How Did Luther And Bonhoeffer Use The Cross As Their Theology

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is often marked by one man’s appeal for change. Therefore, the life of Martin Luther is a thought-provoking subject not only for the scholar, but also for those curious about the history behind Lutheranism. Consequently, Roland H. Bainton has written Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Selling over a million copies, it was first published by Abingdon-Cokesbury in 1950, which awarded it a prize of $7,500.00. Bainton, an ordained minister, was a member of the faculty at the Yale Divinity School for 42 years. He is recognized as an authority on the

Martin Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian" discusses an in-depth look into the Christian faith, God's work in each individual. Refusing to believe in the established doctrine, Luther wrote this reforming treatise in response to Pope Leo's criticisms and to further explain the theological and ideological core of his thinking. Nevertheless, Luther centered his ideas around the concept that the joys and freedoms of a Christian were that in faith; humans, as sinners, should not look at ourselves, but instead at God's goodness. He goes on to elaborate that through the justification by faith, humans grasp the meaning of a whole Christian life. Throughout "The Freedom of a Christian", Luther expands on the threefold power of faith: faith frees

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.

This paper will address the churches political and religious practices that Luther disagreed with, the theses he posted on the church board, what he did to show his disagreement and gather support from the community and how he was able to challenge the church at the

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Charles B. Hodge, Jr., is a prolific writer and a minister of the Church of Christ. He closes each chapter of The Agony & Glory of the Cross with “The Cross…there is no other way!” Thus, I have taken Reverend Hodge’s declaration for the title of this review. He further explains his thesis of the importance of the cross: “Jesus could not save Himself and still be our Savior. There is no way but the cross.” The unique approach to teaching the New Testament – and Christs’ journey to Calvary – requires several readings, analysis, and return to biblical text.

Luther’s fundamental religious problem was the idea that the church was making people feel that they had to buy or seek salvation through the church. The development started when Luther was younger he was struck by lightning and called out to the church and said that if his life was spared he would become a monk. Sure enough since his life was spared he did as he promised. He was still struggling to understand what he need to do to be blessed with “godliness” the church taught him that it was through good deeds for the church. He was then asked to teach at a University and even though he did not want to do it he did it anyway for his fear of not doing what the church said overwhelmed him. Luther’s fears vanished, however, when he read St. Paul’s letter to the Romans: “He who through

From this passage, Bonhoeffer states that our brothers and sisters in Christ reflect the voice of God. He explains that if people do not know listen to their brother and sister in Christ then it means you are not listening to God. God works and reflects on his children-That means all his children. Overall, in what I learned from Bonhoeffer based on this passage is to listen to our brothers and sister in Christ. As Christians, we believe that is to our self and do not listen to the people around us. Personally, I believe as a leader of an important area in my church is very important for me to listen to my fellow brothers and sister in Christ. I also believe that my team (who are children of Christ) should listen to me because if they do not listen to me then that means they are not listening to God.

During the sixteenth century, the practices of the Roman Catholic Church were unrighteous and a reformation was brought about to ensure what following Christ truly meant. Prior to this, a man, by the name of Martin Luther, struck in immense fear from a horrid, severe thunderstorm, vowed that he would become a monk to be spared with God’s vital protection. His father wanted him to be a lawyer because he believed that it would have been more help to the family. If not for this storm, Luther would have studied law in harmony to what his father wanted and not have stumbled upon his most laudable ideas that greatly influence churches today. The ideas in Luther’s evangelical study are noted as the 5 Solas: Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola

He encourages the church to join together in Christ by expressing humility. As described in Saucy Heart lecture number two, emotions are physically felt in the heart. Because pride is an emotion, it becomes a heart issue that we can feel. To fix this heart issue, the heart itself must be examined and scrutinized for the presence of pride. When asked if we are prideful, we sometimes glaze over our deeply imbedded pride by masking it with humility. For example, when asked to put one’s self into an extreme pride or an extremely humble category, we often say that we belong somewhere in the middle. This is not true, when we scrutinize our heart we will find that pride has been deeply imbedded in our heart that we cannot see it through the mask of humility. Furthermore, to uproot the shard of pride in our heart, we must change our heart. This can be done through God, but God will not change what He believes we can change. Therefore, we must be willing and humble to be transformed by

Special revelation of the cross is what leads to true and saving knowledge of God. In his Galatians commentary, Luther states, “There is a twofold knowledge of God, general and particular. All men have the general and instinctive recognition that there is a God who created heaven and earth, who is just and holy, and who punishes the wicked.” For Luther, general revelation does not reveal God’s purposes for us or how he intends to deliver us from his sin. This is reserved for the special and ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ. In his critique on the hierarchical church of his day, Luther incorporated this dichotomy in his concepts of the “theology of glory” and the “theology of the cross.” For Luther, those who ascribe to the theology of glory exalt man and his own works and potential. This is the very thing that drives man erroneously to the Law and religion as the means to salvation. On the other hand, Luther’s theology of the cross sees the clearest expression of God in Jesus Christ crucified. For Luther, the theology of the cross, with its emphasis on the special revelation of the cross, put the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God in proper perspective. Only on the cross is man able to see the justice and mercy of God manifested, which is completely missed by the world’s wisdom and general revelation. This is

The Cross describes Christ as a strong willed warrior with resolution. And as humble as the Cross is and as bad as it wants to bow it must stand tall and firm, in this sense the Cross had an obligation as well to assist Jesus in fulfilling the prophecy. This notion of aiding Christ ascends the

There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference

In Rome, cardinals saw Luther's theses as an attack on papal authority. In 1518, at a meeting of the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg, Luther set out his positions with even more precision. In the Heidelberg Disputation, we see the signs of a maturing in Luther's thought and new clarity surrounding his theological perspective—the Theology of the Cross.