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Simul Justus et Peccator: Ecclesiological and Ecumenical Perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2014
Abstract
The Lutheran formula “simul Justus et peccator” originally applied to the individual Christian believer. However, it can also apply to the ecclesial community of believers and it can also have ecumenical dimensions and consequences. This article investigates these dimensions and consequences in view of the discussions which were occasioned by Vatican II.
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References
1 Texts from Luther's writings containing the simul (gerecht und Sünder zugleich) are assembled in: Althaus, Paul, The Theology of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966), pp. 242–45;Google ScholarPesch, Otto Hermann, Theologie der Rechtfertigung bei Martin Luther und Thomas von Aquin (Mainz: Griinewald, 1967), pp. 109–22Google Scholar, and “Existential and Sapiential Theology—The Theological Confrontation Between Luther and Thomas Aquinas” in Wicks, Jared, ed., Catholic Scholars Dialogue with Luther (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1970), pp. 62–82, at 69.Google Scholar I have used the English translation of the simul in Althaus' Introduction.
2 Hermann, Rudolf, Luthers These, “Gerecht und Sunder zugjeich” (2nd. ed.; Gütersloh: Mohn, 1950[1930]), pp. 7, 9.Google Scholar On the other hand, Pesch, O. H., Gerechtfertigt aus Glauben (Freiburg: Herder, 1982), p. 135Google Scholar, emphasizes that “it is in any case [only] one summary of Luther's teaching on justification.”
3 DS 1515, 1524, 1528-30, 1561-62.
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7 In regard to the difficulty of understanding Luther, this point is well made by McCue, James F. in a book review in Theological Studies 44 (1983), 511CrossRefGoogle Scholar: “And the long-standing debates within Lutheranism over the right interpretation of Luther suggests that it may be more than scholastic habits of mind or lack of sympathy that make a balanced understanding of Luther difficult.”
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