The Pilgrim Path

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:105

The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Psalm 119:160

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:12-14

Adolf Schlatter is one of the great theologians in Christian history. Trying to reconcile Schlatter’s theological profundity with his unfortunate obscurity has proven puzzling to a host of scholars. How could this great German theologian and author, with over 400 publications to his credit, be so overlooked by American Christians? Schlatter’s work is often mentioned alongside names like Augustine and Calvin, but this man was much quieter, much different than the other two.

When Schlatter joined the theological faculty at the University of Tubingen in 1898, many stories preceded him. Was he a radical? Was he trying to reinvent scripture? Was he trying to push a political agenda? By the end of his first lecture, those fears were put quickly to rest. My the end of his first semester, the upcoming student enrollment in the school’s theology department had tripled. Yet, practical theology professor Paul Wurster’s words in 1910 give a view into the character of this man.

“The negative view, in principle, of Professor Schlatter held by many has been left behind. He came to Tubingen marked with the label ‘orthodox.’ But when you get to know him you realize that this description is absolutely unfounded. He is by no means a party man and he holds himself completely aloof from all dogmatic slogans. He is a man marked most of all by deep reverence for Holy Scripture, and that can only command respect.”

In political times such as these, with many orthodoxies flying around and competing for our attention and hearts, pray that we would be those “marked most of all by deep reverence for Holy Scripture.” Pour yourself into God’s Word. Hold EVERY thought captive to obey Christ.

“My Father,

In a world of created changeable things,

Christ and his Word alone remain unshaken.

O to forsake all creatures,

to rest as a stone on him the foundation,

to abide in him, be borne up by him!”—Valley of Vision

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ our Risen Savior and Lord, Pastor Peter