Samtal kring en gammal tysk lära: En studie av tro och gärningar hos Theologia Germanica och Martin Luther i ekumenikens tecken

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to investigate if the Lutheran heritage, represented by a comparison between early Lutheran writings and Luther’s source of inspiration Theologia Germanica, can provide a starting point for potentially unifying dialogues within Christian circles. The background of this pursuit of unity is the ecumenical problem of the seemingly opposite views of how faith and deeds relate to each other in the life of a Christian that can be found within the Lutheran tradition, and between Lutheranism and other Christian traditions. Since both Luther and Theologia Germanica are part of an Augustinian tradition I first examine how their theologies relate to and are to be understood in the light of St Augustine. This creates a foundation and preunderstanding for the following chapter, where Luther and Theologia Germanica are compared with reference to how they view the relationship between faith and deeds. The Lutheran writings that are used in the comparison are On the Freedom of a Christian and A Treatise on Good Works, since they were published close in time to when Luther first published Theologia Germanica. I argue that there are similarities in how Luther and Theologia Germanica view the relationship between faith and deeds, which can be summarized in a coherent teaching. According to this teaching, human deeds are unable to accomplish anything before God, and humans receive the light of faith from God. In relation to this light of faith the Christian person is and must remain passive and rest in God, through an ever-growing obedience of self-abandonment and surrender, where God becomes the only agent, and creates good deeds in the life of the Christian. This teaching about faith and deeds – which is present in the Lutheran heritage – is then related more broadly to views about the relation between faith and deeds in the Lutheran tradition. I here find that the teaching is compatible with several strands of the Lutheran tradition (though not all) and therefore a potential basis for unifying dialogues. With this in mind I then relate this teaching to how Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy view the relationship between faith and deeds. In this final discussion I find that the teaching is compatible with those theologies and therefore provides a possible bridge between them and Lutheranism.