Luther, Martin | Gerhard Ebeling (essay date 1972)
Gerhard Ebeling (essay date 1972)
SOURCE: "The Way Luther Speaks of God," in Luther: An Introduction to His Thought, translated by R. A. Wilson, Fortress Press, 1970, pp. 242–67.
[In the excerpt below from a work originally published in 1970, Ebeling discusses the problem of historical periodization, suggesting a way to transcend the attempts of Ernst Troeltsch and Hegel to assign Luther to either the medieval or modern age.]
I. TOWARDS THE HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM
1. Interpretation in the Manner of Salvation History
In his lectures on the philosophy of history Hegel calls the Reformation "the all-illuminating sun, which follows that day-break at the end of the Middle Ages."1 This metaphor of the dawning day to which the night gives way has a long history as an expression for a decided break in history.2 Here the picture is recalled only as an allusion and only in so far as it affects an...
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