Kierkegaard and Luther

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Sren Kierkegaard denounced nineteenth-century Danish Lutheranism for exploiting Martin Luther's doctrine of justification "without works" as justification for an antinomian easy life. Kierkegaard saw his own writing as a corrective: I have wanted to prevent people in Christendom from existentially taking in vain Luther and the significance of Luther's life. In 1847, Kierkegaard began an eight-year reading of Luthers sermons, forking through them for extracts to confirm his theological corrective rather than to comprehend the breadth of Luthers thought. While he found much to laud, Kierkegaard also found much to lance, privately commenting that Luther was partially responsible for what he considered the problematic Lutheranism of his own day. Furthermore, David Coe argues, Kierkegaard was unaware that his copy of Luther's church and house postils was a heavily abridged edition of extracts from those postils. Therefore, his appraisal of Luther begs to be investigated. Kierkegaard and Luther examines the Luther sermons Kierkegaard read, what he praised and criticized, missed, and misjudged of Luther, and spotlights the concord these two Lutheran giants actually shared, namely, the negative yet necessary role that Christian suffering (Anfechtung/Anfgtelse) plays in Christian faith and life.

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Martin Luther's influence on Sren Kierkegaard is undeniable, yet the specific details of that influence have been underdeveloped in the scholarly literature. Coe (theology and philosophy, Concordia Univ., Nebraska) aims to fill that gap by offering a careful reading of Kierkegaard's writings on Luther alongside a deep engagement with the Lutheran source texts Kierkegaard drew from and commented on. Coe's argument is sophisticated, and his scholarship is impeccable. The book is well researched and will likely stand as the most important resource on the Kierkegaard/Luther relationship in the coming decades. The volume is as much about Luther as it is about Kierkegaard. Specifically, Coe compellingly argues that Kierkegaard's understanding of Luther was marked by limitations that should motivate rethinking Kierkegaard's charge that Luther failed to incorporate dialectic into his theology in ways that would protect against the abuses of Danish Lutheranism so prominent in the 19th century. According to Coe, a more robust reading of Luther's texts allows an interpretation of his work that already incorporates the dialectical aspects for which Kierkegaard was looking. Simply put, this book is excellent. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Author Bio

David Lawrence Coe is assistant professor of theology and philosophy at Concordia University, Nebraska.