Reconstructing Lutheran Theology – Wisdom from the Jewish Encounters

Two factors that have drastically modified my perspectives as a Lutheran theologian, teacher, and pastor and I want to name them as background for my participation in this panel.
First, I will highlight my ecumenical teaching context where I enjoy collaboration with colleagues representing and researching different faith traditions and teaching students with a wide spectrum of rationales for the study of religion. In my daily work, not only do I need to articulate matters pertaining to religion, including Lutheran, in ways that make sense across the confessional and religious boundaries, I am also receiving valuable information from other religions to both challenge and feed my own. In this deeply interfaith community, where we also train Lutheran ministers and leaders, we are constantly searching for and testing a language of religion that is respectful and offers points of connection, while also naming the areas of disconnection that are not to be just washed away but are bought back to the table for ongoing discernment on matters of shared interests.

Second, my research on Luther’s anti-Jewish texts has made me painfully aware of the tainted pieces in Lutheran theological – and in all Christian – tradition. With abundant scholarship on the topic available, and with a recent shift in approaching the topic, we are at a place to do something with what we know – and to do something theologically, to be specific.

Knowing what we know of Luther’s anti-Jewish writings and the employment of Luther in antisemitic crimes, and in light of ELCA’s efforts to “enhance awareness” of Lutheran-Jewish relations and “foster sensitivity to Jewish-Christian relationships both in North America and globally,” we have an opportunity to move beyond mutual respect and religious tolerance. Lutherans can move beyond apologizing for what has been and find common ground and shared theological interests with Jewish practitioners for the future.

This will not be easy. It may be shocking to hear that for a Jewish person, the words Luther and Lutheran can be quite scary and hostile. Not surprisingly, Lutherans hold tight on their cherished beliefs about Christ as their Messiah and Savior and for their “superior” reading of the Scriptures – just to mention a couple of obvious difficulties for starters. A good start is to deal with the realization that anti-Jewish-faith arguments were some of the important building blocks for Luther’s in itself beautiful doctrine of justification by faith by grace by the loving God who was understood to be infinite in divine goodness. Knowing this, how does one deal with Lutheran language of faith today regarding this kind of God and proclamation of the saving grace? Not without some purging and relearning of the fundamentals, with some new ingredients that approach God-questions from a different position.

Bringing this topic to a larger conversation, in response to the 2019 ELCA Declaration of Inter-religious Commitments, this is what interests me: What steps are called for in theological discernment in the Lutheran religious tradition in light of what is learned from other religions? How and where does Lutheran theology become challenged and/or enriched? More specifically, what are Lutherans doing theologically with their knowledge regarding Luther’s anti-Jewish arguments – and about how his words have been employed towards hate? What are Lutherans learning from Jewish religion today firsthand, without Luther’s problematic filters - is that even possible?

In my short presentation, 1) I will name some of the tainted pieces coming from Luther’s extrapolations and reflect modestly on some of the good challenges and learnings coming from the Jewish religion. 2) I will reflect on what we have learned from Luther’s anti-Jewish texts that present urgent theological, and practical, issues for contemporary Lutherans. 3) I will name some areas in need of theological reworking, specifically given their association with antisemitic views. I will propose Lutheran teaching of salvation and faith, justification and grace, and understanding of law and religious practices as topics where argumentation can be revised in light of wisdom learned from the Jewish religion. 4) I will propose that coming together around the shared teaching of the infinite goodness of God is a constructive starting point for mutual learning. 5) I will preface and conclude my part by offering thoughts on how to - and how important it is to - situate Lutheran grammar of faith with the broader conversations about the fundamentals of religion/s.