Law and gospel in the light of Torah: An analysis of South African Lutheran and Reformed sermons in the light of a Jewish understanding of Torah.

Abstract

Taking the recent history and the present situation of South Africa as my context, I have found that with regard to their ethical stance the Lutheran Church has been accused of taking the "cheap grace" (anti-nomian) option and the Reformed Churches have often been criticised (especially by Lutherans, although recently also by some of their own theologians e.g. Johan Cilliers, 1994) for propagating the salvation by "works of the law" (semi-pelagian) option. Both the above "accusations" need to be critically verified by an analysis of the two theologies and their functioning in South Africa. This analysis will be done by using sermons from both churches as its empirical basis. I have decided to use seven sermons from each tradition. The Lutheran ones were brought together by directly contacting my colleagues and asking them to help me in this project by sending their sermons (especially on Exodus 20, if possible) to me. The Reformed sermons used are taken from published sermon collections available in South Africa.