Martin Luther vis-à-vis the Historical Grammatical Method and the Historical Critical Method
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46859/PUCRio.Acad.ReBiblica.2596-2922.2025v6n12a05Keywords:
Martin Luther, Historical Methods, Protestant Reformation, TheologyAbstract
More than a teacher, Luther was a reader of the Bible. And so important was Luther’s love of the Bible that, although biblical theology as a science grew out of Johann P. Gabler’s lecture at the University of Altdorf on March 30, 1787, Luther can be said to be a “biblical theologian” in more ways than one. This raises the following question: if we confront Luther vis-à-vis the Grammatical Historical Method, his contributions are undeniable. On the other hand, what about the Historical-Critical Method? Even two centuries away, would there be some indications, some paths pointed out, some “seeds” planted? Therefore, to answer this challenging question, the present article seeks to “confront” Luther vis-à-vis both the Grammatical Historical Method and the Historical-Critical Method. To this purpose, first, a conceptualization of both the Grammatical Historical Method and the Critical Historical Method will be carried out. With these conceptualizations, it will be shown that the Historical-Critical Method, instead of being understood as a “rival” of the Historical-Grammatical Method, can be understood as an improvement and development of the latter – so that the “seeds” planted by Luther for the Historical-Critical Method would become more evident.
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