Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to seek contributions in the thinking of Luther for articulating the Lutheran self-identity faced with the dilemmas of the radicalization of modernity. Modernity is an ambiguous phenomenon. It promises control over natural and human environments, scientific-technological progress and unheard of access to quality of life. It also feeds expectations of self-realization, autonomy and authenticity. To dynamize these proposals modernity broke with tradition since it judged that tradition’s commitment was with the past and its moralizing reading of reality was exogenous and inertial. With this, the limits intrinsical to social organization were diluted toward the logic of capitalist accumulation and to exploitation of nature. The values became revisable and exchangeable social goods. As a result, modernity spawned risks with without precedents for the planet; self-identity came to be constructed based on open thresholds; and the future became uncertain. Modern life follows its course under the signs of doubt, of insecurity and of constant threat of the lack of meaning. Reacting to this state of things, proposals arose of new, more fixed and secure models of social organization. They presuppose the construction of self-identities sometimes rejecting, sometimes co-opting or dialoguing with the hegemonic canons – they are processes that imply the reinvention of the traditions. Christianity is also challenged to formulate its own solutions. As all answers are conditioned by the values with which they interpret reality, for them to be consistent it is necessary to become aware of the references which encourage us. Since Lutheranism demands returning to Luther, let us concentrate on the identification of the framework of references which impact on its elaboration of the narrative of the Christian self-identity in “Of the Councils and of the Church”. Based on this, we will try to respond how the Reformer relates tradition and identity to accomplish the proposed goal. We will seek to demonstrate that Luther reinvents tradition dialectically, between preservation and transformation, giving rise to a dialogic model of articulation of the Lutheran identity in the contemporaneous world.
