Theology of the Cross

This reflection on Martin Luther's theology of the cross begins with a deceptively simple question: Does a theology of the cross bless suffering? Final answer: No. This lack of equivocation arises, not only from knowledge of the historical record in general and Luther's writings in particular, but also from experience. Eleven months after receiving an invitation to address this topic for a Lutheran convocation of teaching theologians, my wife of twenty-six years was diagnosed with terminal cancer. If experience truly makes a theologian, then this experience makes unmistakably clear that a theology of the cross blesses nothing [...]

Does a theology of the cross bless suffering? Even after agreeing to speak of the theology of the cross, the sentence still does not make sense. Quite the reverse! It serves up the single greatest temptation to sin that any theologian faces: imagining that what he or she does-theology-actually accomplishes anything so grand. No theology of any kind ever blesses. God blesses; the Crucified One blesses. A theology of the cross can make no such claim. However often theologians agree that they are dealing with second-order discourse in theology, the temptation still lurks to make that discourse worth something before God. Indeed, if Genesis 3 has anything to say to this day and age, it is that human beings are always tempted to make themselves gods, knowing and deciding good and evil, bane and blessing.

'"PEACE, PEACE ... CROSS, CROSS": Reflections on how Martin Luther relates the theology of the cross to suffering' by Timothy J Wengert, Theology Today, Jul 2002

The most moving article I ever read in a theological journal. It cuts to the bone.

PS top tip, when reading articles on findarticles.com click the print icon for a much more readable version.