Lutheranism

This Article documents how and why the sixteenth-century Lutheran Reformation helped to build the modern public education system of the West. Rejecting the medieval tradition of church education primarily for and by the clergy, Martin Luther argued that all Christians need to be educated to be able to read the Bible on their own, to participate fully in the life of the church, state, and society, and to prepare for their distinct vocations. Lutheran Germany and Scandinavia thus set up public schools as "civic seminaries," in Philip Melanchthon's apt phrase, designed to offer general spiritual and civic education for all. In early modern Lutheran lands, the state replaced the church as the chief educator of the community, and free basic education with standard curricula was made compulsory for all children, boys and girls alike. The Article offers case studies of new German city and territorial laws on education on the books and in action, and it reflects on the enduring significance of this early experiment in education even in our day.

Vittoria Colonna marquioness of Pescara was involved in the Catholic Reform during the first half of XVI century. She was very close to cardinal Gasparo Contarini and cardinal Reginald Pole. Also she had paintings by Titian and Michelangelo who was one of her best friend. She invested an enormous ammount of money in Venice and her legacy was astonishing. Her poems were very popular and the new holy images invented by Michelangelo for her were diffused all around Europe througouth the "spirituali".

Contemporary political theology often defines itself against Lutheran social ethics, which is portrayed as politically disengaged and overly deferential to state power. At the same time, contemporary political theology often embraces the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer as an exemplary political theologian. This incongruity is generally resolved by distancing Bonhoeffer from his tradition, at least on matters of political theology. But Bonhoeffer's political theology was thoroughly Lutheran. Throughout the years of his political-theological engagement, from the Nazi rise to power in 1932-33 to the drafting of Ethics and related writing in 1940-43, he participated in ongoing conversations within Lutheran social ethics on the issues of, among others, the two kingdoms and the orders. In the process, he critically appropriated these elements of Lutheran thinking into an especially dynamic and christocentric framework that in turn informed his positions on various issues such as the church's proclamation against the Nazi state and the ecumenical church's witness for peace. Bonhoeffer is an example of Lutheran political theology, one that suggests the need to revise at least the more sweeping judgments about Lutheran theology as inherently incompatible with political engagement.

10 Kasım 1483 doğumlu Eislebenli keşiş Martin Luther’in öncüsü olduğu Protestanlık, Katolisizm gibi Hıristiyanlığın bir yorumu olarak ortaya çıktığından Luther’in kadına dair görüşleri de elbette Hıristiyanlık temelinde biçimlenmiştir. Hristiyanlıkta da kadın konusu asli günaha değinilmeden anlaşılmayacaktır. Asli günah anlayışı Hıristiyanlıkta,  salt bir karşı gelme olayı olarak işlenmesinden daha çok temel dini görüşlerin belirli şekilde yorumlanmasında ana olay olarak kullanılmıştır.  Hıristiyanlık tarihinde kadının rolü belirlenirken ve yorumlanırken asli günah her zaman temel yapı taşı olmuş ve kadın, erkeği yolundan çıkaran, kötülüklere sürükleyen, erkekten eksiği olan bir varlık olarak görülmüştür. Teolojik düzeyde Hıristiyanlığın mimarı kabul edilen ve görüşleri Hıristiyanlığın her mezhebinde olduğu gibi Protestanlık üzerinde de etkili olan Pavlus da kadını, -Mesih’in kadınlar hakkında erkeği engelleyici herhangi bir ifadesi bulunmamasına rağmen- kilisede sessiz kalması, evde erkeğine itaat etmesi gereken, din konusunda erkeklere bir şeyler öğretmeye kalkışmaması gereken ve yine erkekten eksik bir varlık olarak yorumlamıştır.  Bu görüşler Pavlus özelinde bir yorum fakat genel kabul gören bir görüşler silsilesi olduğundan, her mezhepte olduğu gibi Protestanlığın kurucusu Luther üzerinde de etkili olacaktır. Luther, üzerinde etkili olan görüşleri yaşamının ilk yıllarında daha sert, son yıllarında ise daha yumuşak şekilde dile getirmiştir. Bunda reformun siyasi taraftar sıkıntısı ve kuşkusuz Luther’in 1525 yılında yaptığı evliliğin rolü vardır.

In the article the famous poem “Te Seasons” written in Prussia by the Lithuanian poet Kristijonas Donelaitis (1714 01 01 – 1780 02 18) is considered as a poem based on the classical tradition of the description of the seasons. In this most famous work of the Lithuanian literature one can note the principles of Aristotelian philosophy of nature.

В статье на основе анализа метрических книг церкви св. Петра г. Екатеринбурга впервые проанализированы брачные стратегии лютеранского прихода города в конце XIX — начале XX вв. Составлена база данных по всем бракам, заключенным лютеранами города, с 1892 по 1919 гг., в том числе с православными горожанами; выявлены средний возраст вступления в первый и повторный брак у мужчин и женщин, динамика заключения браков за весь период и в течение каждого календарного года по месяцам; прослежены предпочтения мужчин и женщин при заключении межрелигиозных браков.

The article deals with the song postil Písně na epištoly a evanjelia nedělní a sváteční (Songs on the Epistles and Gospels for Sundays and Feast Days), written down during the 1570s by the Utraquist priest and follower of Luther Valentin Šubar Lanškrounský and printed during the second decade of the seventeenth century by Jiří Hanuš Lanškrounský z Kronenfeldu and relatives Jan Schumann the Elder. There is a comparison of all five preserved specimens: a manuscript copy (V B 7) and a printing (K16012) from the National Museum Library, two printings from the Education and Research Library of the Pilsen Region (K16012 and K16014), and a printing from the Strahov Library (K16012). Mainly on the basis of chronograms, it has been determined that the previously stated dating of the printed editions was incorrect. The supposedly lost prose "Summas" are found in a specimen dated to 1612, which is the only one also containing a foreword by Valentin Šubar and seven uniquely preserved Easter songs.

Article in Finnish in Lutheran Student Christian Movement in Finland's magazine Etsijä on Moral Theology, especially on the relation formal and material moral criteria to each other and on the role given to free will in different theological solutions. The nature of Lutheran Moral Theology is assessed and conclusion drawn on it are estimated.

Etsijä-lehdessä julkaistu artikkeli, joka käsittelee kysymystä moraalikriteereistä, erityisesti formaalisten ja materiaalisten kriteereiden suhteesta. Onko Jumala lahjoittanut ihmiselle luomisessa vapauden vai valmiin olemuksen, jota seurata? Lisäksi arvioidaan luterilaisen moraaliteologian luonnetta ja siitä tehtäviä johtopäätöksiä.

In this essay, my aim is to extend the discussions in that seminar and to
reflect on how applying the perspectives, postures, and practices of ethnography might help academic theologians and pastors better understand the world we live in and better discern the varieties of theology and culture within our congregations, communities, and denominations. Based on my reading of the literature on “ethnographic theology” and my work as a pastor, theologian, and ethnographer of religion, I propose ethnography as theological practice helps pastors and theologians more holistically understand the diverse, overlapping, and sometimes
contradicting religious experiences and perspectives of our congregations,
communities, and church bodies. Moving beyond a focus on texts and traditions, as well as timeworn modes of thinking about the relation between theology and culture, ethnographic theology brings a fresh perspective to our theological discourse by summoning together the everyday and the academic, to create new conversations around worship and living. In the end, I suggest that to effectively discern how to navigate the “diversity and difference” of the world and the contexts we live and work in, we need to become better ethnographers.

John Dury (1596-1680) grew up in England with connections to the heads of state, and was advised by an eminent chaplain that to reconcile the divisions of the protestant churches would be the greatest work of peacemaking (Matt 5:9) that one could do.  Dury subsequently devoted his entire adult life’s work to this end, with indefatigable journeys, letter writing and conferencing among the leading church figures of the day.  The titles of his many writings also bear out this purpose.

This particular work is the first part of a brief summary outline of practical scriptural living and ethics, intended as an ecumenical effort to unite churches abroad.  Previous to this work, a letter was written by William Gouge, Obadiah Sedgwick and others to James Ussher asking him to lead a joint project to write such a body of divinity.  Ussher was favorable to the project but it was interrupted by the English Civil War.  Other signers to this effort included: John Downame, George Walker, Adoniram Byfield, Sidrach Simpson, Richard Culverwell, George Hughes and Joseph Symonds.  Dury ended up writing the desired outline of practical divinity.

The Collects of Veit Dietrich, based on the Historic Lectionary, compared with the original source, 'Summaria Christlicher Lehr' 1548 with newly translated collects that were not in 'The Lutheran Hymnary' or in 'Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary.'

In "Was the Reformation a Mistake?" Matthew Levering examines the Protestant Reformation from an epistemological perspective, that is, whether the reformers correctly challenged the truth claims of the Roman Catholic Church. The subtitle summarizes the thesis of the book: Why Catholic Doctrine is not Unbiblical. The Bible tells Christians to seek truth together with the church as a whole, which Levering suggests will lead to an openness to the teachings of the Catholic Church. In the afterward, “A Mere Protestant Response,” Kevin Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, provides a lively and incisive rebuttal from an evangelical perspective.

A Treatise on Good Works is considered Luther’s clearest
exposition on Christian life and the relationship between faith
and good works. Contrary to the teachings of the medieval
church of his day, Luther taught that people need not perform
extraordinary acts of religious devotion to be saved, but rather
that Christ saves them by grace through faith. Neither the
church nor any other human institution can define what it
means for each individual to obey and serve God, and only
through the grace of God can people live and act faithfully
in their everyday affairs. These doctrines, foundational for
Protestantism, have shaped both Christendom and culture
at large. This essay is doubtlessly one of the most important
texts of the last 500 years.

This book tells us about how the interaction of religion and politics was formed, developed, and organized in former Communist states, what now constitutes a challenge to these relations, and how these challenges can be addressed. Questions addressing the resurgence of religion in the public sphere of the former Communist states have regained significant scholarly attention since the early 1990s. To no small extent inspired by Samuel Huntington (1993), religious resurgence was hypothesized as being a "clear-cut case of de-secularization" given that it developed as a reaction to forced secularization under Communism (Karpov 2010). Other prominent scholars asserted a correlation between the fall of Communism and religious revival, with the latter filling the ideological vacuum left by the former.

This paper examines Martin Luther's interpretation of love in the gospel of John. It is part of a series that explores the meaning of love in Luther for the Christian life. Here Luther speaks of some expressions f love that are not prominent in some of his other writings. For example, he writes on love and friendship, on love for Christ and love as the eschatological reality. His understanding of love in this text does not fit into the sharp opposition of eros and agape that Anders Nygren used to interpret Luther.

Resumo Apresentamos a tradução de Wolfaria, publicada em 1521 por Johann Eberlin von Günzburg, teólogo alemão que, no mesmo ano, havia abdicado o catolicismo e a Ordem Franciscana. O texto, composto no início da Reforma, trata de um mundo imaginário, no qual a religião e o Estado estão em perfeita harmonia e todos os cidadãos vivem bem, pois adotam princípios éticos e políticos conformes ao nascente luteranismo. Integrante do gênero utópico, a obra de Eberlin pode ser considerada a segunda manifestação desta corrente, composta apenas cinco anos após a Utopia, de Thomas Morus. As obras utópicas reúnem uma quantidade variada de particularidades, mas se caracterizam fundamentalmente por apresentar a descrição de um alhures em sua totalidade, e este mundo outro é na verdade a imagem invertida do mundo do autor. O utopista não busca o escapismo político, ao contrário: mergulhado nas contradições do momento presente, o autor deseja criar um mundo outro, onde os males sociais, religiosos e políticos são solucionados. Wolfaria está explicitamente vinculada à realidade histórica, e constitui importante discussão de tópicos fundamentais da Alemanha no período em que Eberlin viveu.

One of the buzzwords of 20th and 21st century theology -- especially Lutheran theology -- is "theology of the cross." In the year where we mark the 500th anniversary of the Heidelberg Disputation where Martin Luther first talked about theologians of glory and theologians of the cross it is important to understand what it is to be a theologian of the cross, what that means for 21st century theology, and what incredible comfort the cross of Christ brings.

This essay especially explores four sinful tendencies that the theologian of the cross seeks to avoid: sinful speculation, attempting to tip the scales, eyeing the wrong prize, and failing to let God be God and do all the creating.

The Lutheran World Federation released Understanding the Gift
of Communion in 2014 to allow churches who hold differing views
on homosexuality to remain in fellowship with one another. This paper explores how the churches in the Global South who do not accept homosexuality are considered "colonialistic" related to socio-ethical concerns.

Published in the Journal of Lutheran Mission

Collver, Albert B. “Colonialism in the Global South: The Imperialism of Western Sexual Ethics.” Journal of Lutheran Mission 3, no. 1 (April 2016): 34–39.

http://blogs.lcms.org/2016/journal-of-lutheran-mission-april-2016

Although it has been claimed that Dietrich Bonhoeffer's controversial 1933 essay on "The Church and the Jewish Question" is riddled with inconsistencies, I argue that the essay is entirely consistent at least on the issue of church action with respect to the state. Seeing this requires recognizing that the essay is driven by the logic of the two kingdoms, that Lutheran way of understanding God's action in two dimensions of life, the spiritual and temporal.

"No, this is not advisable, rather very incorrect and pernicious."  In such a way Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther responded to a Lutheran pastor's query regarding the usage of "Methodist Hymns in a Lutheran Sunday School."  Walther sensed the peril of bestowing Lutheran usage to Protestant hymns, and outlined the theological implications in his response.
Though Walther's polemical contentions against Methodism may be caricatured and relegated to his historical climate, this hymn study shows how his 1883 opinions bear pertinence to 21st-century Lutherans in America.  The didactic and confessional role of the Kernlieder eclipses all competitors in the Lutheran church, and their unique doctrinal content ensures that they are the optimal choice for Lutheran church and school.

House for All Sinners and Saints (HFASS), a congregation affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Denver, Colorado, has recently attracted attention for its blend of confessional church tradition and its embrace of popular culture. It attracts the types of people not usually associated with mainstream Christianity, including queers, recovering addicts, and abuse victims. Given these biographies, a range of different subcultures has come together to shape beliefs and practices in unconventional ways. As a reaction to the opposition many members have experienced in the Christian mainstream, the congregation is rumoured to call itself ironically ''Half-Ass'' (after the acronym of its name—HFASS). This article frames religion and popular culture as entering into dialogue at House for All Sinners and Saints and discusses the meanings that emerge at this intersection. It argues that popular culture is not employed as a mere catch-all tool to fill the pews but, rather, serves to express deviance and dissent from the religious mainstream, encourage new forms of consciousness regarding being ''unconventionally'' Christian, and affirm alternative Christian-and-minority-member identities while simultaneously emphasizing the centrality of the confessional tradition for contemporary American culture.

This paper looks at the theology of John Brine and assesses its role in staving off Unitarianism and Arminianism among the Particular Baptists of the eighteenth century. Brine's willingness to rely upon reason to argue back to doctrines that were not specifically addressed in Scripture, but that he believed were logically necessary, meant that his theology was influential in promoting "high" Calvinism and its goal of preserving the glory of God over and against human agency.

For almost 500 years scholars have been asking “Was Martin Luther a Humanist?” The common answer is “no” because, “It is not an obvious step to turn to Luther as a Christian Humanist. He was renowned or notorious – depending on one’s interpretation – for his debate on the freedom of the will with Erasmus of Rotterdam. ” Therefore, to answer this question one must turn to this infamous debate which seems to clearly decry Luther’s Christian Humanism. However, as in many things, there must be settled an issue of semantics and definitions. Who were these two men? Why this debate? And what is Humanism? Once these questions have been answered, an overview of the Humanist statements within the debate on Free Will published by both Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus will be made to determine an answer. Once it is determined if Martin Luther was a Humanist or not, the next logical step is to ask whether or not those who followed Luther, the Lutherans, are humanist. The journey to truth is a long and winding path, but must begin with a first step, and so it begins.

"In a book of intriguing title, which ensued from a doctoral disertation, Brant M. Himes connects life and thinking of two Christian theologians about discipleship. What does a Dutch Calvinist, founder of a university and a political party, pastor, journalist, and prime minister (Abraham Kuyper) have in common with a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, spy, and a co-c onspirator on Hitler’s life (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)? Apart from the obvious answer that both were Christians, they shared a rich theological and practical commitment to following Jesus Christ in discipleship that did not stop at their personal or even ecclesial lives but continued to influence the world. Indeed, both were 'worldly' Christians, not in terms of their engagement with immorality and sin as Christians most commonly use this term, but in terms of their commitment to the well-being of the world."

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings, Martin Luther is ubiquitous. Too often, however, Bonhoeffer's Lutheranism has been set aside with much less argumentative work than is appropriate in light of his sustained engagement with Luther. As a result, Luther remains a largely untouched hermeneutic key in Bonhoeffer interpretation. In Bonhoeffer's Reception of Luther, Michael P. DeJonge presents Bonhoeffer's Lutheran theology of justification focused on the interpersonal presence of Christ in word, sacrament, and church. The bridge between this theology and Bonhoeffer's ethical-political reflections is his two-kingdoms thinking. Arguing that the widespread failure to connect Bonhoeffer with the Lutheran two-kingdoms tradition has presented a serious obstacle in interpretation, DeJonge shows how this tradition informs Bonhoeffer's reflections on war and peace, as well as his understanding of resistance to political authority. In all of this, DeJonge argues that an appreciation of Luther's ubiquity in Bonhoeffer's corpus sheds light on his thinking, lends it coherence, and makes sense of otherwise difficult interpretive problems. What might otherwise appear as disparate, even contradictory moments or themes in Bonhoeffer's theology can often be read in terms of a consistent commitment to a basic Lutheran theological framework deployed according to dramatically changing circumstances.

Table of Contents
0. Introduction: An Argument for Bonhoeffer Interpretation
-Taking Luther’s Ubiquity Seriously
-What is ‘Lutheran’? Issues of Definition and Method
-Arguing for the Lutheran Character of Bonhoeffer’s Thinking

1. On the Way toward Christocentrism
--Karl Holl: Luther’s Religion of Conscience
--Christ or the Conscience?
--Conscience against Conscience
--Meager Christology
--Justification as the Unconditional, Effective Word of Christ’s Personal Presence as the Church

2. Christology in Conversation with Barth and the Lutheran Tradition
-Once more, Barth and Bonhoeffer on whether the Finite is Capable of the Infinite
-The History and Pre-History of the (in)capax Phrases
---This Man Is God
---This Is My Body
---The Finite is Capable of the Infinite
-Barth’s Rejection of the capax and the Majestic Genus
---The Finite is Not Capable of the Infinite
---The Common Actualization of Divine and Human Essences in Christ
-“The is may not be interpreted any further”: Bonhoeffer’s Christology

3. Caricatures of the Two Kingdoms
-Denials of Bonhoeffer’s Two-Kingdoms Thinking
-From Luther’s Two Kingdoms to the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms
---The Two Kingdoms in Luther’s Theology
---Church and State from a Lutheran Confessional Perspective
---Church and State in Confessional Comparison
---The Twentieth-Century Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms
---Troeltsch and the Niebuhrs

4. The Twofold Form of Christ: Bonhoeffer’s Two-Kingdoms Thinking
-Early Two-Kingdoms Thinking
---“The Nature of the Church”
---“Lectures on Christology”
---“Thy Kingdom Come!”
---“The Church and the Jewish Question”
-The Two Kingdoms in Discipleship
-Late Two-Kingdoms Thinking
---“Protestantism without Reformation”
---“Heritage and Decay”
---Green, Rasmussen, Hauerwas
---“Ultimate and Penultimate Things”

5. Anabaptists and Peace
-Bonhoeffer’s Non-Commitment to Nonviolence
-The Doubly Curious Association of Bonhoeffer with Anabaptism through Yoder
---Yoder on Bonhoeffer
---Bonhoeffer on Anabaptists
-Bonhoeffer on Peace
--Peace and Preservation
--Orders of Preservation
--The Sermon on the Mount as Concrete Commandment
-Peace in Bonhoeffer and Anabaptists
-Interpreting Bonhoeffer on Peace
-Ecumenical Lutheranism and Lutheran Ecumenism

6. Lutheran Resistance Resources
-Luther to Hitler
-Lutheran Subservience and Bonhoeffer’s Resistance
-Luther on Resistance to Authority
-The Interims, Flacius, and the Magdeburg Confession
-Formula of Concord X
-Bonhoeffer and Lutheran Resistance Resources

7. Struggle and Resistance
-Resistance through the Confession of the Ecumenical Church
---Status confessionis
---Threats to the Gospel from outside: The State that Disregards its Mandate
---Threats to the Gospel from Inside: Heretical Legalism
---Confession, ‘the Jews,’ and Race
-Resistance through the Suffering Obedience of the Discipleship Community
---The Second Battle of the Church Struggle
---Cheap and Costly Grace
---Justification
-Resistance through the Responsible Action of the Individual
---Between Compromise and Radicalism
---Active Resistance
-Conclusion: A Lutheran Theology in Accord with Reality

In historiography, the predominant portrayal of Charles V is that of a ruler
hostile  to  the  Reformation.  Various  authors,  notably  those  unfavourably  inclined  towards  the  Habsburgs,  show  him  as  a  defender  of  the  Catholic orthodoxy and an opponent of any heresy. He is alleged to have lacked tolerance and endorsed the papacy, as well as to have used military force to combat Lutheranism. In this context, authors draw attention to the Battle  of Mühlberg (1547), where the imperial army under Charles V’s command crushed the Protestant forces, leaving the battlefield strewn with the bodies  of 8,000 killed and wounded.
In this paper, I seek to revise the false and overly demonised image of the  Emperor, one that is particularly frequently encountered in authors of evangelical provenance. In my opinion, the notion of a militant Emperor-Catholic which the figure of Charles V has come to evoke effectively diverts one’s  attention away from the ideological substrate on which his vision of Christianity evolved: Charles’s religiousness and his association with the teachings of Erasmus of Rotterdam. If this context is disregarded, one cannot hope to  understand the approach of the Emperor to Martin Luther and Lutheranism. Consequently, Charles’s idea of Christianity should be outlined in order to demonstrate how it translated into relations with Luther and his movement. The chief proposition I am going to argue is as follows: influenced by
Erasmus’ thought, Charles V remained open to Christian humanism, understood Lutherans and sought conciliation with them; however, his attitude  was neither appreciated nor acknowledged by the Protestant princes of the Reich, to whom Luther was an instrument allowing to make a bid for greater power and independence, nor was his appeal to the papacy, which rejected everything that was new as a threat to the fossilised dogmas. It is in this light that I will subsequently evaluate the impact that Charles V and Luther  had on the Western civilisation.

This qualitative study explores the preparation pastors need to support mentally ill
congregational members. The unit of analysis was Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors. The
theoretical framework was Maslow’s Transpersonal Theory. Three research questions
guided the study: What were Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors taught, pre-ordination,
about mental illness? How were Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors taught, pre-ordination,
about supporting congregants who are mentally ill? What pre-ordination preparation would
Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors recommend for supporting congregants with mental
illness? Data sources were archival data, questionnaires, and individual interviews. Eight
themes were generated: 1) Pre-ordination pastors were taught very little about mental
illness. 2) Pre-ordination pastors had one class in which anxiety or depression were
sometimes discussed. 3) The subject of mental illness was not a focus of pre-ordination
training. 4) When taught about supporting congregants who are mentally ill, seminarians
were taught through some role play. 5) Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors were taught, preordination, through the use of one book usually a counseling book. 6) Missouri Synod
Lutheran pastors were taught, pre-ordination, that vicarage was the place to gain
experience. 7) Missouri Synod Lutheran Pastors recommend pre-ordination preparation
surrounding education about mental illness. 8) Missouri Synod Lutheran Pastors
recommend pre-ordination preparation that includes networking with experienced pastors
to learn better support systems for congregation members who are mentally ill.
Keywords: Preparation, Pre-ordination, Mental Illness, Vicarage, Networking,
Support Systems, Training, Experience, Teaching.

This conference paper examines Article XXI of the Augsburg Confession.  It contends that this article continues be relevant to the modern church since the prominence of Roman Catholic veneration and invocation of the saints has only increased since the Reformation.  In addition, the paper encourages believers to find a proper place for the saints in evangelical faith and piety.

O século XVI apresenta-se como um período de grandes transformações para a, então, instituição de maior poder na Europa: a Igreja Católica Apostólica Romana. Datando dos séculos finais da Baixa Idade Média, após longos e numerosos processos de cristianização, a Igreja Católica torna-se uma instituição forte e influente, assim como seu corpo clerical dentro dos “proto-Estados” europeus. Todavia, com a ascensão de movimentos contrários a certas colocações da instituição, simultaneamente à tomada de poder por monarcas europeus através da crescente onda absolutista, a Igreja percebe-se obrigada a revisar suas práticas. Não obstante, pode-se perceber movimentos de mudança dentro do corpo eclesiástico anteriores aos movimentos supracitados, podendo remontar propostas reformatórias antes mesmo dos movimentos chamados “protestantes”. Proponho-me a analisar as transformações dentro deste período, procurando revisar o conceito de Contrarreforma; não mais como uma simples resposta aos movimentos citados, mas que vinha há muito sendo encaminhado e processado.

In sharp contrast with what are seen as the vibrant and creative years of the Reformation, the post-Reformation "Age of Orthodoxy" is often viewed as dead, rigid, and sterile and its theologians as overly concerned with dogmatic formulas and indifferent to the needs of the everyday parishioner. This study takes a new look at this often neglected "Age of Orthodoxy" by examining the homiletic advice of a Lutheran theologian by the name of Johann Gerhard (1582-1637). In his instructions on preaching, Gerhard makes it clear that a significant part of the preacher's (and theologian's) task is to apply Scripture to the needs of his parishioners using different "modes of application" - by instructing and reproving them toward the truth, by training and correcting them toward doing good, and by consoling them during adversity. In fact, interestingly, it seems that Gerhard's wide array of published writings can also be divided into these three "modes of application."  This means that Gerhard's multi-volume "Loci Theologici", often decried as tediously unconcerned with pastoral care, are actually "applications" of the scriptural texts written out of deep pastoral care and concern. Learning how one prominent post-Reformation theologian viewed the multi-faceted pastoral care of his ministry may lead us to reconsider the rather disparaging view that many have of this often overlooked "Age of Orthodoxy."

Two protestant and two catholic theologians, two exegetes and two ethicists rediscover the state for theology. Democracy needs a theology that supports rather than deconstructs the power of the state. My contribution deals with Rm 13:1–7 (pp. 103–138).

I attach the preface and a flyer from the publisher.

The Kierkegaardian account of becoming a Christian has come to be perceived in radically egocentric terms. This study serves to challenge this perception by demonstrating that Kierkegaard was devoted to expounding Christian conversion as a transformative process of becoming that is grounded in an active relationship initiated through the agency of the eternal God who has established kinship with us in time.
At the same time, this study will also explore the way that Kierkegaard confronts some of the key errors that arise in overly systematic accounts of Christian conversion: (1) the inherent weakness of approaches that seek to dichotomise, and then quantify separately, the contributions of God’s grace and human freedom; (2) the inclination to objectify God and human beings in ways that neglect their existence as living agents; (3) the overemphasis on conversion as a monadic event of individual transformation rather than an event of reconciliation; (4) the tendency to prioritise epistemology over ontology in discussions of becoming a Christian; and (5) the propensity to lose sight of God’s all-embracing purpose of reconciling persons into their one true form of existence ‘before God’.
Finally, this study will also consider how Kierkegaard was able to negotiate his emphasis on the God-relationship with his emphasis on the importance of individual reflection, decision and action in the Christian life. It will conclude that, for Kierkegaard, the freedom to become a Christian is not the freedom to awaken ourselves into the Christian life but a decision to embrace the Christian life into which God awakens us.

Contents

Introduction
I. Listening to Kierkegaard Alongside his Pseudonyms
a. Kierkegaard and Climacus
b. Anti-Climacus and Kierkegaard

Chapter One: The Communication of the Christian Truth
I. Can the Truth Be Learned?
II. The Relationship or Non-Relationship between Subjectivity and Objectivity
III. The Revelation of Sin
a. Despair
b. The infinite qualitative difference and sin-consciousness
IV. Being in the Truth
V. Passion in Kierkegaard’s Thought
a. The Passion of Thought
b. Passionate Responsibility
c. The Passion of Faith
VI. Conclusion

Chapter Two: The Possibility of Reconciliation
I. The Tale of the King and the Maiden
II. Drawing Another to Oneself
III. The Possibility of Reciprocity
IV. The Possibility of Offense
V. Encountering God in Time
VI. Conclusion

Chapter Three: The Orientation of a Life Lived in Relationship with God
I. The Religious Category of Existence
II. Søren Kierkegaard’s Christian Realism
III. Immanent Religiousness and Christianity
IV. Sin-consciousness and Guilt-consciousness
V. Repentance
VI. Conclusion

Chapter Four: The Orientation of a Life Lived in Relationship with God
I. Following Scripture Faithfully
a. Reading a Letter from a Beloved
b. The Perspicuity of Scripture
c. The Uncertainty of Scripture
II. The Single Individual
III. Christ is the Way
a. Following Christ
b. Following Christ Voluntarily
c. Christ as Prototype and Redeemer
IV. Becoming a Christian in the World
V. Conclusion

Chapter Five: The Freedom to Become a Christian in Relationship with God
I. Approaching Christianity
II. The Passionate Transition
a. Venturing the Leap
b. Preparing to become a Christian?
c. Relationship with “the paradox”
III. Faith in the Presence of God
IV. The Choice to Become a Christian
a. The Freedom of the Individual to Relate to God
b. Willing Beliefs
c. Human Responsibility for Sin
d. Transforming the Will
V. The Freedom to Love
VI. Conclusion

Closing Reflection
I. Kierkegaard’s Low Pneumatology
II. Communion with the One Who Establishes Kinship with Us in Time
III. Conclusion