Olli-Pekka Vainio 
Engaging Luther 
A (New) Theological Assessment

The Reformer Martin Luther is the source of endless fascination and dispute. Not only his antagonists but also his supporters have created a host of representations of his thought. On the one hand, Catholic and other similar voices have accused Luther of being the major agent in the birth of modern secularism. On the other hand, Lutherans themselves are divided on the meaning of Reformation. In view of all these interpretations and dismissals of Luther and the Lutheran Reformation, it requires a certain boldness to claim that Luther’s theology is intellectually fascinating and contains exceptional resources. This is precisely what the present volume claims. The studies collected in this volume aim at showing in which sense Luther remains a fully Catholic and genuinely Augustinian theologian who is not so much a forerunner of problematic modernity as a representative of classical Christianity. At the same time, Luther’s theology contains ideas that can be made fruitful in dialogue with currents like communitarianism or Radical Orthodoxy. The volume consists of articles written by scholars affiliated with the project known as ‘the New Finnish Interpretation of Luther.’ The topics include Luther’s theological anthropology, Trinity, christology, sacraments, faith, theology of the cross, the Virgin Mary, sexuality, music, and the spiritual reading of the Holy Scriptures.

About the author

Olli-Pekka Vainio has served as Acting University Lecturer of Systematic Theology at the University of Helsinki since February 2014. Vainio’s research is focused on following themes: 1) Contemporary Systematic and Philosophical Theology 2) Philosophy of Religion, 3) Social Epistemology, and 4) Theology of Reformation. In his doctoral dissertation, Justification and Participation in Christ: The Development of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification from Luther to the Formula of Concord (2007), Vainio studied various interpretations of justification in Early Lutheranism. His habilitation Beyond Fideism: Negotiable Religious Identities (2010) focused on the recent discussion on theological method and religious identity. He has published over forty articles, authored or co-authored nine books and edited or co-edited six volumes. His current research project deals with the problem of religious disagreement from interdisciplinary perspective. Vainio was a visiting faculty member at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford (2011-12) and a member in Philosophical Psychology, Morality and Politics Unit (2008-13), which was one of the National Centres of Excellence in Research funded by the Academy of Finland.