Wholly Citizens

God's Two Realms and Christian Engagement with the World

Joel Biermann

• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781506420356
• eBook ISBN: 9781506422251
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Wholly Citizens addresses the relation between the church and the world in light of the Reformation teaching of the two realms—especially as presented by Luther. Rather than exploring again the usual texts of Luther from the 1520's, this book begins with a careful reading of Luther's Commentary on Psalm 81 (1531), and then considers subsequent interpreters of Luther, both faithful and otherwise, and the dubious legacy they have left the church. The book argues that both the corporate church as well as individual believers are responsible for the world, and that each must speak directly about and to the world in meaningful ways. The final section of the book addresses the concrete situation facing believers in the early 21st century in light of faithful Reformation teaching about the two realms. Following this path leads to conclusions not entirely expected, including the forthright rejection of "a wall of separation" between church and state, and also a rebuke of the familiar clamor for the preservation of the rights of Christians and the church. Heedless of the status quo, Wholly Citizens offers an engaging and bracing picture of Christian life in today's world—a picture framed in theological truth.

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The Two Realms: Interpreters of Luther, Faithful and Otherwise

No one thinks in a vacuum and no one writes in a vacuum. Our upbringing, education, confession, experiences, relationships, and aspirations form an impossibly complex matrix of influences, assumptions, and instruments (both assets and liabilities), which shape and direct all that we think, believe, teach, and write. This is all patently true and not the least insightful, but it also means that there was a definite impetus behind this book beyond the simple expectations of life in the academy. One of the motivations was what I perceived to be a basic need for a text that would explicate Luther’s teaching on the two realms accurately, and then provide some concrete and unambiguous assertions about how it would look if this teaching were faithfully applied in the contemporary Western—or more specifically, American—context. Asked on countless occasions to recommend a “good book” on the two kingdoms, I often struggled to name one that did not come with a list of caveats.^[1] The other, and certainly related, precipitating concern was my perception—or more honestly, my assumption—that much of what had been written on the subject of the two realms was just plain wrong. The attitudes, ideas, and practices I encountered in seminary classroom discussions, church Bible studies, and pastoral conferences within my Lutheran orbit were staunchly held and unwaveringly consistent: the “two kingdoms doctrine” was essentially a Lutheran label for the rigorous and radical separation of church and state as generally articulated and practiced in American society. More than a benign oversimplification of Luther’s teaching, this pervasive belief is—I hope, now becoming clear— dangerously wrong and also detrimental to Christian discipleship, the mission of the church, and the world’s obligation to advance justice. Since such widely distributed ideas do not arise spontaneously, it seemed safe to conclude that the teaching behind the thinking must be deficient. In other words, the books and articles that had formed the thinking of the church’s pastors and people were to blame. My hope was to right the wrong—or at least, to nudge the discussion in a more faithful and more productive direction.

In an effort to find the source or sources of the errant understanding of the two realms, I began reading in earnest. It turned out that I was wrong. Well, not entirely. There is, to be sure, material that perpetuates the overly simplistic divide between the realms and that tends to diminish the value or merit of the temporal domain. But, to my pleasant surprise, I discovered that over the course of the last few generations, a notable number of theologians have faithfully preserved the core of Luther’s teaching and some have gone further still and offered carefully considered and appropriate recommendations for practicing the teaching in the modern world. While a solid theological and academic pedigree of two realms thinking is an unexpected boon, it also prompts an unexpected array of perplexing questions related to ecclesiastical education, transmission of doctrine, influences on theological thinking, and the forces that form opinion. How can there be such a yawning breach between the largely faithful and worthwhile written legacy devoted to the teaching of the two realms and the sadly defective and damaging ideas widely held by the supposed heirs of that legacy? Interesting and important as they are, such questions lie well outside the scope of the task at hand and are perhaps better left to students of sociology and pedagogy anyway. For now, it is enough to offer a quick sampling from the inheritance that is available.

This chapter is not an account of the history of the doctrine, or even a brief overview of the progression of two realms thinking since Luther. Much more modest, my goal is merely to highlight some of the more valuable resources from the last several decades and hopefully promote a renewed interest in a treasure that has been woefully neglected. I make no pretense of being exhaustive, and will no doubt commit my own sins of neglect and oversight. I believe, though, that there is great value in recognizing the depth of careful thinking that has been devoted to the topic of the two realms, and even a cursory reading can accomplish this. Before turning to that, however, fairness requires, at minimum, a brief account of some material that, from my perspective, is less than helpful and substantiates my earlier charge of a pervasive and malign misconstrual of Luther’s teaching.

Holding the Realms at Arm’s Length

Generations of Lutheran pastors in my own denomination, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, were taught the rudiments of their theological confession by Francis Pieper. The lectures that formed his text, Christian Dogmatics, were delivered in German in the second and third decades of the twentieth century, translated into English, and then, printed and reprinted until the present. The three volumes comprise more than 1600 pages, eight of which address issues relating to the two realms. Actually, it is interesting that the venerable professor of systematic theology did not devote a discreet chapter, section, or even subsection specifically to the question of the spiritual and the temporal realms. Instead, he distributes the discussion over two different places, one within an exposition of the means of grace, the other in a section on the church’s foundation and preservation. The heart of the argument in both sections seems to be that the government should never be used to accomplish the work of the church. Pieper sums up his thinking in one place by insisting, “we must be content with these means [of grace] and refrain from employing the powers of the State to build the Church.”^[2] Pieper’s point, in this case, aimed true to form at the Reformed, is correct and well taken. Yet, Pieper himself seems somewhat perturbed by the unfortunate willingness to use the state in support of the church by no one less than Luther himself. After lamenting that “the mingling of Church and State, sad to say, crept into the Lutheran Church, too,” Pieper raises the problem of Luther in a footnote: “Subject to historical investigation is the question whether Luther did not in specific cases transgress the correct principle taught by him. Such a thing happens also to eminent people.”^[3] Calling Luther’s use of state support “his accommodation to the prevailing confused conditions” is the extent of Pieper’s criticism, but it is clear that he is disappointed that he cannot cite Luther’s behavior in support of his own principled separation of church and state.

While it is certainly possible that “eminent people” will, from time to time, fall short of their own dictums and will stray from the path of their own teaching, accusing Luther of transgressing his teaching on the two realms, is dubious at best. Luther’s perceived infraction was hardly anomalous, isolated, or the fruit of momentary weakness. Rather than blaming Luther for inconsistency, it seems both more reasonable and more just to blame the interpreter for deriving and enforcing the wrong principle. Luther’s spirit of cooperation and even mutual support with regard to the princes of his time certainly violates the American principle of separation of church and state, but is actually quite in keeping with his own teaching. Pieper’s inability to accept and appreciate Luther’s actions in relation to the state evidences the great dogmatician’s wooden understanding of the divide between the realms. And Pieper’s abiding influence on contemporary Lutheran pastors and their flocks may help account for a similar lack of dynamism in the application of the teaching of the two realms in today’s Lutheran congregations.

Several generations later, another faithful theologian from the Missouri Synod, Kurt Marquart, reiterated the same ultimately dismissive attitude toward the temporal realm. In the midst of an otherwise insightful and compelling study of church and ministry, Marquart briefly addresses and recognizes the legitimate work of the left-hand realm. But, his concluding thoughts on the subject feature an unfortunate comment that, whether intentional or not, certainly diminishes the temporal realm: “All this [rulers or governments], however, is secondary, provisional, ancillary, penultimate. The whole ‘Left Hand’ Kingdom is but a vast scaffolding for God’s ultimate purpose: the eternal salvation of His church.”^[4] While it is quite true that the church is God’s chosen bride, it is certainly not true that the material world with its guardian, the state, is mere scaffolding for what actually counts, or that it will be excluded from a place in the eschatological consummation. Whatever Marquart may have believed or taught, unfortunately, the message here is that the temporal realm does not finally matter.

In 1998, Daniel Deutschlander, who taught at Martin Luther Coll...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Table Of Contents
• Introduction—Our World and How We See It
• The Legacy of Luther
• The Two Realms: Interpreters of Luther, Faithful and Otherwise
• Two Realms for Today: Suitable and Wholly Relevant
• Applying the Teaching to the Church and Her Pastors
• Applying the Teaching to the Individual Christian Believer
• An Essay Grounded in the Two Realms: “Story Time in America”
• Suggested Further Reading
• Index