At 02:48 PM 09/21/2000 -0400, george murphy wrote:
I had said:
>> Insofar as Bonhoeffer
>> was a Lutheran (and there is some dispute over this),
And George responded:
> There is no serious doubt about this - unless being "Lutheran"
means that
>one is not allowed
>to point out any shortcomings in traditional Lutheran views.
Actually, there has been some spirited debate among Bonhoeffer scholars the
last 15 years or so over Bonheoffer's theological lineage. He evidently
was raised in a family that spent some time associated with the Swiss
Reformed Church -- and Bonhoeffer was deeply influenced early on by the
writings of Karl Barth. Part of the debate arises from the lack of
American-style "denominations" in Europe until the second half of the 20th
century, so it's not as easy to place Bonhoeffer.
Then, unfortunately for me, George also added:
> The Lutheran Orthodoxy of the 17th & early 18th century
insisted upon
>the inspiration of the text of scripture itself. E.g., Hollaz (in Schmid,
p.45),
>"All the words, without exception, contained in the Holy Manuscript, were
dictated
>by the Holy Spirit to the pen of the prophets and apostles." For some of the
>orthodox dogmaticians this included inspiration even of the Masoertic vowel
>points.
> Note - I am not arguing that these ideas are correct, or that
they
>represent the best of the Lutheran tradition. But they are a significant
part of
>that tradition.
Having transgressed the limits of my own knowledge, I stand corrected.
Thanks, George. It turns out that not only Hollaz, but also Balthasar
Meisner and Abraham Calov, said approximately the same thing. If I
remember correctly, however, Meisner and Calov are later representatives of
Lutheran Orthodoxy (I don't know Hollaz' dates), and I don't recall the
early guys (like Gerhard and Chytraeus) talking that way; perhaps the later
writers were already coming under the influence of Reformed thought. But
I don't know this theological time period as well as I should, and I could
well be wrong. Anyway, I appreciate the correction, George.
Ain't chatting up Lutheran minutiae fun?
Tom Pearson
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Thomas D. Pearson
Department of History & Philosophy
The University of Texas-Pan American
Edinburg, Texas
e-mail: pearson@panam1.panam.edu
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