In this course we will discuss the history of some ideas that have been hugely influential in the modern west and that were taken out to the rest of the world. The discussion centers on an extraordinary and historically important figure, a sixteenth century German man named Martin Luther. Luther is recognized today as the originator of many of the most significant ideas that continue to affect and shape who we as modern people are and how we see the world and ourselves for better and for worse. In the first section, we will explore why Luther thought the Bible was the most important volume for everyone to have and read. Included here will be a careful consideration of Luther's anti-Judaism, which contributed to western antisemitism and some of the greatest horrors of the twentieth century. In the second section, we will talk about the idea of freedom and how Luther's understanding of freedom in Christ affected the way modern thinkers understood what it means to be human in community. Important in this section is the consequential contradiction between freedom and slavery in western thought and their co-existence in western societies. The third section will be all about the many complicated relations between religion and politics. NOTE: Students wishing to sign up for free access to all instructional course content should click on the "Sign-In" button in the upper right hand corner. Those who wish to take the course and complete a certificate that requires payment, please click the Enroll button on the left side of this page.
Christ and Freedom
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Do curso por Northwestern University
Luther and the West
62 classificações
Conheça os instrutores
Christine HelmerArthur E. Andersen Teaching and Research Professor, Professor of Religious Studies and German
Department of Religious Studies
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In this lecture,
I want to explore how Luther's two core beliefs, one, that the inner self must
be liberated from subservience to the flesh in order to obey the spirit.
And two, that Christ alone is the one who forgives
come together to form a powerful understanding of human freedom.
We will look more deeply at how Luther understands God's gift of Christ,
which sets the sinner free from sin and death and enables him or
her to find new life in community.
Only Christ can set the sinner free, Luther holds.
Christ frees the sinner from sin and its consequences, hell and death.
Forgiveness is Christ's work.
Through his death on the cross and by the power of his resurrection
Christ frees the sinner from captivity to the flesh and
gives the sinner the new possibility of living life according to the spirit.
With this inner freedom, says Luther, the person is freed from false notions about
God, such as the idea that God is forever angry.
Furthermore, Christ liberates Christians from whatever constricts and
obstructs them in the external world, whether the judgement and
demands of others, or their own intrusive self regard.
Christ sets people free in order that they may be free in relationship to Him.
Here we arrive at the mystery of Luther's conception of human freedom.
How can it be that a person is free from anything that would hold him or
her captive by being situated in relationship with Christ?
Doesn't this merely substitute one kind of bondage for another?
This is precisely the theological point that Luther wants to make
in his treaties on christian freedom.
True freedom, Luther says, is to be found only in Christ.
It is the new relationship with Christ that frees the self from all forces, sin,
and guilt, as well as outer judgments that would coerce it.
In modern language, Luther offers a relational concept of freedom.
But is Luther naively confusing here inner freedom with how a person lives within
the institutions of society and culture?
In the first part of his treatise on Christian freedom, Luther explains how
Christ frees the sinner from bondage to sin and death by telling a story
about the relationship between Christ and a figure Luther calls Christ's bride.
He uses the language of marriage to make his point.
Christ in whom there is both the divine and a human nature according to Christian
theology, exchanges the light, salvation and righteousness of His own person.
For the sin and death that is the nature of human life, and by this exchange,
the sinner is freed from everything that would keep him or
her soul dead and in bondage.
Sealed by the marriage ring of faith, a new life opens for
the bride, with all the joy and beauty Christ has given.
Christ does not offer the bride a new form of subservience, but a new life and
freedom with him.
In the second part of the treatise Luther develops a further question about freedom.
What does a Christian's freedom in Christ mean for his or
her relations with other people?
Luther says that Christ's freeing gift of himself endows the Christian
with the capacity to resist the judgement and impositions of both self and others.
And because Christ gives His bride all the life affirming attributes He, Himself,
possesses.
The self is free to share these attributes with others.
The new relationship of Freedom in Christ
orients the Christian toward relationships of service to others.
The Christian life according to Luther is characterized by regard for the well being
of the neighbor regard for the other becomes more important than self love.
In a powerful argument,
Luther connects the Christians freedom in relationship with Christ
to the Christians loving actions in the world in relation to others.
This would have enormous applications for the political and
social programs of the modern world.
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