"Solus Christus" from Late Medieval Passion Piety to Reformation Faith

Abstract

In the Late Middle Ages, an inward piety oriented toward the suffering of Christ, had become a central theme of spiritual and theological reflection. Famously, Johann Staupitz transmitted it to his spiritual advisee Martin Luther. Using the mystical language of bridal encounter, he depicted Christ as an effective example for his disciples. Luther took part in this Christocentric piety and theology, as can already be observed in his early lectures. Framed by the humanist Lefèvre's hermeneutics, the Wittenberg monk claimed, that the entire scripture was to be understood through the perspective of Christ. Already in his interpretation of Romans, Luther began to develop this Christocentrism in contrast to human works. More and more, he spread his ideas through the vernacular, starting with The Seven Penitential Psalms of 1517. A highlight of his passion devotion can be found in his Sermon on the Contemplation of Christ's Holy Passion. While these writings still resonate with medieval spirituality, we can track an increasing juxtaposition of Christ over against work and merit related forms of medieval piety. A famous example for this is the confrontation in the Heidelberg Disputation between the theologus gloriae and the theologus crucis which points directly to the passion-Christology background. This formation of solus Christus as the clarion call for Luther's fight against the medieval church was reached a good year earlier than that of sola scriptura, which only emerged in its full form in the Leipzig Disputation in 1519. Here, hermeneutics, spirituality and ecclesiology merged to a basis for a full-fledged reformational theology, which still shows its roots in the Middle Ages.