Tron är aldrig allena ? en undersökning av Kristusföreningsmotivet i den finska Lutherforskningen, med en följande diskussion utifrån deras kritik av modern protestantisk teologi
JustificationSanctificationOntologySubstanceEssenceFormNatureUnionCommunication of attributesAnthropologyEnlightenment philosophyExistentialismCognitionErlebnisKnowledgeRelationIdentityTranscendenceImmanence
In this essay I present an outline and examination of the Finnish Luther research, withan aim to learn more about some different aspects of Luther?s teaching on justificationas sanctification, and sanctification as the growth of the new man. I will also draw myattention to the formal language of metaphysics, as it is continuously employed by Luther to depict the issues and the content of his reformation theology. Apart from the program of research in Helsinki, I have turned to the writings of Luther himself; and I have as well tried to engage in a broader survey of Luther-scholars, some of which seem to, or in fact, support the Finnish interpretation, others which raise a critical stance towards it. The later portion of the essay picks up on the Finnish critique of dominant 19th and 20th century German Lutheran theologians, such as Albrecht Ritschl and Gerhard Ebeling. The Finns trace an influence of enlightenment teaching among thesetheologians, a teaching having incorporated Kant?s separation between immanent andtranscendent. They try to show how conforming Luther?s thought to such a mindset willfail to do justice to ? or even render unacceptable ? an important body of his theological claims, depriving Luther?s theology of it?s own content. To a certain extent I intend toestablish my own impression of these representatives of German theology, and on thisbackdrop I enter into the discussion myself. In the substructure of the theology ensuingthe kantian paradigm the Finns point on the one hand to the aforementioned notion of ahuman cognition incapable of ?real? knowledge, but also to the idea of erlebnis (anexperience) so vital to existentialist thought. The latter will in theology at times appearas a dogmatically somewhat undetermined concept, which yet seem to have to carry a lotof theological weight, if it is used for example as a substitute for a theologically informedanthropology dealing with the nature ? or the nature of spiritual growth ? of the humanbeing.Following the Finnish critique I fashion a rudimentary sketch of this modern-theologycomplex and try to perceive how and in what instances or attitudes the enlightenmentidiom of a fundamental and non-bridgeable separation between immanent cognition andtranscendent truth may be unravelled as specific theological tensions, or inconsequences.Apart from the continental theologians and philosophers invoked for critique by theFinns I present also a brief survey of 20th century Swedish theology in order to find whatmight be summoned from here to the issue of sanctification. In this section I will alsohave a closer look at Gustaf Wingren and his antagonist Torgny Bohlin in a controversywhere I suspect an effect of such a putative theological tension may perhaps be visible.