Luther and the Hungry Poor: Gathered Fragments (review)

Written in a conversational tone, but with skill and precision, this volume makes accessible to a wide readership both the general setting of Martin Luther’s understanding of the Christian calling to aid and support the poor and hungry and the more particular presentation of his concerns for the downtrodden in a variety of literary genres. Torvend does this by sketching broad concepts that constitute the background for this understanding in the larger whole of Luther’s thought and by making clear at the same time some of the most vital issues involved in Luther’s late-medieval social context. The author succinctly but in sufficient detail sketches Luther’s departure from medieval definitions of God’s grace to his own formulation of grace as God’s disposition of mercy and love, which establishes and re-establishes the relationship between himself and his human creatures. That departure from medieval thinking also mean that “Luther’s theology of grace as God’s unmerited regard for humanity effectively criticized the notion that some persons— the hungry poor and the destitute—could be ‘used,’ even ‘charitably,’ for those who sought to advance their spiritual if not social standing with donations” (p. 42). Thus, “Luther’s sharp criticism of Christians who act as ‘masters and gods’ in their treatment of the weak” (p. 42) not only addressed a sixteenth-century German problem but also reminds Christians today that they dare not view other socioeconomic classes only to the degree that they receive goods or offer goods. “If the needy were not to be used for spiritual gain,” Torvend writes, “they were to be encountered as real persons with real needs” (p. 42), and simply for the joy of fulfilling God’s calling to those whom he counted as his children.

The author perceptively recognizes the critical nature of Luther’s fundamental anthropological definition of what it means to be human in his distinction between two dimensions of human righteousness. The Wittenberg Reformers taught that trust in Christ, wrought by the Holy Spirit through Word—above all, in sacramental form—restores human identity as God’s child, and that this faith, active in love, meets God’s expectations for that child to live out the life for which the Holy Spirit re-creates him or her.

Anchored in the baptismal gift of that identity, and joined in community by the forgiveness of sins bestowed through various forms of God’s Word, especially in the Lord’s Supper, Christians—Luther insisted—are called by God into vocations in family life, economic activities, political associations, and congregational service to care for one another, especially for the disadvantaged neighbor. Torvend explicates Luther’s views through examination of a number of literary forms in which they are expressed: his catechisms, sermons, lectures, and recommendations for a social welfare system in Leisnig, among them. He counseled princes to put the resources of their governments behind the feeding of the poor, and he admonished individual parishioners to practice hospitality and other virtues that benefit the less fortunate.

This lean, clean volume enables both experts and those not so familiar with Reformation studies to gain a helpful and rather complete view of the Wittenberg Reformer’s deep and oft-repeated concern that among the good works faith produces in accord with God’s command is responsive care for those suffering economically in society. That was a significant part of Luther’s vision for life in God’s world.