What did David use to kill Goliath?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Dude Abides

Home
Progressive Christian

Last updated on: February 19, 2008 at 3:48 pm by Cathleen Falsani

2008-02-19T15:48:00-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

GODSTUFF

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARTIN:

LUTHER, THEOLOGICAL ROCK STAR

In the world of religion, Lutheranism is about as sexy as a pair of worn-in, brown Hush Puppies.

Blame it on Garrison Keillor and his Lake Wobegon denizens, but Lutherans have a reputation for being a little bland. Nice, thoughtful, active in the community, good neighbors and intelligent. But . . . not what you’d call dangerous.

This Lutheran reputation, ill-gotten and ill-fitting or not, definitely doesn’t describe the father of Lutheranism (and of the Protestant Reformation, for that matter), Martin Luther. At least not according to a conference this week at Northwestern University that aims to reconsider Luther — a rock star of the religion world if ever there was one — 500 years into the Reformation he sparked in 16th-century Wittenberg, Germany.

“Luther has some really cool things to say to our contemporary situation of religion, of violence, evil and the hidden-ness of God,” said Christine Helmer, a Northwestern theology professor and Luther expert who is one of the organizers of “The Global Luther” conference, which runs Thursday through Saturday.

“There’s a great turn toward trying to figure out what language we should use to describe the religious experience — is it the language of reason? Is it the language of emotion?” Helmer said. “Luther’s experience — the experience of sin and grace, ‘amazing grace, how sweet the sound’; that whole experience of moving from blindness to sight, from being lost to being saved,” resonates as much today as it did when Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door, she said.

Luther sparked a theological and societal revolution from the boondocks of Wittenberg — a Catholic monastic-turned-renegade — at a point in history not dissimilar to our own.

“He has certain things to say about how life is lived in the face of death and in the face of evil; and how life is lived in relation to a God who is not as revealed as people would like to think God is,” Helmer said. “It’s time to look at Luther as someone who blasted open the medieval structures of thinking.”

No great vision descended on Luther in a dream, a pillar of fire, or a burning bush. His theological epiphany, like his conversion (in spirit, soul and intellect), was hard-won.

“People often think [Luther’s] breakthrough is something that happened overnight, but he spent 10 years in the monastery — throwing ink pots at the devil — with those ideas before they became a real, major historical force,” Helmer said.

Luther’s spiritual progress was sometimes tortured and often fraught with self-doubt. Like so many of ours.

I asked Helmer what might most surprise the uninitiated about Luther, and she said his understanding of the “hidden God.”

“Our culture and our religious ethos too often looks for the revealed God — the God who is known with absolute certainty — in our religion or in our culture in order to be evidence for what we ‘know’ to be the truth,” she said. “But I think God is much more mysterious. God is hidden in many of the events of human history. God is even hidden in the human soul.

“Luther really does portray a God who is hidden . . . and it takes a lot of work — a lot of spiritual work and a lot of intellectual work — in order to find the God that refuses to be captured by humans as evidence or as proof for human truth. I think that’s what’s most revolutionary about Luther.”

At a time when so many yearn for real change — spiritual, cultural or political — Luther has something to teach us.

About patience and hard work.

About saying what you’re not supposed to say.

About taking a stand, recognizing revelation when it happens, and telling the truth.

That kind of revolution is never bland. It’s downright dangerous.

For more information on Northwestern University’s conference, “The Global Luther: Reconsidering the Contributions of Martin Luther,” CLICK HERE

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 18, 2008

Next Post

February 20, 2008

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did David use to kill Goliath?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Arrow Stone Spear Sword