Dominus mortis: Martin Luther on the Incorruptibility of God in Christ

Modern interpreters typically attach revolutionary significance to Luthers Christology on account of its unprecedented endorsement of Gods ontological vulnerability. This passibilist reading of Luthers theology has sourced a long channel of speculative theology and philosophy, from Hegel to Moltmann, which regards Luther as an ally against antique, philosophical assumptions, which are supposed to occlude the genuine immanence of God to history and experience. David J. Luy challenges this history of reception and rejects the interpretation of Luthers Christology upon which it is founded. Dominus Mortis creates the conditions necessary for an alternative appropriation of Luthers christological legacy.

By re-specifying certain key aspects of Luthers christological commitments, Luy provides a careful reassessment of how Luthers theology can make a contribution within ongoing attempts to adequately conceptualize divine immanence. Luther is demonstrated as a theologian who creatively appropriates the patristic and medieval theological tradition and whose constructive enterprise is significant for the ways that it disrupts widely held assumptions about the doctrine of divine impassibility, the transcendence of God, dogmatic development, and the relationship of God to suffering.

David J. Luy is assistant professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.