Dr. Eric W. Gritsch

Brach Jennings, Intern Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Astoria, OR
Master of Divinity Candidate, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA

Lutheran Identity Today: Centered in the Crucified Christ

A question I have been asking since coming to Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in the religiously diverse area of Berkeley, California is the following: what does it mean to be Lutheran today amid so many other voices talking about life’s ultimate meaning? As I begin my second month of Internship at First Lutheran Church in Astoria, Oregon, and the final year of my Master of Divinity studies, I am still asking this question, and maybe even to a greater degree than when I was completing seminary coursework in Berkeley. I have now framed my initial question as a means of articulating theological identity. What does it mean to be distinctively Lutheran? Why does Lutheran identity matter today when there are other ways of making meaning in our world? I will explore these questions in the present essay through the lens of the theology of the cross, which lies at the core of Luther’s theological thought.

I believe a bold and distinct Lutheran voice matters for us today, because Lutheranism offers a particular way of seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which can speak to life’s greatest challenges and joys. This way of seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ occurs through what Martin Luther termed the theology of the cross. The theology of the cross posits that the only way Christians can truly know God is through the crucified Christ. Christ on the cross reveals God’s profound love for humankind and creation in the last place sinful humans consider looking for God – in a condemned and executed Palestinian Jewish peasant of the first century of the Common Era, who died on a Roman cross: Jesus Christ. This understanding of God is not commonly found in American culture, whether religious or secular. However, the theology of2the cross is utterly essential to Lutheran identity, and is a lens through which Lutheran Christians can engage the larger religious and secular scene in America today.

The theology of the cross is contrasted with what Luther termed the theology of glory. The theology of glory seeks to know God in majesty, beauty, and/or power, through the human work of reasoning that the hiddenness and majesty of God must be perceptible in events that seem to disclose the glorious and/or beautiful characteristics of God. It presumes both something glorious about God, and the glory of being human. This theology is most commonly found in American culture today – think of the number of times God is referenced in a gorgeous sunset, or a beautiful piece of music performed by a top artist, but so often is not referenced in the child who goes hungry at night, or the person who bravely escapes from an abusive and destructive relationship. However, in the Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, Luther juxtaposes the mystery and majesty of the invisible God of the theology of glory (as seen in the first two examples above) with the suffering of Christ on the cross (as seen in the latter two examples above). According to Luther, it is a mistake for a theologian to attempt to comprehend God’s hiddenness through perceptible events that speak of God’s beauty, majesty, and power. Luther writes, “he (sic) deserves to be called a theologian…who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God as seen through suffering and the cross.” (1) In other words, God’s visibility is comprehended best in the most unexpected way – the bloody torture and execution of Christ. This belief flies in the face of worldly wisdom, because worldly wisdom cannot comprehend the suffering and hanging God-Man, Jesus Christ. 

When left to ourselves and our natural perceptions, humans are most likely to image God incorrectly, and to seek God in anything but Christ’s cross. A beautiful, majestic, and powerful God that can be found by willing God into existence through human reason is far more appealing to sinful humanity than seeing God revealed in the suffering, shame, torture, and execution of Jesus Christ, and thus, in the suffering and complexity of our world today. As historian and Luther scholar Eric Gritsch observed, “true theology does not concentrate on such human efforts or virtues as goodliness, wisdom, and justice to please God. The recognition of these things does not make one worthy or wise.” (2) Therefore, the cross remains foolishness to the heart that tries to seek understanding of God primarily through things like beauty and superficial happiness. Although the theology of glory seems like it offers the best for religion (the beautiful, stunning, and ‘sovereign’ God), it is only false security. Luther elaborates on the differences between the theology of glory and the theology of the cross in the Heidelberg Disputation, by declaring,

[N]ow it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross. Thus, God destroys the wisdom of the wise…true theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ. (3)

Christ’s cross fuses God’s hiddenness and closeness, distance and relatedness, mystery and solution.

The theology of the cross is utterly central to Lutheran identity amid a diverse and pluralistic world, and shows Luther’s theological importance for today. As Lutherans, while we confess a viewpoint about God that does not offer the quick help, cheap advice, and easy answers that American culture so often seeks, we do proclaim a God who died for all people, and who

loved his creation so much that he became one of us to die and live again for all of us, and all of his wondrous creation. This God is how Lutherans experience and proclaim ultimate meaning in a turbulent world. May we continue to proclaim Christ crucified for all time.

Amen.

19 September 2014

1 Martin Luther, Heidelberg Disputation, 1518, in Luther's Works 31: Career of the Reformer I (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1957), 40.3

2 Eric W. Gritsch, Martin - God's Court Jester: Luther in Retrospect (Ramsey: Sigler Press, 1990), 21.

3 LW 31:53.4

1st Place Winner:
James E. Smith

2nd Place Winner:
Justin Tigrerman