CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL , . QUARTERLY -- I Volume 41 Number 4 R it;?p 1. - O~X:~ LJ FivQl Announcements ....................................... 1 A Reformation Hymn .................. 6 ......... Why Did the Reformation Succeed C. George Fry 7 Was E rasmus Responsible ...................... for Luther Terrence M. Reynolds 18 Conflicting Models of Ministry - Luther, Karlstadt, and Muentzer ....... Carter Lindberg 35 Proclaiming Freedom in Church ........................... and State Henry J . Eggold 51 The Crisis in Biblical Authority: .................... A Historical Analysis Steven Hein 61 Theological Observer .................................. 78 Homiletical Studies .................................... 79 Book Reviews ......................................... 88 ....................................... Books Received 117 Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana Conflicting Models of Ministry -Luther, Karlstadt, and Muentzer Carter Lindberg Boston University School of Theology This discussion of conflicting models of ministry among theologians of the Reformation era will focus on Luther, Karlstadt, and Muntzer as they developed through 1525. The magnitude of this task is such that the author hastens to appropriate the disclaimer of Thomas Carlyle: "Listening from the distance of centuries across the dead chasms and howling kingdoms of decay, it is not easy to catch everything."' Karlstadt and Muntzer were, respectively, Luther's colleague and an early Martinian during the formative years of the Reformation; but their alternative visions of ministry led to open conflict with Luther. The year 1525 is our terminus ad quem because by this time Karlstadt had developed his theology of ministry to a level of practice which led to his expulsion from Electoral Saxony. Always more rigorous than Karlstadt, Miintzer suffered execution in 1525. It would be another decade before the "normalization" of ministry through examination and ordination. However, while the problems of the institutionalization of both church and ministry continued to occupy the theologians of the Lutheran &formation into the first half of the seventeenth century, it is our contention that the major alternative models of ministry were fully present and rejected by Luther by 1525. By this time the educated priests (sacerdotes Iitterati) who had become Luther's followers were being supplemented by men from the younger generation. These men were coming into the ministry via the Wittenberg faculty of theology." Thus by 1525 there is a shift from the problems of conflicting models of ministry to the growing realization of the need to inculcate the understanding of ministry in the older simple priests or lower clergy3 and to institutionalize the training of younger men aspiring to the ministry. I. Theory Our basic presupposition in approaching the concepts of ministry developed by Luther, Karlstadt, and Muntzer is that their models of ministry were theologically determined. Therefore, their conflicting models of ministry were the results of conflicting theological orientations which become explicit 36 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY through particular historical occasions. Since time does not allow us the luxury of detailed examination of their theologies, I propose typing their theologies in terms of responses to the fundamental question: Where does fellowship with God occur, on God's level or ours? The goal for all Christians is, of course, fellowship with God. But how is that fellowship, that goal reached? The answer to this question not only delineates alternative theories of salvation but also alternative practices of ministry. Throughout Luther's reforming career he never departed from his bedrock conviction that the gospel is good news because it is the proclamation that fellowship with God occurs on the human, not the divine level. The famous phrases "sola gratia" and "sola fide" express the divine acceptance of the person on the level of the human, not the divine. Expressed diagram- matically, Luther asserts God's descent to the level of persons against all theologies of ascent-no matter how grace-filled-of the person to the level of the divine.' Thus, from his early "Disputation Against Scholastic Theology" (1517) to the end of his life, Luther never tired of the phrase "Let God be God." To "Let God be God allows the person to become human (i.e., to cease struggling to become what he or she was never intended to be-divine). Righteousness, then, is never an intrinsic capacity or possession of the Christian but a continuous promise and gift. Thus, the Christian " . . . is at the same time both a sinner and a righteous man; a sinner in fact, but a righteous man by the sure imputation and pdse of God that He will continue to deliver him from sin until He has com- pletely cured him. And thus he is entirely healthy in hope, but in fad he is still a sinner . . .05 Luther thus opposed all fonns of ascent to God whether they be ethical, mystical, or sacramental. He was a thoroughgoing i~carnntionalist.~ For Luther, then, "true Christian theology" always begins " . . . where Christ began-in the Virgin's womb, in the manger, and at his mother's breast . . . He wanted us to fix the gaze of our hearts upon Himself and thus prevent us from clambering into heaven and speculating about the Divine Majesty. , 9 Church and ministry, then, are continuing incarnations of this living Word of God.Vhus, while some psychological in- terpretations of Luther have referred to him as an anal per- sonality, the theological interpretation of Luther insists that he was thoroughly oral/aural. In his double-fronted war against both the Roman establishment and the "Schwarmer" such as Karlstadt and Muntzer, Luther always proclaimed "the Word, the Word, the Word," for "Even if Christ were given for us and crucified a thousand times, it would aU be in vain if the Word of God were Conflicting Models of Ministry-Luther, Karlstadt, and Muentzer 37 absent and were not distributed and given to me with the bidding, this is for you, take what is yours." If the Word is the key to Luther's theology and ministry, the Law is the key to Karlstadt's. Three years Luther's senior, Karlstadt was already regarded as a promising Thomistic theologian when Luther arrived at Wittenberg. Karlstadt's theological conversion and collegdity with Luther in the early period of the Reformation is expressed in his manifesto of Augustinian theology, the 151 Theses. lo The momentousness of Karlstadt's "theological conversion" should not be underrated for it meant not only a major turn in his theology, but also the repudiation of ten years of scholarly labor and publications. The latter would be a stumbling block to a professor in any age! In contrast to Luther's theology of justification by grace alone through faith alone, Karlstadt developed a theology of regeneration. For Luther the Christian always remained simultaneously sinner and righteous, unable to fdfill the law in himself but rat her appropriating Christ's fulfillment pro me, pro nobis through faith. In contrast Karlstadt's theology seems to have been more determined by a theological shift from Thomist to Augustinian thought. While this was not without personal reZigious significance for Karlstadt, his theology did remain within Augustinian motifs such as letter and spirit, good and evil, with an emphasis upon inner renewal and obedience to the Christ in me, in nobis. Like Luther He saw forgiveness through Christ's atonement as an integral part of his theology, but unlike Luther he focused on self-mortification and inner regeneration. So Barge referred to Karlstadt as "the champion of lay Christian puritanism. " Luther's dialectic of law and gospel is rejected by Karlstadt in favor of an emphasis upon the law as the revelation of the good to be fulfilled. In terms of our fundamental question, Karlstadt views regeneration of the Christian through life according to the law as the means of an ascent to fellowship with God. Whereas Luther spoke of the Christian "simul iustus et peccator," Karlstadt already in his 151 Theses used the phrase "simul bonus et malu~."~~ And in his early 1522 tract on the abolition of images Karlstadt urged: Dear Brothers, God preserve you from these heretical sermons and words; so that you do not say: We do not follow the old law or do not accept it; for that is un- christian, and breaks and diminishes the teaching of Christ. For Christ proves his teaching out of Moses and the prophets, and says that he has come not to break the law but rather to fulfill it. " "In his last work against Luther, he mocked Luther for sup- 38 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY posing that his works should remain uncensured provided his doctrine was correct. Genuine faith leads to self- mortification and a new life of righteousness." Like Luther and Karlstadt, Miintzer was and remained a theologian and preacher. l6 However, Miintzer's work was compressed into the few years between 1521 and 1525. These years were marked by polemical and physical violence culminating in his execution. Thus, the controversial nature of his person and work make him diffiiult to assess. Approximately five years younger than Luther, Miintzer was a well educated priest. From 1514 on, he was priest at a smaII monastery near Halle by the name of Frohse. It is argued that the indulgence controversy initiated by Luther prompted Miintzer to give up this post in the fall of 1518. There is the possibility that Mfintzer had the opportunity of spending four or five months in Wittenberg, becoming involved in the "Wittenberg circle. " Although Mhtzer himself tells us nothing of his personal impression of Luther in these months, Elliger says, "Without doubt, Pdiintzer now stepped forth with con- viction to Luther's side; and yet it must for the time being remain an open question how far he really correctly understood the core Reformation concepts of this man." l7 At any rate, Luther considered him a reliable candidate for the ministry in Zwickau to which he recommended him as a good man "at- tentive to the work of grace." l8 During his year in Zwickau (1520), Muntzer's theological divergence from Luther began to emerge. In distinction from Luther's emphasis upon the Word, Miintzer intensified Karlstadt's focus on the Law through a hermeneutic of the Spirit. He does not deny that the Bible is the Word of God, but it is a word of the past which needs actualization through a new word of the Spirit. Miintzer's theology of the Spirit replaces Luther's theology of the Word. Miintzer's involvement in the civic crises of Zwickau prompted his departure at the very time Luther was before the Diet of Worms (April, 1521). Muntzer now was once more on the road-this time to Bohemia in hopes of a receptive Hussite audience. The first clear expression of Muntzer's break with Luther is his "Prague Manifesto" of 1521. The Bohemians are called not to a human, created theology but rather to a direct, living Word of God from God's own mouth. Ig God's will and law are manifest in the elect through the Spirit. Thus, Spirit, Law, and Word at times appear identical. 20 This theme of the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord remains in Muntzer from the "Prague Manifesto" through to his last tract against Luther. To return once more to our fundamental question of fellowship with God, we find that the answer of Miintzer bears Conflicting Models of Ministry-Luther. Karlstadt, and Muentzer 39 formal similarity to that of Karlstadt. There is a "strong ascetic- puritanical ethos" in Miintzer' s preaching of inner mortification as the preparation for fellowship with God. Thus, he is fond of the image of the sharp ploughshare preparing the heart as a field for its crop of faith. "No, dear man, you must suffer and know how God roots out of your fruitful land the weeds, thistles, and thorns, that is, out of your heart . . .You must suffer the sharp pl~ughshare."~~ This will deify and transform us "completely into God, so that earthly life is ruled from heaven."23 11. From Theory to Practice We have argued that the conflicting models of ministry in the early years of the Lutheran Reformation stemmed from con- flict& theologies. We have. for the sake of clarity and con- venience, typed these conflicting theologies in the shorthand of Word, Law, and Spirit. Luther's theological position consists essentially in the conviction that salvation is not the process or goal of life, but rather its presupposition. The sinner turned in upon the self is freely accepted by the merciful God. This ac- ceptance is so radical that there are no religious or ethical prerequisites to salvation. Since salvation is now the basis for life rather than its goal, Luther's theology stands in stark opposition to that of Karlstadt and Miil~tzer. This opposition is expressed in Luther's dialectic of Law and Gospel, a distinction which to Luther was the only protection from the aberrations and distortions of life which he saw equally in the Roman establishment and in the Schwarmer. "" We can now turn to cases where these theological conflicts exploded into actual conflicts of ministry. We shall first look at the conflict between Luther and Karlstadt and then at that between Luther and Mbtzer . Luther and Karlstadt Following the Diet of Worms and the Imperial Ban against Luther, Elector Frederick chose the "better part of valor" and had Luther "captured and put in protective custody at the Wartburg. The situation in Wittenberg became increasingly volatile. Luther had disappeared and nunors of his death were rampant. There was a groundswell of popular clamor for im- mediate reform, but Frederick, among others, was concerned about outside intervention if developments in Wittenberg got out of hand. There was the appearance of "outside agitators" from Zwickau, a town already tom by riots, which as already mentioned had led to MCmntwr's departure. Known as the 40 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY Zwickau prophets, these men seriously disturbed clergy and citizens- including Melancht hon - with their accounts of apocalyptic visions and claims of voices from God. Inside agitators such as Gabriel Zwilling, an Augustinian known as the "second Luther," disrupted the cloister and successfullv urged many monks to leave. To add to the Elector's troubles the city schools closed, and his pride and joy, the university, was threatened with collapse. Within a year matriculation dropped by about fifty percent as students, less than pleased with "left-leaning" faculty members and the intrusion of "spiritualism" went elsewhere to get the education for which they were paying. The leadership gap left by Luther's absence and Melan- chthon's vacillation was filled by Karlstadt. In a series of tracts and actions Karlstadt now began to put into practice what Luther had so forcefully propounded in the immediate past. An important point on Karhtadt's agenda was reform of the Mass. In July he argued that "Those who partake of the bread and wine are not Bohemians but true Christians. He who receives only the bread, in my opinion, commits sin."25 Luther had already spoken his mind against the withholding of the wine, but he could not claim that reception of both kinds was an absolute necessity. Zwilling now attacked the Mass in his sermons. On August 13, the Augustinians under Zwilling's leadership, ceased to celebrate Mass. The crisis was at hand. Anticlerical violence began. At first Karh tadt counseled caution, but then advocated mandatory reforms. In the next weeks a commission to the Elector sub- mitted a report favoring immediate reform in line with the new theology. In December a petition to the Town Council requested amnesty for the rioters and reforms in liturgy and ethics. The Elector's view was that this was not the time for innovation. On December 22 Karlstadt announced his intention to in- novate at his next Mass, scheduled for January 1. The Elector sent word that he should do no such thing. Karlstadt responded that, in that case, he would do it on Christmas Day. This decision may have been less bull-headedness on Karhtadt's part than an attempt to forestall another riot. Certainly what was most important for Karlstadt was that the mandates of God take precedence over the concerns of persons, including any "false" compassion on the part of the pastor for his congregation's weakness. To Karlstadt grace was "costly, " for it meant being in step with Jesus and Scriptural norms rather than with the culture. Christmas Eve was hardly a silent night; gangs roamed the streets, threatened priests, and disrupted services. The next day Karlstadt celebrated communion without vestments. Dressed as a layman, he pronounced the con- Conflicting Models of Ministry-Luther. Karlstadt, and Muentzer 4 1 secration in German and distributed communion in both kinds. To say the least, it was a sensation! The next item on Karlstadt's agenda was the removal of images. He had been preaching that the Old Testament law forbade images, and he kept up the pressure until the council named a day for the removal of images. The result was more violence and disorder. Now he wrote one of his most influential tracts, "On the Abolition of Images." On page after page he contended that images are against the &st commandment. There is no excuse in the claim that an image, even the crucifix, points beyond itself to God. Christians are to abolish images just as was done in the Old Testament when the altars were smashed and overturned. For Christ is the continuation of the Old Testament law, and God forbids images no less than murder, robbery, adultery, and the like. Since the priests have perverted God's Law and hindered the faithful, the magistrates should follow the example of King Josiah and forcibly reform the church. 26 The Diet of Nurnberg had specifically criticized Saxony for innovation so Frederick was hardly about to follow Karlstadt. Melanchthon was told to silence Zwilling, and Karlstadt was directiy requested to stop preaching. The Town Council was forced to compromise, and Melanchthon came down with a bad case of nerves. He appealed now to Luther to return and restore order. Luther arrived in Wittenberg on Friday, March 6. The following Sunday, Invocavit, he began a series of sermons which lasted the rest of the week. The theme of these sermons is the distinction between an evangelical "may" and a legalistic "must." He began by emphasizing the centrality of the gospel which frees the person from sin and makes him or her a child of God, and then he proceeded to speak of the inseparability of faith and love. This faith, active in love, gives us patience for the neighbor who is not equally strong in faith. His concern. Luther says, is not with the reforms initiated but rather with their haste and compulsion. I would not have gone so far as you have done, if I had been here. The cause is good, but there has been too much haste. For there are still brothers and sisters on the other side who belong to us and must still be won. 27 Luther notes that the sacrifice of order and the consequent offense to the weak resulted from making a "must" out of what is free. Faith is a free gift to which no one can be constmmed. Certainly he opposed the papists, but only with God's Word, not with force. . . . I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself, for 4 2 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends, Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. Had I desired to foment trouble, I could have brought great bloodshed upon Germany; indeed I could have started such a game that even the emperor would not have been safe. But what would it have been? Mere fool's play. 28 Luther argued that forced reform changed the good news into bad ~:t.\~s that. is. gospel into law. The history of the church shows, he argued, that one law quickly leads to thousands of laws. Furthermore, rushing about smashing altars and destroying images is counterproductive, for it only sets images more firmly in people's hearts. Only God's Word can capture people's hearts and enlighten their minds. Compulsive zeal not only offends the weak, it creates the suspicion that Christian liberty is being flaunted to prove that one is a better Christian than others. 28 The sermons differentiated reformation from puritanism. The abolition of the abuse and the forcible institution of reform, no matter how correct the theology, does violence to ignorant and unconvinced mnsciences. The weak need to be started on pablum and then gradually led to the strong meat of Christian freedom. To do otherwise is to reform only outward things. The effect of these sermons was an almost immediate restoration of order. Innovations ceased for the time being, and so did the violence. Throughout the sermons Luther never mentioned Karlstadt by name. In the following months Karls tadt experienced increasing frustration over what he saw as Luther's gradualism and delay of reform. Indeed, Luther's counsel to consider the weak only served to radicalize Karlstadt . Thus, when the opportunity arose in 1523, he moved to Orlamunde to become the village pastor.30 This position provided Karlstadt with the freedom to proceed with the "reform7 ' frustrated in Wittenberg. Images were removed, infant baptism denied, the eucharist interpreted as a memorial, and liturgical changes introduced. 31 Karlstadt's conviction that Luther's concern for the weak was a form of passive fratricide impelled him to urge that "every community, whether small or large, should see for itself that it acts correctly and well and waits for no one," 32 regardless of the opinions of the authorities. We should take such horrible things (i.e., images) from the weak, and snatch them from their hands, and not Conflicting Models of Ministry -1,uther. Karlstadt, and Muentzer 43 consider whether they cry, call out or curse because of it. The time will come when they who now curse and damn us will thank us . . . Therefore I ask whether, if I should see that a little innocent child holds a sharp pointed knife in his hand and wants to keep it, I would show him brotherly love if I would allow him to keep the dreadful knife as he desires with the result that he would wound or kill himself, or when I would break his will and take the knife? 33 The result was Karlstadt's expulsion from Electoral Saxony and Luther's denunciation of him. Luther and Muntzer At the very time that Luther was quelling the Wittenberg disturbances with the Invocavit sermons Miintzer was for- mulating the same criticism of Luther as was Karlstadt: "Our dearest Martin ads ignorantly because he does not want to offend the little ones . . .'13' Miintzer's concern for an im- passioned and experienced faith was now rapidly growing toward its "mature" expression-the call for the Spirit-led cleansing of the godless, not ody from the temple, but also from the world. In April 1523 he found a base of operation as pastor of the Johanniskirche of Allstedt, a Thiiringian town under the jurisdiction of the Elector of Saxony. By September he had sufficiently alienated the Count of Mansfeld that the latter forbade his people to attend to Muntzer's "heretical mass and preaching." 35 In turn Miintzer now attacked Luther and the Wittenberg "establishment" in his treatises "On Feigned Faith" and "Protestation or Defense of Thomas Miintzer." In these writings and in his "Exposition of Psalm Nineteen" Miintzer made it clear that " 'justification by faith alone'-the center of Wittenberg theology-was an 'invented' doctrine, for Christ had come to fulfill the law." The Holy Spirit converts the sinner into "a willing instrument of God through the 'justification by law.' "36 The first actual step in this direction was Miintzer's organization of a secret military League of the Elect which on March 24, 1524, destroyed the small Mallerbach chapel outside town. The subsequent investigation of this incident by Duke John, the Elector's brother, was indecisive. For, while insisting on punishment of the guilty, both Frederick and John also heeded Luther's underestimation of Miintzer's influence. " CertEtinly Luther did not "perceive any particular fruit of the Allstedtian spirit, except that he wants to do violence and destroy wood and stone. Love, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, have been very little in evidence so far."s8 Yet Luther was still 44 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY convinced that this was a battle of the Word, in which the princes were not to intervene until Muntzer resorted to force. Luther was convinced that "the Antichrist shall be vanquished without human hand. " Thus, Duke John decided to visit Allstedt to find out for himself about Muntzer. This is the context for the famous "Sermon to the Princes." Preaching to Duke John and his advisors in the electoral castle near Allstedt, Miintzer used King Nebuchadnezzar just as Karlstadt had used Josiah as a model for the conduct of rulers. As Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel his advisor, so the Saxon ders should place him, Miintzer, in charge of ushering in the new order. In this appeal to the rulers, Muntzer remains within the classic framework of civil obedience in requesting protection and support. But rather than focusing on the first two verses of the famous Romans 13 passage, he focused on the third and fourth verses, thus presenting the ruler as the servant of God's wrath upon evildoers. 40 There is no evidence of this sermon's immediate effect upon the princes, but it was not long before Miintzer and others were summoned to Weimar. Within a week of his return, Miintzer fled Allstedt. The support of the princes was not forthcoming. It was clear to him that Luther's "false faith" promoted and supported the tyranny of the princes. Muntzer, the minister, clearly understood his real enemy to be not the princes or class division, but Martin Luther, whose model of ministry as Word- hearing stood opposed to Miintzer's model of ministry as Spirit- heart. To Muntzer, Luther was a preacher of a "honey-sweet Christ" who called only for belief without works. This "cheap grace," according to Miintzer, avoids the "bitter Christ" and the discipleship of the cross. Muntzer was now in the final stage of his development. His goal of the christianizing of the world had led him to the point of becoming a "reformer without a church."42 He now fled to Muhlhausen, and from there to Nurnberg and elsewhere, then back again to become involved in the peasants' rebellion. The Peasants' War provided Mbtzer with what he saw as the context for the eschatological battle of the Lord. In his famous exhortation to his old disciples at Allstedt, he called on them to join this battle: "It is time to hunt the knaves down like dogs . . . have no mercy . . . Let not your sword grow cold . . . for it is not your battle but the Lord's. " 43 Miintzer 's attempt to recreate- albeit more rigorously - the disintegrating Medieval concept of the corpus christianum failed because he narrowly concentrated upon the process of salvation. He made this "inner order" the model for reality, the "outer order." He was "not able to break through and overcome the Conflicting Models of Ministry-Luther, Karlstadt, and Muentzer 4 5 Medieval conception of the corpus christianum," but rather only intensified it. As such, he was not a prophet of the new but a priest of the old. 44 I1 I. Conclusions (Theses) 1. The conflicting models of ministry which we have sketched are the result of conflicting theologies. Luther's model of ministry derives from his theology of the Word. 45 Karlstadt's model of ministry, mandating refonn of church life and prac- tice, is the result of his theology of regeneration. Miintzer's model of ministry, leading to the coercion of corsciences, flows from his theology of the Spirit. Neither Karlstadt nor Miintzer could tolerate the weakness and imperfection allowed by Luther's doctrine of the Christian as simul iustus et peccator. 46 2. Diagrammatically expressed, the theological and therefore ministerial conflicts between these men focus in the question of whether salvation is understood as God's descent to the person or the person's ascent to God. Here Luther opposed Karlstadt and Miintzer on the basis that the conscience may not be bound through human laws and salvation, may not be made dependent upon the fulfillment of these laws. 3. From a formal theological point of view KarIstadt and Miintzer did not differ. Both emphasized a church and ministry known by its fruits. For Karlstadt, the boundary between fleshly and Spiritual Christians is to be clearly visible to human eyes. 48 4. However, in terms of material ministry, Karlstadt did not progress to the level of Mhntzer, although Luther was convinced that Karlstadt ' s theology implied Miintzer's radicalized ministry. 4g 5. The conflict between Luther and Karlstadt was not primarily one of strategy and tactics but of conflicting theologies . 6. Miintzer's model of ministry with its locus in a "Spirit- heart" nexus, implying the necessity of becoming a religious virtuoso bears a strong resemblance to Donatism and Medieval itinerant anticlericalism. 51 7. Paradodoxically , Miintzer' s model of ministry, which identifies person and office and demands purity as the precondition for belonging to the elect, effectively undercuts social refonn for no institutions and structures are capable in their corrupt state of facilitating constructive change. Muntzer presents a model of ministry limited to "prophetic" rejection.52 8. While all three of our subjects took their models of ministry quite seriously, Karlstadt and Miintzer were singularly humorless about both themselves and ministry. Luther was free 46 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY to laugh at himself as well as his ministry in a way that Karlstadt and Miintzer could not. 9. The reason that Luther could drink his good Wittenberg beer and have a good time with his friends was that he believed the Word would do all. That is, his trust in the transcendent Word provided perspective on humanness. 10. This emphasis upon the Word in Luther's model of ministry also relativized all human structures, thereby freeing them from ideology for service to the neighbor. Thus, the gospel is professed "with hand and mouth."54 In other words, the Christian is to take seriously the task of world-building with the insight that every culture, every system of justice, and every political structure is only relative and instrumental for the humanization of persons. For Luther, faith alone grants the security to live within the insecurity of relative structures. It is only by faith that persons can avoid the defensive smctification of past, present, or future goods and values. Faith enables persons to be persons because it lets God be God. 11. Finally Luther contributed to the shape of Protestantism through his "pastoral ecclesiology . " The pastor, not the Landeskirche, "was the direct ecclesiastical result of the Lutheran Reformation. " 55 12. On this note we once again turn to Carlyle to distinguish Luther's model of ministry from those of Karlstadt and Miintzer. Regarding Luther, Carlyle said: "He had to work an epic poem, not write one." 56 FOOTNOTES 1. Quoted by L. W. Spitz, The Renaissance and Refonnation Movements (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1961), p. 547. 2. The first of these was Georg Rorer, ohbed by Luther kndf in 1525. Cf. Hellmut Lieberg, Amt und Ordination bei Luther und Mehchthon. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 19621, pp. 182f. For the formetion of Lutheran pastors cf. Bernhard &us, "Sde Herkunft und theologische Bildung Iutherischer Pfarrer der Reformatorischen Friihzeit, " Zeitschrift fir Kirchengeschichte 80 (1969), pp. 22-49. 3. Their perceptions tended to be limited to admhhhtion of the sauament sub utmgue specie end clerical marriage. The depth of the problem of training these men for ministry is revealed by the reqonse of an early Lutheren parson to the question of whether he was teaching the decalogue; he said, "I don't have the book yet" (&us, p. 31). 4. Of the extensive literature see, for example, Steven Went, " 'Homo Viatur': Luther and Late Medieval Theology," in bent, ed., The Reformation in Medievd Perspective. (Chicago: Quadrangle), pp. 142- 154; Kenneth Hagen, A Theology of Testament in the Young Luther. (Leiden: Brill, 1974); Gerhard Ebeling, Luther An Introduction to His Thought, tr. by B. Wilson. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1970). 5. "Lectures on Romane," 1516. LW 25, p.260; WA 66, p.272, 16ff. 6. "Lectures on Galatians," 1535. LW 26, p.30; WA 40, pp. 75-77: "Therefore whenever you are concerned to think and ect about your Conflicting hlodels of Ministry-Luther. Karlstadt, and Muentzer 47 salvation, you must put away all speculations about the Majesty, all thoughts of works, traditions, and philosophy-indeed, of the Law of God itself. And you must run directly to the manger and the mother's womb, embrace this Infant and Virgin's Child in your arms, and look at Him-born, being nursed, growing up, going about in human society, teaching, dying, rising again, ascending into the heavens, and having authority over all things. In this way you can shake off all terrors and errors, as the sun dispels the clouds. " 7. Ibid., p. 29. 8. "The Ministry in Luther's Theological Perspective," Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Bulletin 1974, No. 1, p.18. Eric Gritsch, "The gospel word is the means of God's grace, without which no man can be saved; it is the constitutive element of the church on earth. "Ministry" means to serve this word; and to serve this word means to mediate God's salvation to mankind. " 9. "Against the HeavenIy Prophets," 1525. LW 40, pp. 212f. Cf. also, Jan Aarts, Die Lehre Martin Luthers Pber das Amt in der Kirche. (Helsinki: Schriften der Luther-Agricola-Gedsdmft, 1972), pp. 290-91. 10. April 1517. Available in a critical edition with commentary by Ernst Kahler , Karlstadt und Augustin: Der Kommentar des Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt zu Augustins Schrift de Spintu et Litera. (Niemayer, Halle- Saale): 1952, pp. 8'-37*. In May, Luther wrote to Lang, "Our theology and St. Augustine are progressing weII, and with God's help rule at our university." LW 48, pp. 42. 11. Cf. Hermann Barge, Andrea Bodenstein von KarZstadt, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1905; reprint Nieuwkoop, 1968), 1, pp. 182-83, 199, 208; H. J. Hillerbrand, "Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstdt, Prodigal Reformer," Church Jiistory 35(1966), pp. 379-398; and Ronald J. Sider, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt: The Development of His Thought 151 7-1525. (Leiden: Brill, 1974), pp. 212ff. 12. Barge, op. cit., subtitle to volume 2. Cf. aleo my easay "Theory and Practice: Reformation Models of Ministry as Resource for the Present," Lutheran Quarterly 27 (1975), pp. 30-31; and Eric Gritsch, "Luther und die Schwker: Venvorfene Anfechtung?" Luther 47/3 (1976), p. 116: Karlstadt understands by the gospel the becoming grasped (Erfasstwerden) of the faithful throwh the internal indwelling of Christ who gives the Christian power to fulfill the old Law. The Spirit of Christ makes possible the fulfinment of the law in the new Covenant." 13. Thesis 138. Kahler, p. 32*. 14. Von Abtuhung der bylder. . . , ed. by Hans Lietzmann. "Kleine Texte," No. 74. (Bonn, 1911). p. 21. 15. Sider, p. 237. 16. "Through my office I seek to proclaim the name of God, to bring comfort to the troubled, and destNction and sickness to the healthy." "Hoch- vemrsachte Schutzrede," tr. by H. J. Hillerbrand, "Thomas Muentzer's Last Tract Against Martin Luther," Mennonite Quarterly Review 38/1 (19641, p. 30. Cf. the critical edition of Miintar's worh by P. Kirn and G. Franz, Thornus Mhtzer, Schn'j3en wtd Briefe. (Guteraloh, 1968), p. 332, 5-6 (hereafter cited as Franz by page and line). 17. Walter EIliger, Thomas Mkntzer, Leben und Werk. (Gottingen: Van- denhoeck and Ruprecht , second ed., 19'75). p. 53. Elliger sees Miintzer as a student of Luther, p. 7. Cf. Eric Gritach's mriew of this book: 'I. . . to what extent did Luther influence ~htzer? This reviewer agrees with Elliger's thesis that Mhtzer was a disciple of Luther and his attempts at reforming the medieval church rather than a mystic who wanted to realize 48 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY the ancient vision of a union between man and God." Church History 46/3 (1976), p. 382. 18. WA Br 2, pp. 109-110. Quoted by Eric Gritsch, Reformer Without A Church: The Life cmd Thought of Thomas Mlcentrer. (Philadelphia: For- tress, 1967). p. 17. 19. "Yet all the days of my life (God knows, I lie not) I have never been able to get out of any monk or parson the true use of faith, about the profitableness of temptation which prepares for faith in the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord, together with the conditions that each elect must have the sevenfold Holy Ghost. I have not leamed'from any scholar the true Order of God. . .For whoso cannot discern God's Spirit in himself, yea, who has not the assurance of this, is not a member of Chriat, but of the devil. . . The children have asked for bread, but there was nobody to break it to them. But there were many then, as there are now today, who have chucked bread at them, that is the letter of the Word, without breaking it to them. . . They have not explained the true Spirit of the Fear of the Lord which would have taught them they are irrevocably God's children." Quoted by Gordon Rupp, Patterns of Reformation. (Philadelphia; Fortress, 1969), pp. 175-76; Franz, 491, 7-492,26. 20. Cf., for example, the "Princes' Sermon" in Williams and Mergal, eds. Spiritwl and Anabaptist Writers. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957). pp. 53fT.; Franz, pp. 246ff., and the "Hochverursachte Schutzrede," Franz pp. 226,25327, 17. "This identity of conceptualizations is typical of the thought of Miintzer. No doubt it has its roots finally in the unio rnystica and may serve as evidence of the extent to which Miintzer's theological thinking is determined by a mystical experhce of reality beyond all conceptualization." Hans-J&gen Goertz, Innere und Aussere Urdnung in der Theologie Thomas Mtjrtrers. (Leiden: Brill, 19671, 116. 2 1. Thomas N ipperdey, "Theologie and Revolution bei Thomas Miintzer," Archiv fii'r Reformationsgeschichte 54 (1963), p. 172. . 22. "Protestation oder Erbietung," 1524. Franz, pp. 233, 29-245, 4; see also p. 277, 7-8, and "Von dem gedichteten Glauben," 1524, Franz, 218, 5-13, 21-28. 23. "~hgeddickte Entblo"ssung," Franz, p. 281, 22-31. 24. "As often as God's Word is preached, it creates a joyful, open and assured conscience before God; for it is the word of grace and forevenesa . . .But as often as man's word is preached, it creates a troubled, cramped and fearful conscience, for it is the word of law, of anger, and of sin and shows what we have failed to do and how much we have to do." "Lectures on Galatians," 1519. LW 27, p. 164; WA 2, p. 453. 25. "Twenty-four Theses far the Promotion of Christof Haffman," July 19, 1521. Barge, I, p. 291, note 118: Theses 9 and 10. 26. "Von Abtuhung der Bylder. . . ," 1522. Lietzmann, passim but especially pp. 20ff. 27. "Eight Sermons at Wittanberg," 1522. LW 51, p.72. 28. Ibid., p.77. 29. Ibid., p. 91: "For if you desire to be reganled as better Chrietians than others just because you take the sacrament into your own hands and ah receive it in both kinds, you are bad Chriatiana aa far aa I am concerned." 30. For the legal, financial, and theological considerations involved in this move, see Sider, pp. 18lff. 31. That Karlstadt did not consider himseif a revolutionary ia clear from his distancing himself from Mihtzer, who by now waa engaged in revolutionary activity in the Saale valley. See Karlstadt'e letter to Miintzer of July 19. 1524, in which he refused to participate in armed revolution and urged Miintzer to trust in God. Franz, pp. 415, 18-416,8. Conflicting Models of Ministry-Luther, Karlstadt, and Muentzer 49 32. "Ob man gemach faren und des ergerniiusen der schwachen verschonen son. . . ," 1524; Hertzsch, I, p. 85, 26-28. Quotation in Sider, p. 199. Over a half century later the English Puritan Separatist, Robert Browne voiced a similar concern in his ". . .Reformation without Taxying for anie. . ." (1582). 33. Hertzsch, I, p. 88.34ff. Quoted by Sider, p.199. 34. Letter to Melanchthon, March 27, 1522. Franz p. 381, 20f. Cf. Steven Ozment, Mysticism and Dissent. (New Haven: Yale, 1973), p. 71. 35. Ozment, p. 74. 36. Gritsch, p. 90. 37. Cf. Gritsch, pp. 91-100. 38. Letter to the Princes of Saxony, July 1524. LW 40, p.56. 39. Ibid., pp. 57-58. 40. "Princes' Sermon," in Williams and Mergal, eds., Spiritd and Anabaptist Writers. (Philadelphia. Westminster, 1957), pp. 66-68; Franz, p. 259-61: "Now if you want to be true governors, you must begin government at the roots, and, aa Christ commanded, drive his enemies from the elect. For you are the means to this end. Beloved, don't give us any old jokes about how the power of God should do it without your application of the sword. Otherwise may it rust away for you in its scabbard. . .For the godless person has no right to live when he is in the way of the pious . . . The sword of the rulers . . . is bestowed on them for the retribution of the wicked as protection for the pious (Rom. 13:4)." 41. "Protestation. . .," paragraphs 5 and 13. Franz, pp. 228, 9; 234f- "Von dem gedichteten Glauben," Franz, pp. 222f. 42. Such is the insightful title of Gritsch's study of Mhtzer. 43. "~btzer an die AUstedter," 1525. Franz, pp. 454f. 44. Goertz, pp. 14849. Cf. also Thomas Nipperdey, "Theologie and Revolution bei Thomas Mktzer," Archiv fur Refonr~ationsneschichte 54 (1963), pp. 145-181; Ozment, p. 91; A Friesen, "Thomas MGntzer and the Old Testament," Mennonite Quarterly Review 47 (1973), pp. 5-19; Gott fried Maron, "Thomas Mhtzer als Theologe des Gerichts," Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte 83 (1972), pp. 193-225. 45. Cf. B. A. Gerrish, "Priesthood and Ministry in the Theology of Luther," Church History 34 (1965) pp. 404-22, especially 409f. 46. Cf. Joyce Irwin, The Theological and Social Dimensions of Thomas Mcntzer's Liturgical Reform. (unpublished Ph. D., Yale, 1972), pp. 147- 148: "Paradoxically, the main reason he seems in conflict with tmdition may be that he took it too seriously. . .With single-minded idealism he strove to overturn this only superficially Christian structure and set up a new theocracy where only the morally strong faithful wodd be allowed to survive." Re Miintzer, Gritseh ("Luther und die Schwber") says: "The new law creates not only a 'puritan church-fellowship' ('puritanische Kirchengemeinschafi'), but also a theocratic world rulership, which for Mbtzer is the pre-stage of the parousia," p.118. 47. ". . .You now see that Dr. Karlatadt and his spirits replace the highest with the Lowest, the best with the least, the first with the last. Yet he would be considered the greatest spirit of all, he who has devoured the Holy Spirit feathers and d." "Against the Heavenly Prophets, " 1525. LW 40, p.83. Cf. also LW 40, pp. 68f. 48. "Anzeig etlicher Hauptartickeln Christlicher leere, " 1525. Hertzsch, 11, p. 102, 21ff. 49. LW 40, pp. 89 and 109, especially 10Sf. 50. Cf. Sider , pp . 197-201, especially 201: "But one cannot explain the break between Luther and Karlstadt solely, and perhaps not even primarily, in terms of theological differences. " 50 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY 51. "Letter to the Princes of Saxony," 1524. LW 40, p. 57: "It is not a fruit of the Spirit to criticize a doctrine by the imperfect life of the teacher. For the Holy Spirit criticizes false doctrine while bearing with those who ate weak in faith and life. . ." Cf. also Tabk Tdk, LW 54, p. 47: Luther criticizes Miintzer for identifying person and office. Karlstadt "denounced Luther for tolerating 'poor, miserable, lousy, sinful, unbelieving pastors,' " Sider, p. 288. 52. MGuczer realized this after the defeat at Frankenhausen. The people had "not rightly understood him, but looked to their awn self-interest, thus causing the downfall of the divine truth." Letter to his followers at Muhlhaus, May 17, 1525. Franz p. 473, 9-10. Cf. also Maron, p. 223. 53. Luther spoke of the theologian as God's "court jester." "To the Christian Nobility," 1520. LW 44, pp. 123f. Cf. Luther's criticism of Miintzer's self- repression in "Lectures on Genesis," 1544. LW 7, p. 261. 54. "The German Mass," 1526. LW 53 P. 64. 55. M. Rade. "Der Sprung in Luthers Kirchenbegriff und die Entstehung der Landeskirche," Zeitsckrift fzr Theologie und Kirche 24 (1914), pp. 259- 260. Quoted by Scott Hendrix in a paper delivered at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, 1967, "The Pastoral Ecclesiology of the Later Luther." Hendrix goes on to argue that Luther's "pastoral motivation allowed the hdeskirche to become the ecclesiatical framework in which the mcrst important structural element, the pastor, could find a foothold in those early years." 56. Heroes, Hem Worship, and the Heroic in History. (A. L. Burt, n.d.), p. 164.