From ELCA Archives. Papal indulgence, 1516. Presented to Lutheran Church Productions, producers of the Martin Luther film by German Lutherfilm, GmBH and the German National Committee of the Lutheran Word Federation in 1954.
A pastoral and theological tour de force The Reformation effectively confronted politics, economy and church, but not because the reformers were political scientists, economists or cardinals. They were plain and simple shepherds of God’s flock who knew the liberating power of the word of God and trusted the efficacy of the work of the Spirit active in love.
Spirituality determined the worldly impact of the Ref- ormation. The Spirit set the reformers free to accept the liberating power of sheer grace to announce, amid trials and tribulations, that this grace cannot be bought, cannot be sold, and cannot but be embod- ied and commune with the stuff of this world.
The genius of Luther and other reformers was to sustain, through and through, this communion, a
communication between Spirit and the flesh, the evangelical event and social realities, justification and justice, God’s presence and the care for a world that is passing.
Or as Luther said eloquently: “If our gospel is the true light, then it must truly shine in darkness … if we want to transform the world, then we must go out into the world or create another world which will do whatever we, or God wants” (Luther’s Works, Weimar edition, 51, 409, 27ff).
Vítor Westhelle is professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. His book, Transfiguring Luther: The Planetary Promise of Luther’s Theology, will be published this fall by Cascade.
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