How Did Luther Read Adam & Eve | Mickey Mattox
Lecture Title - Goodness that Abides? Martin Luther's Adam, for Today Scholars frequently note Martin Luther’s powerful imaginative capacity for entering into the world of the Bible, which was nowhere more vividly displayed than in his interpretation of “the dear Genesis.” This lecture will introduce Luther’s dramatic reading of the story of Adam and Eve, exploring the powerful connections he finds between God’s goodness, human goodness (imago Dei), and the good creation. Our universe, however, is not Luther’s cosmos. And his narration of the fall was just as dramatic as the creation. Can Luther’s readings of the lost promise of our “first parents” still be useful to theology today? Mickey L. Mattox (PhD Duke University) is the Flack Family Foundation Chair and Professor of Theology at Hillsdale College and serves as Associate Editor for the 1.4 million-word Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion: Martin Luther. His books include “Defender of the Most Holy Matriarchs”: Martin Luther’s Interpretation of the Women of Genesis in the Enarrationes in Genesis, 1535-1545 (Brill, 2003) and An Exposition of Genesis 1-3 (Marquette University Press, 2013). The Henry Center for Theological Understanding provides theological resources that help bridge the gap between the academy and the church. It houses a cluster of initiatives, each of which is aimed at applying practical Christian wisdom to important kingdom issues—for the good of the church, for the soul of the theological academy, for the sake of the world, and ultimately for the glory of God. The HCTU seeks to ground each of these initiatives in Scripture, and it pursues these goals collaboratively, in order to train a new generation of wise interpreters of the Word—lay persons and scholars alike—for the sake of tomorrow’s church, academy, and world. Visit the HCTU website: https://henrycenter.tiu.edu/ Subscribe to the HCTU Newsletter: https://bit.ly/326pRL5 Watch the HCTU on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryCenter Connect with us! https://twitter.com/henry_center https://www.facebook.com/henrycenter/ https://www.instagram.com/thehenrycenter/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/thehenrycenter