Abstract:
This article is about the 500 hundred year commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.
However, the question is to be asked: What should we celebrate in 2017? The article reflects
on this question against the background of the ongoing division within Western Christianity.
It discusses objectives laid out by Wolfgang Huber in 2008 for the Luther Decade. These
objectives focus on the relationship between church and society, and particularly Lutheranthemes
such as ‘hopelessnesses of life’, ‘afflictions of faith’, ‘God’s hiddenness’ and the
‘theology of the cross’. The article demonstrates that the soteriological focal point of Biblical-
Lutheran theology reflects the assertion that it is only God who, through the belief in Christ,
awards freedom and dignity to every human. The Church represents the ‘metaphor of a
Christian fellowship’, which is a fellowship of equals that provides a socio-political impetus.
Description:
This article, originally written
in German and entitled
‘Reformationsjubiläen: Was
ist 2017 zufeiern? – Was
is bleibt?’, is translated by
Klaudia Ringelmann
