Revised Edition
CHRISTINE HELMER
STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
The Trinity and Martin Luther, Revised Edition
Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology
Copyright 2017 Christine Helmer
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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First edition published by Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein (1999).
Print ISBN 9781683590507
Digital ISBN 9781683590514
Lexham Editorial Team: Todd Hains, Abigail Stocker, Danielle Thevenaz, Joel Wilcox
Cover Design: Bryan Hintz
“You have set my feet in a broad place” (Psalm 31:8).
Select Bibliography of Recent Literature on the Trinity
Foreword to the Original Edition
Preface to the Original Edition
2. Luther’s Understanding of the Trinity in the Doctoral Disputation of Georg Major and Johannes Faber (Dec. 12, 1544)
3. Luther’s Understanding of the Trinity in the Hymn, “Now Rejoice, Dear Christians” (1523)
4. Luther’s Understanding of the Trinity in the Two Sermons on Romans 11:33–36 Preached on Trinity Sunday (May 27, 1537) and the First Sunday after Trinity (June 3, 1537)
My interest in the subject of Martin Luther’s theology of the Trinity was initially inspired by the “Trinitarian turn” in Protestant theological writing of the 1970s and 1980s. Christian theology at the time was still largely taking its cues from German theologians, who had taken up Karl Barth’s placement of the Trinity into the prolegomena of theological systems. While traditional systems of theology had situated the doctrine of God as significant for these introductory sections, Barth had changed the order. He understood the doctrine of the Trinity—the content of divine revelation—as the necessary ground for systematic theologies. The Trinity was very much on the minds of Protestant theologians after World War II.
Barth’s vision was a powerful one. It identified both the content of Christian theology and its method. Christian theology would be introduced by the speculative doctrine of the Trinity revealed to be differentiated already in eternity; methodologically, the Trinity functioned as the principle of coherence for systematic theology’s work of organizing doctrine. The Trinity fulfilled two crucial criteria for systematicity. The first was coherence. As Barth had learned from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), the immanent Trinity was the condition for economic revelation. The second was comprehensiveness, specifically at the level of the economic Trinity. A doctrine that functioned as the principle of both coherence and comprehensiveness could serve as content ...
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About The Trinity and Martin LutherMartin Luther was classically orthodox. Scholars often portray Luther as a heroic revolutionary, totally unlike his peers and forebears—as if he alone inaugurated modernity. But is this accurate? Is this even fair? At times this revolutionary model of Luther has come to some shocking conclusions, particularly concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. Some have called Luther modalist or tritheist—somehow theologically heterodox. In The Trinity and Martin Luther Christine Helmer uncovers Luther’s trinitarian theology. The Trinity is the central doctrine of the Christian faith. It’s not enough for dusty, ivory tower academics to know and understand it. Common people need the Trinity, too. Doctrine matters. Martin Luther knew this. But how did he communicate the doctrine of the Trinity to lay and learned listeners? And how does his trinitarian teaching relate to the medieval Christian theological and philosophical tradition? Helmer upends stereotypes of Luther’s doctrine of the Trinity. This definitive work has been updated with a new foreword and with fresh translations of Luther’s Latin and German texts. |
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