Description
Lutheran tradition has in various ways influenced attitudes toward work, the economy, the state, education, and health care. One reason that Lutheran theology has been differently interpreted is that it is always influenced by surrounding social and cultural contexts.
In a society in which the church has lost a great deal of its cultural impact and authority, and a plurality of religious convictions exists, the question of Lutheran identity has never been more urgent. However, this question is also raised in the Global South where Lutheran churches need to find their identity in a relationship with several other religions. Here this relationship is developed from a minority perspective.
Is it possible to develop a Lutheran political theology that gives adequate contributions to issues concerning social and economic justice? What is the role of women in church and society around the world? Is it possible to interpret Lutheran theology in such a way that it includes liberating perspectives? These are some of the questions and issues discussed in this book.
About the Author
Carl-Henric Grenholm is Senior Professor of Ethics at the Department of Theology, Uppsala University, Sweden. His main research areas are ethical theory, Christian social ethics, work ethics, ethics and economics, and theological ethics. He is the leader of a research project on Lutheran Theology and Ethics in a Post-Christian Society. Among his publications are Protestant Work Ethics (1993), Teologisk etik (Theological Ethics, 1997), Bortom Humanismen (Beyond Humanism, 2003), Sustainable Development and Global Ethics (2007), and Etisk teori: Kritik av moralen (Ethical Theory, 2014).
Göran Gunner is Associate Professor in Mission Studies, Uppsala University, and Researcher at Church of Sweden Research Unit, Uppsala. Dr. Gunner is also Senior Lecturer at Stockholm School of Theology, Stockholm, Sweden. His research areas include religious minority situations in the Middle East and issues related to human rights. He is also the editor of Church of Sweden Research Series. Among his publications are An Unlikely Dilemma: Constructing a Partnership between Human Rights and Peace-Building (co-authored with Kjell-Åke Nordquist, 2011) and Genocide of Armenians: Through Swedish Eyes (2013).
Contents
Contributors
Abbreviations
1. Introduction: Lutheran Tradition in Transition
Carl-Henric Grenholm and Göran Gunner
Part One: Lutheran Identity in a Global World
2. Planet Luther: Challenges and Promises for a Lutheran Global Identity
Vítor Westhelle
3. Burning Issues
Göran Gunner
4. Lutheran Perspectives on the Right to Health in a Global World
Ville Päivänsalo
5. “There’s an App for That!”: A Post-Christian Lutheran Response
Michael R. Trice
Part Two: Lutheran Tradition and Gender
6. For the Sake of the Future: Rekindling Lutheran Theology on Spirituality, Equality, and Inclusivity
Kirsi Stjerna
7. Liberating Aspects in Lutheran Theology for a Post-Gender Politics
Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen
8. Re-Embracing the Body of Jesus Christ: A Queer, Lutheran Theology of the Body of Christ
Mary Elise Lowe
9. Idolatry-Critical Justification and the Foreclosed Gendered Life
Mary J. Streufert
Part Three: Lutheran Theology and Politics
10. Luther, Wittgenstein, and Political Theology
Tage Kurtén
11. The “Communitarian” Critique of Luther’s Ethics
Leif Svensson
12. Reconfiguring Church-State Relations: Toward a Rwandan Political Theology
Victor Thasiah
13. Transforming Domination Then and Now
Karen L. Bloomquist
14. Eros, Ethics, and Politics: Nuptial Imagery in Luther Read as a Challenge to Traditional Power Structures
Elisabeth Gerle
Endorsements and Reviews
Informed and calibrated by Lutheran Reformation insights, this collection of essays by North American and Scandinavian scholars shows that Lutheran theology can tackle important issues among denominations and in society. The reader is confronted here with a plethora of insights into the relevance of Lutheran theology on a global scale.
Hans Schwarz, Regensburg University, Germany
Overall, the collection demonstrates that Lutheran scholarship is alive and aware of the same challenges of the twenty-first century that other denominational bodies are beginning to address. Those who are looking for glimpses of how these questions are being addressed will find a diverse set of answers between the covers, unified in their optimism.
Claire Hein Blanton, in Modern Believing, Vol 57.2
This book covers various important theological issues, and contributes insights from the perspective of global Lutheran experiences and theology..
Yin-an Chen, in Theological Book Review, Vol 28, No 1
