Autor: Walsh, David

Buch: The Third Millenium

Titel: The Third Millenium

Stichwort: Reformation -> Subjektivität als Kriterium (here I stand); Luthers Seinsvergessenheit

Kurzinhalt: ... it installed the perspective of subjectivity at the core of the modern understanding of faith; the soul is finally the judge of the divine gift of righteousness ...

Textausschnitt: 69a Despite the enormous complexity and extent of the modern world, the overriding pattern is clear. It is confidence in the capacity of intellectual freedom to operate independently of any theological supports, even when it is engaged in the movement toward theological affirmation. The Reformation is not its most obvious illustration, but it is its most revealing because it occurs in a context of ostensible spiritual openness. What is remarkable about the Reformation is not that it splintered the universal Church, but that it installed the perspective of subjectivity at the core of the modern understanding of faith. Of course, faith always involves a moment of individual assent. It is crucially rooted in such a confession. But Luther went further in insisting on the exclusivity of the individual perspective. Any suggestion that the individual might only have a partial apprehension of the reality in which he or she participated was wiped away. The authority of private conscience became irrevocable, and not merely because of Luther's own heroic "Here I stand."1 (Fs) (notabene)

69b The deeper reason lay in the question from which his whole theology began. How can I be certain, he worried, of how I stand in the sight of God? Emphasis was almost wholly directed toward the personal assurance of salvation, under the pressure of an anxiety about divine judgment that was widely shared. The need for a personal guarantee had been heightened by the prominence of a nominalist God whose impenetrable will lay far beyond the reach of any illumination of reason. Standing alone before God, the soul felt the full weight of impervious divine judgment and longed for the word of justification that would fill up the abyss of condemnation within itself. The realization that the miracle of righteousness was to be apprehended through faith in Christ had a transformative effect. It released Luther from the staggering impossibility of pleasing God. But it also reduced the bond between man and God to the tenuous link of individual faith in the promises of Christ contained in Scripture. The weight of judgment may have been lifted, but an even greater responsibility was placed on the movement of private faith. Nothing could mediate or sustain that movement. The soul stood naked before God. (Fs)

70a Not only is the perspective individualist because of the absence of an ecclesial community of interpretation, it is also ultimately subjectivist because the soul is finally the judge of the divine gift of righteousness received by faith. The nobility of the Lutheran self-reflection in the presence of God should not distract us from the enhanced role of the self in this process. Luther's intention was certainly to view himself through the eyes of God, but he could not escape the admission that this was still reducible to the human side of the equation. It is the eyes of God as perceived through our eyes. The difficulty could have been overcome by unfolding the mystical intersection of the two perspectives in the momentary glimpse of illumination. But that was not Luther's direction. Even mysticism might draw too much away from the absoluteness of God. Ironically, the consequence was to make the transcendence of God depend more heavily on its apprehension by finite subjectivity. Only the theological systematization of Calvin saved the Reformation from imminent collapse, although nothing could be done about the centralization of judgment in individuals cut off from wider intimations. (Fs) (notabene)

70b The connection between the Reformation and individualism is well understood in relation to scriptural interpretation. Absent an authoritative church, there is no alternative. What is less widely appreciated is the extent to which the roots of this attitude lie deep within Reformation theology. The break with the universal Church was the effect, not the cause, of the Reformation. What makes the initiative of Luther paradigmatic for the modern world is that it grounds at the deepest level the perspective from which all meaning is constituted. The isolated modern self goes through progressive states of dissociation from the matrix of reality, but its most profound expression is surely the Lutheran anxiety of judgment experienced by the soul from which God is absent. Whether the divine justification has been received or not must then be judged by the soul alone, as the ensuing preoccupation with predestination made abundantly clear. It is not too much further to reach the point where the presence of God and his inexorable judgment is subjected to examination. From the finite individual perspective, the temptation becomes strong to conclude that, even if he is present, a God who would place such impossible demands on human beings is hardly deserving of our moral respect. Indeed, it is striking how close to the surface in Luther's reflections the resonances of revolt against God lie. (Fs) (notabene)