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Good video on the mystical side of Lutheranism. I read Johann Arndt's True Christianity some time ago.
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Pr. Jordan Cooper: mysticism in early Lutheranism
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Good video on the mystical side of Lutheranism. I read Johann Arndt's True Christianity some time ago.
- Apr 30, 2013
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Personally, I feel like Pr. Cooper is too hard on modern Radical Lutherans. And we need to be careful about how we use mysticism- as it can subvert the distinction between Law and Gospel if it is misused. This can only be appreciated from a Radical Lutheran perspective, IMO, where we do not limit our understanding of Law to specific divine commands.
I guess I tend to favor a more eclectic approach and not to be too hasty to jump to judgements.
I guess I tend to favor a more eclectic approach and not to be too hasty to jump to judgements.
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I actually met Jordan Cooper once.... and I've been a regular follower of his website since it went up. I know he got his doctorate on this very subject (from some seminary in South Africa)...
BUT.... I've never figured out WHAT exactly he means by "mysticism." Kind of goes over my head. And since I tend to think of this from the Eastern Orthodox (especially Greek Orthodox) perspective (as little as I understand that), well... it seems quite inconsistent with Lutheranims.
What I DO think is that for Luther and the Lutheran Fathers, there was a huge sense of MYSTERY. But they mean this (it seems to me) not in any sense of mysticism but simply of unanswered questions. Luther - especially as the years went by - became increasingly cautious of logic, philosophy, and really "answers" at all, ever more sensitive that God's Truth is true simply because it is God's. It means nothing as to whether we can wrap our puny, fallen, limited, human brains around it or not. This humility is what permitted Luther to accept paradoxes, to let Law and Gospel stand "as is" whether we can "understand" how they interrelate or not, why Luther could accept Real Presence, the Two Natures of Christ, etc. To Luther, these truths are true beause they are His Word, not because Luther could "make sense" of them. THAT I think is very "Lutheran" and I see this as part of the humility of Lutheranism. But I have a strong hunch that is NOT what Dr. Cooper means by mysticism.
??????
- Josiah
BUT.... I've never figured out WHAT exactly he means by "mysticism." Kind of goes over my head. And since I tend to think of this from the Eastern Orthodox (especially Greek Orthodox) perspective (as little as I understand that), well... it seems quite inconsistent with Lutheranims.
What I DO think is that for Luther and the Lutheran Fathers, there was a huge sense of MYSTERY. But they mean this (it seems to me) not in any sense of mysticism but simply of unanswered questions. Luther - especially as the years went by - became increasingly cautious of logic, philosophy, and really "answers" at all, ever more sensitive that God's Truth is true simply because it is God's. It means nothing as to whether we can wrap our puny, fallen, limited, human brains around it or not. This humility is what permitted Luther to accept paradoxes, to let Law and Gospel stand "as is" whether we can "understand" how they interrelate or not, why Luther could accept Real Presence, the Two Natures of Christ, etc. To Luther, these truths are true beause they are His Word, not because Luther could "make sense" of them. THAT I think is very "Lutheran" and I see this as part of the humility of Lutheranism. But I have a strong hunch that is NOT what Dr. Cooper means by mysticism.
??????
- Josiah
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zippy2006
Dragonsworn
Interesting video. I appreciate the philosophical critique of the evolution of Lutheran theology. I've never really seen that before.
I don't completely follow his central argument about modern philosophy (and Lutheranism) abandoning essences, and this causing theology to stop short at moral union rather than real union with God. Of course it's obvious that Lutheranism and Christianity in general have moved away from real union in favor of moral union, but I don't see how the abandonment of essences is at the heart of this. Dr. Cooper seems to think that God's essence can't be communicated mystically in the context of modern and post-modern philosophy.
I always thought that the Protestant emphasis on imputation and forensic justification was the primary thing leading away from real union. When the entire theological system is centered on categories that prescind from experiential union the result is predictable.
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