Spanning the continents, three internationally respected theologians demonstrate how the thought and legacy of Martin Luther can serve in an ecumenical and interfaith context as a resource for a radical critique of global economics and culture. Lutheran Christianity originated in its own era of economic and cultural crisis. One of the great misinterpretations of Martin Luther has considered his heritage as fundamentally reactionary, seeking to preserve the political status quo. Instead, set free by the biblical message of liberation, this book wields Luther's theology to engage the reality of poverty, hunger, oppression, and ecological degradation caused by an imperial capitalism as the most urgent theological issues in the contemporary world. The volume demonstrates the liberating possibilities of theology done out of a biblical and Lutheran perspective for the economic and cultural crises facing the church in the present century.

Prompted by the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, this book examines the legacy of Martin Luther in the life, work, and reception of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the most widely read modern Lutheran theologian. Framing the commemoration of the Reformation in conversation with Bonhoeffer's legacy places much more than Bonhoeffer's connection to Luther at stake. Given the fraught relationship of the Lutheran Bonhoeffer with the German Protestant Church under National Socialism, the question inevitably arises: "What happened to Luther's church in Germany?" This in turn prompts the question: "How did the Protestant tradition play out in public life in other nations?" And these historical issues in turn encourage reflection on a question that exercised both Luther and Bonhoeffer: "What will be the shape of the church in the future?" In these pages, an international group of scholars and practitioners from both church and state pursues these questions.

Is there a distinctive Lutheran ethical stance? What does this deep and robust religious tradition have to say to today's dilemmas in personal and social life, business, and public policy? Here, ten Lutheran ethicists explore Lutheran emphases, themes, and approaches to offer their account of Lutheran ethics as a way of life in today's world. Writing in dialogue, they raise foundational concerns of biblical and theological sources and norms, of Christian freedom and responsibility, of call and social witness, of justice and formation in prayer. Then in a lively "Table Talk" the participants discuss and debate the tradition's insights and oversights and show how it might illumine today's burning ethical issues, especially homosexuality. This excellent resource for classrooms, group discussion, and individual study also includes a comprehensive bibliography.