I have posted an essay which contains many of the themes that will be expounded upon in my upcoming book Christification: A Lutheran Approach to Theosis. This essay presents an argument that Luther's "great exchange" formula is more than a legal transaction. Drawing on Patristic and Medieval sources, Luther's idea of the great exchange involves a concept of theosis alongside of forensic imputation.
Here is the article.
But you wouldn't call this "infusion" in the Roman Catholic sense, or an "experientially based" conversion, right?
ReplyDeleteI only ask this, Jordan, because the response I'm anticipating with your paper is either 1.) "It sounds like infusion a la Rome" or 2.) that it's a step in the direction of Pietism because it can be looking for the "conversion experience" (read: emotionalism) as evidence of the union of the soul with God. And while I understand and agree with the point made that this is more than a merely legal transaction (though it is certainly not less than a legal transaction), I can also see a pietist or a Romanist reading this and saying "Aha!" as well.
No, I wouldn't call this either infused righteousness, or an experiential conversion. Mystical union is a reality brought about by Word and Sacrament, it's not something we need to search deep inside our souls to find through mystical experience.
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