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Lutheran Piety

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Title: Lutheran Piety


1
Lutheran Piety
  • Christian Mysticism
  • School of Prayer
  • Presented by David Schütz

2
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
  • Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ein gute Wehr und
    Waffen Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not, Die uns
    jetzt hat betroffen. Der alt' böse Feind, Mit
    Ernst er's jetzt meint, Groß' Macht und viel List
    Sein' grausam' Rüstung ist, Auf Erd' ist nicht
    seingleichen.
  • A mighty fortress is our God, A trusty shield and
    weapon, Our faithful helper in all need, Our
    stay, whateer may happen, The old evil foe Now
    means deadly woe Deep guile and great might Are
    his dread arms fight On earth is not his equal.

3
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
  • Mit unsrer Macht ist nichts getan, Wir sind gar
    bald verloren Es steit't für uns der rechte
    Mann, Den Gott hat selbst erkoren. Fragst du, wer
    der ist? Er heißt Jesu Christ, Der Herr Zebaoth,
    Und ist kein andrer Gott, Das Feld muß er
    behalten.
  • With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were
    our fall effected But for us fights the
    righteous Man, Whom God himself elected. Ask ye
    Who is this? Christ Jesus it is, Of Sabaoth Lord,
    And theres none other God He holds the field
    for ever.

4
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
  • Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär' Und wollt' uns
    gar verschlingen, So fürchten wir uns nicht so
    sehr, Es soll uns doch gelingen. Der Fürst dieser
    Welt, Wie sau'r er sich stellt, Tut er uns doch
    nicht, Das macht, er ist gericht't, Ein Wörtlein
    kann ihn fällen.
  • Though devils all the world should fill, All
    eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no
    ill, They shall not overpower us. This worlds
    prince may still Scowl fierce as he will, He can
    harm us none Hes judged, for eer undone One
    little word can fell him.

5
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott
  • Das Wort sie sollen laßen stahn Und kein'n Dank
    dazu haben Er ist bei uns wohl auf dem Plan Mit
    seinem Geist und Gaben. Nehmen sie den Leib, Gut,
    Ehr', Kind und Weib Laß fahren dahin, Sie
    haben's kein'n Gewinn, Das Reich muß uns doch
    bleiben.
  • The Word shall stand despite all foes-No thanks
    they for it merit, For God is with us, and
    bestows His gifts and Holy Spirit. And take they
    our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife Though
    these all be gone, Yet have our foes not won The
    kingdom ours remaineth.

6
Martin Luther
  • Martin Luther was born in 1483, and died in 1546.
  • An Augustinian Monk (1505), ordained priest
    (1507)
  • Professor of Old Testament at the new Wittenberg
    University (1508)
  • Doctor of Theology (1512)
  • In 1517 he called for a debate on the practice of
    the sale of indulgences (The 95 Theses), after
    which his questioning of some of the practices
    and teachings of the Church escalated

7
Martin Luther
  • Excommunicated by Pope Leo X in June 1520 in the
    bull Exsurge Domine, Luther responded with The
    Babylonian Captivity of the Church in October
    1520.
  • Appeared before the Emperor Charles V at the Diet
    of Worms in 1521 at which he was condemned.
  • 1525 On the Bondage of the Will in answer to
    Erasmus 1524 On the Freedom of the Will

8
Martin Luther
  • After the 1525 Peasants War he parted company
    with the more radical elements of the reformation
    movement
  • Married in 1525 to ex-nun Katherine Von Bora and
    living in the old monastery in Wittenberg, (now
    vacant!) had six children
  • After 1525 Luther gave himself to the task of
    overseeing the new evangelical churches (with
    aid from his close friends Melanchthon and
    Bugenhagen)

9
Martin Luther
  • 1522 German New Testament
  • 1526 Deutsche Messe
  • 1527 Marburg Colloquy with Zwingli
  • 1528 Great Confession on the Lords Supper
  • 1529 Small Large Catechisms
  • 1530 Augsburg Confession
  • 1534 Complete German Bible
  • Many many hymns, books, commentaries, sermons,
    tracts (Weimar edition 127 volumes)
  • Died while travelling in 1546

10
Luthers Spiritual Heritage
  • Luther was an Augustinian, never sympathetic to
    Aristotelian scholasticism (eg. Thomas Aquinas)
  • Very positive reaction to St Bernard of Clairvaux
  • In 1508 Luther bought an edition of the sermons
    of the mystical Dominican theologian Johannes
    Taulers (which he thoroughly annotated in the
    margins)
  • Luthers first published book in 1516 was Eyn
    geystlich edles Buchleynn

11
Theologia Germanica
  • Eyn geystlich edles Buchleynn (1516) is a German
    edition and translation of a handwritten
    manuscript that came into Luthers possession
  • An anonymous work, which Luther believed was
    written by the illumined Doctor Tauler of the
    Preaching Order.
  • 1518 (following 95 Theses) Luther discovered a
    more complete manuscript of the same work in the
    library of the Erfurt Carthusian monastery.
  • Published under the title Theologia Germanica
    German Theology.

12
From the Theologia Germanica
  • Even if God would take to himself all humans in
    the world and become humanised in them and they
    would become divinised in him and this did not
    happen in me, my fall and my apostasy would never
    be amended. No, it must also occur in me. Ch. 3
  • But if our inner being would make a leap into
    the Perfect, one would find and taste that the
    Perfect is limitlessly, endlessly, insuperably
    nobler and better than all imperfect and
    incomplete things. That inner being of ours would
    also find the Eternal above the transitory and
    the wellspring and origin underneath everything
    that flows from it and ever will flow from it.
    Ch. 6

13
Luther the Mystic?
  • Louis Bouyer (Spirit and Forms of Protestantism,
    1956)
  • It is absolutely certain, as a matter of
    history, that the intuition of Luthertakes us
    back directly to the Rhenish school of mysticism
    originated by Eckhart and Tauler.
  • If Luther had no hesitation in acknowledging his
    debt to the Theologia Germanicaif he went so far
    as to translate it into German to popularise it,
    that shows that he recognised it as one of the
    sources of his conception. The God whose very
    light is a superessential darkness is the Deus
    revelatus, but revelatus as absconditus.

14
Luther the Mystic?
  • Bengt R. Hoffman Theology of the Heart The Role
    of Mysticism in the Theology of Martin Luther
    (1986, 1998) regarded as a theologian of
    personal mysticism
  • Infinity Mysticism (eg. Eckhardt) an
    experience of the superhuman beyond the
    vicissitudes of life an immersion in nature and
    exercise according to technical patterns a
    dissolution of the person into the impersonal
    Beyond
  • Personality Mysticism (eg. Tauler) an
    experience of God in the midst of lifes problems
    an experience of the human I meeting the
    divine Thou trust and forgiveness in this
    life a relationship to a personal God
  • (Nb. The Finnish School Theosis in Luthers
    theology)

15
Key themes in Luthers Spirituality
  • The Solas Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus
    Christus, Sola Scriptura
  • Anthropology Simul justus et peccator
  • Dialectic Law/Gospel, Deus Absconditus/Deus
    Revelatus
  • Theologia Crucis
  • The Incarnation focused on the crib and cross
    finitum capax infinitum
  • Christocentricism (Was Christum treibet, ist
    kein andrer Gott)
  • Word and Sacrament
  • Sin, Death the Devil

16
Vom Himmel hoch
  • 1. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, Ich bring'
    euch gute neue Mähr, Der guten Mähr bring ich so
    viel, Davon ich sing'n und sagen will.
  • 1. "From heaven above to earth I come To bear
    good news to every home Glad tidings of great
    joy I bring, Whereof I now will say and sing

17
Vom Himmel hoch
  • 2. Euch ist ein Kindlein heut' gebor'n Von einer
    Jungfrau auserkor'n, Ein Kindelein so zart und
    fein, Das soll eu'r Freund und Wonne sein.
  • 3. Es ist der Herr Christ unser Gott, Der will
    euch führ'n aus aller Noth, Er will eu'r Heiland
    selber sein, Von allen Sünden machen rein.
  • 2. "To you this night is born a child Of Mary,
    chosen virgin mild This little child, of lowly
    birth, Shall be the joy of all the earth.
  • 3. "This is the Christ, our God and Lord, Who in
    all need shall aid afford He will Himself your
    Savior be From all your sins to set you free.

18
Vom Himmel hoch
  • 4. Er bringt euch alle Seligkeit, Die Gott der
    Vater hat bereit't, Daß ihr mit uns im
    Himmelreich Sollt leben nun und ewiglich.
  • 5. So merket nun das Zeichen recht, Die Krippen,
    Windelein so schlecht Da findet ihr das Kind
    gelegt, Das alle Welt erhält und trägt.
  • 4. "He will on you the gifts bestow Prepared by
    God for all below, That in His kingdom, bright
    and fair, You may with us His glory share.
  • 5. "These are the tokens ye shall mark The
    swaddling-clothes and manger dark There ye shall
    find the Infant laid By whom the heavens and
    earth were made."

19
Vom Himmel hoch
  • 6. Deß laßt uns Alle fröhlich sein Und mit den
    Hirten geh'n hinein, Zu seh'n was Gott uns hat
    beschert, Mit seinem lieben Sohn verehrt.
  • 13. Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein, Mach dir ein
    rein sanft Bettelein, Zu ruhen in mein's Herzens
    Schrein, Daß ich nimmer vergesse dein.
  • 6. Now let us all with gladsome cheer Go with the
    shepherds and draw near To see the precious gift
    of God, Who hath His own dear Son bestowed.
  • 13. Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child, Make Thee a
    bed, soft, undefiled, Within my heart, that it
    may beA quiet chamber kept for Thee.

20
Vom Himmel hoch
  • 14. Davon ich allzeit fröhlich sei, Zu springen,
    singen immer frei Das rechte Susannine schon, Mit
    Herzen Lust den süßen Ton.
  • 15. Lob, Ehr sei Gott im höchsten Thron, Der uns
    schenkt seinen ein'gen Sohn, Des freuen sich der
    Engel Schaar Und singen uns solch's neues Jahr.
  • 14. My heart for very joy doth leap, My lips no
    more can silence keep I, too, must sing with
    joyful tongue That sweetest ancient cradle-song
  • 15. Glory to God in highest heaven, Who unto us
    His Son hath given! While angels sing with pious
    mirth A glad new year to all the earth.

21
Law and Gospel
  • In the scriptures, two things are to be
    distinguishedthe commands and the promises.
  • The righteousness of the Law is earthly, it is
    concerned with earthly works The heavenly
    passive righteousness does not spring from our
    own efforts We do not produce it we receive it
    by faith.
  • A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all,
    subject to none a Christian is a perfectly
    dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

22
Grace and Faith
  • If you believe, you already have God if you do
    not believe, you do not have him. To have faith
    is to have God.
  • If you desire to fulfil the law and overcome
    concupiscence, believe in Jesus Christ, in whom
    you are offered grace, justice, peace and
    liberty. By faith, you possess all these without
    it, you are a stranger to them all.
  • Grace gives, faith receives. Thus, since all
    salvation is by grace, all salvation is by faith.

23
Faith and Works
  • In the Law many works are enjoined, and all
    external, but in the gospel there is only one, an
    internal work, and that is faith.
  • It will now be seen how it is impossible to
    separate works from faith, as impossible as it is
    to separate burning and shining from fire

24
Christ
  • Christ is the object of faith, nay rather, not
    the object, but if it may be said, the subject,
    the One present and active in faith itself.
  • The whole of Scripture deals with Christ, from
    beginning to end
  • One should think of no other God than Christ. The
    god who does not speak through Christ is no God
    at all.

25
Sinner and Saint
  • The righteousness of God is not acquired by acts
    frequently repeated, as Aristotle taught, but is
    imparted by faith.
  • He is at one and the same time always in sin, in
    justification, in righteousness. Always a sinner,
    always penitent, always right with God.

26
God hidden and revealed
  • No faith in, no knowledge of, and no
    understanding of God, in so far as he is not
    revealed, are possiblethe unrevealed God defies
    human investigation
  • Nevertheless the hidden God is none the less the
    revealed God, so that we may know him and
    apprehend him as our God.
  • Faith alone is able, under trial, to hear the
    deep secret Yes of God beneath and above his
    No.

27
The Theology of the Cross
  • A theologian of glory calls evil good and good
    evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing
    what it actually is.
  • God wished to be recognized in suffering, it is
    not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no
    good, to recognize God in his glory majesty,
    unless he recognizes him in the humility shame
    of the cross.
  • He who does not know Christ does not know God
    hidden in suffering God can be found only in
    suffering and the cross.

28
Gott sei gelobet
  • Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet, Der uns selber
    hat gespeiset. Mit seinem Fleische und mit seinem
    Blute, Das gib uns, Herr Gott, zugute!
    Kyrieleison! Herr, durch deinen heiligen
    Leichnam, Der von deiner Mutter Maria kam, Und
    das heilige Blut Hilf uns, Herr, aus aller Not!
    Kyrieleison!

O Lord, we praise thee, bless thee and adore
thee, In thanksgiving bow before thee. Thou with
thy body and thy blood didst nourish our weak
souls that they may flourish. O Lord, have mercy.
By thy body, pure as none other, born of Mary,
thy virgin mother, by thy blood, for us shed,
help us in the hour of need. O Lord, have mercy.
29
The Small Catechism
  • The Ten Commandments
  • The Apostles Creed
  • The Lords Prayer
  • The Sacrament of Baptism
  • Confession and Absolution
  • The Sacrament of the Altar
  • The Table of Duties

30
The Small Catechism
  • I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
    heaven and earth.
  • What does this mean?
  • I believe that God has made me and all creatures
    that He has given me my body and soul, eyes,
    ears, and all my members, my reason and all my
    senses, and still takes care of them. He also
    gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink,
    house and home, wife and children, land, animals,
    and all I have. He richly and daily provides me
    with all that I need to support this body and
    life. He defends me against all danger and guards
    and protects me from all evil. All this He does
    only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy,
    without any merit or worthiness in me. For all
    this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and
    obey Him. This is most certainly true.

31
The Small Catechism
  • And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, etc.
    From thence He will come to judge the living and
    the dead.
  • What does this mean?
  • I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten
    of the Father from eternity, and also true man,
    born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has
    redeemed me, a lost and condemned person,
    purchased and won me from all sins, from death,
    and from the power of the devil not with gold or
    silver, but with His holy, precious blood and
    with His innocent suffering and death, that I may
    be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and
    serve Him in everlasting righteousness,
    innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen
    from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
    This is most certainly true.

32
The Small Catechism
  • I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian
    church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness
    of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the
    life everlasting. Amen.
  • What does this mean?
  • I believe that I cannot by my own reason or
    strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or
    come to Him but the Holy Spirit has called me by
    the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts,
    sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the
    same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and
    sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth,
    and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true
    faith. In this Christian church He daily and
    richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all
    believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and
    all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all
    believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

33
A Simple Way to Pray
  • The Catechism was the basis for one of Luthers
    best known works on prayer A Simple Way to Pray
    (1535)
  • Peter Beskendorf, a Wittenberg barber, though a
    devout Christian, had killed his son-in-law in a
    drunken rage. By Luthers intercession he was
    exiled rather than executed.
  • Peter the Barber asked Luther for help in how to
    pray.
  • Luther responded I will tell you as best I can
    what I do personally when I pray. May our dear
    Lord grant to you and to everybody to do it
    better than I! Amen.

34
A Simple Way to Pray
  • Some significant and practical pastoral advice
  • when I feel that I have become cool and joyless
    in prayer
  • my roomor where a congregation is assembled
  • word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed,
    some words of Christ or of Paul. or some psalms
  • just as a child might do.
  • the first business of the morning and the last
    at night
  • Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour
    first I must attend to this or that. nothing
    comes of prayer for that day.
  • St. Jerome He who works faithfully prays
    twice. Yet we must be careful not to break the
    habit of true prayer and imagine other works to
    be necessary which, after all, are nothing of the
    kind.

35
A Simple Way to Pray
  • Luther then provides a series of model
    meditations on the Our Father, the Ten
    Commandments and the Creedliterally a prayed
    catechism.
  • You should also know that I do not want you to
    recite all these words in your prayer. Rather do
    I want your heart to be stirred and guided
    concerning the thoughts which ought to be
    comprehended in the Lords Prayer. These thoughts
    may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed
    and inclined toward prayer, in many different
    ways and with more words or fewer. If an
    abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought
    to disregard the other petitions, make room for
    such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no
    circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit
    himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon
    is far better than a thousand of our prayers.

36
A Simple Way to Pray
  • Priests Like the priest who prayed, Deus in
    adjutorium meum intende. Farmhand, did you
    unhitch the horses? Domine ad adjuvandum me
    festina. Maid, go out and milk the cow. Gloria
    patri et filio et spiritui sancto. Hurry up, boy,
    I wish the ague would take you!
  • Barbers So, a good and attentive barber keeps
    his thoughts. attention, and eyes on the razor
    and hair and does not forget how far he has
    gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants
    to engage in too much conversation or let his
    mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely
    to cut his customers mouth, nose, or even his
    throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it
    requires the full attention of all ones senses
    and members.How much more does prayer call for
    con-centration singleness of heart if it is to
    be a good prayer!

37
Oratio Meditatio Tentatio
  • 1539 In the preface to the first edition of
    Luthers works, Luther points out a correct way
    of studying theology with three steps Oratio,
    Meditatio, and Tentatio.
  • a form of Lectio Divina, familiar to Luther
    from his monastic days, also fitted his sola
    scriptura spirituality
  • Everything centres around the practice of
    meditation, for prayer prepares for it and its
    results are confirmed in the experience of
    conflict. For Luther, meditation is the key to
    the study of theology. No one can become a true
    theologian unless he learns theology through it
    ie. through meditation." (John Kleinig)

38
Oratio Meditatio Tentatio
  • Oratio
  • Prayer, but prayer focused on the Scriptures,
    a book which turns the wisdom of all other books
    into foolishness
  • Prayer is the necessary preparation and method
    for reading the scriptures Teach me, Lord,
    instruct me, lead me, show me the prayer of
    an open heart
  • Reason and understanding are useless and
    presumptuous humility earnestness, with the
    gift of the Holy Spirit, are necessary for
    enlightenment

39
Oratio Meditatio Tentatio
  • Meditatio
  • Note the emphasis on meditating not only in your
    heart, but also externally, ie. reading the text
    aloud (or soto voce)
  • Luther was a Hebrew scholar and knew that the
    word used in Psalm 119 for meditate carried the
    inherent notion of speaking or conversing aloud
    with someone if that someone was oneself it
    meant to ponder
  • Thus one can hear the spoken Word, even when
    alone
  • For God will not give you his Spirit without the
    external Word. This emphasis had grown in
    reaction to the radical reformers who emphasised
    interior revelation
  • The necessity of repeated reading, hearing and
    speaking of the wordonce or twice is not
    sufficient

40
Oratio Meditatio Tentatio
  • Tentatio
  • The late-Luther had by no means abandoned the
    emphasis of the early-Luther and the German
    mystics on the sapientia experimentalis
  • For Luther the sapientia theologica could not be
    attained through oratio and meditatio without
    going on to the touchstone of tentatio
    (Anfechtung/trial/suffering)
  • Only this experience was capable of teaching
    how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how
    mighty, how comforting Gods Word is, wisdom
    beyond all wisdom.
  • Here too we can see the constant presence and
    life-long emphasis in Luthers spirituality of
    the Theology of the Cross and of the God who
    reveals himself in Hiddenness
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