Luther and the Stories of God , livre ebook

© 2012 by Robert Kolb
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3624-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are translated by the author from Luther’s German text.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Abbreviations
Introduction : Luther the Storyteller and His Cultivation of the Christian Life
1. The Whole Life of a Christian as a Life of Repentance : Luther’s Metanarrative
2. Luther the Storyteller : Defining the Core of What It Means to Be Human
3. Above All, Fearing, Loving, and Trusting in God : Defining the Core of What It Means to Be Human
4. Suffering Builds Faith and Calls to Repentance : Affliction as Part of Daily Life
5. The Life of Faith in Responding to God’s Word with Prayer and Praise : Active Obedience in the Sacred Realm
6. The Life of Faith in Serving the Neighbor : Luther’s Ethic of Callings and Commands
7. Living Well Leads to Dying Well : The Completion of the Christian Life
Conclusion
Subject Index
Scripture Index
Notes
Back Cover
Abbreviations ARG Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte [journal]. Gütersloh. BoC The Book of Concord . Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000. BSLK Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche . 11th ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992. CP The Sermons of Martin Luther [the Church Postils]. Edited and translated by John N. Lenker. 8 vols. 1905; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983. EA2 Dr. Martin Luther’s sämmtliche Werke [Erlangen Ausgabe]. Erlangen ed., 2nd. ed. Frankfurt am Main and Erlangen: Heyder & Zimmer, 1862–85. FS Festival Sermons of Martin Luther: The Church Postils . Translated by Joel R. Baseley. Dearborn, MI: Mark V, 2005. HP Sermons of Martin Luther: The House Postil s. Edited and translated by Eugene F. A. Klug. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996. LQ Lutheran Quarterly . Gettysburg, PA. LuJ Lutherjahrbuch . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. LW Luther’s Works . Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann. St. Louis: Concordia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1958–86. TR Martin Luther. Tischreden [Table Talk]. 6 vols. in WA. TRE Theologische Realenzyklopädie . Edited by Gerhard Krause and Gerhard Müller. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1977–2004. WA D. Martin Luthers Werke [Weimarer Ausgabe]. Weimar: Böhlau, 1883–1993.
Introduction
Luther the Storyteller and His Cultivation of the Christian Life
All books in the entire Scripture are either reports or historical narratives; they offer examples, sometimes of laws, sometimes of the activities of God, and they all teach faith. The Pentateuch, in which the law is comprehended, reveals the origin of the human creature and sin. The prophets identify sin and pray to Christ, who takes sin away. John points to Christ as the Lamb of God. Christ takes away sin and brings salvation. [1]
E arly in his career as reformer, Martin Luther wrote these words as he prepared to preach on Genesis 14 in 1521. By that time a veteran preacher and somewhat seasoned university lecturer, he had already defined the nature of God’s revelation as centered on his actions in the form of speech (heard, or unheard as in Genesis 1) and his mysterious guidance of human and natural events, all embedded in human history, and interpreted authoritatively by the prophets and apostles in the Holy Scriptures. Luther recognized that God’s unfolding plan for his human creatures constituted what today is labeled a “metanarrative,” a master narrative that makes sense of incorporated specific stories. This metanarrative beginning with creation and the fall into sin in Genesis, focused on Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, ending with his return at the end of time guided and framed the history of God’s people as it was reported in both broad strokes and minute, personal details throughout the Bible.
Luther used several rhetorical forms in his preaching and exegetical lectures to expose the meaning of the text and apply it. Sometimes he presented careful exposition of the biblical text; at other times he employed a catechetical approach, organizing his discourse to teach the truths and applications of the truth he found in a text. But the Wittenberg exegete also believed that God had created human beings to experience reality in the flow of history. Luther believed that the stories constituting this flow reveal something of the larger story of God’s creation and preservation of his world. Therefore the retelling of biblical stories, supplemented on occasion with other stories, both from his own experience and reading and from the experiences of his congregation, enriched his conveying of the biblical text. This volume focuses particularly on Luther’s recounting stories as he cultivated the Christian way of living, providing instruction and direction for his hearers’ and readers’ participation in the unfolding drama of God’s governance of human history. [2]
Martin Luther as Storyteller
Luther indeed recognized not only the usefulness but also the ambiguity of the biblical stories. In 1532 Conrad Cordatus recorded his mentor’s observation that “the stories of the Old Testament are particularly clear, but to those who read them superficially, they are deadly. To the faithful they are alive.” To support this observation, Luther used the rather peculiar example of the resultant childlessness of Jephthah (Judg. 11), who sacrificed his only child to fulfill a vow. Luther contrasted Jephthah’s fate with that of Hannah, who received a child, Samuel, as a gift from God (1 Sam. 1–2). [3] The example may be curious, but the point of the reformer’s observation that readers should not, like Jephthah, take matters into their own hands, attempting to control or set the rules for their own lives remained the underlying guideline for his use of stories, biblical and nonbiblical, in his bringing the Word of God to hearers and readers. In his Preface to Galeatius Capella’s History (1538), and on the basis of the ancient Roman historian Marcus Terentius Varro’s statement, Luther thus declares: “The best way to teach is to add an example or illustration to the word, to aid understanding and retention. Otherwise, when a speech without examples is heard, no matter how appropriate and good it may be, it does not move the heart as much and is not as clear and easy to remember.” [4]
Fifteen years earlier the same theory of narrative had guided his treatment of biblical texts in his preaching in Wittenberg. Mary and Joseph had not understood what their twelve-year-old had meant when he explained that he had to be about his father’s business. They had despaired of finding him and had questioned God’s love for them. “Such examples are very useful for us. We need them to show us how also among the saints, who are God’s children and are above others given God’s favor, weakness nonetheless remains, so they often stray and make mistakes. Sometimes they stumble badly, although not intentionally or willfully, but from weariness and misunderstanding.” The apostles had such experiences. These stories teach God’s people to find comfort in God and to cling to his Word. [5]
The biblical accounts of God’s action and the actions of both saints and sinners need to be interpreted and applied within the context of the contemporary proclaimer’s hearers and readers. With that provision, Luther was convinced that these accounts of human experience and God’s intervention in history are valuable means for demonstrating who God is and what it means to be human. He also was convinced that such stories need to be interpreted within the context of the larger framework of God’s revelation Luther’s metanarrative.
Indeed, Luther used a variety of stories to explain his larger vision of God’s revelation of himself and what it means to be human. These include references to experiences from Luther’s own life and memory. Such recollections occurred more frequently, to be sure, at the supper table than in the lecture hall or pulpit. His stories also include tales from ancient myths and classical history, as well as from the history of the church, and even from its tradition of the legends of the saints. His narrative depictions of God in action include also the professor’s own fables, such as scenes from Christ’s battle against Satan, that have an almost Tolkienesque ring. But in addition, Luther fostered faith and piety from the pulpit and in his exegetical exposition through the retelling of biblical stories. He often imaginatively filled in details in a way he believed was consistent with what was happening in the text, details that provided his hearers and readers with special insight into its significance for their lives.
Luther and the Bible
Although he left few reports of the initial impact that hearing its accounts