REFLECTION PAPER 2

THOMAS OYARO ONG’OU
THST 624 PROTESTANT THEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
REFLECTION PAPER 2
June 22, 2009


In our previous week we learned about the theology of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and some touching class discussion debates. Martin Luther is the important theologian of the 16th century. He grew up in a tendency of psychological depression and this motivated him to become a monk in a monastery. In the monastery is started to loose confidence in the system and in the search to find confidence he became a reformer. On his pilgrimage to Rome he saw abuses at high level of the hierarchy. His friend Stalpetz suggested that he should become a theologian and he accepted. He read the gospels of the New Testament, Romans and Galatians and Psalm 22 when he discovered about the forgiveness of God. He wrote 97 thesis of righteousness by faith and 95 in thesis on indulgences. He gained powerful friends and enemies. He talked about the theology of creation and revelation, faith and reason, legal preaching and evangelical preaching, law and gospel absolute knowledge and hidden knowledge, law and gospel and faith and works.
Whereas Luther was dealing with the basic issue of his relationship with God, Zwingli was led by patriotic and intellectual considerations. He believed that the gospel was for the state and the church. He was open to reason, but because there is a distance between God and man, reason was not enough. To him there was no difference between providence and predestination. He says that God not only knows all things but also does all things.

In our class discussion there came an argument of ecumenism, holistic and cosmic interpretations. With a hot debate those issues were discussed theologically with so many arguments. This makes our class one of the best democratic classes where by different views are welcomed because it is a class of theology considering positive opinions and choosing the right choice individualistically.