Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Luther's Concept Of Conscience, Raynold Eckhoff

Bachelor of Divinity

The object of this thesis is not to determine what others have said, though some comparisons are made in order to point up Luther's view. The etymology of the term ''conscience” and the historical background are not included. Related subjects are touched on only insofar as they contribute to the problem as stated. Various practical applications are referred to because Luther referred to conscience mostly in actual experienced cases.

The Concept Of Education In The Light Of The Theology Of D. Martin Luther, Won Yong Ji

Doctor of Theology Dissertation

This thesis is a study of the theological implications of Luther’s emphasis on “education” and an examination of the contributions if any, which Luther made to education, eventually derived from such an emphasis, to his subsequent generations. Its purpose is to survey briefly his theology in order to determine the theological significance or implications of his underlying pedagogical principles and practices. “What is Luther‘s view on education?” is the final goal of this study.

This study should prove to be a value to Lutheran educators in particular in that attempts to bring Lutheran educational practices into harmony with the educational …

Lutheran Education And Philosophy, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

This study conceives of Lutheran education as an activity in which our entire church with all its homes and parishes is engaged. It has in mind all levels, all currently employed agencies, and all subject areas of modern education. To be concrete: our homes, corporate worship, schools and Sunday schools, Bible classes, Bible institutes, catechumen classes, high schools, colleges, seminaries, university, institutions for the physically handicapped. and all our other educational efforts are within the purview of this study. Furthermore, this study proceeds on the premise that Lutheran education is an inevitable outgrowth of the basic beliefs of the Lutheran …

Luther Expounds The Gospels, Lewis W. Spitz

Concordia Theological Monthly

Both the state of Luther scholarship and the condition of the church have changed radically since the middle of that century of light, when J. G. Hamann lamented: "What a shame for our times that the spirit of this man who founded our church lies thus under the ashes. What a power of eloquence, what a spirit for interpretation, what a prophet! How good the old wine will taste to you!" Though Theodosius Harnack a hundred years later hailed the renewed study of Luther's theology as one of the most joyous developments in theological scholarship, his own work remained the …

Nietzsche's Final View Of Luther And The Reformation, Heinz Bluhm

Concordia Theological Monthly

Nietzsche began as an admirer of Luther and the German Reformation. The age of Luther ranked as high in his early opinion as the age of Goethe and Beethoven. From Menschliches, Allzumenschliches on, this favorable attitude toward Luther underwent a strong transformation. In the five years from 1878 to 1883, Nietzsche’s second creative period, Luther emerged as a highly questionable figure, even as a most regrettable event in the history of German and European thought and civilization. But all these severe pronouncements on Luther were only a prelude to the scathing denunciations to come in Nietzsche's post-Zarathustra writings.

Aspects Of The Relationship Of Faith To Conscience In Luther's Sermons, 1528-1532, William Arthur Olsen

Bachelor of Divinity

A brief study revealed numerous examples of the close relationship Luther established between faith and conscience in both his formal theological writings and his sermons as they have come down to us. This thesis seeks on a 1imited scale to establish and delineate that relationship between faith and conscience in the theology of Luther.

Both terms about which the thesis revolves are very prominent in the writings of Luther. That “faith” is a decisive and frequently used word in his theology seems to require no documentation.

The Rsv And The Small Catechism, George V. Schick

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the theological literature of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod it has been the practice to quote Scripture passages in English in the form in which they appear in the King James Version of 1611. The revision of 1881-1885 and the revision of 1901 in no way affected this custom. Neither achieved any great measure of popularity. The situation appears to be somewhat different in the case of the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, which appeared upon the market in 1952 under copyright of the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United …

The Two Realms And The "Separation Of Church And State" In American Society, Ernest B. Koenker

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the dramatic episode before Pilate, Caesar's procurator, Christ said: "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is My kingdom not from hence" (John 18:36). Christ unquestionably possessed a kingdom, one of power, righteousness, wealth, stability, beauty, but now as He stands before Caesar, He seems to be dispossessed. So great was His extremity that the primus inter pares of the small band, the very one who shortly before had wielded a sword to save Him, an …

What The Symbols Have To Say About The Church, Arthur Carl Piepkorn

Concordia Theological Monthly

It is not difficult to turn to the index of a modern edition of the Book of Concord and to discover therein the passages in the Lutheran Symbols which talk more or less explicitly about the church. That it is quite possible to read into these passages a very wide range of presuppositions is clear from the way in which different theologians have been claiming our church's Symbols in support of quite divergent, if not actually contradictory, opinions. But the articles of our creedal statements that the editors have headed, "Of the Church," or that bear similar titles are not …

The Written, Spoken, And Signed Word, Herman A. Preus

Concordia Theological Monthly

0ur title points us to the Word of God. It tells us that God speaks to us in three different ways. But it is the same Word that He speaks in all three. There is only one Word of God. The Word, whether written, spoken, or signed, is the same Word. It is the same message from God. It is the same Gospel, proclaiming God's salvation to lost sinners. It is what Luther calls "die ewige Wahrheit Gottes," God's own revelation of eternal truth.

The Unity Of The Church, Paul M. Bretscher

Concordia Theological Monthly

This is an anniversary year for the Lutheran Church. The Augsburg Confession, the foremost of our Lutheran symbols, came into existence 425 years ago. Prepared by Melanchthon and approved by Luther, it was read in German at the Diet of Augsburg on June 25, 1530. Copies of the German and Latin text were presented to Emperor Charles V. This 1530 version, known as the "unaltered" Augsburg Confession, has since that memorable day been the touchstone of what constitutes Lutheranism. It reflects in matchless form the deepest theological concerns of Luther, Melanchthon, and their colaborers. It served a threefold purpose: (1) …

Natural Science With Reference To Genesis 1, A. C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

A discussion of this problem has its pitfalls. There is danger of getting lost in a maze of conflicting opinions at the very start. The moment one turns to the Genesis account, the mind is flooded with associations coming from the outside. Besides, it calls for conscious effort to keep the mind from being swayed by one or the other of the many interpretations which have been presented. But if we seek a solution of some of the many problems which arise with respect to the relation of science and Genesis, we shall have to keep close to the text. …

The Concept Of God In Luther And The Lutheran Confessions, John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

This essay concerns itself chiefly with the concept of God, revealed especially in His works of creation and preservation, as the obiectum amabile, whom men are not merely to adore, but pre-eminently to love. However, since the Deus Creator is also the Deus Redemptor and Deus Sanctificator, it must, on the one hand, go beyond the narrow scope of the First Article of the Apostles' Creed as explained by Luther in his Large and Small Catechisms, while, on the other, it cannot nearly exhaust the great wealth of weighty truths that come within the compass of the study of the …

Martin Luther's Concept Of The Devil, Lester Zeitler

Bachelor of Divinity

It must be kept in mind that this thesis does not propose to relate and discuss in great detail every minute phase of Luther's concept of the devil. Such a study would take several years, for thoughts concerning the devil permeated nearly every area of Luther's writings. The St. Louis edition of Luther's Works devotes nearly twenty-two columns to an index registering Luther's comments on the devil. This thesis then may be more properly called a general overview of Luther's demonology.

Some Scriptural Aspects Of Processes In Nature, August C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Nature is like a veil. It both reveals and conceals the truth. What William Taylor says of the parable may also be applied to nature: " ... a cloud luminous to some, yet dark to others; the enveilment, but also the unveiling, of the truth to men." If nature appeals only to our intellect, we shall see only that which lies on the surface.

The Concept Of Predestination According To Martin Luther And John Calvin, Won Yong Ji

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Only Saint Augustine and Martin Bucer are mentioned, in the paper, in conjunction with Luther and Calvin. · Luther and Calvin are the two men who are to have the spotlight focused upon them. The question is what is their doctrine of predestination? What do they teach and write and think and believe about predestination? Hence the primary purpose of this thesis is to analyze and synthesize Luther's and Calvin's views on predestination, and to compare them with each other. To be correct, we shall have to make a distinction between “Luther's views” and ''Lutheran views," ~ and between “Calvin's …

Luther And Evangelical Radicalism, Walter L. Bouman

Bachelor of Divinity

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between Luther and this disparate radical element of the reformation. For this purpose we must distinguish between two aspects of the Radical Movement. Luther was forced to relate himself to Evangelical Radicalism as a historical phenomenon. This aspect of the relationship will be discussed in Chapter II of the thesis. Of greater importance is the theological relationship between Luther and Radicalism. Here we are concerned with a tendency rather than with a Historical group. While this tendency found expression in a historical group, it was also present in some of …

Brief Studies, Walter H. Koenig

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther As a Student of Hebrew

The Incarnation And The Lord's Supper In Luther, Norman Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

The ways of God to men are one. Despite the paradox of Law and Gospel, despite His myriad providence, despite our wondering and paltry understanding, we may yet discern a unity in the way in which the holy God deals with us. It is the way of His grace, of which Christ is the archetype and the Lord's Supper the consequent and continuing form.

It will be the attempt of this paper to set forth some of the aspects of the parallel between God's dealing with us in Christ and Christ's dealing with us in His Supper as grasped and …

Incarnation And The Lord's Supper In Luther, Norman Nagel

Bachelor of Divinity

It will be the attempt of this paper to set forth some of the aspects of the parallel between God's dealing with us in Christ and Christ’s dealing with us in His Supper as grasped and expressed by Luther; especially in the controversies concerning the Lord's Supper in the 1520’s. The references are given, with a few Erlangener Ausgabe exceptions, from the Weimarer Ausgabe.

We Conquer Death, Eduard Ellwein

Concordia Theological Monthly

When the golden sun emerges out of the ocean, he casts a shaft of his glorious light across the expanse of the water. The glorious reflection of an unspeakably greater light rests upon the Gospel of St. John: the certainty of our victory over death, the believer's assurance that he has conquered death and possesses eternal life as a present reality. To believe on the Son means to have eternal life.

Some Phases Of "After His Kind" In The Light Of Modem Science, August C. Rehwaldt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Some would estimate the number of species of animals to be about 1,073,000. Others say that there are about 3,000,000 species of animals. The wide range of difference between these two estimates is due to the diversity of opinion as to the concept "species." Since evolution is the background of modern biology, the term species is accordingly defined as an evolving group and net as an aggregation with set bounds and limits. Darwin's Origin of Species takes this view. Opposed to this view is that of the Bible, which speaks of natural groups of plants and animals and calls such …

Thinking Clearly On The Rsv, Arthur Katt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Every new translation of the Holy Bible has met with opposition. "Whenever a translation is made, the question of its authority as over against the authority of the original or of earlier translations naturally arises." This was the experience of St. Jerome back in the 4th and 5th centuries, when he produced the Vulgate. "At first his translation was met with antagonism, and it was even declared to be heretical." This was true particularly also of our beloved, time-honored King James Version. It took nearly half a century for it to find general acceptance, and quite a bit of the …

Luther On Creation, Henry W. Reimann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Although he was bred in a Church and society in which men tried with their works to appease the God whom theologians and philosophers had carefully thought out, Martin Luther returned to the Gospel. Here God took the initiative to rescue and redeem His sinful creatures through His Son. This has rightly been called a Copernican revolution in the realm of religion. Just as Copernicus started with a geocentric, but reached a heliocentric conception of the physical world, Luther began with an anthropocentric or egocentric conception of religion, but came to a theocentric conception. In this sense, Luther is a …

Sin As The Cause Of God's Wrath, Walter Nagel

Concordia Theological Monthly

Every system of Christian doctrine and dogma treats the subjects of man's sin and its opposing element, God's wrath, as being in some way basic to an understanding of the Christian life. Both matters, however, receive their full due only in the theology of Luther and in our Confessions.

Natural Law And The New Testament, Robert Hoeferkamp

Concordia Theological Monthly

This paper will attempt to investigate elements of Natural Law which are generally alleged to appear in the New Testament. Thus a historical discussion of Natural Law and the indication of the importance of the topic for current theological discussion are in order.

The Wrath Of God And The Grace Of God In Lutheran Theology, Wm. F. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Every Lutheran theologian, at hearing these terms, will admit, I think, that in discussing them we deal with the very heart of theology, and not only of theology, but of religion itself. Wherever religion has not developed into a mere caricature, but is live, spontaneous, heartfelt, real, it occupies itself, among other things, with these concepts. The statements that an individual or whole groups make about them may be entirely erroneous and objectionable or highly unsatisfactory, but, at any rate, occupying one's self with them is unavoidable - the human heart simply has to come to grips with these matters. …

And Yet Again: "Wes Das Herz Voll Ist, Des Gehet Der Mund Ueber", John Kunstmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Having commented on the non-literalness of Luther's translation of this passage, he extols the rendering as truly idiomatic and quotes, in support of the rightness of such a translation, one that is a reproduction and re-creation in German of the foreign and often alien original, the celebrated lines from the Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (1530) in which Luther defends his "free" translation of the passage in question.

The Universal Priesthood Of Believers With Luther's Comments, L. W. Spitz

Concordia Theological Monthly

The universal priesthood of believers is the Christian Church on earth, the Communion of Saints, which Jesus Christ has redeemed, purchased, and won 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 it may be His own, live under Him, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, and which the Holy Ghost has called by the Gospel, enlightened with His gifts, sanctified and kept in the true faith. Thus Luther has taught us. Each Christian confesses …

Human Will In Bondage And Freedom, A Study In Luther's Distinction Of Law And Gospel. (Part Ii.), F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" ( Gal. 5 :1 ). That is the sum and substance of St. Paul's letter to the Galatians. Christian liberty is Paul's one and only theme: the glorious liberty which has freed us from the tyrannical bondage under the Law, sin, death, the devil, and the wrath of God. This was also the heart and core of Luther's theology set forth in his Commentary on Galatians and especially in his treatise The Liberty of a Christian Man. The occasion for writing this tract is highly significant. The papal …