Come join us!

Logos has stepped up their free book of the month this year, in my opinion. Many of the books are relatively current books on important topics for the Church.

Since the price is certainly right, we read Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians over at https://faithlife.com/lutheran-theology/ earlier this year. And today we are starting Iwand's The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther starting today.

I must confess that Iwand's name is not one of the biggest, most recognizable ones in 20th century theology. What little I new of him was from running into him in the footnotes of Moltmann and Gerhard Forde. Part of this is since his work has not been translated into English, and while I can stumble through a bit of German (and a few other languages) I generally try not to.

But this booklet was translated a few years ago and published in multiple articles in The Lutheran Quarterly. It then made it into a book form, and now into Logos - and was free a few months ago.

While this is the translation of about a sixty-odd year old German work, the issues it deals with are still with us today - namely, what is this Justification by Faith thing that the Reformation made such a big deal about? This is a refreshing return to Luther - the major source of this - letting him speak to us today.

So, if you have this book and are interested in reading it with others, please join us! We don't bite...

SDG

Ken McGuire

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NB.Mick

From the preface: "In popular theological imagination Hans J. Iwand is scarcely a household name. But in the Luther Renaissance, a period, beginning in 1910, of renewed scholarly interest in Luther studies, this German theologian was instrumental in making Luther’s theology accessible to the contemporary world of theology. (...This book is) one of Iwand’s most important works on Luther’s theology. At the request of his friends to “explain the fundamentals of Luther’s theology in the most condensed form possible,” Iwand sets forth in accessible and compelling language the doctrine of justification by faith, which lies at the heart of Luther’s theological revolution and which propels the evangelical explosion of the sixteenth century into the heart and imagination of Christian preachers today. bible.faithlife.com/books/rghtsnssfthlthr/offset/98996

I was not aware of Iwand prior to the free book - however, I then found that Iwand is known especially for his position after the demise of the Nazi empire: he had belonged to the minority group of pastors fighting the regime and tried to call the protestant leadership to repentance after the war. In an unprecedented and highly unusual court proceeding in the 1950s Iwand served as witness of the court with a theological expertise that was instrumental in recognizing the significance of German resistance (Bonhoeffer, Stauffenberg etc related to July 20th 1944). At least in German, it seems he writes a readable prose without too much "theologese".

Looking forward to our reading in the upcoming five weeks!

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621125#Comment_621125

In the opening of Moltmann's classic, The Crucified God, he writes:

Since I first studied theology, I have been concerned with the theology of the cross. This may not have been so clear to those who liked Theology of Hope, which I published in 1964, as it was to its critics; yet I believe that it has been the guiding light of my theological thought. This no doubt goes back to the period of my first concern with questions of Christian faith and theology in actual life, as a prisoner of war behind barbed wire. I certainly owe it to the unforgettable lectures on Reformation theology which I heard from Hans Joachim Iwand, Ernst Wolf and Otto Weber in 1948/49 in Göttingen. Shattered and broken, the survivors of my generation were then returning from camps and hospitals to the lecture room. A theology which did not speak of God in the sight of the one who was abandoned and crucified would have had nothing to say to us then.

Moltmann, J. (1993). The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology (p. 1). Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Come join us in returning to the center of our faith - the amazing gift of God for us - as we read Iwand's treatment. All are welcome...

fgh

Sounds like you ought to do the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification next, for comparison.[:D]

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621202#Comment_621202

Sounds like you ought to do the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification next, for comparison.

I'd like to - but can you give a logosres-link? [:)]

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621202#Comment_621202

Sounds like you ought to do the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification next, for comparison.

Strictly speaking Iwand wasn't talking about it. Of course, almost certainly that is the reason it was translated when it was... The Joint Declaration certainly deserves study and critical engagement. Unfortunately, while it is freely available on the Vatican website, it is also still protected by copyright - and my understanding is that, like all Vatican documents, the rights vary by nation a bit.

But, getting back on topic - join us!

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621208#Comment_621208

while it is freely available on the Vatican website

It's also free on the ELCA website - http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Joint_Declaration_on_the_Doctrine_of_Justification.pdf - and I'm sure a number of places. But in Logos I get only references to a journal called "Origins". Too sad that it isn't contained in E. Jüngel's "Justification - the Heart of the Christian Faith" [the German original probably could safely assume that nearly all readers already had a copy of JDDJ - the editors of the translation maybe should have included it for reference]

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621208#Comment_621208

You could make a PB and share it within the group.

Sorry, no time.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621212#Comment_621212

I actually have made a pb of it from the Vatican website. I am just not sure it is ok to share it.

And there is still time to join us in reading the Iwand. We are in the introduction all this week.

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621448#Comment_621448

I actually have made a pb of it from the Vatican website. I am just not sure it is ok to share it.

I've emailed the permissions contact at LWF - if they say we need no permission, fine. If they grant us permission, we'd probably need to work directly from their document and attribute them as our source. Would be really nice to read the Joint Declaration.

And there is still time to join us in reading the Iwand. We are in the introduction all this week.

[Y][H]

fgh

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/621448#Comment_621448

I actually have made a pb of it from the Vatican website.

And I actually thought you had.[:D]

I am just not sure it is ok to share it.

Publicly: no. Privately, to a few reliable people: I think they want it to be read and studied. And it can't possibly matter much to them whether that reading takes place on the website or in Logos. It's not like you'd be stealing someone's royalty.

there is still time to join us

I'm off to Israel soon. I can't even find enough time to plan for that!