Liberating Luther

Until his untimely death, Vitor Westhelle's incisive scholarship shaped a generation. As a continuation of that legacy, presented here for the first time in English is a collection of Westhelle's Portuguese-language essays. In this collection, he addresses the most important issues of our day, including the cross and death, the ecological crisis, the ecumenical movement, the church's misuse of power, Luther's law-gospel dialectic, and the role of European theology in the conquest of the Americas.

With the approach of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s inauguration of the Protestant Reformation and the burgeoning dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans opened under Pope Francis, this new edition of Walter Altmann’s Luther and Liberation is timely and relevant. Luther and Liberation recovers the liberating and revolutionary impact of Luther’s theology, read afresh from the perspective of the Latin American context. Altmann provides a much-needed reassessment of Luther’s significance today through a direct engagement of Luther’s historical situation with an eye keenly situated on the deeply contextual situation of the contemporary reader, giving a localized reading from the author’s own experience in Latin America. The work examines with fresh vigor Luther’s central theological commitments, such as his doctrine of God, Christology, justification, hermeneutics, and ecclesiology, and his forays into economics, politics, education, violence, and war. This new edition greatly expands the original text with fresh scholarship and updated sources, footnotes, and bibliography, and contains several additional new chapters on Luther’s doctrine of God, theology of the sacraments, his controversial perspective on the Jews, and a new comparative account with the Latin American liberation theology tradition.

The Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation is a comprehensive global study of the life and work of Martin Luther and the movements that followed him—in history and through today. Organized by a stellar advisory board of Luther and Reformation scholars, the encyclopedia features nearly five hundred entries that examine Luther’s life and impact worldwide. The two-volume set provides overviews of basics such as the 95 Theses as well as more complex topics such as reformational distinctions. Entries explore Luther’s contributions to theology, sacraments, his influence on the church and contemporaries, his character, and more. The work also discusses Luther’s controversies and topics such as gender, sexuality, and race. Publishing at the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, this is an essential reference work for understanding the Reformation and its legacy today.

This brief introduction to Luther's theology connects Luther with the evangelical tradition. Paul Hinlicky, one of today's leading Lutheran theologians, explores six key areas of doctrine for which Luther is regarded as an authority, correcting common misconceptions of his thought in light of the whole of his theology. This work regrounds evangelical mission in a new evangelism and catechesis on the basis of Luther's doctrine of the atonement as "joyful exchange." In addition to its classroom utility, it will be of interest to evangelical pastors and church leaders.

Spanning the continents, three internationally respected theologians demonstrate how the thought and legacy of Martin Luther can serve in an ecumenical and interfaith context as a resource for a radical critique of global economics and culture. Lutheran Christianity originated in its own era of economic and cultural crisis. One of the great misinterpretations of Martin Luther has considered his heritage as fundamentally reactionary, seeking to preserve the political status quo. Instead, set free by the biblical message of liberation, this book wields Luther's theology to engage the reality of poverty, hunger, oppression, and ecological degradation caused by an imperial capitalism as the most urgent theological issue in the contemporary world. The volume demonstrates the liberating possibilities of theology done out of a biblical and Lutheran perspective for the economic and cultural crises facing the church in the present century. Co-published with Fortress Press.

The Luther@500 anniversary may be behind us, but Luther stands ahead of us in many ways. The essays in this volume by an international group of scholars begin with a contextual discussion of Luther's definitive contribution to the Wittenberg Reformation and its significance for us today. New light is shed on old issues across a range of topics. But these essays do not stay in the past. Many also engage critically with contemporary issues in Luther interpretation and a few boldly trace the trajectory of Luther's reformational theology into the future.

Most Luther scholars have focused largely on the polemical side of the Reformer, with occasional allusion to his Devotional Writings in volumes 42 and 43 of the American editions. The aim of this book is to unfold the pastoral, not the polemical, side of the reformer, drawing on the spiritual insights he offers to people of high and low estate. These writings are devotional and catechetical in shape and intent, yet not devoid of rich theological substance, the fruit of his rigorous reflections. They are the exercises of Luther's basic calling as a theologian-pastor, and are the concrete illustrations of the interface of theology and piety, the former being the abiding presupposition and logical cause of the latter. Through them, readers are informed not only of the Reformation theology of justification, but also introduced to a distinct expression of the Christian faith in which Christ and his cross occupy the centre stage. What is noticeable is the one single overarching theme--God's ways with people--that the Reformer, as a spiritual adviser, sought to relate to the events of his days such as evils, severe afflictions, the prevalent lay abuse of the Eucharist. He counseled how to meditate aright on Christ's passion, prepare to face the terror of death, advise the sick, rightly approach the sacrament of the altar, why and how to pray aright, what benefits could be gained from the Lord's Prayer, and how to live out a life of discipleship under the cross. Ngien's work reveals Luther as a true theologian, i.e., theologian of the cross at work in the pastoral context.