Face to Face: Martin Luther’s View of Reality

by Robert Kolb

Publisher:

National Book Network

, 2024

Overview

This overview of Luther’s thought proceeds from the perspective of his use of the Latin preposition coram, “face-to-face with.” Preeminent Luther scholar Robert Kolb proposes that under Luther’s use of dominant ancient concepts of reality in his day, he placed the foundation of relationships. These relationships included the fundamental relationship of the Creator with every person and thing he made, along with all those relationships stemming from ordering his creation by his creative Word. With Luther’s emphasis on the personal nature of the Creator, who continues to re-create by speaking in the absolution of sinners, he taught that believers experience life’s realities in relationship (1) to the hidden God; (2) to sin, death, and Satan; (3) to the revealed God as Trinity and incarnate; (4) to the revealed God who becomes present in believers’ lives through oral, written, and sacramental forms of his Word; (5) to their own self; (6) to the world both as God’s creature and as perverted tempter; and (7) to individual human beings in the context of their callings.

Chapters touching each of these relationships explore Luther’s thinking and his practice of the faith based on his trust in the Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier and love in service to the neighbor. Individual chapters explore these topics within the context of contemporary treatments of various aspects of Luther’s thought. A special focus of the study critically examines the ontological proposal of Tuomo Mannermaa and his students in Finland, offering as an alternative a better text-based assessment of what Luther’s views can mean for the church today.

Key Features

• Proposes that Luther’s use of dominant ancient concepts of reality, he placed the foundation of relationships.
• Explores Luther’s thinking and his practice of the faith based on his trust in the Creator.
• Examines the ontological proposal of Tuomo Mannermaa and his students in Finland.

Contents

• Foreword: For the Reader, to Understand the Book
• Introduction: Reality and the Apprehension of Reality
• Chapter 1: The Reformer (not quite) Face to Face with God Hidden
• Chapter 2: The Reformer Face to Face with Death, Sin, the Law and God’s Wrath, and the Devil
• Chapter 3: The Reformer Face to Face with the Person of God Revealed
• Chapter 4: The Reformer Face to Face in Coversation with the Person of God Revealed
• Chapter 5: The Reformer Face to Face with Himself
• Chapter 6: The Reformer Face to Face with the World
• Chapter 7: The Reformer Face to Face with Other Human Beings
• Conclusion: Martin Luther’s Relational Ontology

Praise for Face to Face

In Face to Face, the dean of North American Reformation scholars makes a succinct but profound presentation of Luther’s theology in terms of coram relationships. Taking constructive account of other modern interpreters, Dr. Kolb offers his own compelling reading of Luther in historical context for the benefit of contemporary proclamation.

—Dr. Christopher B. Brown, associate professor of church history, Boston University School of Theology

Of all of Robert Kolb’s recent books, this one looks like a theological and devotional classic. It seems that Luther’s ontology of Word is the perfect toolbox to reimagine our relationship with God, with creation, and toward ourselves. This book is like a theological antidote, like devotional soothing balm against self-centered ideological politicization of Christian faith, written as a long, pious meditation against the narcissistic superficiality of our paranoid times.

—Rev. Dr. Boris Gunjevic, tutor in philosophy of religion and Christian doctrine, Westfield House, Cambridge, Cambridge Theological Federation

The Latin word coram cannot be used for today’s popular worldview “facing reality.” For the author, it means first and foremost “facing God,” then “facing creation.” It is not just a belief or a down-to-earth teaching for Christians, but a warning to all rising powers.

—Rev. Dr. Pilgrim W. K. Lo, professor emeritus of systematic theology and Luther studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong

Product Details

• Title: Face to Face: Martin Luther's View of Reality
• Author: Robert Kolb
• Publisher: National Book Network
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781506498331, 9781506498324, 1506498337, 1506498329
• Resource ID: LLS:FCFCMRTNLVWRLTY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-15T21:40:54Z

About Robert Kolb

Robert Kolb is professor of systematic theology emeritus at Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis. He is the coeditor of the translation of the Book of Concord (2000) and of the Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology (2014). He has authored Luther’s Wittenberg World (2018), Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God (2016), Luther and the Stories of God (2012), and Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith (2009).