God's alien and proper work

Listening to: Polly Paulusma: Scissors In My Pocket

I realised in my last post I bandied about the theological jargon terms 'alien work' and 'proper work' along with the very non-theological talk of 'bad news' and 'good news'. A quick google search gave me this very helpful description which I thought worth quoting:

God's self-revelation is not direct. In fact God is revealed as God through what is God's opposite. The central core of God's revelation is the cross of Jesus Christ. What humans perceive in the cross is weakness, shame, humiliation, and suffering. Precisely here, in these experiences, God is to be found. Hidden beneath them, the eye of faith perceives God's power, glory, and love. Exactly where God seems most absent is where God is revealed most fully.

God is found not only in the suffering of the cross but also in the midst of the suffering that humans experience as God drives them to doubt, fear, tribulation, temptation, and finally despair. This is what Luther calls God's "alien work" (opus alienum Dei), God's work of wrath. Beneath it is to be found God's "proper work" (opus proprium Dei), God's work of mercy. For only when humans abandon themselves can they begin to trust in God's mercy alone. This experience, Luther believes, is what makes a theologian of the cross: "Understanding, reading or speculating do not make a theologian, but living, or rather dying and being damned." This is what Luther had in mind when he said, "The cross alone is our theology."

(Denis R. Janz, "Syllogism or paradox: Aquinas and Luther on theological method", Theological Studies, March, 1998)

As far as I know the phrase 'alien work' comes from Isaiah 28:21 (quoted in Luther's 1518 Heidelberg Disputation), and read in its context Isaiah 28:21 is probably provides about as good a definition as you can get: God will "will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter" not as an end in itself, but so he can rebuild on the foundation of Christ (28:17-18).