Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 70:2 (NA 2019)
Article: Luther, Heidegger, And The Hiddenness Of God
Author: Mark Norman

TynBull 70:2 (2019) p. 291

Luther, Heidegger, And The Hiddenness Of God

Mark Norman

([email protected])

Summary

This paper seeks to trace how certain Lutheran themes, particularly the tendency towards fideism evidenced in the Lutheran ‘Deus absconditus’ (‘hidden God’), were later adopted by Heidegger, and then misappropriated by certain ‘post-theological’ thinkers of the continental tradition in the late twentieth century. In what follows, the early Luther and his theology of the Cross will be firstly placed into its late medieval nominalist context, after which Heidegger’s employment of the Lutheran ‘hidden God’ in his formulation of the question of ‘being’ will be discussed. Finally, I will propose that the appreciation of Luther’s legacy and his relevance for philosophy lies not in popular ‘Heideggerian’ revisionist readings of the reformer but, alternatively, through integrating the Deus absconditus theme into the rest of his theological thought, including his historical context.1

1. Introduction: Luther And Heidegger

‘Nature/being likes to hide …’ – Heraclitus2

TynBull 70:2 (2019) p. 292

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18

Luther’s notion of the theologia crucis together with that of the hiddenness of God came to fruition in his thought after an extended and prayerful reflection on the Scriptures.3 Whilst orthodox late medieval theology had always acknowledged God’s transcendence, Luther’s doctrine of divine hiddenness was partly employed to combat medieval theology’s somewhat overconfident synthesis between faith and reason. This Lutheran theme would later attract the early Heidegger, who at the beginning of the twentieth century also sought a basis on which to ‘destroy’ Western philosophy.4

However, for various reasons, Luther (1483–1546) and Heidegger (1889–1976) remain antithetical figures. The reformer was a product of the late middle ages, whereas Heidegger, as a lapsed Christian and atheist, lived in the twentieth century. Yet, interestingly, Luther and Heidegger also shared certain priorities. From German peasant stock, each experienced tumultuous times of socio-political change. Although initially steeped in medieval scholasticism, each became antagonistic of ecclesiastical metaphysics. They also called for a renewal, e...