Promising Faith for a Ruptured Age

An English-Speaking Appreciation of Oswald Bayer

John T. Pless, Roland Ziegler, John T. Pless, Roland Ziegler

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781532674921, 9781532674938
• eBook ISBN: 9781532674945
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Combining his deep knowledge of Luther with a passion to speak the promising word of the gospel with clarity and integrity in our age, Oswald Bayer has emerged as a leading Lutheran theologian. The chapters in this Festschrift demonstrate the wide scope of Bayer's interest: Martin Luther, Johann Georg Hamann, the doctrine of justification, ethics, hermeneutics, theological method, sacraments, and the theology of lament. These essays, written by scholars from North America and Australia who have been influenced by Bayer's pioneering work, demonstrate the resources that his work has for not only Reformation studies and systematic theology but also for preaching, liturgical theology, pastoral care, and apologetics. For those who are not yet acquainted with the contributions of this Tubingen theologian, Promising Faith for a Ruptured Age: An English-Speaking Appreciation of Oswald Bayer will serve as a guide to and commentary on Bayer's multifaceted approach to theology. Those familiar with Bayer's work as a systematic theologian and Luther scholar will discover new applications of fundamental themes for in interdisciplinary research, ecumenical conversation, and church life.

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The Psalm from which We Never Graduate

Luther’s Exposition of Psalm 51 1532/38

Naomichi Masaki

Introduction

“The Psalm from which We Never Graduate” is a paraphrase of Dr. Luther’s own words in his Lectures on Psalm 51.330 I take these words to mean Luther’s way of teaching his students that we Christians never graduate from Jesus! Along with his Great Lectures on Galatians, this short exposition on Psalm 51 remains one of my dearest treasures. It is eye opening every time I read it. It is comforting and encouraging. It always brings me back to the chief doctrine of the Christian faith and invites me to the utmost certain place where our Lord Jesus extends his pastoral care.

I was first introduced to this important writing when I attended my Doktorvater Professor Norman Nagel’s graduate seminar on Luther Studies. Following his lead, as soon as I started to teach at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne in 2001, I assigned the Lectures on Psalm 51 regularly in the required courses in systematic theology. The response from my students has been overwhelming. They all fell in love with it. Professor Oswald Bayer had already articulated from these lectures that for Luther the proprium of the subject of all theology was sinning man and justifying Jesus.331 It was a profound joy to know that I shared with him the same conviction of Luther’s theological vitality.

Known as one of the seven penitential psalms since the sixth century,332 Psalm 51 had occupied a vital part of the liturgical life of the church. At the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, Luther had learned the entire Psalter by heart, including this Psalm 51, as he recited fifty Psalms a day during seven prayer offices from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. every three hours. We too recite part of this Psalm habitually in our communion services (“create in me a clean heart, O God”) and prayer offices (“O Lord, open my lips,” “and my mouth will declare your praise”).333

Luther lectured on this Psalm in June to August of 1532.334 He gave eleven lectures in all. Having been convinced that the Holy Spirit was the author of this Psalm, as of the entire Scripture, Luther’s posture toward Psalm 51 remained that of a humble student who was eager to receive “whatever he [the Holy Spirit] gives.”335 It is rather astonishing to read such a modest comment, when we acknowledge that he was thoroughly familiar with this Psalm. Rather than stating that he had mastered it, he expressed his honesty that there was still much to learn from it. He had a good reason for saying this, of course.

The aim of this essay is unpretentious. Although scholarly investigations about these lectures are both interesting and important, we would rather get into the content. We want to hear Luther speak, just as his students at the University of Wittenberg sat at the feet of Dr. Luther. In doing so, I would like to reflect how Luther’s exposition of Psalm 51 resembles one of the confessional documents that came from his own pen, the Smalcald Articles, particularly in its Part III. We know that Melanchthon followed the outline of the book of Romans when ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Contributors
• The Bondage of the Will and Denials of the Existence of God
• Johann Georg Hamann, Biblische Betrachtungen
• Through the Cross-Shattered Lens
• Practicing the Promises
• Sanctification as Divine Order or Divine Gift?
• The Psalm from which We Never Graduate
• The Holy Spirit in Luther’s Catechisms
• “With Those Who Weep”
• The Eschatology of Forgiveness
• On Swearing and Certainty
• Sacraments in the Catechism
• Bayer’s Twenty-First-Century Disputation Concerning Lament
• Hearing and Seeing (Eye & Ear)
• Keep a Low Profile!
• Oswald Bayer and Postmodernism
• The Significance of Oratio, Meditatio, and Tentatio for Abraham Calov’s Understanding of Theology
• Oswald Bayer Bibliography