Lutheran Piety

1
Lutheran Piety

• Christian Mysticism
• School of Prayer
• Presented by David Schütz

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Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott

• Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ein gute Wehr und
  Waffen Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not, Die uns
  jetzt hat betroffen. Der alt' böse Feind, Mit
  Ernst er's jetzt meint, Groß' Macht und viel List
  Sein' grausam' Rüstung ist, Auf Erd' ist nicht
  seingleichen.
• A mighty fortress is our God, A trusty shield and
  weapon, Our faithful helper in all need, Our
  stay, whateer may happen, The old evil foe Now
  means deadly woe Deep guile and great might Are
  his dread arms fight On earth is not his equal.

3
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott

• Mit unsrer Macht ist nichts getan, Wir sind gar
  bald verloren Es steit't für uns der rechte
  Mann, Den Gott hat selbst erkoren. Fragst du, wer
  der ist? Er heißt Jesu Christ, Der Herr Zebaoth,
  Und ist kein andrer Gott, Das Feld muß er
  behalten.
• With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were
  our fall effected But for us fights the
  righteous Man, Whom God himself elected. Ask ye
  Who is this? Christ Jesus it is, Of Sabaoth Lord,
  And theres none other God He holds the field
  for ever.

4
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott

• Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär' Und wollt' uns
  gar verschlingen, So fürchten wir uns nicht so
  sehr, Es soll uns doch gelingen. Der Fürst dieser
  Welt, Wie sau'r er sich stellt, Tut er uns doch
  nicht, Das macht, er ist gericht't, Ein Wörtlein
  kann ihn fällen.
• Though devils all the world should fill, All
  eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no
  ill, They shall not overpower us. This worlds
  prince may still Scowl fierce as he will, He can
  harm us none Hes judged, for eer undone One
  little word can fell him.

5
Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott

• Das Wort sie sollen laßen stahn Und kein'n Dank
  dazu haben Er ist bei uns wohl auf dem Plan Mit
  seinem Geist und Gaben. Nehmen sie den Leib, Gut,
  Ehr', Kind und Weib Laß fahren dahin, Sie
  haben's kein'n Gewinn, Das Reich muß uns doch
  bleiben.
• The Word shall stand despite all foes-No thanks
  they for it merit, For God is with us, and
  bestows His gifts and Holy Spirit. And take they
  our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife Though
  these all be gone, Yet have our foes not won The
  kingdom ours remaineth.

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Martin Luther

• Martin Luther was born in 1483, and died in 1546.
  
• An Augustinian Monk (1505), ordained priest
  (1507)
• Professor of Old Testament at the new Wittenberg
  University (1508)
• Doctor of Theology (1512)
• In 1517 he called for a debate on the practice of
  the sale of indulgences (The 95 Theses), after
  which his questioning of some of the practices
  and teachings of the Church escalated

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Martin Luther

• Excommunicated by Pope Leo X in June 1520 in the
  bull Exsurge Domine, Luther responded with The
  Babylonian Captivity of the Church in October
  1520.
• Appeared before the Emperor Charles V at the Diet
  of Worms in 1521 at which he was condemned.
• 1525 On the Bondage of the Will in answer to
  Erasmus 1524 On the Freedom of the Will

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Martin Luther

• After the 1525 Peasants War he parted company
  with the more radical elements of the reformation
  movement
• Married in 1525 to ex-nun Katherine Von Bora and
  living in the old monastery in Wittenberg, (now
  vacant!) had six children
• After 1525 Luther gave himself to the task of
  overseeing the new evangelical churches (with
  aid from his close friends Melanchthon and
  Bugenhagen)

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Martin Luther

• 1522 German New Testament
• 1526 Deutsche Messe
• 1527 Marburg Colloquy with Zwingli
• 1528 Great Confession on the Lords Supper
• 1529 Small Large Catechisms
• 1530 Augsburg Confession
• 1534 Complete German Bible
• Many many hymns, books, commentaries, sermons,
  tracts (Weimar edition 127 volumes)
• Died while travelling in 1546

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Luthers Spiritual Heritage

• Luther was an Augustinian, never sympathetic to
  Aristotelian scholasticism (eg. Thomas Aquinas)
• Very positive reaction to St Bernard of Clairvaux
• In 1508 Luther bought an edition of the sermons
  of the mystical Dominican theologian Johannes
  Taulers (which he thoroughly annotated in the
  margins)
• Luthers first published book in 1516 was Eyn
  geystlich edles Buchleynn

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Theologia Germanica

• Eyn geystlich edles Buchleynn (1516) is a German
  edition and translation of a handwritten
  manuscript that came into Luthers possession
• An anonymous work, which Luther believed was
  written by the illumined Doctor Tauler of the
  Preaching Order.
• 1518 (following 95 Theses) Luther discovered a
  more complete manuscript of the same work in the
  library of the Erfurt Carthusian monastery.
• Published under the title Theologia Germanica
  German Theology.

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From the Theologia Germanica

• Even if God would take to himself all humans in
  the world and become humanised in them and they
  would become divinised in him and this did not
  happen in me, my fall and my apostasy would never
  be amended. No, it must also occur in me. Ch. 3
• But if our inner being would make a leap into
  the Perfect, one would find and taste that the
  Perfect is limitlessly, endlessly, insuperably
  nobler and better than all imperfect and
  incomplete things. That inner being of ours would
  also find the Eternal above the transitory and
  the wellspring and origin underneath everything
  that flows from it and ever will flow from it.
  Ch. 6

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Luther the Mystic?

• Louis Bouyer (Spirit and Forms of Protestantism,
  1956)
• It is absolutely certain, as a matter of
  history, that the intuition of Luthertakes us
  back directly to the Rhenish school of mysticism
  originated by Eckhart and Tauler.
• If Luther had no hesitation in acknowledging his
  debt to the Theologia Germanicaif he went so far
  as to translate it into German to popularise it,
  that shows that he recognised it as one of the
  sources of his conception. The God whose very
  light is a superessential darkness is the Deus
  revelatus, but revelatus as absconditus.

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Luther the Mystic?

• Bengt R. Hoffman Theology of the Heart The Role
  of Mysticism in the Theology of Martin Luther
  (1986, 1998) regarded as a theologian of
  personal mysticism
• Infinity Mysticism (eg. Eckhardt) an
  experience of the superhuman beyond the
  vicissitudes of life an immersion in nature and
  exercise according to technical patterns a
  dissolution of the person into the impersonal
  Beyond
• Personality Mysticism (eg. Tauler) an
  experience of God in the midst of lifes problems
  an experience of the human I meeting the
  divine Thou trust and forgiveness in this
  life a relationship to a personal God
• (Nb. The Finnish School Theosis in Luthers
  theology)

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Key themes in Luthers Spirituality

• The Solas Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus
  Christus, Sola Scriptura
• Anthropology Simul justus et peccator
• Dialectic Law/Gospel, Deus Absconditus/Deus
  Revelatus
• Theologia Crucis
• The Incarnation focused on the crib and cross
  finitum capax infinitum
• Christocentricism (Was Christum treibet, ist
  kein andrer Gott)
• Word and Sacrament
• Sin, Death the Devil

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Vom Himmel hoch

• 1. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, Ich bring'
  euch gute neue Mähr, Der guten Mähr bring ich so
  viel, Davon ich sing'n und sagen will.
• 1. "From heaven above to earth I come To bear
  good news to every home Glad tidings of great
  joy I bring, Whereof I now will say and sing

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Vom Himmel hoch

• 2. Euch ist ein Kindlein heut' gebor'n Von einer
  Jungfrau auserkor'n, Ein Kindelein so zart und
  fein, Das soll eu'r Freund und Wonne sein.
• 3. Es ist der Herr Christ unser Gott, Der will
  euch führ'n aus aller Noth, Er will eu'r Heiland
  selber sein, Von allen Sünden machen rein.
• 2. "To you this night is born a child Of Mary,
  chosen virgin mild This little child, of lowly
  birth, Shall be the joy of all the earth.
• 3. "This is the Christ, our God and Lord, Who in
  all need shall aid afford He will Himself your
  Savior be From all your sins to set you free.

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Vom Himmel hoch

• 4. Er bringt euch alle Seligkeit, Die Gott der
  Vater hat bereit't, Daß ihr mit uns im
  Himmelreich Sollt leben nun und ewiglich.
• 5. So merket nun das Zeichen recht, Die Krippen,
  Windelein so schlecht Da findet ihr das Kind
  gelegt, Das alle Welt erhält und trägt.
• 4. "He will on you the gifts bestow Prepared by
  God for all below, That in His kingdom, bright
  and fair, You may with us His glory share.
• 5. "These are the tokens ye shall mark The
  swaddling-clothes and manger dark There ye shall
  find the Infant laid By whom the heavens and
  earth were made."

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Vom Himmel hoch

• 6. Deß laßt uns Alle fröhlich sein Und mit den
  Hirten geh'n hinein, Zu seh'n was Gott uns hat
  beschert, Mit seinem lieben Sohn verehrt.
• 13. Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein, Mach dir ein
  rein sanft Bettelein, Zu ruhen in mein's Herzens
  Schrein, Daß ich nimmer vergesse dein.
• 6. Now let us all with gladsome cheer Go with the
  shepherds and draw near To see the precious gift
  of God, Who hath His own dear Son bestowed.
• 13. Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child, Make Thee a
  bed, soft, undefiled, Within my heart, that it
  may beA quiet chamber kept for Thee.

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Vom Himmel hoch

• 14. Davon ich allzeit fröhlich sei, Zu springen,
  singen immer frei Das rechte Susannine schon, Mit
  Herzen Lust den süßen Ton.
• 15. Lob, Ehr sei Gott im höchsten Thron, Der uns
  schenkt seinen ein'gen Sohn, Des freuen sich der
  Engel Schaar Und singen uns solch's neues Jahr.
• 14. My heart for very joy doth leap, My lips no
  more can silence keep I, too, must sing with
  joyful tongue That sweetest ancient cradle-song
• 15. Glory to God in highest heaven, Who unto us
  His Son hath given! While angels sing with pious
  mirth A glad new year to all the earth.

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Law and Gospel

• In the scriptures, two things are to be
  distinguishedthe commands and the promises.
• The righteousness of the Law is earthly, it is
  concerned with earthly works The heavenly
  passive righteousness does not spring from our
  own efforts We do not produce it we receive it
  by faith.
• A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all,
  subject to none a Christian is a perfectly
  dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

22
Grace and Faith

• If you believe, you already have God if you do
  not believe, you do not have him. To have faith
  is to have God.
• If you desire to fulfil the law and overcome
  concupiscence, believe in Jesus Christ, in whom
  you are offered grace, justice, peace and
  liberty. By faith, you possess all these without
  it, you are a stranger to them all.
• Grace gives, faith receives. Thus, since all
  salvation is by grace, all salvation is by faith.

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Faith and Works

• In the Law many works are enjoined, and all
  external, but in the gospel there is only one, an
  internal work, and that is faith.
• It will now be seen how it is impossible to
  separate works from faith, as impossible as it is
  to separate burning and shining from fire

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Christ

• Christ is the object of faith, nay rather, not
  the object, but if it may be said, the subject,
  the One present and active in faith itself.
• The whole of Scripture deals with Christ, from
  beginning to end
• One should think of no other God than Christ. The
  god who does not speak through Christ is no God
  at all.

25
Sinner and Saint

• The righteousness of God is not acquired by acts
  frequently repeated, as Aristotle taught, but is
  imparted by faith.
• He is at one and the same time always in sin, in
  justification, in righteousness. Always a sinner,
  always penitent, always right with God.

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God hidden and revealed

• No faith in, no knowledge of, and no
  understanding of God, in so far as he is not
  revealed, are possiblethe unrevealed God defies
  human investigation
• Nevertheless the hidden God is none the less the
  revealed God, so that we may know him and
  apprehend him as our God.
• Faith alone is able, under trial, to hear the
  deep secret Yes of God beneath and above his
  No.

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The Theology of the Cross

• A theologian of glory calls evil good and good
  evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing
  what it actually is.
• God wished to be recognized in suffering, it is
  not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no
  good, to recognize God in his glory majesty,
  unless he recognizes him in the humility shame
  of the cross.
• He who does not know Christ does not know God
  hidden in suffering God can be found only in
  suffering and the cross.

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Gott sei gelobet

• Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet, Der uns selber
  hat gespeiset. Mit seinem Fleische und mit seinem
  Blute, Das gib uns, Herr Gott, zugute!
  Kyrieleison! Herr, durch deinen heiligen
  Leichnam, Der von deiner Mutter Maria kam, Und
  das heilige Blut Hilf uns, Herr, aus aller Not!
  Kyrieleison!

O Lord, we praise thee, bless thee and adore
thee, In thanksgiving bow before thee. Thou with
thy body and thy blood didst nourish our weak
souls that they may flourish. O Lord, have mercy.
By thy body, pure as none other, born of Mary,
thy virgin mother, by thy blood, for us shed,
help us in the hour of need. O Lord, have mercy.
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The Small Catechism

• The Ten Commandments
• The Apostles Creed
• The Lords Prayer
• The Sacrament of Baptism
• Confession and Absolution
• The Sacrament of the Altar
• The Table of Duties

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The Small Catechism

• I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
  heaven and earth.
• What does this mean?
• I believe that God has made me and all creatures
  that He has given me my body and soul, eyes,
  ears, and all my members, my reason and all my
  senses, and still takes care of them. He also
  gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink,
  house and home, wife and children, land, animals,
  and all I have. He richly and daily provides me
  with all that I need to support this body and
  life. He defends me against all danger and guards
  and protects me from all evil. All this He does
  only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy,
  without any merit or worthiness in me. For all
  this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and
  obey Him. This is most certainly true.

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The Small Catechism

• And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, etc.
  From thence He will come to judge the living and
  the dead.
• What does this mean?
• I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten
  of the Father from eternity, and also true man,
  born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has
  redeemed me, a lost and condemned person,
  purchased and won me 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 I may
  be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and
  serve Him in everlasting righteousness,
  innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen
  from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
  This is most certainly true.

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The Small Catechism

• I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian
  church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness
  of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the
  life everlasting. Amen.
• What does this mean?
• I believe that I cannot by my own reason or
  strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or
  come to Him but the Holy Spirit has called me by
  the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts,
  sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the
  same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and
  sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth,
  and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true
  faith. In this Christian church He daily and
  richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all
  believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and
  all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all
  believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

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A Simple Way to Pray

• The Catechism was the basis for one of Luthers
  best known works on prayer A Simple Way to Pray
  (1535)
• Peter Beskendorf, a Wittenberg barber, though a
  devout Christian, had killed his son-in-law in a
  drunken rage. By Luthers intercession he was
  exiled rather than executed.
• Peter the Barber asked Luther for help in how to
  pray.
• Luther responded I will tell you as best I can
  what I do personally when I pray. May our dear
  Lord grant to you and to everybody to do it
  better than I! Amen.

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A Simple Way to Pray

• Some significant and practical pastoral advice
• when I feel that I have become cool and joyless
  in prayer
• my roomor where a congregation is assembled
• word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed,
  some words of Christ or of Paul. or some psalms
• just as a child might do.
• the first business of the morning and the last
  at night
• Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour
  first I must attend to this or that. nothing
  comes of prayer for that day.
• St. Jerome He who works faithfully prays
  twice. Yet we must be careful not to break the
  habit of true prayer and imagine other works to
  be necessary which, after all, are nothing of the
  kind.

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A Simple Way to Pray

• Luther then provides a series of model
  meditations on the Our Father, the Ten
  Commandments and the Creedliterally a prayed
  catechism.
• You should also know that I do not want you to
  recite all these words in your prayer. Rather do
  I want your heart to be stirred and guided
  concerning the thoughts which ought to be
  comprehended in the Lords Prayer. These thoughts
  may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed
  and inclined toward prayer, in many different
  ways and with more words or fewer. If an
  abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought
  to disregard the other petitions, make room for
  such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no
  circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit
  himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon
  is far better than a thousand of our prayers.

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A Simple Way to Pray

• Priests Like the priest who prayed, Deus in
  adjutorium meum intende. Farmhand, did you
  unhitch the horses? Domine ad adjuvandum me
  festina. Maid, go out and milk the cow. Gloria
  patri et filio et spiritui sancto. Hurry up, boy,
  I wish the ague would take you!
• Barbers So, a good and attentive barber keeps
  his thoughts. attention, and eyes on the razor
  and hair and does not forget how far he has
  gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants
  to engage in too much conversation or let his
  mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely
  to cut his customers mouth, nose, or even his
  throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it
  requires the full attention of all ones senses
  and members.How much more does prayer call for
  con-centration singleness of heart if it is to
  be a good prayer!

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Oratio Meditatio Tentatio

• 1539 In the preface to the first edition of
  Luthers works, Luther points out a correct way
  of studying theology with three steps Oratio,
  Meditatio, and Tentatio.
• a form of Lectio Divina, familiar to Luther
  from his monastic days, also fitted his sola
  scriptura spirituality
• Everything centres around the practice of
  meditation, for prayer prepares for it and its
  results are confirmed in the experience of
  conflict. For Luther, meditation is the key to
  the study of theology. No one can become a true
  theologian unless he learns theology through it
  ie. through meditation." (John Kleinig)

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Oratio Meditatio Tentatio

• Oratio
• Prayer, but prayer focused on the Scriptures,
  a book which turns the wisdom of all other books
  into foolishness
• Prayer is the necessary preparation and method
  for reading the scriptures Teach me, Lord,
  instruct me, lead me, show me the prayer of
  an open heart
• Reason and understanding are useless and
  presumptuous humility earnestness, with the
  gift of the Holy Spirit, are necessary for
  enlightenment

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Oratio Meditatio Tentatio

• Meditatio
• Note the emphasis on meditating not only in your
  heart, but also externally, ie. reading the text
  aloud (or soto voce)
• Luther was a Hebrew scholar and knew that the
  word used in Psalm 119 for meditate carried the
  inherent notion of speaking or conversing aloud
  with someone if that someone was oneself it
  meant to ponder
• Thus one can hear the spoken Word, even when
  alone
• For God will not give you his Spirit without the
  external Word. This emphasis had grown in
  reaction to the radical reformers who emphasised
  interior revelation
• The necessity of repeated reading, hearing and
  speaking of the wordonce or twice is not
  sufficient

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Oratio Meditatio Tentatio

• Tentatio
• The late-Luther had by no means abandoned the
  emphasis of the early-Luther and the German
  mystics on the sapientia experimentalis
• For Luther the sapientia theologica could not be
  attained through oratio and meditatio without
  going on to the touchstone of tentatio
  (Anfechtung/trial/suffering)
• Only this experience was capable of teaching
  how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how
  mighty, how comforting Gods Word is, wisdom
  beyond all wisdom.
• Here too we can see the constant presence and
  life-long emphasis in Luthers spirituality of
  the Theology of the Cross and of the God who
  reveals himself in Hiddenness