In this course we will discuss the history of some ideas that have been hugely influential in the modern west and that were taken out to the rest of the world. The discussion centers on an extraordinary and historically important figure, a sixteenth century German man named Martin Luther. Luther is recognized today as the originator of many of the most significant ideas that continue to affect and shape who we as modern people are and how we see the world and ourselves for better and for worse. In the first section, we will explore why Luther thought the Bible was the most important volume for everyone to have and read. Included here will be a careful consideration of Luther's anti-Judaism, which contributed to western antisemitism and some of the greatest horrors of the twentieth century. In the second section, we will talk about the idea of freedom and how Luther's understanding of freedom in Christ affected the way modern thinkers understood what it means to be human in community. Important in this section is the consequential contradiction between freedom and slavery in western thought and their co-existence in western societies. The third section will be all about the many complicated relations between religion and politics. NOTE: Students wishing to sign up for free access to all instructional course content should click on the "Sign-In" button in the upper right hand corner. Those who wish to take the course and complete a certificate that requires payment, please click the Enroll button on the left side of this page.
Christ in the Old Testament
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來自 Northwestern University 的課程
Luther and the West
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Christine HelmerArthur E. Andersen Teaching and Research Professor, Professor of Religious Studies and German
Department of Religious Studies
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In our last lecture we saw how Luther viewed Christ as the central message of
both testaments in the Christian Bible.
We will now look more closely at what Luther means by the gospel of Christ in
the Bible, and especially at how Luther sees Christ in the Old Testament.
We typically think of the Bible as having four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John, each of them telling the story of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.
Luther, however, thought that there was just one gospel in the Bible,
the gospel that communicates the person of Jesus Christ.
Luther thinks that the important parts of the Bible are those that most
clearly convey the gospel.
His favorite example is Paul's letter to the Romans, which Luther
thinks powerfully presents the forgiveness that Christ's death on the cross achieves.
Luther's least favorite book is the New Testament Epistle of James Luther
only finds instructions on good works in James, and not the gospel.
Let us now turn to the Old Testament.
How does Luther see Christ in this first part of the Christian Bible?
In our modern way of seeing history,
Jesus of Nazareth historically appeared in the first century.
The Old Testament was written long before then.
How can the Old Testament be about a man who was born
after the Old Testament was written?
Luther answers this question in traditional Christian ways.
One was to see Christ as the content of prophecies about the Messiah.
This way of reading the Old Testament became popular before Luther's time
already during the writing of the New Testament.
Luther followed Matthew, chapter 1, verse 23 that takes up the Old Testament passage
of Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 to predict the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.
Luther also thought that Old Testament figures such as Abraham and Sarah had
the same faith in Christ as did the New Testament apostles like Peter and Paul.
Luther believed that God's promises in the Old Testament
were ultimately God's blessings and gifts in Christ.
An example Luther often refers to is Genesis 15,
in which God creates a covenant with Abraham.
Luther understands verse 16, “Abram believed, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness,” to mean that Abraham understood the gospel.
Thus for Luther, Abraham is an example of faith in Christ.
Furthermore, Luther sees God's promise to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 verse 5,
that he will be the “father of many nations” as fulfilled in Christ.
In Christ, God's promise to bless Abraham is extended to all nations.
I have just talked about how Luther sees the gospel of Christ in both testaments.
Now let us look at how Luther sees law in the entire Bible.
This is very important because, as we have seen,
Luther understands there to be a dynamic relationship between law and gospel.
I want to emphasize this point.
Luther sees law in both the Old and
New Testaments, just as he sees the gospel in both Old and New Testaments.
Luther's Law-Gospel relation is sometimes confused as
the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments,
with the Old Testament representing law, the New Testament being Gospel.
This misreading of Luther implies that the coming of Christ renders the Old Testament
invalid, a conclusion that has led many Christians to have contempt for Judaism.
The tragic consequences of this erroneous view,
as well as Luther's own anti-Judaism will be the subject of a later lecture.
Here, the essential point is that for Luther both law and
gospel are available in the two testaments of the Christian Bible.
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