Page 377 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik VII (2011), številka 13-14, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 377
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
UDC 27-72:27-4"20"
Marko Kerševan
Reformation theology and la condition humaine in the 21st century
The clarity of the doctrine of justification is decisive regarding the question whether a
church is truly a church of the gospel of God, or rather only a Christian religious institu-
tion. It is up to this doctrine whether an actual person believes in the true God, or rather
follows his own images of God. (Moltmann)
When we ask about the current state of trust in a merciful God and belief in
justification by faith, at the same time we are asking about the relevance and
perspectives of what is fundamental in the Christian faith.
The Christian message about (and search for) a merciful God, a righteous
God, who justifies a human being/sinner, seems to have been discredited in the
contemporary period. Man no longer seeks from and with God his own righ-
teousness and justification, but from and with a god seeks at most something
else, something offered him by other religions, but not (Protestant) Christian-
ity, which stands or falls with the doctrine of justification.
But in the connection of the question of “the justification of God” (theo-
dicy) with the question of a justified/righteous man – on the trail blazed by
Karl Barth – it is possible to see the relevance and perspective of the question of
“justification only by grace”.
Man, who in the name of his autonomy, freedom and responsibility per-
ceived God as (ir)responsible and unjustifiable, therefore removed him, “killed”
him, recalled him in the predicament of his own (non)freedom and (ir)respon-
sibility.
The aporias in the contemporary understanding of human autonomy di-
rect us back to the question of man’s justification only by grace and by faith in
God, who justifies himself and man. Man’s recognition/acknowledgement of
his own powerlessness in free decision-making (“powerlessness in freedom”)
also paves the way to a new theodicy, to a new question/understanding of God’s
power(lessness) and God’s freedom.
The discussion is based on Körtner’s book Reformatorische Theologie im 21.
Jahrhundert. Zürich: TVZ 2010.
375
UDC 27-72:27-4"20"
Marko Kerševan
Reformation theology and la condition humaine in the 21st century
The clarity of the doctrine of justification is decisive regarding the question whether a
church is truly a church of the gospel of God, or rather only a Christian religious institu-
tion. It is up to this doctrine whether an actual person believes in the true God, or rather
follows his own images of God. (Moltmann)
When we ask about the current state of trust in a merciful God and belief in
justification by faith, at the same time we are asking about the relevance and
perspectives of what is fundamental in the Christian faith.
The Christian message about (and search for) a merciful God, a righteous
God, who justifies a human being/sinner, seems to have been discredited in the
contemporary period. Man no longer seeks from and with God his own righ-
teousness and justification, but from and with a god seeks at most something
else, something offered him by other religions, but not (Protestant) Christian-
ity, which stands or falls with the doctrine of justification.
But in the connection of the question of “the justification of God” (theo-
dicy) with the question of a justified/righteous man – on the trail blazed by
Karl Barth – it is possible to see the relevance and perspective of the question of
“justification only by grace”.
Man, who in the name of his autonomy, freedom and responsibility per-
ceived God as (ir)responsible and unjustifiable, therefore removed him, “killed”
him, recalled him in the predicament of his own (non)freedom and (ir)respon-
sibility.
The aporias in the contemporary understanding of human autonomy di-
rect us back to the question of man’s justification only by grace and by faith in
God, who justifies himself and man. Man’s recognition/acknowledgement of
his own powerlessness in free decision-making (“powerlessness in freedom”)
also paves the way to a new theodicy, to a new question/understanding of God’s
power(lessness) and God’s freedom.
The discussion is based on Körtner’s book Reformatorische Theologie im 21.
Jahrhundert. Zürich: TVZ 2010.
375
