Tuomo Mannermaa, Christ Present in Faith: Luther’s View of Justification . Translated by Kirsi Stjerna. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005. 136 pp.
For the past twenty-five years, Luther scholars in Finland have been pursuing a revisionary account of Luther’s theology in conjunction with ecumenical dialogues with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Luther that emerges from their work is quite different from the Luther of Lutheranism. The Finnish Luther teaches that the righteousness of Christ is ours because the living Christ Himself dwells within the believer, and the Finnish Luther talks about theosis and shows a distinctly unLutheran interest in ontology.
Robert Jenson and Carl Braaten edited a volume of essays on the Finnish Luther in 1998, but otherwise little has appeared in English. Tuomo Mannermaa has been the main player in the Finnish efforts, and this Fortress Press release is the first English translation of one of Mannermaa’s seminal treatises, originally published in 1979. Mannermaa supports his interpretation of Luther with many lengthy quotations from Luther himself, and hence gives English readers a chance to meet the Luther they never knew.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
