Theology of the Cross

Abstract

A more specifically Lutheran assessment of the prosperity gospels arising from a biblical study of discipleship can be summarized by the categories of Martin Luther's theology of the cross, which was first articulated by the reformer in the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation. A theology of the cross seeks to understand Christian theology and life from the perspective of Jesus Christ's incarnation, ministry, self-sacrificial death, and his resurrection for sinners. In this sense, Luther's specific categories (i.e, the centrality of Christology; his distinctions between two kinds of righteousness, and law and gospel; a theology of the cross rather than a theology of glory; an insistent focus on the "revealed" rather than the "hidden" God; and the place of human suffering) together accent the death and resurrection of Jesus as the source, substance, and shape of cruciform Christian existence.