Mit Hilfe des kulturanthropologischen Verstandnisses von einer 'OEkonomie der Gabe' (Reziprozitat) wird anhand von Texten Martin Luthers - vor allem aus den Jahren zwischen 1518 und 1522 - gezeigt, wie dessen Rechtfertigungslehre ohne einen Gedanken der wieder etablierten Gegenseitigkeit zwischen Gott und Mensch gar nicht formulierbar ist. Luthers neu gewonnenes Verstandnis von Gegenseitigkeit ist die Voraussetzung fur sein positives Verstandnis vom Christenmenschen und fur seine haufige Parallelisierung von Christologie und Anthropologie.

Already Scripture asks many questions regarding anthropological problems. In the 20th century, the scholarly field of anthropology has become a lot more complex heuristically, methodically and hermeneutically. Therefore, modern research needs to answer arisen questions considering a wide range of disciplines: Sociology, Philosophy, Ethics and also Empirical Research. This volume is an interdisciplinary project within theology. Contributions seek to not only reflect the state of the art in anthropological research from a theological point of view, but also provide a theological interpretation of one virulent question: What is a Human?

This volume makes a distinctive contribution to the upcoming 500th anniversary of Luthers reformation by looking back to the previous centennial in 1917 and tracing forward the enduring impact of the questions raised by Lutheran scholars then to contemporary research in religious studies, history, and theology. The great flourishing of interest in Luthers religious experience and thought in Berlin at the turn of the twentieth century was known as the Lutherrenaissance, an extraordinarily generative moment of scholarly creativity within the Lutheran tradition. Thinkers such as Holl, Harnack and Otto took up questions that would reverberate throughout twentieth century religious and theological inquiry, on the nature of history, for instance, dialectical theology, and the question of mysticism in religious experience. The Lutherrenaissance also planted the seeds of a political theology that contributed to the alliance of Lutheran theologians with National Socialism. Contributors to this volume, attentive to both to the rich contributions of the Lutherrenaissance and its darker consequences, open an unprecedented conversation across the century. Then and now, the study of religion and theology were in periods of transition; then and now, scholars were working at the very foundations of the various disciplines of religious inquiry across the social sciences and humanities. Contributors aim to bring the critical insights of that period to bear on key questions in the study of religion and theology today, with particular attention to the global context within which present day scholars work. It exemplifies new perspectives in Luther scholarship today, the rich and fertile grounds of the Lutheran tradition, in its engagement with unprecedented global circumstances.