In Luther’s Bible, the command to love one’s neighbor comes in the verse after a command to rebuke him. Du sollst deinen Bruder nicht hassen in deinem Herzen, sondern du sollst deinen Nächsten zurechtweisen, damit du nicht seinetwegen Schuld auf dich lädst. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall rebuke your neighbor, so that you do not bear guilt because of him. Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In the Gospel of Matthew, the rebuke is private. Sündigt aber dein Bruder, so geh hin und weise ihn zurecht zwischen dir und ihm allein. Hört er auf dich, so hast du deinen Bruder gewonnen. If your brother sins, go and point out his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
theology
The Child in Front of the Class
In summer 1943, after his arrest, the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer worked on a fragment titled Was heißt: die Wahrheit sagen?, what does it mean to tell the truth? Its best-known example: Ein Kind wird von seinem Lehrer vor der Klasse gefragt, ob es wahr sei, dass sein Vater oft betrunken nach Hause komme? A child is asked by his teacher in front of the class whether it is true that his father often comes home drunk. The child denies it. For Bonhoeffer, the denial is untrue, and yet it also expresses a truth. The family is an order of its own, which the teacher had no right to enter. The guilt for the lie falls on the teacher alone.
Faithful in the Least
In the Gospel of Luke, in Luther’s translation: Wer im Geringsten treu ist, der ist auch im Großen treu; und wer im Geringsten ungerecht ist, der ist auch im Großen ungerecht. Whoever is faithful in the least is faithful also in much, and whoever is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. The next verse asks: wer wird euch das wahre Gut anvertrauen? who will entrust you with the true riches?
We Accuse Ourselves
On October 19, 1945, the council of the Protestant Church in Germany presented a declaration in Stuttgart. Durch uns ist unendliches Leid über viele Völker und Länder gebracht worden. Through us, endless suffering has been brought upon many peoples and countries. The church then named its own failure. The text says that wir klagen uns an, dass wir nicht mutiger bekannt, nicht treuer gebetet, nicht fröhlicher geglaubt und nicht brennender geliebt haben. We accuse ourselves that we did not confess more courageously, did not pray more faithfully, did not believe more joyfully and did not love more ardently. Hans Christian Asmussen, Otto Dibelius and Martin Niemöller drafted the text. By 1946 only four regional churches had adopted it. Later critics said that it did not name the Holocaust.
The Weimar Edition
In 1883, the year of Martin Luther’s 400th birthday, work began on a critical edition of everything he wrote. Its title is D. Martin Luthers Werke: kritische Gesamtausgabe, a critical complete edition. It is known as the Weimar Edition. It was planned to be finished in 1983. In a paper published in 1984, the Luther scholar Walther von Loewenich wrote that it had 118 volumes and that der völlige Abschluß, the full completion, would probably not quite be reached by then. The edition was completed in 2009, after 126 years and about 80,000 pages.
Sworn Doctor of Holy Scripture
In October 1512 Martin Luther received his doctorate in theology at the University of Wittenberg. The Elector paid the costs of the ceremony. Luther’s doctoral oath bound him to Holy Scripture. In his later conflict with the papal church, Luther appealed to this obligation. From then on he lectured regularly on a book of the Bible, until November 1545.
Theses for Debate
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses of 1517 carry the Latin title Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum, a disputation to clarify the power of indulgences. They were meant as a basis for discussion among expert theologians. Their preamble begins: Aus Liebe zur Wahrheit und im Verlangen, sie zu erhellen, sollen die folgenden Thesen in Wittenberg disputiert werden … (Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following theses shall be debated in Wittenberg …) Luther asked those who could not come to debate in person to take part in writing instead. The debate he hoped for never took place. Instead, a heresy trial began in 1518, and in the end Luther was excommunicated.
Making the Reformation Last
Cities and territories that adopted the Reformation gave themselves a Kirchenordnung, a church order, often adopting one written elsewhere. According to German Wikipedia, these orders marked the beginning of a phase of consolidation. In northern Germany the leading author was Johannes Bugenhagen. Braunschweig adopted his order in 1528, Hamburg in 1529 and Lübeck in 1531. With the Braunschweig order Bugenhagen laid the foundations of the school system and regulated care for the poor. In 1528 Martin Luther saw on his visits to parishes that ordinary believers knew the faith only in fragments. In 1529 he wrote the Small Catechism, which explains the faith in questions and answers. It was meant as a basis for the heads of households to teach their families. It is still often used today in confirmation classes.
Ten Years for the Sunday Readings
Protestant churches in Germany follow a Perikopenordnung, a fixed order of Bible readings for each Sunday. The order in use had been valid since 1978. Its revision began with decisions of the church bodies in 2008 and 2009. In the church year 2014/15 the draft was tested in parishes. In Württemberg alone, 100 parishes tried one of the new series of readings, and their feedback was passed on to the national church office. The tests led to numerous corrections. In November 2017 the synod of the Protestant Church in Germany adopted the new order einstimmig ohne Gegenstimme, unanimously, without a vote against. It was introduced on the first Sunday of Advent 2018.
Man Proposes, God Disposes
Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt. Man thinks, God steers. The proverb has the same sense as a sentence in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, from the early fifteenth century: Nam homo proponit, sed Deus disponit, for man proposes, but God disposes. The Kempis sentence echoes Proverbs 16:9, which in Luther’s translation reads: Des Menschen Herz erdenkt sich seinen Weg; aber der HERR allein lenkt seinen Schritt. (A man’s heart devises his way, but the Lord alone directs his steps.)