Martin Luther and the Shaping of the Catholic Tradition ed. by Nelson H. Minnich and Michael Root

Abstract

Reviewed by: Martin Luther and the Shaping of the Catholic Tradition ed. by Nelson H. Minnich and Michael Root Robert Kolb Martin Luther and the Shaping of the Catholic Tradition. Edited by Nelson H. Minnich and Michael Root. (Washington: Catholic University of America Press. 2021. Pp xix, 289. $75.00. ISBN: 9780813235325.) This collection of conference lectures provides valuable stimulation for further consideration of ecumenical issues from historical and systematic points of view. Particularly helpful are the historical studies of the medieval theological setting of Martin Luther’s deconstruction of certain elements of the theology he had learned at the university and in the cloister and his construction of the evangelical way of thinking that formed the center of his preaching and teaching. Several studies effectively present Luther’s own way of formulating the doctrines of justification, the Eucharist, and the Church; others offer insights into the ecumenical discussions and their implications for the life of the Church today. Two essays dedicated [End Page 198] to the relationship of Eastern Orthodoxy to sixteenth-century developments in the Western Church explore Luther’s references to Eastern churches in the Leipzig debate between Luther and John Eck in 1519. They point to possibilities for developing a trilateral discussion of ecclesiological issues. An essay on “The (Slight) Sensitivity to Eastern Christianity in Trent’s Condemnation of Luther on Marriage and Clerical Celibacy” seems out-of-place in the volume. Assessments of the state of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue in the light of sixteenth-century developments around Luther by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Eero Huovinen, Wolfgang Thönissen, and Kenneth Appold lay the foundation for further assessment of the issues discussed in other essays. Vital were questions raised by late medieval teaching on justification, sensitively sketched by Theodor Dieter. Lutheran (Timothy Wengert) and Roman Catholic (Michael Root) analysis of the Wittenberg professor’s understanding of the center of the biblical message provide perceptive insights into his teaching’s intention, structure, impact, and significance for today. Bruce Marshall’s detailed account of medieval teaching on the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper and on the eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass sets forth the issues debated in the sixteenth century clearly. Essays by Lee Palmer Wandel and Robert Trent Pomplun present Luther’s critique of medieval doctrine and practice of the Lord’s Supper and Catholic response to this critique. Wandel correctly sees Luther’s understanding of the sacrament as verbal, that is, the promise conveying the forgiveness of sins in the body and blood “given and shed for you,” although the richness of his enhancing the earlier understanding of “promise” is missing. Nelson Minnich sets forth medieval “models” of the Church that gave rise to the actual situation in the 1510s and 1520s, as Luther’s appraisal of abuses in practice and flaws in fundamental concepts of authority, presented with skill by Dorothea Wendebourg, contested what remains the “evolving” and “responsive” formulation of the doctrine of the Church on the Roman Catholic side. Johanna Rahner incisively sets forth current Catholic discussion of ecclesiastical issues. The volume’s valuable resources for mutual exploration of how we best witness to Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century give basis for necessary further discussions. Unfortunately, the underlying differences in defining the orientation for theology, “the article of faith on which Christ’s church stands or falls”—for Luther, the justification of sinners through absolution and faith in Christ, for Roman Catholics the doctrine of the Church—are not clearly addressed. Nonetheless, the challenge of these perceptive presentations remains a task for the heirs of the Old Faith and the Reformation in our time. [End Page 199] Robert Kolb Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press ...