The Significance of the Reformation in the Present and the Future

I. Introduction

When reflecting on the present and future significance of the Reformation we first have to agree on the type of reflection we intend to engage in. And that is the purpose of the following exercise in theological and historical remembering.

Martin Kähler, a well-known Protestant theologian from Halle, in 1892 published a study that was to have quite an impact in theological circles. Its name can be translated as The so-called historical Jesus and the biblical Christ of history [1]. Kähler developed a hypothesis that was particularly understandable in his context, in which it was fashionable to do research into the life of Jesus using the historical-critical method. He claimed that it was not the ‘historical Jesus’ – however you wanted to define him - who was effective in history, but the Christ of the gospel narratives. The history of faith had not been influenced by the Jesus whose existence researchers thought they could prove down to the last detail, but by the Christ, along with all the stories told about his miracles, healing and the arguments he engaged in. It is then hardly surprising that only a few decades later, the theologian Rudolf Bultmann did not number the historical Jesus among the preconditions for a ‘New Testament theology’. Nor that Karl Barth found the historical-critical method to be theologically inadequate.

In our connection it is important to note a comparable basic issue with regard the Reformation narrative. Naturally the Reformation story is far easier to reconstruct in detail, but the categorial insight still applies that ultimately it was only the Reformation narratives that impacted on history and not the historically correct facts. So we can produce a parallel heading: The so-called historical posting of the Ninety-five Theses and the historical beginning of the Reformation.

Naturally the findings of historical studies about the Reformation and its first protagonists are of great interest, not only to scholars but also to German Protestant churches. However, they are only partially relevant as we inquire about the importance of the Reformation for the present. While it is important to scrutinise historical events critically in order to avoid the ideological abuse of memories, that does not make them relevant to the present day.

Of course, professional historians also know that! That is why the French historian Pierre Nora developed the idea of places of remembering. Here a ‘place’ is understood symbolically; it cannot be a geographical place and might involve a mythical figure (e.g. King Arthur), an actual historical event (e.g. Waterloo), an institution (e.g. Buckingham Palace) or a work of art (e.g. Mona Lisa). 

Similarly, the posting of the 95 theses on 31 October 1517 is a place of remembering. Historically speaking, it is relatively unimportant in the whole history of the Reformation (if the 95 theses were nailed on the door of the Castle Church at all), but it is central to its symbolic significance. On this date we discuss identity issues of the respective present - in this case classically as a place of remembering for the emergence of the modern world. And it is only this interpretation of the Reformation as a new dawn, emerging from a supposedly uniform medieval world, that makes it plausible at all for the German federal government, the 16 state governments and civil society to likewise celebrate 31 October as a place of remembering – and with a one-time public holiday to boot! On this occasion the EKD will remember and celebrate the beginnings of its identity, and civil society will remember its own roots and values; they both belong together but should be distinguished from one another. 

II. What has happened so far

Those who love serials know that every new episode starts with a short summary of what has happened so far. And likewise, a description of the importance and relevance of the Reformation for our day will not be complete without first recalling what was significant in the past.

a) The first sensation is that, back in 2008, the federal and state governments along with the churches were able to agree on calling the next 10 years a Luther or rather a Reformation Decade, which year by year has highlighted central aspects of the Reformation and underlined its potential for today. The annual themes are spelled out by the local churches, at the regional level and also in nation-wide campaigns and inter-church dialogues. Even the Orthodox churches are reflecting on the theme for 2015, which is ‘images and the Bible’! The annual themes have enabled a kind of ‘agenda-setting’.  

b) Further, 2017 will be the first anniversary that does not have to bolster a threatened confession (1617) or set itself apart from Catholicism (1717). It does not aim to awaken a nation (1817) or reflect national fatalism about war (1917). Nor again does it serve as demarcation from the interpretations of Luther current in the German Democratic Republic, as in 1983, the 500th anniversary of Luther’s birth. There has never been so much freedom of interpretation and organisation as this time: the anniversary is an opportunity for the free presentation of Reformation insights.

c) Consequently the churches of the Reformation are for the first time succeeding in preparing for this quincentenary together, i.e. the Reformed, United and Lutheran churches in Germany (EKD) and in Europe (CPCE). The fact that the EKD is sponsoring and driving the preparations is amazing in itself. This became possible through the Leuenberg Agreement, dating back over 40 years to 1973. Thanks to the Leuenberg Fellowship, now the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, the Reformation churches have been able to overcome their mutual criticisms.

d) The fact that churches of the Union or in the Reformed traditions can participate and also raise the issue of 200 years of union without condemnations means that they particularly regard 2017 as a thematic anniversary of Reformation and not a celebration of Luther as a person. This enables the close cooperation with the Swiss Protestant churches (SEK), which is probably unique.  

e) Against the backdrop of post-war Protestantism another sensation is that the EKD as a constituted church and the German Protestant Kirchentag movement have together taken on the effort of preparing for an anniversary year. Since 2012 there have been decision-making structures connecting the EKD and the Kirchentag and since 2014 there has been an implementing association that is organising the joint events in and around Wittenberg. German Protestantism is combining its organisational and financial forces, - and I think that this will have consequences for the future cooperation between the Kirchentag and the constituted church.

f) A remarkable ecumenical rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church has taken place in 2015. After an initial downright blunt distance vis-a-vis all celebratory undertones about the 2017 anniversary (“you can’t celebrate a division”) the insight has spread that under the heading of ‘festival of Christ’ it is possible to recall the common roots of faith, confess mutual guilt before God and declare joint responsibility for society. Historically speaking, this is unprecedented: an ecumenically pacified Reformation anniversary distinguished not by delimitation and profiling but where the confessional differences are seen as generating a productive dynamic of history and the present.

g) Consequently, the shadows of the Reformation are being deliberately brought into focus. 2017 will be the first centennial anniversary after the Holocaust. It will be important to remember with shame the brutal anti-Judaism of Luther in his old age, but also to clarify what historically proven effects these terrible statements actually had. The cruel persecution of the “left-wing of the Reformation” will also have to be confronted head on along with the atrocious dealing with the Anabaptist movement and the Peace Churches. Nowadays we are also critical of the Reformers statements about those he called the “Turks”, and the rough condemnations of the papacy at the time.

Basically each of these indications, reflected in the culture of memory, allow us to realise that the Reformation was a deeply ambivalent movement. The Reformation narratives are not about saints but about saved sinners. The biographies of the Reformers are not a good source of heroic legends. Time and again, the discovered light of freedom was also betrayed and covered up during the Reformation period, it was denied and abused. This reminds us that the central achievement of the Reformation was the rediscovery of the Gospel, not the founding of a new church or their own confessional movement. In all, however, I would dare to argue: even if this anniversary in 2017 does not flow into the planned channels, the dynamic already in motion will let the significance of the Reformation for the present and the future shine out with a particularly bright light.      

III. Memory and museums

In the next section I want to recall a few important substantive insights of the Reformation, that relate to the place of remembering ‘31 October 2017’. Unfortunately we have to admit that the thesis represented by German Idealism that the Reformation was the beginning of the Modern Age must be regarded much more sceptically than the authors of this contention did in the 19th century.

a) Recent discussion seems to converge on the insight that the priesthood of all baptised was not only historically innovative but has also had a long-term potential right into the present. The modern concepts of participation and democratic participatory processes can be interpreted as great-grand-children of the Reformation. And connected with this aspect of participation is an understanding of church that is able to distinguish between office and person and essentially understands the office/ministry as a function, not as consecration. This access is quite compatible with modernity and allows the assembly of the faithful to be a church that organises itself pragmatically and functionally and likewise the distinction between priests and lay people. The Reformation concept of church differs clearly from all theologically loaded concepts, which is certainly also a weakening but at the same time has removed a lot of theological ballast from the concepts of church and office/ministry.

b) Furthermore – together with the Renaissance and its battle cry ‘ad fontes’ (back to the source) – emphasis is now laid on the educational momentum of the Reformation, which introduced the idea of the mature Christian and laid Scripture in the hands of all people. It thereby promoted a general ability to read that was the right of everyone, also girls. And in contrast to the unequal treatment of women still found in some Reformation churches, we can also focus on gender equality regarding the ordained ministry via the notion of baptism, when all other prejudices against them have been overcome.

It is beyond dispute that the educational momentum of the Reformation has long taken the form of boosting the academic discourses of each generation and not just receiving them as given. The historical-critical study of Scripture, qualifying the absoluteness of Christianity through the study of philosophy of religion, researching the scientific foundations of life, evolution etc. - all this is a specific feature of Reformation theology and its churches. It is doubtless true that the price of this enlightened religion has often been a weakening of burning faith, and that an “institution of lasting reflection” (Schelsky) is less fervent in mission than some charismatic or Pentecostal movements. Yet the Reformation churches should remain loyal to their calling for enlightened religion and also encourage the younger evangelical movements to engage with academic study and critique. Even for religions in the 21st century, enlightenment continues to be the best protection against fundamentalism. 

c) Nevertheless, the central theological insight of Martin Luther, and all Reformers, was that faith in the justification of the sinner from grace alone, not on the basis of work of the law, ignited a drive for freedom that with an astonishing long-term effect can still help to shape the modern history of freedom. Naturally the concept of freedom in modernity is clearly different from the Christian understanding of freedom. Yet it is neither an accident nor secondary that the theological insights of the place of remembering ‘31 October’ have always grown around this doctrine of the justification of sinners and the related four/five soli (sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, solus christus solo verbo) as a freedom issue. Often the specific character of the Reformation concept of freedom is invisible and incomprehensible, and many have been suspicious about the inner freedom (of conscience) because ‘inwardness’ can easily smack of privacy. And yet this inner freedom (of conscience) of each Christian – independent of all external circumstances and founded in God’s Word - has certainly inspired our present-day understanding of human dignity and human rights.
Christian freedom is one essential source of the concepts of human rights and human dignity, although not the only one. This light should not be placed under a bushel just because most Reformation churches fear that personal faith today is not something to raise their public profile.

d) There are also indications that the social fabric of our society does not just derive from fundamental insights of the Reformation but also from the ‘co-evolution of the opponent’ as it is called in confessional research (Udo DiFabio). The Roman Catholic Church has also changed in confrontation with the Reformation and the two confessions have together developed a dynamic of demarcation from each other that, despite all the suffering it caused, has had constructive consequences. The irreconcilable claim to truth of the confessions and the inability to tolerate differing beliefs in one territory led to the harshness of the Thirty Years War, the first European war of religion, (which very soon followed political laws). At the same time, however, this war also led to an understanding of the State and constitution that separated civil rights from religious rights, opened individual freedom of belief and conscience and ushered in the religiously neutral State. The Reformation churches and the Roman Catholic Church have no reason to be proud of the fact that the modern state emerged from their desire to annihilate each other. However, this unintended consequence of the Reformation does entitle us to tell other religions or ideologies about this learning curve of ‘de-fundamentalisation’ - and to do so without any sense of superiority.        

On the whole, however, this – incomplete – view of the fundamental significance of the Reformation for the present leaves me rather perplexed. While it is possible to trace historical effects and highlight imposing historical connections, I still have the impression of being in a good museum.

For example, it is interesting to know that today’s concepts of participation, education, freedom or the rule of law have important roots in the Reformation, but - so what? Realising this perhaps calls forth respect from people interested in origins, perhaps even also gratitude and the impulse to cherish these sources. But is this more than the culture of remembrance? Can this become a genuine place of remembering with relevant messages for the 21st century? Is this somehow about your and my identity today, a sense of identity that goes beyond commemoration and remembering?
 
IV. Shelter in God and the assurance of faith  

The key question in this section is therefore: How do I get beyond the respectful memory of a Reformation that was once so imposing? How do I get a relevant Reformation anniversary? With a de facto strangeness of the topic and the language, its largely incomprehensible message of justification and its culture of memory pointing to the museum – the relevance of the Reformation for today is increasingly being pushed to the sidelines. And let us face the facts: it is the centrepiece of the Reformation itself, the teaching of the sinful person freed in faith by God alone, by grace alone, by Jesus Christ alone, that increasingly seems to be an ineffectual message for the 21st century. That is reflected in a decline in commitment to the churches. The longstanding plausibility of the Christian faith they proclaim seems to be losing ground, also because the quantity of indifference seems to be turning into a quality of uncertainty. The former main religion has become one that is still widespread but by no means predominant. And in fact the plurality of religions puts the role of Christianity in perspective; the latest study of German church membership (V. KMU) shows an aging of our Protestant church that evokes great concern about its future substance. This ‘decline’ is scary, causing us to doubt ourselves and the substance of our own faith; and this feeling of uncertainty is often to be found among pastors as well.

a) In spiritually uncertain times, however, our Reformation churches easily fall into a relevance trap. That means the tendency to underline one’s own relevance in proportion to the growing indifference. We develop arguments about the values we represent or the social capital we make available, the charitable activities we organise etc. And although our society would suffer if the churches withdrew from these activities, a ‘diaconalisation’ of relevance cannot strengthen faith. That is because the (useful) functions of a faith are not faith but functions! Without faith there remains an external husk, a perhaps meaningful action or a plausible gesture, but faith in God, hope in Christ and trust in Scripture are lost. So with respect to the place of remembrance ‘31 October 2017’ the question arises as to whether the Reformation churches can find their way back to a spiritual outreach that highlights the driving force of all their actions. The central challenge for 2017 in my view lies in a spiritual power of persuasion that takes up the yearning for God, for the holy, for spirituality and inwardness. But how can this vital relevance of Reformation insights unfold today?

b) When we read the relevant literature on Luther and the Reformation we see: this generation arose in an extremely insecure world and belonged to a church we could call spiritually and theologically hyperactive. The things of God were largely predefined and administered. There was an indulgence for every occasion in life, a saint, a side altar or a series of prayers. Doubt, perplexity and personal problems received consolation, and spirituality was strongly ritualised. The world instilled fear in people – and so did God. After the death of Jan Hus in 1415 almost 100 years went by with all kinds of queries, doubts and scepticism, but the church’s usual response was to resist them. Around 1500 a profound uneasiness developed in academic circles and (scholastic) theology, not least promoted by the rise of Humanism. And although around 1500 there was also a very serious and deep-seated spirituality (see the ‘observant monasteries’), there was enormous competition between the places of pilgrimage with their inflationary ostentation of miracles, their bizarre mega-events, their collection of bizarre relics (‘Jesus’ diapers’) and the always exalted forms of indulgences. All this rendered spirituality banal, commercialized and trivial. Is there any parallel with the present? Honi soit qui mal y pense! Perhaps our generation, 500 years after the Reformation, is again in a kind of pre-Reformation situation?

c) In this context of fear, Martin Luther found the heart of his desired reform in the reply to his question “how can I find a gracious God?”  He rediscovered God as a God showing mercy in Christ. And Luther‘s specific reply to this question strengthened the inner person, liberating him or her from the fears and narrowness of the age; the soul was no longer standing before a God who was supposed to be just but was certainly judgemental. Now human beings came before a God who is merciful, gracious and of boundless goodness. And this turning away from fear leads me to my core thesis regarding the current relevance of the Reformation today and in future: the continuing link leading back to the Reformation period is human beings themselves, with all their anxieties; while their fears in the 21st century have become more worldly and more inward they are just as great as they were in the 16th century.

Thinking back to the beginnings of the Reformation opens up a change of direction towards freedom from fear. Thinking about the Reformation as a place of remembrance means talking about allaying fear here and now. That is because the Reformation ushered in a new era in which vital life questions could be considered in the new light of a gracious freedom from fear. And this reduction of fear was, and still is, expressed in many theological aspects of the doctrine of justification. It was included in the ontological view of what it means to be human and in the more rational understanding of the world. It came into singing hymns and playing music and to this day we hear these reassuring tones in pastoral care and preaching, in ritual and in political positioning. And ultimately this allaying of fear follows on from those great liberations that started so long ago with Israel’s exodus from Egypt and became final with Christ’s exit from death. If there is a message in, with and among all Reformation insights for the present, then in my view it is this: returning to a merciful God means abandoning the fear of this and the next world; it opens up a new beginning for action in the world and taking responsibility for the planet. Or again: shaking off fear is linked to returning to God, no longer fearing the world, neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation (Rom 8:38f).

d) The vital relevance of the 2017 message can be examined by adapting an Ancient Greek saying: show me your fears and I will tell you your freedom in faith. Many of the daily political events we get worked up about, and respond to narrowly and anxiously, reflect more profound truths: be it the closing of borders for refugees or the unfortunate ‘Christian’ backlash in the German group defending the values of the ‘Christian West’ (PEGIDA), the discovery that our educational system is not so effective (see the OECD study known as PISA) or the family dramas of the present – all these phenomena seem to point to something that the great Danish theologian of the 19th century, Sören Kierkegaard, characterised as follows: anxious sinners try either ‘desperately to be themselves’ or ‘desperately not to be themselves’ (The Concept of Anxiety, 1844). While some try desperately not to be themselves in order to prove the diaconal relevance of the ‘federal agency for values’ or as a ‘supplier of social capital’, others strive to survive by desperately being themselves, i.e. by holding fast to dogmatic traditions, incomprehensible confessional matters and organisational habits. One exaggerates something and the other neglects it - and both reflect a deep-seated, existential fear. It is not about instrumentalising anxieties but interpreting them; of course there is a lot of justification for many fears that preoccupy our generation, be they the fears of economic decline, of environmental disasters, continual acceleration or quite elementary, timeless fears in love and loyalty, in friendship and fairness. It is not about a superficial “German Angst”, but about fears of depth, as described e.g. by Annette Pehnt in her lexicon of fear (Lexikon der Angst): fears of silence and stillness, fears of being torn apart and emptiness, of the inability to love and subjection to love. It is not about eliminating fears but purifying them, ‘baptising’ them, so that they do not shake us but we learn from them.

e) How do we enter into conversation with ourselves and society about this in-depth dimension? The anniversary in 2017 needs and deserves a discussion about the relevance of Reformation insights for life. If, however, allaying fear is the healing message of the gracious God in the 21th century as well, then we must conduct the conversation about God and God’s goodness anew. God is the only and eternal reply to our fears. God’s presence in us can liberate and console us and lead us out of fearful captivities. But for this message we need new paths, new language, new areas of experience, which is why the basic or meta-narrative of the 2017 Reformation anniversary interprets the ‘semper reformanda’ theologically: rethinking God, rediscovering God, celebrating God again, bringing God into our conversation in new ways in this society. That is the central idea behind the narrative with which the 2017 anniversary can be planned. The little word ‘new’ describes the ways, not God as such – but now we are in the middle of the …

V. Presentation on experiencing God in new ways (“Gott neu”) - in German

Footnote

1 Der sogenannte historische Jesus und der geschichtliche, biblische Christus.