics have engaged in profound theological dialogue leading to increasingly close ties between two church bodies that have historically been divided. From Conflict to Communion contains the report produced by the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity along with an accompanying study guide and liturgical material suitable for a joint Catholic-Lutheran worship service. This book presents the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation as an opportunity for deeper communion between Roman Catholics and Lutherans and for celebration of their common witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Including a timely new introduction by William G. Rusch, this will be a valued re-source not only for Lutheran and Catholic theologians but also for people around the world who seek greater unity in the church.