Luther’s De libertate christiana , Johannes Tauler, and the Problem of Human Agency: A Comparative Perspective
Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture May 6, 2026 Lucien Dabadie
Recent studies have emphasized the centrality of late medieval mysticism to Martin Luther’s theology of faith. Building upon such research, I argue that Luther’s Freedom of a Christian (1520) preserves a characteristic tension within medieval mysticism: the cohabitation of human agency alongside divine operation. Whereas external agency (good works) is rejected, Luther reintroduces internal...