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Ilmari Karimies 2010

The Relation of the Ontological and Cognitive Aspects of Faith in Martin Luther’s Theology between 1513-21. Ilmari Karimies 2010. Faculty of Theology, Systematic Theology. In ipsa fide Christus adest.

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Ilmari Karimies 2010

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  1. The Relation of the Ontological and Cognitive Aspects of Faith in Martin Luther’s Theology between 1513-21 Ilmari Karimies 2010 Faculty of Theology, Systematic Theology

  2. In ipsa fide Christus adest • ”Christian faith … if it is true faith, is a kind of certain confidence of the heart and firm assent, by which Christ is grasped (apprehenditur), as if Christ were the object of faith, no indeed, not object, but as to say, in faith itself Christ is present. Faith is a kind of cognition or darkness (concealment, gloom) that sees nothing. But still in these darknesses Christ sits embraced by faith, just as God sat in the Sinai and in the Temple in the middle of darknesses. Therefore our formal righteousness is not love that informs faith, but faith and the cloud of heart, that is, trust in what we do not see - in Christ, who certainly is not seen, but still is present.” • Quare fides Christiana … si est vera fides, est quaedam certa fiducia cordis et firmus [34] assensus quo Christus apprehenditur, Sic ut Christus sit obiectum fidei, imo [15] Dr] non obiectum, sed, ut ita dicam, in ipsa fide Christus adest. Fides ergo [16] est cognitio quaedam vel tenebra quae nihil videt, Et tamen in istis tenebris [17] [Jes. 6, 1 ff.] Christus fide apprehensus sedet, Quemadmodum Deus in Sinai et in Templo [18] sedebat in medio tenebrarum. Est ergo formalis nostra iustitia non charitas [19] informans fidem, sed ipsa fides et nebula cordis, hoc est, fiducia in rem [20] quam non videmus, hoc est, in Christum qui, ut maxime non videatur, [21] tamen praesens est. (WA 40, I, 228, 31 - 229, 21 = Commentary on Galatians) IlmariKarimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  3. A Brief Look at the Research History in Finland: The Ontological dimension of Faith • The findings of the so called ”Mannermaa school” on union with Christ in faith are connected with the ecumenical dialogues of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church with the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1970’s and 1980’s and with the Lutheran - Roman Catholic dialogue that lead to the Joint Declaration. • See Mannermaa, Tuomo: Christ Present in Faith (transl. 2005, orig. 1979); Peura, Simo: Mehr als ein Mensch (1990) • Mannermaa, Huovinen, Peura, Juntunen, (Raunio) were all involved in the ecumenical dialogues Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  4. Christ Present in Faith: The Cognitive Dimension? • The Finnish research has focused on justification and its ontological dimension, union with Christ, which is a connecting point with Orthodox and RCC traditions (deification, infused grace) • Only some short remarks were made on the cognitive aspects of faith. These were sometimes contradictory: • Faith is cognitive darkness: The presence of Christ is not known, it is hidden. (Mannermaa 2010. Two kinds of love. Finnish original was published in 1995) • Faith is light: God is known through faith, because of Christ present in faith. (Mannermaa 1994. Hat Luther eine trinitarische Ontologie? –Luther und die trinitarische Tradition) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  5. The Problem as it Appears in Luther’s Texts • The juxtaposition of light and darkness in faith occurs commonly in Luther’s texts • ”Faith is a kind of cognition or darkness that sees nothing.” (Commentary on Galatians 1535) • ”Faith is rightly called the light of the face of God, because it is a divine illumination of our mind and a kind of ray of divinity infused into the heart of the one who believes … that is, recognition of and confidence in the God who is present.” (Operationes in Psalmos 1519-21: AWA 2, 200, 3 - 201, 15) • Also: experience vs. absence, goodness vs. suffering, present vs. future, seeing vs. believing • It has caused multiple problems in interpretation • Orthodoxy vs. pietism controversy • Present vs. future goods (in re vs. in spe) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  6. Some basic questions • What is the relationship of light and darkness in faith? • Are they on the same ’level’? Do they exist at the same time, or at different times? • What kind of ’information’ does the presence of God in faith give of God, if any? Is faith primarily human action, or divine action? • How is the presence of God in faith understood? (both ontologically and cognitively) If Christ would not be present, would if affect the subjective side of faith? • Primary sources: Luther’s Biblical commentaries between 1513-1521 (espc. Psalm Commentaries) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  7. Focus Topics • God and Creation • God as incomprehensible in his essence (cf. Negative theology) and hidden in the creation (Theology of the Cross, incarnation, sacraments) • Theological Anthropology: Spirit and Flesh • Simul iustus et peccator reflected on the cognitive level: faith as both light (for the spirit) and darkness (for the flesh) at the same time in the experience of the same person • Faith as illumination • Theological intellect grasping the invisible in the visible • Experience of the presence of God that is felt but not compreheded: Cf. Negative theology, mysticism

  8. Thesis outline • 1. Introduction • Research question, methods, sources • Research history • Luther’s understanding of faith • Theology of the Cross • Luther and mysticism • 2. Background: Faith and knowledge in the theology of the Antiquity and Middle Ages • Classical and medieval philosophical epistemology (Platon, Aristotle, Thomas, Nominalists) • Illumination in Augustine and early Medieval theology • Mystical theology

  9. Thesis outline • 3. Principles of Luther’s theological ontology • 3.1 Luther’s view of the nature of God • God as the Highest Good and giver • God as incomprehensible • God as hiding • 3.2 The sign and the signified: The relationship of God and the universe • The Platonism of Luther’s Dictata: Invisible and eternal vs. visible and changing • The creation and the Old Covenant as a sign of the invisible • The new creation and the Church: The invisible present in the visible • The state of glory: The invisible free from the visible in visio dei

  10. Thesis outline • 4. Principles of Luther’s theological anthropology • 4.1 The basic structure: Spirit – Soul – Body vs. Spirit – Flesh • 4.2 The spirit as the part which determines the ‘quality’ of the person • 4.3 The creation of faith: transitus from flesh to spirit • The dual effect of the word and sacraments • Suffering the help of God • Cross and the birth of faith • The external cloud and the internal cloud • 4.4 The conflict between the spirit and the flesh in the Christian

  11. Thesis outline • 5. The light of faith (abstract from the battle of the spirit and the flesh) • 5.1 God in the light of faith • 5.1.1 Light of the face of God: God as present or absent? • 5.1.2 Light of faith as captivating and incomprehensible • 5.1.3 Love of God as the true good • 5.2 The created universe in the light of faith • 5.2.1 The intellect of faith • 5.2.2 Faith and interpretation • Faith and the created universe • Faith and the Scripture • Spiritual senses • Faith and the Sacraments • Faith and love (directio)

  12. Thesis outline • 6. Faith between perishable and eternal • 6.1 The mystery of faith: Faith concealed in the visible • The darkness of the tabernacle of the heart • Ostensio vs. visio • Faith vs. hope • A claritate in claritatem • 6.2 The life of faith in the battle of the spirit and the flesh • Faith and the old nature • Faith and the tribulations (tentationes) • Faith and theology of the Cross • Vita passiva • 6.3 Special questions • De fide infusa et acquisita • Faith and doctrinal content • Faith and trust

  13. Luther’s Theological Anthropology • “Scripture divides man into three parts, as St. Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:23: ‘May the God of peace Himself sanctifiy you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ There is yet another division of each of these three, and the whole of man, into two parts, which are called ‘spirit’ and ‘flesh.’ This is a division, not of the nature of man but of his qualities. The nature of man consists of the three parts—spirit, soul and body; and all of these may be good or evil, that is, they may be spirit or flesh.”(The Magnificat,WA 7, 550, transl. LW 21, 302)

  14. Luther’s Theological Anthropology • Luther makes a division in the human being in two different ways, into two parts according to the ’quality’ of love and into three parts according to the natural composition • The two-part ’spiritual’ division by the ’quality’: Flesh (caro) and spirit (spiritus) • Flesh and spirit are two basic ’affects’ in human life. Carnal life is a life governed by concupiscense, spiritual life governed by the love of God. • Flesh and spirit do not refer to body or soul or any parts, but the basic drive and quality of the actions of the human being • The human being can either be wholly carnal (unbeliever), partly carnal and partly spiritual (Christian), or wholly spiritual (in Heaven, state of Glory) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  15. Theological Anthropology Continued: The Three-part Division According to the Nature • The three-part division according to the nature: Spirit (spiritus), soul (anima), body/flesh (corpus, caro) • The spirit is the highest part of the human being. It is (passively) capable of being in touch with the divine, invisible, incomprehensible and eternal • The soul is the mover of the body. It does not understand the invisible and incomprehensible things. Human reason is a capacity belonging to the soul. It works using concepts and images extracted from the visible reality. • The flesh is the body and the limbs. They put in action, what the spirit and the soul desire and want. • On the divisions see The Magnificat, WA 7, 550-551 (LW 21, 302-304) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  16. The Threefold Division Illustrated by the Jewish Temple ”Let us take an illustration of this from Scripture. In the tabernacle fashioned by Moses there were three separate compartments. The first was called the holy of holies: here was God’s dwelling-place, and in it there was no light. The second was called the holy place: here stood a candlestick with seven arms and seven lamps. The third was called the outer court: this lay under the open sky and in the full light of the sun. In this tabernacle we have a figure of the Christian man. His spirit is the holy of holies, where God dwells in the darkness of faith, where no light is; for he believes that which he neither sees nor feels nor comprehends. His soul is the holy place, with its seven lamps, that is, all manner of reason, discrimination, knowledge and understanding of visible and bodily things. His body is the forecourt, open to all, so that men may see his works and manner of life.” (WA 7, 551) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  17. Spiritual and Carnal Man Compared Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  18. The Carnal Person Reason (ratio) Senses, feeling (sensus) Appearance (species) Visible things Present in re Comprehensible things The Spiritual Person Intellect = faith (intellectus) Experience (experientia) The thing itself (res) Invisible things Present in fide / in spe Incomprehensible things The Anthropological Functions Compared • Even though the anthropological structures are not on same level in their nature, functionally a following comparison can be made • The carnal person relies on the things he/she knows by the natural abilities directed at the visible • Even reason uses concepts extracted from the visible reality • The terms also exist in their philosophical meanings! Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  19. Carnal and Spiritual Love Compared • It is neccessary to love something, but only things that are known can be loved. Without faith only created things are known, and they therefore become the object of love. • The nature of the object of love determines the quality of the love and the quality of the person • Carnal love • Object: Visible, finite things and their extrapolations • Nature: Concupiscential, goods must be constantly sought to fill the inner void • ”Homo exterior, Homo animalis” • Spiritual love • Object: God, invisible, infinite things • Nature: ”Bonum est diffusivum sui”, the infinite things do not diminish when shared • ”Homo interior”, ”Homo spiritualis” Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  20. Animal Life vs. Spiritual Life • Animal / sensual life signifies bodily life; sensual, visible life, including human reson • Spiritual / intellectual life signifies a life in communion with God through faith / imago Dei, an intellectual life where the created things are perceived as signs of God • In the Fall the human being lapsed to a wholly sensual / animal life, ”sicut equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus” • Through faith a human being begins to live a spiritual life, though there is a struggle between the spirit and the flesh • In the state of glory after resurrection a human being will live a wholly spiritual life • See Huovinen 1989, 39-49

  21. The Darkness of God: Supra and Contra • The natural abilities of the fallen human being are directed at the visible, but God is in his essence invisible. • The fallen human being has an inclination to have a god, but is unable to know the true God. Therefore he/she creates a god or a phantasm of God as summum bonum by extrapolating the sensible and rational goods (or more crudely just worshipping them, eg. idols, money, power) • To the carnal person God is in a darkness of two kinds • The cognitive abilities cannot recognize the presence of God. God is incomprehensible to them (supra captum) • God appears hidden under contraries, i.e. stupidity, weakness, Crucified, the sacraments. This is • to abolish the false gods created by the carnal man • because God per his essence ’looks down to the meek’ Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  22. The Darkness of God • ”In these times there are two things, which will hinder you most from knowing what is right. First, this Christ – who was crucified, killed and condemned by you, and on God’s authority was even cursed according to the Law of Moses – is proclaimed as Lord over all Lords. It is most difficult of all to recognize as King one who has died such a desperate and shameful death. The senses are strongly repelled by such a notion, reason abhors it, experience denies it, and a precedent is lacking. Plainly this will be folly to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews (1. Cor 1:23) unless you raise your thoughts above all this. … Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  23. The Darkness of God • The second difficulty is that through His reign this King teaches that all the things you hoped for in the Law should be condemned, and that all the things you feared should be loved. He offers the cross and the death. He advises contempt for the good that one sees, and likewise for the evil, since He will confer on you a much different good, namely, that which the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man (1. Cor. 2:9). You must die in you would live under this King. You must bear the cross and the hatred of the whole world. You must not flee from ignominy, poverty, hunger, and thirst, in other words, all the evil that floods the earth. For this is the King, who became a fool to the earth and died, and who thereupon destroys His own with a scepter of iron and smashes them like a potter's vessel.” (AWA 2, 106, 19 – 107, 7) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  24. Stepping in to the Cloud and Darkness - The Creation of Faith • There must always be suffering in the beginning and growth of faith (espc. in Luther’s earlier writings until 1520’s) • When God creates faith, he draws the human being to the darkness and cloud of the Word and the sacraments, where he is present. This causes anguish and suffering for the old carnal nature • Illustrated most clearly in baptism • When God does this, he at the same time creates the human being anew, so that the infused faith in fact becomes his or her second, spiritual nature • Luther speaks of the resulting conflict in terms of two natures • Therefore the Word and the Sacraments have a duplex effect of subduing the flesh and strengthening the spirit Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  25. Stepping in to the Cloud of Darkness - The Creation of Faith • ”For since the Word of Christ is the Word of salvation and peace, the Word of life and grace, and since it works not in the flesh, but in the spirit, it must supress and cast out the salvation, peace, life, and grace of the flesh. When it does this, it appears to the flesh harder and more cruel than iron itself. For whenever a carnal man is touched in a wholesome way by the Word of God, one thing is felt, but another actually happens. … Although He is the God of life and salvation and this is His proper work, yet, in order to accomplish this, He kills and destroys … For He kills our will that His may be established in us. He subdues the flesh and its lusts that the spirit and its desires may come to life. … For the spirit accepts the Word of the Lord as a most pleasant command. … But the flesh endures the commandment or Word of God with greatest aversion; nor does it recognize it, since it is completely contrary to it in every way.” (AWA 2, 97, 12 - 98, 8) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  26. Stepping in to the Cloud of Darkness - Union with the Word in Faith • By the work of the Word in soul the human being is united with Christ, who is the eternal Word. (Christ as the Word of God is present and works in the external word.) • By faith, which the word creates, the human being is drawn into the dark cloud in which Christ is present. In union with Christ he is endowed with the intellect of faith • ”This understanding (intellectus) comes from faith, as it is written (Is. 7:9): ”If you do not believe, you will not understand”, and it is the entrace into that cloud, where everything that the senses, reason, mind and intellect of man can understand will be dissolved. Faith unites the soul with the invisible, ineffable, unnameable, eternal, incogitable Word of God, at the same time separating it from all visible. This is the cross and the passover of the Lord.” (AWA 2, 107, 25 - 108, 5) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  27. Rapture and Infusion - the Creation of Faith • Luther speaks of the creation of faith both in terms of infusion and rapture • Infusion of the divine virtues: God ’infuses’ the divine light to the soul from above • Background: medieval discussion on the theological virtues • Rapture: By the infused light of faith the soul is ’elevated’ to embrace God on the mountain and in the cloud, as Moses ascended the Mount Sinai • Background: mystical theology • Both are images of the same event • Note the coexistence of light and darkness Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  28. Faith as Internal Light and Internal Darkness • When a person becomes united with the Word of God in faith, the external darkness of faith becomes internal • This means, that Christ, who is present in faith, is in darkness for the old carnal nature. The image of cloud and the holy of holies is applied here too • For the new spiritual nature, faith is a light shining from the face of the present Christ • ”Faith is rightly called the light of the face of God, because it is a divine illumination of our mind and a kind of ray of divinity infused into the heart of the one who believes … that is, recognition of and confidence in the God who is present.” (AWA 2, 200, 3 - 201, 15) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  29. The Conflict between the Spirit and the Flesh in Anthropological Terms Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  30. Light and Darkness Together • ”That in the holy of holies there was no light, signifies God to be present in the Church via the faith of Christ in their hearts, that does not comperehend and is not comprehended, does not see and is not seen, but still sees all things. It is a poweful proof of present, but not visible things. Likewise the Ark of Covenant was present in the holy of holies, but was not visible, because the Tabernacle was around – in the middle of which at the holy of holies the very seat of God was – as is said in Ps. 46 ’The God is present in the middle of the congregation’, so that they cannot be shaken…God does not rule among us superficially, with tongue and words, but in might, and they do not remain unshaken, who believe with tongue and words, but ’those who believe in the heart, are justified’, in the middle of whom God is present. They are the strong, who receive help from the face of God (that is, the presence of God), as Ps. 46: ’They will be helped from the face of God’, or, ’in daybreak’, that is, in the presence of the might and divinity and the face of God.” (WA 5, 506, 12-25) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  31. Light and Darkness Together • ”Cloud and darkness is around Christ, and he himself is in the middle of the cloud that is in the soul, and in the middle of the darkness that is in the flesh. For the new person by faith receives the cloud, that is, a gloomy light, and by this the old person receives the darkness and is obscured in a beneficial way. Because when spirit is illuminated, the flesh is blinded, the latter by justice and the former by righteousness. And so is the throne of Christ restored.” (WA 55, II, 754, 11-18) • ”Note: Faith is ‘a cloud’ for those who believe, or for the spirit, but ‘a darkness’ for those who do not believe, or for the flesh. This is because the unbelievers and the flesh in no way perceive that which is of God, but for them all wisdom is foolishness. But the believers and the spirit, even if they do not perceive brightly, still ‘know partially’, as if in ‘a shining cloud’.” (WA 55, I, 650 gloss 1, 1-5.) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  32. The Light of Faith • The light of faith is • In relation to God • incomprehensible light, through which presence of God is known and felt, but his essence cannot be analyzed • leads the believer, ”captures” him/her into following Christ • foretaste of eternal goods • In relation to the creation • shows the presence of God in word and sacraments • shows, what is the will of God and what is good • leads the believer through temptations and tribulations • shows the true significance of created things as not ends in themselves, but signs and gifts of God (”Theologian of the cross calls a thing what it is”) Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  33. The Intellect of Faith • The light of faith is the true intellect, that understands the invisible things and the visible in the light of the invisible • ”However, this is not the intellect of which the philosophers have opinions; it is faith itself, which in prosperity or adversity can see things that are not seen. … Prosperity or adversity in matters of this present life completely upsets every man, who does not by faith understand the invisible. This understanding (intellectus) comes from faith …” (AWA 2, 107, 20 – 107, 25) • Luther often quotes Ps. 32:9 ”Do not be like horses and mules, which have no understanding.” Luther calls a life without faith an ’animal’ life, because it is based on what is seen and felt. • Luther applies ideas from Aristotelian (Thomistic) Psychology and Early Medieval / Augustinian doctrine of illumination to explain his idea of faith Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  34. Faith as the Restoration of the imago Dei • Faith is a process in which human being is drawn away from the reliance on the visible to become again an image of God • “Velle enim illud, quod credere, sperare, diligere iam diximus, est motus, raptus, ductus verbi dei et quaedam continua purgatio et renovatio mentis et sensus de die in diem in agnitionem dei. […] Ita per spem tribulatione operante nascentem divinae imagini conformamur et creamur ad imaginem (iuxta Paulum) eius, qui fecit nos.” (AWA 2, 320, 16-25) • “Et infra ‘Nos autem revelata facie gloriam domini speculantes in eandem imaginem transformamur a claritate in claritatem tanquam a domino spiritus’. […] Quid ergo est gloria domini? quid revelatio faciei? Diximus ps. 4. et aliis, vultum domini et conspectum dei, super nos et in conspectu nostro positum, aliud non esse quam praesentem et propitium dominum habere, in eum confidere, et ut usus scripturae, nosse dominum, quod non nisi [Hebr. 8, 11., Jer. 31, 34.] per fidem in hoc saeculo.” (WA 5, 508, 31-40) • ”Optime autem vocatur fides lumen vultus dei, quod sit illuminatio mentis nostrae divinitus inspirata et radius quidam divinitatis in cor credentis infusus, quo dirigitur et servatur, quicumque servatur; […] Hoc figuratum est in columna ignis et nube, […] Atque ut illic columna praesens ante faciem eorum ibat, ita hic fides praesentem deum habet, ut velut a vultu praesentis dei illuminatio cordis procedat, ita ut rectissime et propriissime lumen vultus dei, id est, agnitio et fiducia praesentis dei sit. Qui enim praesentem sibi deum non novit aut non sentit, nondum credit, nondum habet lumen vultus dei.” (AWA 2, 200, 3 – 201, 15)

  35. Works of God as Signs and Reality • Luther distinguishes between visible and invisible works of God. The visible works are a sign of the invisible: • Works of the creation and the Law are understood by faith to point to Christ • ”Quia omnia opera Creationis et veteris legis signa sunt [127] operum Dei, quȩ in Christo et suis sanctis facit et faciet, et ideo in Christo [128] illa preterita tanquam signa omnia implentur. Nam omnia illa sunt transitoria, [129] significantia ea, que sunt ȩterna et permanentia. […] Vnde Iudȩi arguuntur Psal. 27. quod non intellexerunt opera et in [134] opera, i. e. opera in veteri lege non intellectualiter aspiciebant, Sed tantum [135] carnaliter, non vt signa et argumenta rerum, Sed res ipsas. Quia [136] quod intelligitur, Inuisibile est ab eo, quod videtur, aliud longe. […] [140] Quia tunc perfecte intelligitur signum, quando res ipsa signi videtur.” (WA 55, II, 342, 126-140) • Works of the re-creation (new creation) / redemption (Gospel) are understood by faith to point to the final glory • ”[14] Propriissime Sunt opera spiritualia redemptionis et Iustificationis. [15] Quia hȩc summe commendata sunt omnibus Christianis. Opera [16] autem glorificationis sunt sub hiis comprehensa, Quia nondum facta, vt [17] possint memorari, nisi in capite Christo. Hȩc enim erunt omnium mirabilissima.” (WA 55, II, 507, 14-17)

  36. The Trials of Faith (tentatio, Anfechtung) • In general the presence and goodness of God is felt in faith • There are special trials, in which God’s presence is not felt, or God even appears to be in wrath • External trials: Hardships in life, suffering • Luther uses many biblical examples: Moses and the Egyptian army, Abraham’s offer etc • Internal trials: The wrath of God, overpowering feeling of sinfulness, God appearing as Satan, predestination • ’You must not judge according to what is seen and felt, but believe in the goodness and forthcoming help of God’ • The Holy Spirit consoles in these trials Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  37. Luther’s Concept of Faith and Mystical Theology • To describe the presence of God in faith, Luther uses many images from the tradition of mystical and negative theology. These include: the cloud, mountain, rapture, wilderness and bridal chamber • God’s presence is ’known’ or ’felt’ in faith, but the divine nature cannot be analyzed: the light of faith is suprarational • Images of darkness and cloud are also used about the hiddenness of God in tribulations (tentatio) • There is a strong emphasis on spiritual experience in Luther’s concept of faith • Whether we can call Luther’s understanding mystical depends on the criteria we set Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  38. The Infused Faith in Relation to Human Action • Infused faith (fides infusa) • The proper faith • Fides infantium, faith of a child • A gift of God through which Christ is present • Justifies • Acquired faith • ”Fides acquisita sine infusa nihil est, infusa sine acquisita omnia est” (Disp. de fide infusa et acquisita, WA 6) • Without the infused faith, ’simulated’ and speculative • Together with the infused faith, good • How to tell them apart • Cross and trials • Does love follow? Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  39. Lutheran Order of Salvation: Different Viewpoints • Justification • Fall: Loss of original righteousness • Justification in Christ: Simuliustus et peccator • Final glory: Solus iustus • Love • Fall: Human being becomes incurvatus in se • Grace: Battle of spirit and flesh (concupiscence) • Final glory: Affectus carnis is extinguished • Faith as knowledge of God • Fall: Knowledge of God is lost • Faith: God is known enigmatically by faith (spirit), the divine is hidden by/in the visible • Final glory: God is known from face to face

  40. Summary • Faith is for Luther a capacity, that grasps the invisible reality • The presence and consolation of God is felt • Word, sacraments, trials and moral goods are understood • The propositional content of faith is secondary in this sense • Faith is restoring the image of God lost in the fall, the spirit subduing the flesh • Faith is still not seeing, because 1) God remains above the natural capabilities of man and 2) the struggle between the spirit and the flesh continues to our last day Ilmari Karimies - Luther's Theology: Anthropology and Faith

  41. Considerations for Lutheran Spirituality • Lutheran contribution to understanding spirituality • Use of Patristic, Orthodox and Roman Catholic writings on spirituality in the Lutheran Churches creates a need for theological reflection. Some Lutheran viewpoints: • 1) Exclusivity of God’s operating grace • 2) Experience and ontology (iustification!) are on different levels, but there is a relation between them • 3) Conflict between faith and reason cannot be solved by easy answers, but belongs to the nature of faith itself. • Spirituality as a topic of ecumenical research? • Understanding the Lutheran tradition as not opposed to, but continuing and developing the spiritual (mystical) traditions of the Church • Shared issues with Orthodox and Catholic Christianity (negative theology, humility, infused theological virtues)

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