Hey James, on Zach’s reasonable viewpoint on Martin Luther and the Councils. I get from where Zach gets his opinion on Luther’s hostility toward the Councils. But I think it is one opinion among many interpretations.
I was taught differently about Luther and the Councils than from what Zach concludes.
Here is my understanding of Luther and the “Councils” in Luther’s own words:
“So we fall, in throngs and with all our might, away from our Christian faith and into the new holiness, that is, into the devil’s trap and lime-rod. For we always must have something new. Christ’s death and resurrection, faith and love, are old and just ordinary things; that is why they must count for nothing, and so we must have new wheedlers (as St. Paul says). And this serves us right since our ears itch so much for something new that we can no longer endure the old and genuine truth, “that we accumulate,” that we weigh ourselves down with big piles of new teachings. That is just what has happened and will continue to happen. For the subsequent councils, especially the papal ones (for afterward they are almost all papal), did not merely refrain from condemning these new good works, but exalted them throughout the world far above the good old works, so that the pope canonized or elevated many saints from the monastic orders.” [italics mine]
—”On the Councils and the Church”, LW 41:126-227 (1539)
James, I gave your your podcast a listen. Zach is an especially accessible writer and speaker. He helped me understand some of the mysterious God topics rarely discussed. Great podcast!
Hey James, on Zach’s reasonable viewpoint on Martin Luther and the Councils. I get from where Zach gets his opinion on Luther’s hostility toward the Councils. But I think it is one opinion among many interpretations.
I was taught differently about Luther and the Councils than from what Zach concludes.
Here is my understanding of Luther and the “Councils” in Luther’s own words:
“So we fall, in throngs and with all our might, away from our Christian faith and into the new holiness, that is, into the devil’s trap and lime-rod. For we always must have something new. Christ’s death and resurrection, faith and love, are old and just ordinary things; that is why they must count for nothing, and so we must have new wheedlers (as St. Paul says). And this serves us right since our ears itch so much for something new that we can no longer endure the old and genuine truth, “that we accumulate,” that we weigh ourselves down with big piles of new teachings. That is just what has happened and will continue to happen. For the subsequent councils, especially the papal ones (for afterward they are almost all papal), did not merely refrain from condemning these new good works, but exalted them throughout the world far above the good old works, so that the pope canonized or elevated many saints from the monastic orders.” [italics mine]
—”On the Councils and the Church”, LW 41:126-227 (1539)
James, I gave your your podcast a listen. Zach is an especially accessible writer and speaker. He helped me understand some of the mysterious God topics rarely discussed. Great podcast!
Paul, Zac did preface his comments by saying that it's easy to generalize history, particularly in a compact medium like an hour long podcast.
It is definitely food for thought, and I do believe the church history I was taught was in the spirit of "history is written by the winners."