NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 72, Issue 2, 2018

In this article, examples of liberating and oppressive usage of slavery metaphors in Paul and the Pauline tradition, respectively, are discussed. Concerning Paul’s use of such metaphors in 1 Cor 7:22, I argue that the apostle consciously avoided to call slave members of the community ‘slaves of Christ’, using ‘freedpersons of the Lord’ as a context-induced new metaphor instead. The early reception of Pauline slavery metaphors in the pseudo-Pauline letter to the Colossians (Col 3:22–4:1), by contrast, shows an emphatic application of the metaphor ‘slave of Christ’ to actual slaves, with the intention of enforcing obedience to their earthly masters out of internalized fear of the Lord.

This article portrays Dale Martin’s Slavery as Salvation (1990) as a ‘key text’. In his landmark study Martin characterises the Pauline metaphorical expression δοῦλος Χριστοῦ (slave of Christ) as a designation for salvation and leadership. A short survey of previous scholarship on this phrase will illuminate the challenging character of Martin’s work. The presentation of Martin’s book will be followed by a short evaluation in which the arguments of his most prominent critic John Byron (2003) will be outlined. The article closes with a brief problematisation of both Martin’s and Byron’s work.

Every year during Passover Jews commemorate the liberation of their ancestors from Egypt. It was God who ‘broke the bars of their yoke’ and who ‘made them walk erect’ (Lev 26:13). Elsewhere, however, the Torah seems to suggest that the redemption from Egypt’s service was not so much a release from slavery, as it was a change of master (cf. Ex 4:23 and Lev 25:42). This paradoxical way of thinking about slavery is perpetuated by the early rabbis in the midrashic and halakhic literature of the first centuries C.E. By means of a close reading of a parable from Sifre Numbers (chapter 115) I will clarify the early rabbinic perspective on slavery: becoming a slave of God was the ultimate purpose of the people of Israel, while being a slave of Egypt’s ruler formed its ultimate degradation. We will also see that in Sifre Numbers, as in other early rabbinic and early Christian writings, the metaphor of slavery competes with the metaphor of sonship. In Sifre Numbers the metaphor of slavery is preferred over that of sonship, due to the absolute obedience that God expects from his people, an aspect that cannot be sufficiently expressed by the relation between a father and his son. Finally, this paper will also contribute to the way we understand slavery metaphors in the New Testament, especially in Romans 6.

This article sheds light on Luther’s early attitude towards Jews and Judaism. My point of departure is the famous tract on Christian freedom from 1520, with its paradoxical talk of Christian freedom in faith and servitude to the Other in love. ‘Jewish servitude’ was a central category to define the position of the Jews in society. The category was used by the highest authorities in the Church and secular society, popes and emperors. Its meaning was ambivalent because it comprised subordination and repression, but also protection of the Jews. Against this background it becomes apparent how Luther’s theology of Christian freedom intended to reject Christian hostility towards the Jews. The consequences can be seen in his tract ‘That Jesus was a born Jew’ from 1523, where Luther made a plea to improve fundamentally the freedom of the Jews in society. This went further than J. Reuchlin’s interpretation of the ‘servitude of the Jews’ in his defence of Jewish literature against the inquisition, which included freedom of worship. However, as is well known, Luther soon revised his political position and ended up in sharp anti-Jewish agitation. The emancipatory impulse of his theology of Christian freedom in favour of a new understanding of ‘Jewish servitude’ had lost its relevance.

This article analyses the depiction of the biblical king David in M. Luther’s and early Lutheran political thought. Luther drew his images of David primarily from the exegesis of various psalms. For Luther, David’s faith made him the prime Biblical model of a monarch. Lutheran sermons shaped David into an example of good administration. They admonished Lutheran magistrates and princes to support the church and to keep the law, thereby legitimising and limiting secular government and princely rule. The example of David also provided means to criticise unlawful or despotic rule and thereby contributed to the early modern history of freedom.

This essay examines the interplay of politics, science and theology in the debates over ‘Protestant freedom’ that took place in mid-nineteenth century Germany. It begins by tracing how rival factions of conservative, liberal, and radical clergy sought to mobilize the tradition of ‘Protestant Freedom’ during the period of ferment preceding the Revolution of 1848. The essay then turns to the 1860s to explore how church liberals argued for the compatibility of natural science and Protestantism. The final section picks up debates among radicals, who, on the eve of German unification in 1870, were divided over the question of whether the conscience, as defined in the Lutheran tradition, was compatible with scientific naturalism.