Faith in the Freshman

Every ten years the quaint village of Oberammergau, Germany, becomes the destination for Christian pilgrims from around the globe.  The performance of the Passion Play is the attraction and today Tammy and I travel with a group of Concordia’s friends to attend.Like any good Lutheran group, while we are in Germany we will visit the Luther historic sites, too.  I’ll have the opportunity to provide a little color commentary as I draw upon my doctoral research in Reformation history.  The chance to retrace where Martin Luther lived and served, and to reflect upon all that he did and wrote is a treat for a Luther scholar, and I hope our group of mainly Lutherans will find it interesting and enjoyable, too.

Our visit to the “Luther Lands” also got me wondering about where Luther would land if he could extricate himself from history and step into the present.   What would Martin Luther think of the Lutheran Church in our time and place?  Lutherans of generations past have speculated upon this question.  Soon after his death the so-called “gnesio” or “genuine” Lutherans pitted themselves against those who they felt had compromised Martin’s theology and practice.

What do you think?  What would Martin Luther make of contemporary Lutheranism?  Or, more broadly, what would Luther make of the state of the Christian church more than 4 1/2 centuries after his death?  What does it mean to be “genuinely” Lutheran?  What difference does it make?

In Faith in the Freshman I mention my first interaction with Martin Luther through my reading of Roland Bainton’s biography, Here I Stand.  That was the impetus not only for my future scholarly work but also for my more in-depth faith exploration.  In the end it leads me back to where this little reflection started — our Lord’s passion, the living, the dying and rising, of Jesus Christ.  Luther’s understanding of Christian faith has been formative for me.  To be genuinely Lutheran is not only to be Christ-centered, but to begin and end with Jesus Christ and his saving work.