Lutherforschung im 20. Jahrhundert: Rückblick-Bilanz-Ausblick (review)

One often hears the claim that more books have been written about Martin Luther than about any other figure in western history, Jesus Christ excepted. Whether that is true or not, surely a very great deal has been written about Luther. Anyone who has had the experience of trying to get his bearings in the vast and meandering secondary scholarly literature about the man will be grateful for books like this one. Moreover, while there are helpful works that introduce Luther scholarship in a general way, none of them brings together particular aspects of that scholarship in quite such a wide ranging and informative way as does the present volume.

The book consists of a dozen essays originally presented as papers at a conference in Mainz at the Institute for European History, and each of them is written by a prominent Luther scholar. These essays are of a very high caliber. Typically they offer a historical survey of significant areas of research, and they are marked by a keen awareness that scholarship in the last century generally took place within an increasingly ecumenical milieu. In the first essay, for example, Martin Brecht presents some of the challenges laid down by Catholic research on the young Luther in the early twentieth century by Heinrich Denifle, O.P., and Hartmann Grisar, S.J. He then reviews the responses to those challenges from Protestant scholars like Adolph Harnack, Reinhold Seeberg, Walther Köhler, and Gustav Kawerau. The following chapters take the story forward chronologically. Martin Ohst examines the work of Karl Holl and his students Emanuel Hirsch and Erich Vogelsang. Eberhard Busch presents the Luther research of theologians identified with dialectical theology. Thomas Kaufmann moves nearer the present with an examination of Ernst Bizer's work on Luther's "evangelical breakthrough," while Albrecht Beutel sets out Gerhard Ebeling's Luther research. Three essays then look at aspects of Luther's theology that have elicited intensive examination: Joachim Ringleben writes on Luther and the Word of God; Oswald Bayer sketches out research on Luther's use of philosophical thought forms; and Antti Raunio examines Luther's political ethic. Scott Hendrix then offers a chapter on American Luther research. The book's final three chapters are dedicated to ecumenical topics. Jos Vercruysse surveys Catholic Luther scholarship in the twentieth century. Rolf Decot then examines from a Catholic perspective the question of Luther's significance for ongoing ecumenical dialogue. Decot's essay is answered by a chapter contributed by Simo Peura, who examines the same question from the Protestant point of view. The volume concludes with a lengthy but somewhat eclectic and far-from-exhaustive bibliography.

Naturally, these essays do not say everything that might be said about twentieth- century Luther research. One could easily wish, for example, for a solid chapter on the development of the so-called "Finnish School" of Luther research (a planned contribution from Tuomo Mannermaa had to be left out due to the author's illness), even if several of the books chapters are written by Finnish scholars and many others refer to prominent Finnish studies. Still, the volume is marked by a clear sense of progress in Luther research. Luther's medieval roots and his continuity with western Catholic tradition are now clearly recognized. If the fine contributions of Catholic scholars standing here alongside those of their Protestant counterparts are any indication, then Luther has already become what many have long hoped: a "common doctor" who speaks to those on all sides of our continuing ecumenical divides.