Friday, September 18, 2009

Viva Vox Evangelii: A Necessary Course Correction

Asendorf, Ulrich (tr. Schulz, Klaus Detlev). "Viva Vox Evangelii: A Necessary Course Correction." All Theology Is Christology: Essays in Honor of David P. Scaer. Fort Wayne, IN: Concordia Theological Seminary Press.  2000.  229-241.

This was one of the more challenging articles I have read in a while.  I'm not sure if it has to do with the writing style or possibly the translation.  Maybe it has to do with the content and organization.  But I didn't find myself following it well.

Here's what I got.  Luther's theology viewed the Word of God as that which is proclaimed, an heraldic call.  He would understand that the proper medium for use of the Scripture is in preaching.  This was a radical departure from Scholasticism.  It has influenced our view of Scripture and biblical scholarship since the time of Luther until recent times.

In more recent generations the rise of biblical scholarship which asserts itself in the historical-critical method has eroded this proper use of Scripture.  Possibly the idea of studying Scripture in order to systematize it into topical theologies would be a similar approach, which departs from the use of Scripture as that which confronts us with the power of God.  The historical critical method and other such scholarships seem to use Scripture as that which should be studied and dissected, though not apparently to any purpose other than the study and dissection itself.

Assendorf spends a good portion of the article explaining how Luther viewed Genesis 3.15 as foundational to all Scripture in that it forces the reader to understand the Bible in terms of Christ's atonement for sin.

It appears that the final analysis is that the Christian Church has tended to depart from this view of the Scripture which was rightly held by Luther. 

I don't know if I followed this article adequately to report it well.  Hope I did.

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