Reading Luther Challenge

October 31, 1517 is the 500^th anniversary of Luther posting the 95 Theses. His call for debate and his personality and the theological, social, and economic issues of the time were the perfect mix to institute a monumental, worldwide change. We still reel from and react to the changes that his posting initiated. Misconceptions abound about Luther and his teachings. Lutheran theologian Sarah Hinlicky Wilson lists a few of these in her article explaining the origin and purpose of the Luther Reading Challenge:

We also wanted to deal with the resilient misinformation that continues to cloud our favorite reformer from view. We have heard it all, so many times over. Luther the first modern man, champion of conscience. Luther the proto-Nazi and forefather of the Holocaust. Luther the heresiarch, divider of the church, singlehandedly wrecking the medieval synthesis; or, in diametrical opposition, Luther the repristinator of the lost purity of the apostolic ekklesia. Luther’s commendation of faith turned into the limitless greed of the prosperity gospel, his teaching on the Lord’s Supper erroneously nicknamed “consubstantiation,” his two-kingdoms doctrine condemned as flabby quietism or invoked to defend any number of mutually contradictory political agendas. (http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2015/03/luther-reading-challenge)

Gosh, what more could Luther be accused of? Well, he can probably be accused of a few more things. However, I join with others in thinking that it is best to deal with the facts not the impressions or caricatures or feelings or the interpretations of others. This is a spectacular opportunity to read Luther, in English translation, and learn what he said and did not say.

Have you signed up for the Reading Luther Challenge yet? https://www.lutherreadingchallenge.org If you do not have a computer and/or access to the Internet, but would like to engage these readings, please let me know. I received permission from program director to make copies of Luther’s writings that are posted on the Luther Reading Challenge and share them with congregational members. Pr. Zell