A Year with Luther: From the Great Reformer for Our Times

Books on Luther are almost endless. And books that compile Luther quotations are also almost endless, whether on specific topics, attractively illustrated and put together, original, profound—there is no end to the selection criteria. What then is the reason for this particular book: A Year with Luther?

The author, Athina Lexutt, has been occupied with Luther and his theology for many years. Her Doktorvater, Karl-Heinz zur Mühlen, who was himself a pupil of Gerhard Ebeling, taught her that it is important to appreciate Luther the man and the theologian from both a historical and a systematic perspective, and in equal measure. From there, her interest in Luther steadily grew and she has continued to devote herself not only to Luther's theology, but also to making Luther contemporary with our own day and time. To that end, she tries, in her numerous lectures and publications, to drive home the point that a contemporary theology that wants to be distinctively Protestant will need to get back to Luther. Athina Lexutt, unlike many of her academic colleagues, is not of the opinion that Luther has had his day, that he is a spent force! She does not subscribe to the view that Luther, as a pre-Enlightenment theologian, no longer has any interpretive power for us. Rather, she is convinced—and this is also her plea—that we must make every effort to accentuate the core of his reformational concerns throughout the centuries and the power that they have today to shape, to warn, and to comfort. This can only succeed if we do not treat his statements like some treasure trove of quotations, isolated from their source, but rather try to understand them in their original context, to appreciate the specific point being made in light of their historical background, and, at the same time, to ask whether they can also be detached from it and in what way they can take on new significance to meet contemporary challenges.

In her Luther book, published in 2009, she strives in a similar way to focus her attention on Luther's theological moves and to understand them against their historical background. Also in a survey work that appeared in the same year, The Reformation—An Event Makes an Epoch, she remains firm in her conviction that, despite all the connections with traditional ideas, the core of the Reformation represents something radically new and distinctive. Because of that, she argues that we should call the Reformation an epoch and not see it simply as an event arising out of either late medieval reform movements or early modern social and political attempts at restructuring institutions. For her, what is distinctively new about the Reformation can be seen in the following features:

its deep insight into human existence with all its tensions,its new approach to ethics,its exercise of the Christian's political mandate,its emphasis on the experience of justification,its concentration on scripture, andthe importance it places on assertions in theological discourse.

All of these features are obviously interconnected and we can go on and name further points that flow from these, such as the priesthood of all the baptised, the distinction between the hidden and visible church, and the ministry of the church. These are all fundamental parts of the Christian life and the life of the church.

The book I am referring to was first published in German in 2002 under the title, Mit Luther durch das Jahr. This has now been rendered into English in an outstanding translation by Jeff Silcock with the title A Year with Luther. One of the great hallmarks of this book is that it lets us hear Luther himself.

What is it that distinguishes this collection of Luther texts from others? The first distinctive feature is that the rhythm of the church year is used as a basis for making...