Luther for Evangelicals: A Reintroduction by Paul R. Hinlicky

Abstract

Reviewed by: Luther for Evangelicals: A Reintroduction by Paul R. Hinlicky Richard O. Johnson Luther for Evangelicals: A Reintroduction. By Paul R. Hinlicky. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018. 181 pp. Over the past several years, I have taught church history courses for Fuller Theological Seminary, where most of my students are ardent evangelicals—Reformed, Wesleyan, Charismatic, and Pentecostal. I particularly enjoy introducing them to Luther, since most of them know virtually nothing about him other than as the author of the 95 Theses (which, of course, they have not actually read). So I picked up Paul Hinlicky's book with a great deal of interest. In a poignant introduction, Hinlicky speaks briefly of his own journey of faith, acknowledging "a personal debt I owe to evangelicalism," and he sees this book as part of "a scholarly project of liberating Luther from Lutheranism to make him available as a resource to the rest of the Christian world" (ix). To that end, the first part [End Page 329] of the book interprets Luther on four key Christian doctrines: the new birth, the Bible, evangelization and the atonement. On these important topics, which he understands to be "the four historical preoccupations of evangelicalism" (101), he presents a Luther who would sympathize in many ways with evangelicals but challenge them in many other ways. His Luther, for example, would agree with evangelicals on the truth of "the penal suffering of Christ in the place of the sinner as the basis for our free justification." But where evangelicals (and Lutheran Pietists!) often understand this in a legalistic sense, with Jesus "taking the rap" for us, Hinlicky's Luther emphasizes the "joyous exchange" by which Jesus actually takes upon himself, not just "the rap," the punishment, but our sin itself—"out of unfathomable love!" (89–90). Thus for Luther we are freed, not just from punishment, but from sin itself. The second half of the book is essentially an explication of Luther's catechisms. Hinlicky explains their purpose and significance for Luther, and then interprets the Reformer's teaching on the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and (somewhat more briefly) the Lord's Prayer and the Sacraments. I found myself wishing that he had spent more time on the latter; my own experience with evangelical students is that this is the aspect of Luther that most mystifies and yet most attracts them. Hinlicky often makes his point by quoting from Luther's hymns. These, of course, are (with the possible exception of "A Mighty Fortress") entirely unfamiliar to the typical evangelical (and today, alas, "typical evangelical" students are bereft of familiarity with even the gospel hymns of their parents and grandparents). Recognizing this, Hinlicky includes an appendix with the texts of the hymns he cites throughout the book. I wonder how helpful those texts are to evangelical readers? When I've tried them out on students, they have found them obtuse and too complex. And, let's be honest, many Lutherans also find them obtuse—if they can find them at all in the typical parish's worship life! It might have been more helpful to include an appendix with the text of the Small Catechism (which he also frequently quotes, though in small fragments here and there). I have found the catechism itself to be the best way to draw evangelical students into Luther's faith and teaching. [End Page 330] While Hinlicky writes accessibly, I suspect this book would be tough sledding for the average layperson, evangelical or Lutheran. I would love, however, to be part of an interdenominational group of pastors reading and discussing Hinlicky's book. Such a conversation would reintroduce the Reformer, not just to evangelicals, but to many Lutheran pastors who think they know all they need to know about Martin Luther. Richard O. Johnson Grass Valley, California Copyright © 2019 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.