Theological DNA

I have often said, in another context, that if the Reformed Pauline scholars had been in the ascendancy rather than the Lutherans, the ‘new perspective’ would never have been necessary – since a positive view of Israel and the Law would have been part of the DNA of the discipline in a way that simply wasn’t the case.

–N. T. Wright

http://the12.squarespace.com/james-ka-smith/2012/3/27/kings-creeds-and-the-canon-musing-on-nt-wright.html

Bele and Lokai

“Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” was an episode of the classic Star Trek series. It was a heavy-handed political allegory of the civil rights movement, involving racial animosity between an alien who was white on the right side and black on left side versus an alien who was black on the right side and white on the left side.

Reading Lutherans and Dispensationalists reminds me of Bele and Lokai. Lutherans interpret Jn 6, Lk 22:19 (par 1 Cor 11:24), and Jn 3:5 literally, but interpret Ezk 40-48 and Rev 20 figuratively. Dispensational Baptists interpret Ezk 40-48 and Rev 20 literally, but interpret Jn 6, Lk 22:19, and Jn 3:5 figuratively. Amillennial Lutherans resort to premil hermeneutics when they interpret Jn 6, Lk 22:19, and Jn 3:5 while premillennial Baptists resort to amil hermeneutics when they interpret Jn 6, Lk 22:19, and Jn 3:5. Lutherans warn you that unless you take their prooftexts literally, you’re on the primrose path to liberalism while Dispensationalists warn you that unless you take their prooftexts literally, you’re the primrose path to liberalism. 

Martin Luther’s Understanding of Baptism

Since most of our readers are Reformed, and since the Lutheran concept of baptism has been brought up, I thought it would be helpful to share what Bernhard Lohse, a Lutheran Professor of Church History and Historical Theology, has written about Luther’s view of the sacraments in general and of baptism in particular:

Formation of a new, Reformation theology of baptism went hand in hand with Luther’s entire theological development, particularly during his first lectures on the Psalms and Romans. In dealing with the sacraments, concentration on questions such as judgment and gospel, righteousness and faith, or on the divine promise and human confidence, led to a new impulse and important consequences: the criterion under which Luther dealt with baptism and baptismal usage. In other words, the relation of baptism to life from the perspective of the acceptance of the divine judgment promised in baptism took center stage. Since Luther’s understanding of the nature of sin was more radical than the theology of late scholasticism, he could no longer share the view that baptism purges inherited sin, of which a mere “tinder” (fomes) remains, and against the seductions of which the baptized can successfully resist.