Koivisto on the inevitability of evil in Luther

On 18 May Jussi Koivisto defended his doctoral thesis “Is Evil Inevitable for Creation and Human Life? Studies on Martin Luther´s Biblical Interpretation” in the University of Helsinki. The dissertation examines Luther’s idea of evil in select cases of his Biblical interpretation. Main conclusions include:

Luther considered evil in its various forms as an inevitable part of human life and the Creation. Luther avoided giving the impression that God was the causal, ontological or active origin of evil. However, Luther thought that God had permitted evil to slither into the world. The active origin of evil in the fall of angels and the first human was the Devil. However, after these two falls, God has been involved more actively in evil: He uses and is even present in evil so that He can execute His good plans for the salvation of humankind and for His own glory.

The dissertation includes three articles published or soon to be published in English: “The common future of Luther and Biblical Studies” Sixteenth Century Journal 40:1 (2009); “Martin Luther’s Conception of fascinare (Gal. 3:1)” Biblical Interpretation 19:5-6 (2011); “Martin Luther’s Conception of the Serpent Possessed by the Devil (Gen. 3) and the Antecendent Tradition” in W. François & A. Hollander (eds.) ‘Wading Lambs and Swimming Elephants’: The Bible for the Laity and Theologian in the Medieval and Early Modern Era. Peeters (in print).

For more information, see: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/32840

This entry was posted in Events, New studies and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.