Luther and Medieval Mysticism in the Context of Recent Historiography

Abstract

Jvarely satisfied with a mere reinterpretation of "historical facts,*' reflective historical scholarship interacts with past and contemporary points of view. The recent book by Bengt Hoffman' illustrates this point. In his reexamination of Luther and the mystical, Hoffman attempts to revise prevailing interpretations in the light of the "contemporary revolt against reason'* and the rediscovery of "human transcendence** in "charismatic renewal.** The effort is not without merit. The majority of German Luther scholars for once escape the charge of rolling their eyeballs and engaging in nonsensical God-talk! Indeed, much of Hoffman*s energy is directed against the influence of rationalismscholastic and scientific^-on previous historiography. On his part, Hoffman attempts to illustrate that Luther's theological insights were rooted in the mystical experience of the numinous. He concludes that in spite of a different "nomenclature** Luther and his mystical predecessors, John Tauler and the author of the Theologia Deutsch, reckoned with a similar substantive connection between the human and the divine. In the experience of mystical union or reunion the believer is reborn, while God saves "that which is part of him in fundamental structure." In this context, Luther*s crucial understanding of the sinner*s standing before God, simul instus et peccator, becomes explicable as a simultaneous experience of mystical anguish and ecstasy. No less provocative is Hoffman's reappraisal of what in times past were considered Luther's embarrassingly sharp sensitivities for "para-normal appearances.' ' However, the relationship of apparitions of evU, in the form of black sows or dogs, to mysticism proper is not entirely clear. In Hoffman's account, Luther emerges as a charismatic faith healer, a sensitive psychic blessed with revelations of a "clairaudical and clairvoyant nature" who, through "the psychic force of faith," had become part of a "supernatural power field" with "access to the integrating center of the cosmosthe power center that makes cosmos one, the sun which is Christ." This reinterpretation of Luther into a charismatic heliocentrist need not distract from the better parts of Hoffman*s work. Certainly Hoffman must 80 / Renaissance and Reformation be applauded for attempting to shake ingrained preconceptions. If accepted, his findings would not only revise the traditional picture of Luther's relationship to mysticism but also force a reinterpretation on the broader historiography that has found a fruitful heuristic device in mysticism for differentiating between Luther and the radical wing of the Reformation. Unfortunately, with regard to the latter, Hoffman falls back on traditional categories. The radicals are castigated as 5c/z warmer appealing to subjective emotions. However, given Hoffman's own presuppositions, a distinction between true and false subjectivism becomes problematic. Hoffman appears innocent of the fact that the so-called Schwarmer were more consistent applicants of mystical assumptions to problems rais...

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