Exchange and ecstasy

Luther's eucharistic theology in light of Radical Orthodoxy's critique of gift and sacrifice

Bibliographic Data

ID5808615
AuthorsPiotr J Małysz (0000-0001-8040-2269, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume60
Issue3
Pages294-308
Publication date2007-07-17
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScottish Journal of Theology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0336-9306 • E-ISSN: 1475-3065
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0036930607003298
OpenAlexW2142060500
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited2

It is frequently alleged that Martin Luther's doctrine of justification by grace through faith posits absolute human passivity vis-à-vis God and, on account of the past completion of Christ's sacrifice, disconnects Christians from the cross. This article takes issue with this view. Specifically, it disputes the claim that, through his doctrine of justification, Luther became an unwitting advocate of the conceptual juxtaposition of gift and exchange and thus also an ideologue of the shift from an organic to a contractual view of society. Instead, I argue, Luther's eucharistic theology anticipates the concerns of Radical Orthodoxy's critique of gift and sacrifice. It does so, however, in a more forceful manner, in that for Luther gift and exchange are so bound together in his doctrine of justification that the eucharist, instead of being a mere paradigm for social relationships (as Radical Orthodoxy would have it), radically restructures those relationships in the all -embracing unfolding of its participatory gratuity. An additional merit of Luther's vision lies in its systematic description of the eucharist's gift-character in terms of socially and vocationally construed delay and non-identical repetition, actively involving both God and humans - a description not afforded by Radical Orthodoxy's critique

Eucharist · Sacrifice · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religion and Society Interactions

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