Good article. Luther was simply not a mystic even though he was searching for mysticism or at least a real experience of Christ initially. In the end his carnal needs outweighed his spiritual needs. I would strongly recommend a thorough reading of de immitatio Christi for every Lutheran, logically
It’s on my shelf for a re-read, but von Loewenwich’s Luther’s Theology of the Cross covered the topic extensively in its latter chapters. (I was much less interested in that question, so after ~20 years I don’t really remember how he described it, as I didn’t have enough background of Holl, Ritschl, etc., to follow along.)
Might be one to dig into if you’re diving deep on this topic. I’m interested, because my Anglican era had plenty of both positive and negative exposure to the charismatic stream, as well as a vein of mysticism. Re-evaluating it all these days.
Loewenich's book is good for what it is, but I felt like he really tried to make Luther sound like Barth. Hoffman's book The Mysticism of Martin Luther is my favorite work on the topic, though I totally disagree with his evaluation of Lutheran orthodoxy.
Thanks for the quick reply - I wasn’t sure how obscure that one is! Will look for Hoffman if I’m still on that track later, then. (Lutheran orthodoxy remains beyond my scope, unless you include Chemnitz, and not sure any of my previous Lutheran connections have read even any Chemnitz outside the BoC!)
I wrote about a fascinating article in 2009: “Luther and Theosis,” by Kurt E. Marquart, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana), published in Concordia Theological Quarterly, Vol. 64:3, July 2000, pp. 182-205.
As a visual learner, I'm happy to see I can consume your content here instead of having to try to focus on listening over at YT.
Good article. Luther was simply not a mystic even though he was searching for mysticism or at least a real experience of Christ initially. In the end his carnal needs outweighed his spiritual needs. I would strongly recommend a thorough reading of de immitatio Christi for every Lutheran, logically
It’s on my shelf for a re-read, but von Loewenwich’s Luther’s Theology of the Cross covered the topic extensively in its latter chapters. (I was much less interested in that question, so after ~20 years I don’t really remember how he described it, as I didn’t have enough background of Holl, Ritschl, etc., to follow along.)
Might be one to dig into if you’re diving deep on this topic. I’m interested, because my Anglican era had plenty of both positive and negative exposure to the charismatic stream, as well as a vein of mysticism. Re-evaluating it all these days.
Loewenich's book is good for what it is, but I felt like he really tried to make Luther sound like Barth. Hoffman's book The Mysticism of Martin Luther is my favorite work on the topic, though I totally disagree with his evaluation of Lutheran orthodoxy.
Thanks for the quick reply - I wasn’t sure how obscure that one is! Will look for Hoffman if I’m still on that track later, then. (Lutheran orthodoxy remains beyond my scope, unless you include Chemnitz, and not sure any of my previous Lutheran connections have read even any Chemnitz outside the BoC!)
I wrote about a fascinating article in 2009: “Luther and Theosis,” by Kurt E. Marquart, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana), published in Concordia Theological Quarterly, Vol. 64:3, July 2000, pp. 182-205.
Yes, it's a great article. I've cited it often.
That's great, thank you. Would you agree that Luther's theology of union with Christ is a kind of democratised mysticism?
Yes, I think that's exactly right.