The Viability of Luther Today: A North American Perspective

Gerhard O. Forde

Article Type: Article

Publication Date: 1/1/1987

Issue: Justification and Justice (Vol. 7, No 1, Winter, 1987)

I do not particularly relish the prospect of writing a paper on the viability of Luther, or for that matter any great figure of the past, for today. Such a topic has the tendency to put its subject, and the writer (!), more or less on the defensive before the urgency and usually unquestioned priority of today’s agenda. In any case, the topic invites to what can only be a judgment and thus at the same time an interpretation which attempts to bring past and present into some kind of fruitful relationship. That being the case, I shall venture forth on the assignment, cognizant, I hope, of the risks and the provisionality of the conclusions drawn. The topic calls, it would seem, for interpretation and judgment rather than a scholarly research paper, so that is what shall be attempted, keeping notes and apparatus at a minimum.

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