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Luther and Philosophies of the Reformation

The book contains seven essays on the Reformation written by world-renowned authors. As much as they are widely known in their own academic fields and communities, this is the first time that such authors have come together to reflect on the major contributions of Martin Luther's thought at the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.Luther and Philosophies of the Reformation is a multi-disciplinary critical assessment on the Reformation discourse taking into consideration Luther's rediscovery of the Scripture, primarily looking at readings of St. Paul with the idea of gift and participation. It also presents, compares and contrasts a literary 'Dantean reading' of Luther with the Reformer's daring development of the doctrine of the Church that is relevant today.Consequently, this book offers a strong but constructive criticism of Luther's medieval metaphysics and of the unintended outcomes of his idea from a Hegelian and radical left point of view. The authors demonstrate throughout not only the relevance of Luther's thought for us today but also his possible significance for the future.

Luther: Letters Of Spiritual Counsel (The Library Of Christian Classics Ser. #No. 54)

Martin Luther is often thought of as a world-shaking figure who defied papacy and empire to introduce a reformation in the teaching, worship, organization, and life of the church. Sometimes it is forgotten that he was also a pastor and shepherd of souls. Collected in this volume are Luther’s letters of spiritual counsel, which he offered to his contemporaries in the midst of sickness, death, persecution, imprisonment, famine, and political instability. For Luther, spiritual counsel was about establishing, nurturing, and strengthening faith. Freshly translated from the original German and Latin, these letters shed light on the fascinating relationship between his pastoral counsel and his theology.“Since spiritual direction is not the wholesale application of general principles, but the painstaking working out of spirituality in specific situations, the personal letter is one of its best expressions. Luther knew the holy gospel and the human heart, and the double knowledge is evident on the pages of these letters.”—Eugene H. Peterson, Regent College

Lutheran Reformers Against Anabaptists: Luther, Melanchthon and Menius and the Anabaptists of Central Germany

Lutheran Theology (Doing Theology)

This title offers an introduction for students and lay readers to doing theology in the Lutheran tradition. Lutheran theology found its source, and so its name in Martin Luther in the 16th century. The theology that emerged identified two essential matters for the relationship between humans and God, the law and the gospel. It made a simple but extremely unusual and controversial claim - that it was not the law that made a person right before God's final judgment, but the gospel of Christ's death on the cross for sinners. This book will lay out the implications of having all theology, and so all that can be said of God, humans and creation confessed and delivered in two parts: I, the sinner; and God, the justifier. Doing Theology introduces the major Christian traditions and their way of theological reflection. These volumes focus on the origins of a particular theological tradition, its foundations, key concepts, eminent thinkers and historical development. The series is aimed readers who want to learn more about their own theological heritage and identity: theology undergraduates, students in ministerial training and church study groups.

Lutheran Theology: A Grammar of Faith

This textbook explores the Lutheran theological tradition. Kirsi Stjerna looks at Lutheran sources, vocabulary and focal points through the lens of the Augsburg Confession and the Large Catechism, developing a distinctive Lutheran faith language that resonates with contemporary contexts and inquirers.Lutheran Theology gives students the tools they need to understand Lutheran perspectives in the light of historical sources, to see the underlying motivations of past theological discourses and to apply this knowledge to current debates. Introducing the Book of Concord and Martin Luther's freedom theology, it shows them how to engage critically and constructively with key topics in theology and spirituality, such as freedom and confession. Stjerna pays particular attention to the contribution of women theologians, and empowers students to bring Lutheran theology into conversation with other faith languages and traditions.This textbook includes an extensive range of pedagogical features:- A discussion guide for each chapter- Chapter-specific learning objectives- Key terms in bold, boxed text sections that identify points of debate, discussion of central topics, study questions and a glossary

Lutheran Theology: A Grammar of Faith

This textbook explores the Lutheran theological tradition. Kirsi Stjerna looks at Lutheran sources, vocabulary and focal points through the lens of the Augsburg Confession and the Large Catechism, developing a distinctive Lutheran faith language that resonates with contemporary contexts and inquirers.Lutheran Theology gives students the tools they need to understand Lutheran perspectives in the light of historical sources, to see the underlying motivations of past theological discourses and to apply this knowledge to current debates. Introducing the Book of Concord and Martin Luther's freedom theology, it shows them how to engage critically and constructively with key topics in theology and spirituality, such as freedom and confession. Stjerna pays particular attention to the contribution of women theologians, and empowers students to bring Lutheran theology into conversation with other faith languages and traditions.This textbook includes an extensive range of pedagogical features:- A discussion guide for each chapter- Chapter-specific learning objectives- Key terms in bold, boxed text sections that identify points of debate, discussion of central topics, study questions and a glossary

Lutheran Theology and Secular Law: The Work of the Modern State (ICLARS Series on Law and Religion)

This collection brings together lawyers and theologians in the U.S. and Europe to reflect on Lutheran understandings of the political use of the law by secular governments. The book furthers the intellectual conversation about how Lutheran insights can be used to develop jurisprudence and specific solutions to legal issues in which there is strong conflict. It presents the basic theological and interpretive assumptions of the Lutheran tradition as they may inform the creation of legislation and judicial interpretation at local, national and international levels. The authors explore Luther’s conception of the foundations of modern secular law and understanding of vocation. The work discusses the application of Lutheran theological principles to contemporary issues such as the war on terror, native land rights, property law, family law, church and state, medical experimentation, and the criminal law of rape, providing ethical insights for lawyers and lawmakers.

Lutheran Theology and Secular Law: The Work of the Modern State (ICLARS Series on Law and Religion)

This collection brings together lawyers and theologians in the U.S. and Europe to reflect on Lutheran understandings of the political use of the law by secular governments. The book furthers the intellectual conversation about how Lutheran insights can be used to develop jurisprudence and specific solutions to legal issues in which there is strong conflict. It presents the basic theological and interpretive assumptions of the Lutheran tradition as they may inform the creation of legislation and judicial interpretation at local, national and international levels. The authors explore Luther’s conception of the foundations of modern secular law and understanding of vocation. The work discusses the application of Lutheran theological principles to contemporary issues such as the war on terror, native land rights, property law, family law, church and state, medical experimentation, and the criminal law of rape, providing ethical insights for lawyers and lawmakers.

Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St. John Passion: With an Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto

Bach's St. John Passion is surely one of the monuments of Western music, yet performances of it are inevitably controversial. In large part, this is because of the combination of the powerful and highly emotional music and a text that includes passages from a gospel marked by vehement anti-Judaic sentiments. What did this masterpiece mean in Bach's day and what does it mean today? Although bibliographies on Bach and Judaism have grown enormously since World War II, there has been very little work on the relationship between the two areas. This is hardly surprising; Judaica scholars and culture critics focusing on issues of anti-Semitism commonly lack musical training and are, in any event, quite reasonably interested in even more pressing social and political issues. Bach scholars, on the other hand, have mostly concentrated on narrowly defined musical topics. Strangely, therefore, almost no scholarly attention has been given to relationships between Lutheranism and the religion of Judaism as they affect Bach's most controversial work, the St. John Passion. Through a reappraisal of Bach's work and its contexts, Marissen confronts Bach and Judaism directly, providing interpretive commentary that could serve as a basis for a more informed and sensitive discussion of this troubling work. Consisting of a long interpretive essay, followed by an annotated literal translation of the libretto, a guide to recorded examples, and a detailed bibliography, this concise text provides the reader with the tools to assess the work on its own terms and in the appropriate context.

The Lutherans: Student Edition (Non-ser.)

Lutheran churches in the United States have included multiple ethnic cultures since the colonial era and continue to wrestle with increasing internal variety as one component of their identity. By combining the concerns of social history with an awareness for theological themes, this volume explores the history of this family of Lutheran churches and traces the development from the colonial era through the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988. An introduction details the origins of Lutheranism in the European Reformation and the practices significant to the group's life in the United States. Organized chronologically, subsequent chapters follow the churches' maturation as they form institutions, provide themselves with leaders, and expand their membership and geographic range. Attention is given throughout to the contributions of the laity and women within the context of the Lutherans' continued individual and corporate effort to be both authentically Lutheran and genuinely American.Offering a rich portrayal of the Lutherans' lives and their churches, the social historical approach of this study brings the Lutheran people to the foreground. The dynamic relationship between pietist, orthodox, and critical expressions of the tradition has remained among Lutherans even though they have divided themselves by several factors including ethnicity and confessional stance. Of interest to scholars and researchers of Lutheran history and religion in America, this engaging, multifaceted work balances narrative history with brief biographical essays. A chronological listing of important dates in the development of the Lutheran church is especially helpful.

Luther's The Church Held Captive in Babylon: Latin-English Edition, with a New Translation and Introduction

In August of 1520, Martin Luther published the first of three incendiary works, Address to the German Nobility, in which he urged secular authorities to take a strong hand in "reforming" the Roman church. In October, he published The Church Held Captive, and by December the deepest theological rationale appeared in The Freedom of a Christian. With these three books, the relatively unknown Friar Martin exploded onto the Western European literary and religious scene. These three works have been universally acknowledged as classics of the Reformation, and of the Western religious tradition in general. Though Reformation scholars have been reluctant to single out one as the most important of the three, Denis Janz proposes a bold case for The Church Held Captive. In the first entirely new translation in more than a century, Janz presents Luther's text as it hasn't been read in English before. Previous translations stifle the original text by dulling the sharpest edges of its argumentation and tame Luther by substituting euphemisms for his vulgarities. In Janz's dual language edition we see the provocative, offensive, and extreme restored. In his wide-ranging introduction, Janz offers much-needed context to clarify the role of The Church Held Captive in Luther's life and the life of the Reformation. This edition is the most reader-friendly scholarly version of Luther's classic in the English language.

Luther's Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege

In 1521, the Catholic Church declared war on Martin Luther. The German monk had already been excommunicated the year before, after nailing his Ninety-Five Theses-which accused the Church of rampant corruption-to the door of a Saxon church. Now, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V called for Luther "to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic.” The edict was akin to a death sentence: If Luther was caught, he would almost inevitably be burned at the stake, his fragile movement crushed, and the nascent Protestant Reformation strangled in its cradle.In Luther's Fortress, acclaimed historian James Reston, Jr. describes this crucial but little-known episode in Luther's life and reveals its pivotal role in Christian history. Realizing the danger to their leader, Luther's followers spirited him away to Wartburg Castle, deep in central Germany. There he hid for the next ten months, as his fate-and that of the Reformation-hung in the balance. Yet instead of cowering in fear, Luther spent his time at Wartburg strengthening his movement and refining his theology in ways that would guarantee the survival of Protestantism. He devoted himself to biblical study and spiritual contemplation; he fought both his papist critics and his own inner demons (and, legend has it, the devil himself); and he held together his fractious and increasingly radicalized reform movement from afar. During this time Luther also crystallized some of his most significant ideas about Christianity and translated the New Testament into German-an accomplishment that, perhaps more than any other, solidified his legacy and spread his bold new religious philosophy across Europe.Drawing on Luther's correspondence, notes, and other writings, Luther's Fortress presents an earthy, gripping portrait of the Reformation's architect at this transformational moment, revealing him at his most productive, courageous, and profound.

Luther's Gospel: Reimagining the World

Martin Luther was one of the most influential figures of the last millennium, with around 900 million people worldwide belonging to Protestant churches that trace their origins back to the Reformation he started five hundred years ago. His thinking and his writing were always original, fresh, controversial and provocative. They evoked strong reactions then, and still do today. This book offers an accessible way into that thinking by looking at the way he approached a wide range of issues in his own time, and how some of that thinking might give us new ways to approach contemporary issues. Examining his approach to topics such as sex, freedom, prayer, evil, pilgrimage and Bible translation, it illustrates vividly the mind of this man who was very much of his time, yet whose ideas still speak creatively to the modern world. It combines scholarly insight into some of the key issues surrounding the study of Luther today, while being written in a style that makes it accessible to the non-specialist. The result is a book that serves as an ideal handbook for those wishing to get inside the mind of this most remarkable man.

Luther's Gospel: Reimagining the World

Martin Luther was one of the most influential figures of the last millennium, with around 900 million people worldwide belonging to Protestant churches that trace their origins back to the Reformation he started five hundred years ago. His thinking and his writing were always original, fresh, controversial and provocative. They evoked strong reactions then, and still do today. This book offers an accessible way into that thinking by looking at the way he approached a wide range of issues in his own time, and how some of that thinking might give us new ways to approach contemporary issues. Examining his approach to topics such as sex, freedom, prayer, evil, pilgrimage and Bible translation, it illustrates vividly the mind of this man who was very much of his time, yet whose ideas still speak creatively to the modern world. It combines scholarly insight into some of the key issues surrounding the study of Luther today, while being written in a style that makes it accessible to the non-specialist. The result is a book that serves as an ideal handbook for those wishing to get inside the mind of this most remarkable man.

Luther's lives: Two contemporary accounts of Martin Luther

This volume brings together two important contemporary accounts of the life of Martin Luther in a confrontation that had been postponed for more than four hundred and fifty years. The first of these is written after Luther’s death, when it was rumoured that demons had seized the Reformer on his deathbed and dragged him off to Hell. In response to these rumours, Luther’s friend and colleague, Philip Melanchthon wrote and published a brief encomium of the Reformer in 1548. A completely new translation of this text appears in this book. It was in response to Melanchthon’s work that Johannes Cochlaeus completed and published his own monumental life of Luther in 1549, which is translated and made available in English for the first time in this volume. Such is the detail and importance of Cochlaeus’s life of Luther that for an eyewitness account of the Reformation – and the beginnings of the Catholic Counter-Reformation – there is simply no other historical document to compare.

Luther's Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther's Theological Breakthrough

Luther's Theology of the Cross represents a fully revised and updated edition of the classic 1985 text that expands on the author's ongoing research and reflects 25 years of Luther scholarship. Rewritten and expanded edition of a highly-acclaimed classic text Incorporates primary and secondary sources that have become available since the publication of the first edition Draws on advances in our understanding of the late medieval intellectual, cultural, and religious background of Luther's early development, and the nature of Luther's doctrine of justification (including the so-called 'Finnish' school), many of which have not yet been incorporated into Luther scholarship Luther's 'theological breakthrough' continues to be of central importance to Reformation Studies and the development of Protestantism Written by one of the world's leading Protestant theologians, who is an authority on the development of the doctrine of justification. His classic work Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification is now in its third edition (2005)

Luther's Theology of the Cross: Martin Luther's Theological Breakthrough

Luther's Theology of the Cross represents a fully revised and updated edition of the classic 1985 text that expands on the author's ongoing research and reflects 25 years of Luther scholarship. Rewritten and expanded edition of a highly-acclaimed classic text Incorporates primary and secondary sources that have become available since the publication of the first edition Draws on advances in our understanding of the late medieval intellectual, cultural, and religious background of Luther's early development, and the nature of Luther's doctrine of justification (including the so-called 'Finnish' school), many of which have not yet been incorporated into Luther scholarship Luther's 'theological breakthrough' continues to be of central importance to Reformation Studies and the development of Protestantism Written by one of the world's leading Protestant theologians, who is an authority on the development of the doctrine of justification. His classic work Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification is now in its third edition (2005)

Lydia

The New Testament tells us very little about Lydia, a seller of purple cloth who was living in Philippi when she met the apostle Paul on his second missionary journey. And yet she is considered the first recorded convert to Christianity in Europe. In her second work of fiction, Biblical scholar and popular author and speaker Paula Gooder tells Lydia's story - who she was, the life she lived and her first-century faith - and in doing so opens up Paul's letter to the Philippians, giving a sense of the cultural and historical pressures that shaped Paul's thinking, and the faith of the early church.Written in the gripping style of Gerd Theissen's The Shadow of the Galilean, and similarly rigorously researched, this is a book for everyone and anyone who wants to engage more deeply and imaginatively with Paul's theology - from one of the UK's foremost New Testament scholars.

Lyotard and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)

Lieven Boeve contextualises Lyotard's writings and approach with reference to his theological thought. By focusing on issues such as the nature of the differend within language, the sublime experience and our (in)ability to witness to the breakdowns of language and representation, Lyotard's thought provokes theology to reconsider its own foundations. Taking up issues such as a highly relevant critique of capitalism, itself vital to today's understanding of Christian praxis in a global world, Lyotard offers us a perspective by which to re-evaluate Christianity beyond its being a hegemonic discourse as it moves toward being a discourse concerned with love. Through exploring the Christian narrative as an 'open' one, Boeve aims to make use of new possibilities for theology through a renewed comprehension of Lyotard's significance for today.

Lyotard and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)

Lieven Boeve contextualises Lyotard's writings and approach with reference to his theological thought. By focusing on issues such as the nature of the differend within language, the sublime experience and our (in)ability to witness to the breakdowns of language and representation, Lyotard's thought provokes theology to reconsider its own foundations. Taking up issues such as a highly relevant critique of capitalism, itself vital to today's understanding of Christian praxis in a global world, Lyotard offers us a perspective by which to re-evaluate Christianity beyond its being a hegemonic discourse as it moves toward being a discourse concerned with love. Through exploring the Christian narrative as an 'open' one, Boeve aims to make use of new possibilities for theology through a renewed comprehension of Lyotard's significance for today.

The Lyre of Orpheus: Popular Music, the Sacred, and the Profane

The myth of Orpheus articulates what social theorists have known since Plato: music matters. It is uniquely able to move us, to guide the imagination, to evoke memories, and to create spaces within which meaning is made. Popular music occupies a place of particular social and cultural significance. Christopher Partridge explores this significance, analyzing its complex relationships with the values and norms, texts and discourses, rituals and symbols, and codes and narratives of modern Western cultures. He shows how popular music's power to move, to agitate, to control listeners, to shape their identities, and to structure their everyday lives is central to constructions of the sacred and the profane. In particular, he argues that popular music can be important 'edgework,' challenging dominant constructions of the sacred in modern societies. Drawing on a wide range of musicians and musical genres, as well as a number of theoretical approaches from critical musicology, cultural theory, sociology, theology, and the study of religion, The Lyre of Orpheus reveals the significance and the progressive potential of popular music.

The Lyre of Orpheus: Popular Music, the Sacred, and the Profane

The myth of Orpheus articulates what social theorists have known since Plato: music matters. It is uniquely able to move us, to guide the imagination, to evoke memories, and to create spaces within which meaning is made. Popular music occupies a place of particular social and cultural significance. Christopher Partridge explores this significance, analyzing its complex relationships with the values and norms, texts and discourses, rituals and symbols, and codes and narratives of modern Western cultures. He shows how popular music's power to move, to agitate, to control listeners, to shape their identities, and to structure their everyday lives is central to constructions of the sacred and the profane. In particular, he argues that popular music can be important 'edgework,' challenging dominant constructions of the sacred in modern societies. Drawing on a wide range of musicians and musical genres, as well as a number of theoretical approaches from critical musicology, cultural theory, sociology, theology, and the study of religion, The Lyre of Orpheus reveals the significance and the progressive potential of popular music.

The Lyric Voice in English Theology (T&T Clark Studies in English Theology)

In this book, Elizabeth S. Dodd traces the contours of a lyric theology through the lens of English lyric tradition. She addresses the dominance of narrative and drama in contemporary theological aesthetics by drawing on recent developments in lyric theory. Informed by the work of critics such as Jonathan Culler, Dodd explores the significance of lyric for theological discourse. Lyric is presented here as a short, musical, expressive and personal form that is also fragmentary, embodied, socially located and performative. The main chapters address key moments in English lyric tradition. This selective approach aims to expand the theological gaze beyond the monochromatic features of the traditional canon. It covers Anglo-Saxon hymns, medieval lullaby carols, early-modern sonnets and the prophetic poetry of Romanticism, but also Grime and hip hop, performance poetry, social media poetry and Geoffrey Hill.

The Lyric Voice in English Theology (T&T Clark Studies in English Theology)

In this book, Elizabeth S. Dodd traces the contours of a lyric theology through the lens of English lyric tradition. She addresses the dominance of narrative and drama in contemporary theological aesthetics by drawing on recent developments in lyric theory. Informed by the work of critics such as Jonathan Culler, Dodd explores the significance of lyric for theological discourse. Lyric is presented here as a short, musical, expressive and personal form that is also fragmentary, embodied, socially located and performative. The main chapters address key moments in English lyric tradition. This selective approach aims to expand the theological gaze beyond the monochromatic features of the traditional canon. It covers Anglo-Saxon hymns, medieval lullaby carols, early-modern sonnets and the prophetic poetry of Romanticism, but also Grime and hip hop, performance poetry, social media poetry and Geoffrey Hill.

The Machiavellian Legacy: Essays in Italian Political Thought

What do classical elitists like Pareto and Mosca have in common with Marxists like Labriola and Gramsci? In this collection of essays, Joseph Femia argues that all four thinkers are united by the 'worldly humanism' they inherited from Machiavelli. Their distinctively Italian hostility to the metaphysical abstractions of natural law and Christian theology accounted for similarities in their thought that are obscured by the familiar terminology of 'left' and 'right'. The collection includes critical essays on each of the four thinkers, as well as an introductory chapter on their links with Machiavelli.