BEST BOOK: Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation by Oswald Bayer.
“This way to differentiate between Christ as donum, as gift, and Christ as exemplum is necessary to avoid the moralizing that is currently widely practiced, which can be so easily linked with a teaching that advocates “Christ alone” (solus Christus). The danger of such moralizing is much greater in the present because of the influence of Kant’s thesis that religion develops out of morality, than it was at the time of Luther, in which the dominant view was an Aristotelian-ethical understanding of reality, which was transferred in the teaching about sin and grace.” – pg. 64
“Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer; No matter how coming to faith, or being in faith, is experienced, whether subjectively, biographically, psychologically-faith is the work of God and not of human being. As whatever is involved in salvation, our will is bound-which is good for us!” – pg. 240
“If the Holy Spirit calls only “through the gospel,” but the gospel is gospel only as it is distinguished from the law, then the distinction between law and gospel is decisive with respect to the teaching about the Holy Spirit, about pneumatology, as well. Thus the work of the Spirit is first of all, to sharpen the law and to bring about God’s judgment against sin; only then does the Spirit work through the second and final word of God, the gospel, in that he forgives sin and creates faith.” – pg. 247
RUNNER UP: The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther by Hans J. Iwand
“Then this law , this cycle “I” and work and conscience would indeed be broken and I could confront the works that wait for me, knowing that God’s judgment supports me, with the confidence of a master who commands his slave. Then I would act with the greatest freedom and confidence, knowing that no work that I do can decide my fate, my salvation, or my righteousness before God. That is precisely the heavenly gift that Luther finds in the New Righteousness; the freedom of the children of God who do work simply that it may be done, but who do not need to do any work at all in order to know that they live by God’s grace.” – pg. 67
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2 responses to “The Radical Gospel’s BEST BOOKS OF 2008”
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Matt, brilliant quote there from Bayer…his distinction between donum/exemplum is such a helpful and memorable way to sum up the current crisis in the pulpits of the world…I will keep that in my pocket until the next time I preach. Good to see you here on m’bird as well.
Dearest Dr. Dylan,
Both books are outstanding! In fact the Bayer work was a bit of a surprise to me as I judged the book by the title. After reading, I believe this is a must have for any serious theologian and may be Bayer’s best translated work yet. As it turns out some of my respected “scholar friends” have owned the German copy for years. So the fact that it has now been translated into English is a huge contribution to the “American University” 🙂