HC1310

1
HC1310

• Scholasticism and Luther

2
Scholasticism(conventional definition)

• . . .is used somewhat generally to refer to a
  type of thinking that assumes some authority to
  be binding and which is devoted to the detailed
  and artificially elaborate refinement and
  extension of it.
• Van Harvey, A Handbook of Theological
  Terms

3
Characteristics of Scholasticism

• Authority (Scripture, Tradition, Fathers) is
  problematical.
• Reason is highly valued
• Secular thought has a voice (e.g., Aristotle)
• Joy in debate

4
Thomas Aquinas c. 1225-1274

• Canonized 1323
• Doctor of the church 1567
• Definitive teacher of the church 1879
• Method
• Quaestio
• Videtur quod
• Sed contra
• responsio

5
ST Part I Question 1

• Whether, besides philosophy, any further
  doctrine is required?
• Objection 1. It seems that, besides philosophical
  science, we have no need of any further
  knowledge. For man should not seek to know what
  is above reason "Seek not the things that are
  too high for thee" (Sirach 322). But whatever is
  not above reason is fully treated of in
  philosophical science. Therefore any other
  knowledge besides philosophical science is
  superfluous.
• Objection 2. Further, knowledge can be concerned
  only with being, for nothing can be known, save
  what is true and all that is, is true. But
  everything that is, is treated of in
  philosophical science--even God Himself so that
  there is a part of philosophy called theology, or
  the divine science, as Aristotle has proved
  (Metaph. vi). Therefore, besides philosophical
  science, there is no need of any further
  knowledge.
• On the contrary, It is written (2 Timothy 316)
  "All Scripture, inspired of God is profitable to
  teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in
  justice." Now Scripture, inspired of God, is no
  part of philosophical science, which has been
  built up by human reason. Therefore it is useful
  that besides philosophical science, there should
  be other knowledge, i.e. inspired of God.

6

• I answer that, It was necessary for man's
  salvation that there should be a knowledge
  revealed by God besides philosophical science
  built up by human reason. Firstly, indeed,
  because man is directed to God, as to an end that
  surpasses the grasp of his reason "The eye hath
  not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou
  hast prepared for them that wait for Thee"
  (Isaiah 664). But the end must first be known by
  men who are to direct their thoughts and actions
  to the end. Hence it was necessary for the
  salvation of man that certain truths which exceed
  human reason should be made known to him by
  divine revelation. . . It was therefore necessary
  that besides philosophical science built up by
  reason, there should be a sacred science learned
  through revelation.

7

• Reply to Objection 1. Although those things which
  are beyond man's knowledge may not be sought for
  by man through his reason, nevertheless, once
  they are revealed by God, they must be accepted
  by faith. Hence the sacred text continues, "For
  many things are shown to thee above the
  understanding of man" (Sirach 325). And in this,
  the sacred science consists.
• Reply to Objection 2. Sciences are differentiated
  according to the various means through which
  knowledge is obtained. For the astronomer and the
  physicist both may prove the same conclusion
  that the earth, for instance, is round the
  astronomer by means of mathematics (i.e.
  abstracting from matter), but the physicist by
  means of matter itself. Hence there is no reason
  why those things which may be learned from
  philosophical science, so far as they can be
  known by natural reason, may not also be taught
  us by another science so far as they fall within
  revelation. Hence theology included in sacred
  doctrine differs in kind from that theology which
  is part of philosophy.

8
Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
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SIC ET NON (1120)

• There are many seeming contradictions and even
  obscurities in the innumerable writings of the
  church fathers. Our respect for their authority
  should not stand in the way of an effort on our
  part to come at the truth. The obscurity and
  contradictions in ancient writings may be
  explained upon many grounds, and may be
  discussed without impugning the good faith and
  insight of the fathers. A writer may use
  different terms to mean the same thing, in order
  to avoid a monotonous repetition of the same
  word. Common, vague words may be employed in
  order that the common people may understand and
  sometimes a writer sacrifices perfect accuracy in
  the interest of a clear general statement.
  Poetical, figurative language is often obscure
  and vague.
• Prologue

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Abelards Rules

• Is it authentic?
• Did the Father change or retract?
• Search out the diversity of intentions
• Note the context of the writing
• Are words being used differently?
• Some cases cannot be resolved comparisons should
  then be undertaken.

11
Is that love by which we are saved a created
habit of our soul or is it the very person of the
Holy Spirit dwelling within us? Peter
Lombard (1100-1160), Sentences I,17
12
Nature and Grace

• NATURE
• Good and evil deeds

• GRACE
• Gods work of salvation through these good and
  evil deeds

13
Augustines Insight

• Clearly it is vain for us to will unless God
  have mercy. But I do not know how it could be
  said that it is vain for God to have mercy unless
  we willingly consent. If God has mercy, we also
  will, for the power to will is given with the
  mercy itself. It is God that worketh in us both
  to will and to do of his good pleasure. . .The
  good will does not precede calling, but calling
  precedes the good will, the fact that we have a
  good will is rightly attributed to God who calls
  us. . .
• To Simplician, 2nd ques., 12

14
Philippians 2.15

• That you may be without guile or reproach,
  perfect in your way of life.
• (Quoted in Letter to Demetrias, 17)

15
When I have to discuss the principles of right
conduct and the leading of a holy life, I usually
begin by showing the strength and characteristics
of human nature. By explaining what it can
accomplish, I encourage the soul of my hearer to
the different virtues. To call a person to
something he considers impossible does him no
good. Hope must serve as guide companion if we
are to set out on the way to virtue. . .With a
lower estimation of its capacity, a soul will be
less diligent and insistent in pursuing virtue.
Not realizing what is within, it will assume that
it lacks capacity. Letter to Demetrias, 2
16
We imply that the creator of humanity has
forgotten its weakness and imposes precepts which
a human being cannot bear. At the same time,
moreover, we impiously charge the just God with
wickedness and the loving God with cruelty. First
we complain that he commands the impossible then
we assume that he condemns people for the things
they cannot avoid. We portray God as working to
condemn rather than save us, something it is
sacrilegious even to suggest. . .No one knows the
extent of our power better than the one who
endowed us with the capacity for virtue. The just
one did not choose to command the impossible nor
did the loving one plan to condemn a person for
what he could not avoid. Pelagius, Letter to
Demetrias, 16
17
Pelagius vs. Augustine

• Pelagius
• Posse peccare It is possible to sin.
• Posse non peccare It is possible not to sin.

• Augustine
• Posse peccare It is possible to sin.
• Non posse non peccare It is not possible not to
  sin.

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. . .no one could love God as he should or
believe in God or do what was good for Gods sake
unless the grace of the divine mercy intervened
on his behalf. Thus we believe that the glorious
faith which the Apostle Paul proclaims in
praising them was bestowed on the just man Abel,
on Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the whole
multitude of ancient saints through the grace of
God, not through the good nature which had been
given earlier in Adam. Synod of Orange (529
A.D.), Definition of Faith
19
According to the Catholic faith, we also believe
that once grace has been received through
baptism, all the baptized, if they are willing to
labor faithfully, with Christs help and
cooperation can and should fulfill what belongs
to the souls salvation. Not only do we not
believe ourselves that the divine power
predestines anyone to evil, but we also
completely detest and condemn any who choose to
believe such a terrible thing.
20
Aquinas on Charity

• I answer the Master Lombard examines this
  question thoroughly in I Sent., Dist. 17, and
  decides that charity is not something created in
  the soul, but the Holy Spirit dwelling in the
  mind. . .He means to say that the Holy Spirit
  causes this movement of love without any habit
  serving as a medium. . .
• If we consider the matter aright, however, this
  is detrimental to charity. . .For the movement of
  charity does not arise from the mind being moved
  by the Holy Spirit merely as a body is moved by
  an external mover, without being in any way the
  principle of its movement. This would be contrary
  to the nature of voluntary action. . .It would
  mean that love is not voluntary which is a
  contradiction since the very nature of love
  implies that it is an action of the will
• Summa 22ae Q. 23, art. 2

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THE SCHOLASTIC DOCTRINE OF GRACE AND MERIT

• FIDES CARITATE FORMATA faith formed by acts of
  charity
• MERITUM DE CONDIGNO full or condign merit
• INFUSIO GRATIAE infusion of grace
• FACERE QUOD IN SE EST doing the best one can

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Order of Salvation

• Gratuitous infusion of grace
• Moral cooperation (doing the best one can through
  habit and fortitude)
• Reward of eternal life as condign (full) merit

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Question

• If God rewards good works done in a state of
  grace with eternal life as a just reward, could
  he not be expected to reward good works done in a
  state of nature with an infusion of grace as an
  appropriate reward?

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Answer

• Yes
• Gods gracious goodness (ex liberalitate Dei)
• Grace as a fitting reward (meritum de congruo)

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Order of salvation

• Moral effort (doing the best one can on the basis
  of natural moral ability (Zech. 1.3 Turn to me
  and I will turn to you
• Infusion of grace

• 3) Moral cooperation
• 4) Reward of eternal life

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Penance

• Contritio cordis
• Confessio oris
• Satisfactio operis
• Absolutio
• 4) Absolution
• 3) Satisfactio operis

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Purgatory

• 2 Maccabees 1239-45 39 On the next day, as had
  now become necessary, Judas and his men went to
  take up the bodies of the fallen and to bring
  them back to lie with their kindred in the
  sepulchres of their ancestors. 40 Then under the
  tunic of each one of the dead they found sacred
  tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law
  forbids the Jews to wear. And it became clear to
  all that this was the reason these men had
  fallen. 41 So they all blessed the ways of the
  Lord, the righteous judge, who reveals the things
  that are hidden 42 and they turned to
  supplication, praying that the sin that had been
  committed might be wholly blotted out. The noble
  Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free
  from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes
  what had happened as the result of the sin of
  those who had fallen. 43 He also took up a
  collection, man by man, to the amount of two
  thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to
  Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing
  this he acted very well and honorably, taking
  account of the resurrection. 44 For if he were
  not expecting that those who had fallen would
  rise again, it would have been superfluous and
  foolish to pray for the dead. 45 But if he was
  looking to the splendid reward that is laid up
  for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a
  holy and pious thought. Therefore he made
  atonement for the dead, so that they might be
  delivered from their sin.

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Penance-Questions for a child of seven

• Have you believed in magic? Have you loved father
  and mother more than God? Have you failed to
  kneel on both knees or to remove your hat during
  communion?
• Have you cut wood, made bird traps, skipped mass
  and sermon or danced on Sundays and holidays?
• Have you thrown snowballs and rocks at others?
  Have you had fights and hated those with whom you
  fought (even your brother and sister)? Have you
  stoned chickens and ducks? Did you kill the
  emperor with a double-bladed ax
• Steven Ozment, The Reformation in the Cities, p.
  23

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Penance-Questions for AdultsFirst Commandment

• Have you honored temporal rulers and lords more
  than God, Mary, and the sacraments? Are your
  prayers, alms, and religious activities done more
  to hide your sins and impress others than to
  please God? Have you loved relatives, friends, or
  other creatures more than God? Have you had
  doubts about Scripture, the sacraments, hell, the
  afterlife, the Last Judgment, or that God is the
  creator of all things? Have you befriended the
  excommunicated? Have you practiced or believed in
  magic?

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Second Commandment

• Have you questioned Gods power and goodness when
  you lost a game? Have you muttered against God
  because of bad weather, illness poverty, the
  death of a child or a friend? Have you murmured
  against God because the wicked prosper and the
  righteous perish? Have you committed perjury in a
  court of law? Have you sworn in the name of God
  that you would do something you had no intention
  of doing?

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Third Commandment

• Have you skipped mass on Sundays and holidays
  without a good excuse? Have you conducted
  business on Sundays rather than reflecting on
  your sins, seeking indulgence, counting your
  blessings, meditating on death, hell and its
  penalties, and heaven and its joys? Have you
  dressed proudly a question especially for
  women, sung and danced lustily, committed
  adultery a doubly deadly mortal sin on Sundays
  girl-watched, or exchanged adulterous glances in
  church or while walking on Sundays?

32
Fourth and Fifth Commandments

• Have you insulted or cursed your parents,
  forgotten them in their old age, wished them
  dead? Have you insulted, cursed, or wished the
  clergy dead?
• Are you a woman who has artificially aborted a
  child, or killed a newborn and unbaptized infant?
  Have you miscarried because of overwork, play, or
  sexual activity?
• Ozment, p. 24f.

33
(No Transcript)
34
Matthew 1916-24 16 Then someone came to him and
said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have
eternal life?" 17 And he said to him, "Why do
you ask me about what is good? There is only one
who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep
the commandments." 18 He said to him, "Which
ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder You
shall not commit adultery You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness 19 Honor your
father and mother also, You shall love your
neighbor as yourself." 20 The young man said to
him, "I have kept all these what do I still
lack?" 21 Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be
perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the
money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven then come, follow me." 22 When the young
man heard this word, he went away grieving, for
he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus said to
his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard
for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.
24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for someone
who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
35
Thus was I speaking and weeping in the most
bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard
from a neighboring house a voice as of a boy or
girl, I know not which, chanting and oft
repeating, Take up and read, take up and read.
Instantly my countenance altered, and I began to
think most intently whether children were wont in
any kind of play to sing such words but I could
not remember ever having heard the like. So
checking the torrent of my tears I arose,
interpreting it to be no other than a command
from God to open the book, and read the first
chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony,
that coming in during the reading of the Gospel,
he received the admonition, as if what was being
read was spoken to him Go, sell all that thou
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. And
by such oracle he was forthwith converted unto
Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where
Alypius was sitting, for there had I laid the
volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I
seized, opened, and in silence read that section
on which my eyes first fell Not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh, in concupiscence Rom. 13.13-14. No
further would I read nor needed I for instantly
at the end of this sentence, by a light as it
were of serenity infused into my heart, all the
darkness of doubt vanished away.
Confessions, VIII, 12, 29
36
Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt
that I was a sinner before God with an extremely
disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he
was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love,
yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes
sinners. . . LW, 34, 336 (from 1545)
37
Scrupulosity

• Those penitents who fail to distinguish between
  what is allowed and what is forbidden, and who
  are constantly tormented by the fear of sinning
  where there is really no ground for such fear,
  are termed scrupulous. The word scruple is
  derived from the Latin word scrupulus, which is a
  diminutive of scrupus, and means a little rough
  sharp stone.
• The confessor should be on his guard against
  confusing those penitents who have a tender
  conscience with those who are scrupulous.
• Francis George Belton, A Manuel for Confessors
  (London and Oxford A.R. Mowbray Co., 1916),
  238.

38
Romans 116-17 16 For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written, The just shall live by
faith. Psalm 721 KJV Psalm 721 ltA Psalm
for Solomon.gt Give the king thy judgments, O God,
and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
39
Iustitia passiva

• The receiving of righteousness as a gift of God
  through Christ by faith that requires no human
  cooperation in good works.
• Romans 117 17 For in it the righteousness of
  God is revealed through faith for faith as it is
  written, "The one who is righteous will live by
  faith."

40
Disputation against Scholastic Theology (Spring,
1517)LW, 31, 9-16

• 1. To say that Augustine wrote at too great
  length against heretics is to give the lie to
  almost all Augustine wrote. (This thesis is
  against the general opinion of Augustine.)
• 2. This is exactly the same as giving the
  advantage to the Pelagians and all heretics in
  fact of giving them the victory.
• 4. And so the truth is that man is created "a
  corrupt tree," and can neither will nor do
  anything except evil.

41
Romans 712-18 12 So the law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Did
what is good, then, bring death to me? By no
means! It was sin, working death in me through
what is good, in order that sin might be shown to
be sin, and through the commandment might become
sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the
law is spiritual but I am of the flesh, sold
into slavery under sin. 15 I do not understand
my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but
I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what
I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17
But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin
that dwells within me. 18 For I know that
nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my
flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do
it.
42
Confessions, II, 4, 9

• Look at my heart, O God, look at my heart,
  which Thou hast pitied in the depths of the
  abyss. Look at my heart may it tell Thee now
  what it sought in thisthat I might be evil
  without any compensation and that for my evil
  there might be no reason except evil. It was
  filthy and I loved it. I loved my own
  destruction. I loved my own fault not the object
  to which I directed my faulty action, but my
  fault itself, was what I loved, my vile soul
  leaping down from thy support into extinction. .
  ."

43
Disputation

• 7. On the contrary, without the grace of God the
  will produces of necessity an action which is
  wicked and wrong.
• 8. Nor does it therefore follow that the will is
  naturally evil, in other words that the will has
  the nature of being essentially evil as the
  Manichaeans maintain.
• 9. It is nevertheless innately and inevitably
  corrupt.
• 10. One must concede that the will is not free to
  strive toward whatever is declared good. . .
• 16. . . .since erring man is able to love the
  creature it is impossible for him to love God.
• 17. Man is by nature unable to want God to be
  God. Indeed, he himself wants to be God, and does
  not want God to be God.

44
Disputation

• 25. Hope does not grow out of merits, but out of
  suffering which destroys merits. This in
  opposition to the opinion of many.
• 29. The best and infallible preparation for grace
  and the sole disposition toward grace is the
  eternal election and predestination of God.

45
Disputation

• 67. It is by the grace of God that one does not
  lust or become enraged.
• 68. Therefore it is impossible to fulfill the law
  in any way without the grace of God.
• 70. A good law will of necessity be bad for the
  natural will.
• 76. Every deed of the law without the grace of
  God appears good outwardly, but inwardly it is
  sin.
• 83. But even the Decalogue itself and all that
  can be taught and prescribed inwardly and
  outwardly is not good law either
• 84. The good law and that in which one lives is
  the love of God spread abroad in our hearts by
  the Holy Spirit.

46
Is that love by which we are saved a created
habit of our soul or is it the very person of the
Holy Spirit dwelling within us? Peter
Lombard (1100-1160), Sentences I,17
47
95 Theses on Works

• 39. It is most difficult, even for the very
  keenest theologians, at one and the same time to
  commend to the people the abundance of pardons
  and the need of true contrition.
• 40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties,
  but liberal pardons only relax penalties and
  cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an
  occasion for hating them.
• 41. Apostolic pardons are to be preached with
  caution, lest the people may falsely think them
  preferable to other good works of love.
• 42. Christians are to be taught that the pope
  does not intend the buying of pardons to be
  compared in any way to works of mercy.
• 43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives
  to the poor or lends to the needy does a better
  work than buying pardons
• 44. Because love grows by works of love, and man
  becomes better but by pardons man does not grow
  better, only more free from penalty.
• 91. If, therefore, pardons were preached
  according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all
  these doubts would be readily resolved nay, they
  would not exist.
• 92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say
  to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and
  there is no peace!
• 93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the
  people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no
  cross!
• 94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be
  diligent in following Christ, their Head, through
  penalties, deaths, and hell
• 95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven
  rather through many tribulations, than through
  the assurance of peace.

48
95 Theses as Revolution

• 1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said
  Repent, willed that the whole life of believers
  should be repentance.
• 2. This word cannot be understood to mean
  sacramental penance, i.e., confession and
  satisfaction, which is administered by the
  priests
• 32. They will be condemned eternally, together
  with their teachers, who believe themselves sure
  of their salvation because they have letters of
  pardon.
• 36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right
  to full remission of penalty and guilt, even
  without letters of pardon.
• 37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead,
  has part in all the blessings of Christ and the
  Church and this is granted him by God, even
  without letters of pardon.
• 81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it
  no easy matter, even for learned men, to rescue
  the reverence due to the pope from slander, or
  even from the shrewd questionings of the laity.
• 82. To wit -- "Why does not the pope empty
  purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the
  dire need of the souls that are there, if he
  redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake
  of miserable money with which to build a Church?
  The former reasons would be most just the latter
  is most trivial.
• 90. To repress these arguments and scruples of
  the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them
  by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and
  the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to
  make Christians unhappy.

49
Psalm 506 The heavens declare his
righteousness, for God himself is judge.

• it is not he who considers himself the most
  lowly of men, but he who sees himself as even the
  most vile, who is most beautiful to God.
• quoted in Ozment, The Age of Reform, p. 243

50
Luke 189-14 9 He also told this parable to some
who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt 10
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a
Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The
Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus,
'God, I thank you that I am not like other
people thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like
this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week I
give a tenth of all my income.' 13 But the tax
collector, standing far off, would not even look
up to heaven, but was beating his breast and
saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 14 I
tell you, this man went down to his home
justified rather than the other for all who
exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who
humble themselves will be exalted."
51
Heidelberg Disputation (1518)Thesis 19 (LW 31,
52)

• That person does not deserve to be called a
  theologian who looks upon the invisible things of
  God as though they were clearly perceptible in
  those things which have actually happened Rom.
  1.20.
• This is apparent in the example of those who were
  theologians and still were called fools by the
  Apostle in Rom. 122. Furthermore, the
  invisible things of God are virtue, godliness,
  wisdom, justice, goodness, and so forth. The
  recognition of all these things does not make one
  worthy or wise.

52
1 Corinthians 119-21 19 For it is written, "I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the
discernment of the discerning I will thwart." 20
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not
know God through wisdom, God decided, through the
foolishness of our proclamation, to save those
who believe.
53
Thesis 20 (LW, 31 52-53)

• He deserves to be called a theologian, however,
  who comprehends the visible and manifest things
  of God seen through suffering and the cross.
• The "back" and visible things of God are placed
  in opposition to the invisible, namely, his human
  nature, weakness, foolishness. The Apostle in 1
  Cor. 125 calls them the weakness and folly of
  God. Because men misused the knowledge of God
  through works, God wished again to be recognized
  in suffering, and to condemn wisdom concerning
  invisible things by means of wisdom concerning
  visible things, so that those who did not honor
  God as manifested in his works should honor him
  as he is hidden in his suffering. As the Apostle
  says in 1 Cor. 1 21, For since, in the wisdom
  of God, the world did not know God through
  wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what
  we preach to save those who believe. Now it is
  not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no
  good to recognize God in his glory and majesty,
  unless he recognizes him in the humility and
  shame of the cross. Thus God destroys the wisdom
  of the wise, as Isa. 4515 says, Truly, thou
  art a God who hidest thyself.
• So, also, in John 148, where Philip spoke
  according to the theology of glory Show us the
  Father. Christ forthwith set aside his flighty
  thought about seeing God elsewhere and led him to
  himself, saying, Philip, he who has seen me has
  seen the Father John 149. For this reason
  true theology and recognition of God are in the
  crucified Christ, as it is also stated in John
  146 and 109 No one comes to the Father,
  but by me. I am the door, and so forth.

54
For Luther understands the cross of Christ in a
quite unmystical way as Gods protest against the
misuse of his name for the purpose of religious
consummation of human wisdom, human works and the
Christian imperialism of medieval ecclesiastical
society. Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God p.
208
55
I John 1.5 What is not Christ is not light. As
often as I hear the fathers, Augustine, Jerome,
the councils, I ask Is there also a
proclamation? If not, I say Be off! LW
30, 226f.
56
Luthers Revolutionary Teachings Emerge

• Church is no longer an institution of Apostolic
  Succession, but a community of those given faith.
  
• Salvation comes not by sacraments as such but by
  their role in nurturing faith.
• The idea that human beings have a spark of
  goodness taught only by fools and pig
  theologians.
• Humility not a virtue that earns grace but a
  necessary response to the gift of grace.
• Faith not assent to church teachings but trusting
  the promises of God.

57
In the first half of the sixteenth century
cities and territories passed laws and ordinances
that progressively ended or severely limited a
host of traditional beliefs, practices, and
institutions that touched directly the daily life
of large numbers of people mandatory fasting
auricular confession the veneration of saints,
relics, and images the buying and selling of
indulgences, pilgrimages, shrines, wakes, and
processions for the dead and dying endowed
masses in memory of the dead the doctrine of
purgatory Latin mass and liturgy traditional
ceremonies, festivals, and holidays monasteries,
nunneries, and mendicant orders the sacramental
status of marriage, extreme unction,
confirmation, holy orders and penance clerical
celibacy clerical immunity from civil taxation
and criminal jurisdiction nonresident benefices
papal excommunication and inderdict canon law
papal and episcopal territorial government and
the traditional scholastic education of the
clergy. Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform, p.
435
58
The Key Question

• "The great shortcoming of the Reformation,"
  writes Steven Ozment in The Age of Reform, "was
  its naive expectation that the majority of people
  were capable of radical religious enlightenment
  and moral transformation, whether by persuasion
  or by coercion. . .The brave new man of
  Protestant faith, subject to none yet subject
  to all' in Luther's famous formulation, was
  expected to bear his finitude and sinfulness with
  anxiety resolved, secure in the knowledge of a
  gratuitous salvation, and fearful of neither man,
  God, or the devil. But how many were capable of
  such self-understanding?