Martin Luther's Legacy: Reframing Reformation Theology for the 21st Century by Mark Ellingsen (review)

Ellingsen, church history professor at Atlanta's Interdenominational Theological Center, attempts to "re-frame" Luther's theology to apply Luther's pastoral and theological insights to a contemporary context. The methodological foundation for his proposal is an attempt to distinguish starkly between Luther's polemical writings against theological opponents and Luther's pastoral writings for his theological adherents. Like many contemporary theologians and church historians Ellingsen views Luther as a pastoral rather than as a systematic theologian. He argues that re-framing Lutheran theology in the twenty-first century requires the recognition that Luther's theology cannot be applied in abstraction from its pastoral impact on a particular individual or community. Yet the distinctions between the pastoral and polemical Luther are not always as clear as this book asserts. For instance, it is Luther's strong assertion of God's absolute and total claim on a believer in baptism that makes the doctrine so pastorally compelling to a believer's troubled conscience. Luther makes that case powerfully in various treatises and letters to both his followers and to his opponents. In cases like this, the distinction between pastoral and polemical seems to falter.

Ellingsen correctly asserts that Luther was profoundly concerned with the pastoral impact of his teaching on the faith of ordinary Christians and did not write theological treatises without their pastoral implications in mind. The book argues that "identifying the pastoral purposes for which Luther deployed various doctrinal configurations can also be an important step in developing a new paradigm for systematic theology, one which is sensitive to today's pastoral concerns" (3). Following the methodological chapters, the book marks a path taken by twentieth- and twenty-first-century theologians, including Paul Althaus, Oswald Bayer, and Hans Martin Barth, who provide a chapter-by-chapter analysis of Luther's theology based on specific theological topics, such as Trinity, Christology, and the Holy Spirit. These overviews are very helpful and allow Luther's own theology and voice to come to expression without too much abstraction from the primary source material. At the same time, Luther's theology has some basic tenets about God, the Lord's Supper, and the Trinity that Luther believed to be unquestionably true. This is not something Ellingsen acknowledges as clearly as he should.

While the distinction between pastoral and polemical writings may be tenuous, Ellingsen's chapters on individual topics are filled with Luther quotes and citations. This alone makes it a rich resource for pastors and others who seek to teach Luther's thought on particular topics. At the end, Ellingsen provides a three-page conclusion which seems insufficient for a project that claims to "re-frame" Luther's vast theology for modern times. The conclusion again reasserts that Luther's theology is more "polar" in its construal when dealing with opponents but "smoothed out when dealing with various doctrines" (335). Still, such assertions left this reviewer wanting Ellingsen to be clearer on what was rhetoric and what was pastoral theology. Changes in rhetoric do not always entail or signal doctrinal change. The conclusion also asserts that Luther's theology is ecumenical since "what is characteristic of most Christian traditions can be found in [Luther's] thought." Still, parts of this overview will be helpful for those seeking to teach Luther's thought even if one disagrees with the book's framing premise about the role of rhetoric in discerning Luther's theology.