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More About Luther
By Jaroslav Pelikan, Regin Prenter, and Herman Preus
214 pp. Decorah, Iowa, Luther College Press, 1958. $2.75

The actual title of this work, buried deep in the introduction, is "Luther and the Ordering of Church Life," a topic to be shouted from the housetops. The themes of the lectures are: "Luther and the Liturgy by Pelikan, "Luther" on Word and Sacrament" by Prenter, and "The Christian and the Church" by Preus.

The distinctive power of the presentations derives from the abundance of lively material from Luther's pen discussed with skill and sensitivity to the perplexing spiritual problems of our age.

Worth many times the trouble of securing this book are a few page from Professor Prenter's study of the "Living Word." Here is a basic contribution to the contemporary discussion of the question of hermeneutics. Prenter maintains that Luther's theology of the Word is "rightly understood only if it is explained in the light of his theology of the Cross." While in agreement with the principal points made by Karl Holl in his famous essay, "Luthers Bedeutung Fir den Fortschritt der Auslegung kunst," Prenter believes that Holl should have stressed the connection between Luther's hermeneutical principles and the theology of the Cross with greater clarity-a task recognized by Heinrich Bornkamm. Prenter's argument, in part, runs as follows: "To Luther the Bible is a book which bears witness to God's decisive action, that is, his judgment and forgiveness in and through the incarnate, crucified, and risen Jesus Christ. All his hermeneutical principles spring from this view of the Bible-above all his insistence on the literal interpretation against the allegorical and his consistent Christological exegesis of the entire Bible. To us the combination of these two principles, the literal interpretation and the Christo

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logical exegesis, may seem contradictory. For we are accustomed to regard any Christological exegesis as allegorical. But that is entirely wrong insofar as Luther is concerned. For it was precisely his Christological exegesis which compelled him to reject allegory and to emphasize grainmatical interpretation. To Luther the presence of Christ in the Old Testament does not rest primarily upon the occurrence of certain images and figures in the Old Testament pointing to Christ. . . . That Christ is present and speaks in the Old Testament means simply that God reveals himself through words of the Old Testament. The Christ of the Old Testament is Deus ipse loquens, God himself speaking (pp. 77, 78).

Professor Prenter is remarkably successful in bringing out core materials from Luther in their correct contextual relationships. Here a quality of scholarship confronts us in which the scholar himself disappears in becoming an authentic interpreter with an art that conceals art.

Professor Pelikan's study of "Luther and the Liturgy"-an intriguing subject, incredibly misunderstood in most circles-gives us highly relevant material from Luther ("Formula of the Mass" of 1523, "German Mass" of 1526, and commentaries on the Bible) with a clearly cut pattern for making it intelligible and challenging to the contemporary Church. His central thesis reads: "Catholic substance and Protestant principle - in these two terms (for which I am indebted to Paul Tillich) and in the proper relation between them, lies the genius of Luther's Reformation." By "Catholic substance" Professor Pelikan means Luther's "broad heritage of Christian culture and churchmanship" (p. 22). The "Protestant principle" serves a double purpose in demonstrating Luther's critique of his heritage and in making us rethink critically the Reformation heritage (not a simple adoption of Luther's liturgical teachings and forms) in the present, given historical situation. In his synthesis of the "Catholic service plus Protestant principle" Professor Pelikan asks questions such as these: "In view if the amorphous liturgies of American Protestantism and the secular liturgies of the common life in America, should the Churches the Reformation give more serious attention to the heritage of Christian liturgical forms?" (p. 44), and "In view of the intrusion of secular festivals into the life and worship of the Church and the secularization of Christian festivals, should there be a bold and creative reinterpretation of the church year?" (p. 57).

From the manner in which Professor Pelikan deals with "Luther and the Liturgy" certain questions haunt the reader's mind. Since the term, "Protestant principle" plays a major role, being both a logic and a dynamic for his presentation, should it not have been explicitly defined? Paul Tillich employs it on a wide human scale, for he sees it "effective in all periods of history . . . indicated in the great religions of mankind"

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(Systematic Theology, p. xi) as a principle of opposition to self-absolutizing and identifying of our ultimate concern with any creation of our own. Does "Catholic substance" carry two meanings, generally in reference to the heritage of Christian culture and churchmanship, and at times the late medieval Roman Catholicism? What about the Hegelian triad? Since the "Catholic substance" constitutes the thesis and the Protestant principle operates upon it as the antithesis, then it must follow that the Protestant principle refutes the Catholic substance. Perhaps due to dimness of wit this reviewer failed to get a hold on the Hegelian methodology. What is meant by "the liturgy," and how is it to be distinguished from ritual, worship, and the sacraments? And finally, is it not so that Luther's Christology gives us a new concept of worship itself? How does it relate to the worship of the primitive Church?

Professor Herman Preus' lectures cover a vast field which embraces the Christian and the Church in the body of Christ, in search for truth and in the life of worship. He also employs a triad to develop his interpretation of Luther: the conformist, the free individual, and a Christian man of the Church. Modern touches are provided with literary references from T. S. Eliot and G. K. Chesterton.

The Luther College of Decorah, Iowa, and the Lutheran Brotherhood Life Insurance Society which provided the major part of the funds for the lectureship, deserve the sincere gratitude of all who seek to better comprehend the prophetic mind and spirit of Luther.

J. W. Heikkinen
Lutheran Theological Seminary
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania