Rector’s Reflections
Thursday 29th May 2025
Why the Church of England Needs Martin Luther
Over the last few days, I have introduced the life and teaching of Martin Luther(1483-1546), the German Christian whose protest against Indulgences is often taken as the start of the Reformation. To assign the start of a great historical movement to a particular moment in time is always somewhat arbitrary, but if one has to assign an official date for the start of Reformation, the year 1517 is as good as any. It was in this year that Martin Luther deliberately decided to provoke a public debate about the fundamental principles of the Christian life, by affixing a list of 95 theses to the door of the Schlosskirche in the University town of Wittenburg. Within a few weeks, the issues raised by Luther were being widely debated across Germany, and the rest, as we say, is history. The Reformation had started.
At one level, the life and teaching of Martin Luther can be consigned to history – after all, Luther died over 500 years ago, and our world is now a very different place indeed. But at a deeper level, many of the issues raised by Martin Luther have a continuous relevance to the life of the Church. Christians have continued to engage with his theology down the centuries, and he still has much to say to us today.
Before I look at what he might have to say to the Church of England in our own day, let me add two points by way of caution. The first is that Luther was not always a considered or a polite author; he was a passionate man, and he was capable of being one-sided in his views. If you are looking for a theology which is balanced, sophisticated, and scrupulously fair, Martin Luther is probably not the theologian for you. Martin was very much a human being, and on occasion he could say some pretty outrageous things - and they were probably pretty outrageous even by the standards of the 16th Century. Did he always mean what he said to be taken literally? Probably not. He was not above exaggerating for effect.
The second comment is that I am not suggesting that Luther’s theology is always right or always helpful. Opinions differ on Luther- on the man himself, and on the doctrines he promoted. But nonetheless, Luther tended to raise important questions which engage with key elements of the Christian life. Whether one agrees with the answers he provided is perhaps neither here nor there; what is most important is that Luther had the courage to ask questions which matter. In short, Luther drew the attention of the Church of his day to the theological elephants in the room, and did so in a way which deliberately sought to engage ordinary Christians in the ensuing debate. Luther sought to bring theology to the people. You can agree with him, or disagree with him, but at least he cared passionately about preaching and living the gospel, and he wanted to help ordinary Christians live out their faith in their day to day lives. And what more can one ask of a Christian theologian?
With these words of caution, let me begin the first question Luther might wish to ask of the contemporary Church of England. The question is this: has the Church of England lost the plot?
The Church is strong on bureaucracy and management, on the latest mission initiatives, and on trying to appear relevant in a multi-faith and multicultural society. But these are only of secondary importance. The key thing is to enable individuals to encounter and worship the one true God, revealed in Jesus Christ. It’s about developing a transforming and saving relationship with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not about keeping the Church on the road, with the associated burden of paying the parish share, looking after all the buildings, and filling in all the forms. Has the Church of England fallen into the trap of the Late Mediaeval Church, which had convinced itself that salvation was basically about being a compliant member of the institutional Church, with all its rules and structures?
So Luther’s first question to us is worth pondering. Luther is challenging us to consider whether the current Church of England has become little more than a bureaucratic organisation which is spending most of its effort in simply keeping itself going. If so, it needs to be radically reformed. It needs to move from “Church” mode to “Gospel” mode, and it needs to do so now.
Of course, a more balanced, sensible, middle of the road theologian would say that it’s more complicated than that, and the current Church of England is fully committed to the proclamation of the gospel. But I can hear Luther responding with one word: “Really?”