Reformation scholar decries portrayal
of Luther by many as a political ‘quietist’

PHILADELPHIA (May 9, 2003) In some circles Reformer Martin Luther is portrayed as a political quietist, leaving a legacy for the modern church of being unsympathetic to political and social movements and fostering the impression that the Lutheran Church "remains the Conservative Party at Prayer," Reformation scholar Dr. Carter Lindberg told an audience this week at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

On the contrary, Lindberg said, Luther contributed profoundly to the understanding of ethics and poverty in his day, to the extent that he "facilitated systemic and structural change." Lindberg, a professor emeritus from the Boston University School of Theology, discussed "Faith Active in Love" at a convocation that was a highlight of special events on the theme "Theological Education for Public Witness for the 2002-03 academic year. Introduced as an "outstanding Reformation scholar" by Ministerium of Pennsylvania Professor Timothy Wengert, Lindberg is the author of The European Reformations (Blackwell, 1996), a text Wengert uses extensively in the courses he teaches at LTSP.

Lindberg, center, with Professor Timothy Wengert, left, and Dean J. Paul Rajashekar.

Lindberg, speaking gently in plain language, frequently interrupted himself with sprinkles of humor. He traced an evolving understanding of the poor through the ages from the dawn of Roman civilization through the time of Luther and beyond. These views have sometimes been "less than helpful," Lindberg said. They include ideas dating from Roman civilization that the poor are lazy and notions that "external conditions test internal character" and that the degree of property ownership confers rank in the culture. Many contemporary attitudes toward the poor are rooted in classical and biblical heritage, Lindberg noted. These views include Russell Conwell’s ideas contained in the volume Acres of Diamonds that the poor are made poor by their own shortcomings, a view that Lindberg said is the basis for the "litany of compassionate conservatives." Jesus, on the other hand, Lindberg said, "proclaimed the great reversal – that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, a biblical critique of power and riches."

A Medieval view defined God as favoring the poor, and that almsgiving to charity was a way "the poor could atone for their sins," Lindberg said. With the view came the attitude God "made the poor as an opportunity for the rich" to atone, he said. Begging for a time became a vocation both for the involuntary poor and the voluntary poor who became part of mendicant orders. During the 16^th century poverty became seen not as a virtue but a problem with high percentages of the pre-industrial population without property and suffering with malnutrition. Cities began to legislate begging ordinances with the intent of forcing beggars to work or to register and wear identification as beggars. Lindberg noted that clergy of the day were so poor they were regularly involved in begging practices.

When Luther penned the 95 theses in 1517, he harshly critiqued the practice of indulgences, payments to the church to earn points toward salvation, as being at the heart of an effort by the rich to find an escape hatch to heaven. He also railed against the practice of usury, lending money at interest to people in need. The theses "condemned ecclesiastical back-scratching," Lindberg said. Luther also wrote much about the commandment to love and serve one’s neighbor. And he connected such service to the meaning of worship and eucharist, Lindberg said. Luther’s emphasis on serving the neighbor led to legislation in a number of German towns creating a common chest with resources to benefit those in need. "The focus changed to using resources to help others rather than accruing merits yourself for salvation," Lindberg said. Other forms of legislation discouraged begging and encouraged those able to work to fulfill their responsibility to do so.

Luther’s theological view led to social change, Lindberg said. "Luther taught that God comes down to us," Lindberg said. "Through justification by grace alone, salvation became the foundation of life rather than the goal of life. God descends to where you are, not the other way around. Believers became freed from ideology so they could serve their neighbor. The poor did not have a peculiar form of blessedness. Being poor had no salvivic value. It was just a bummer, not a good thing." Luther taught a view that shifted believers from focusing on "striving for heaven to a focus on this world. We become free to be the kinds of humans that God intended." Lindberg said that meant concentrating on securing basic needs for one’s neighbor and rejecting medieval attitudes about poverty. "The problem is not money or property," Lindberg said, "but rather how it is used." A further problem is what he called "the piety of achievement." In this spirit Lindberg said Luther wrote that "after the devil, there is no greater enemy than a miser or usurer" who strives to have "everyone depend on him as if he were God….Big thieves hang little thieves…Big fish eat little fish." Luther was so concerned about these practices he called for government regulation of big business to provide for reason and equity in society. The common chest process reflected the good order Luther advocated for. It was administered by a council elected annually and designed to include both wealthy and connected persons and peasants. The chest was administered by the keeping of three record books puts kept under lock and key with the chest housed in church to discourage gossip. One handle was removed so the chest could not be moved easily, Lindberg said. Luther also wrote that a key to measuring the character of a society could be determined by how it treats the elderly and its youth through the administering of a common chest.

Lindberg concluded by addressing "9.5 theses" that summarize Luther’s key contributions. They included the notions that Luther was a radical concerned about systemic change and not a conservative. That government economic controls and legislation are key to stemming the tide of poverty and structuring reforms against injustice. That salvation is not a goal of life, but rather a foundation of it. That all efforts at "self-salvation" are useless. "No political system is redemptive. No economic system is redemptive. Poverty is not redemptive. Luther unmasks any claim that wealth and power are redemptive." Hence any energy directed toward acquiring wealth and capital needs to be redirected to helping the neighbor in this world. "For Luther, faith is expressed by being active in love toward one’s neighbor," Lindberg said.