Faith, Love, and Mystery

Spiritual Legacies of the Lutheran Reformation

Abstract

Abstract: Lutheran theology has from its beginning contained strong elements of religious experience, including experiences that might now be given labels such as spirituality, spiritual formation, and mysticism. While certainly “personal” for individual believers, in the Lutheran tradition the experience of salvation leads not to selfishness or isolation but to love of others as an invitation and immersion into caring about the world with the love that Christ has first given us. While spiritual experiences of prayer, catechesis, singing, and serving are by no means unique to the Lutheran tradition, Lutheran commitments to justification by faith alone and the reform of worship around the reception of such offers a set of spiritual experiences that have distinctly shaped experiences of Christ’s gospel.