What Human Eyes Could See: Martin Luther’s Natural Theology

Weighing in at some 2200 pages, the Genesis lectures of 1535–45 comprise the longest single work of Martin Luther. In this lecture, Mattox will explore aspects of Luther’s interpretation of the creation accounts in Genesis 1-2. While he receives the traditional geocentric cosmology, he also adjusts it to conform with “first Moses.” For Luther, God the Holy Trinity speaks the creation into being as words or letters. This renders the creation an arena of love and reason, which the human being, created in God’s image, is uniquely fitted to read. Reading the language of creation, human eyes are naturally lifted to see and know the Creator. Creation thus means not only theophany, but also union and communion with God.

Biography

Mickey Mattox (PhD, Duke University) is Professor of Historical Theology at Marquette University, whose primary expertise is in the life and theology of Martin Luther. His recent publications include Iohannes Oecolampadius: An Exposition of Genesis, (Marquette University Press, 2013), and Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation, with A. G. Roeber (Eerdmans, 2012).