Explaining how Luther revived the “classic” Christus Victor theory of the atonement, Gustav Aulen points to Luther’s deployment of patristic rhetoric and imagery that had been lost in the Middle Ages: “Luther loves violent expressions, strong colors, realistic images, and in innumerable passages he describes Christ’s conflict with the tyrants in this way. For him no colours are too strong, no images too concrete; even the most grotesque analogies from the Fathers come back again. They had been discarded by scholasticism, in proud consciousness of having found a purer and more rational explanation; but now they all return. Luther seems to have a special fondness for the grossest symbol of all, especially that of the deception of the devil.” If the Reformation is (in part) a rhetorical movement, the lines between Reformation and Renaissance humanism are significantly blurred. Luther, the least humanistic of all the major Reformers, exults in the greatest humanist rediscovery - rhetoric.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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