The understanding of justification as a pure gift may seem to exclude any economy from the center of Lutheran theology. On the other hand, if justification means a renewed fellowship with God and if mutuality is an irreplaceable part of any kind of social interaction, then a form of reciprocity hast to be found even in Luther's understanding of grace as a free gift.
It is also possible to find a great number of formulations that obviously imply a kind of reciprocal structure, such as the "happy exchange" and the metaphorical use of matrimony in Luther's writings. If the concept of reciprocity could be used to elucidate Luther's doctrines of justification, it would be possible to reintegrate under a new perspective the social dimensions of the doctrine. Furthermore, it could contribute to a fuller picture of what an understanding of Luther's theology as a theology of self-giving love could contain.
According to the sociologist Marshall Sahlins, different types of reciprocity can be defined along a continuum... [negative reciprocity is] described as "the attempt to get something for nothing with impunity," is the most impersonal sort of exchange, aiming at maximizing utility at the other's expense and including such actions as gambling, chicanery, and theft. Its polar opposite is generalized reciprocity... What makes generalized reciprocity difficult to describe, especially for those involved, is that in focusing on the reciprocal aspects, there is a tendency to change toward a more balanced type of reciprocity and thus a less social one... [Jacques Godbout] describes the difference between the happy marriage in which the couple do each other favors, and the marriage in fundamental crisis, in which every deed and favor is counted and measured...
Sahlin's scheme becomes interesting for Luther research when it is possible to find the same main types of reciprocity in the center of Luther's understanding of justification... [Luther asks the rhetorical question] "But what does it mean when Christ says: 'the poor have good tiding preached to them?' An explanation of the utility of the gospel is provided at the end of the sermon...
At the end, Luther explains the utility of the gospel. Two things should be learned: faith and love. The faith should be praised, and the love should be done. Marcel Mauss's old insight is here reflected in the adage: a gift not passed on becomes loot. The gifts of God have to be distributed to the neighbors in order to remain gifts.
... Accordingly, if the neighbor remains only a recipient, he or she never has the possibility of participating in the fellowship, To avoid the isolation of the neighbor, it is necessary for him or her to partake in the source of giving... And so, the kingdom of God is not in words but in further giving.
... justification is the transformation of a self-centered do ut des to an opening social do ut des. Consequently it is possible to concentrate the economic structure of Luther's doctrine of justification in the twofold sentence "Deus dat ut dem, et do ut des" (God gives that I may give, and I give that you may give." - Bo Holm, "Luther's Theology of the Gift" in The Gift of Grace 78-86
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What a neat passage! I know very little of Bo Holm (he's Danish, he works at the University of Aarhus, he's worked with some really cool people), but this passage from him makes me want to read more.
Holm follows a traditional Lutheran focus on justification by grace through faith as a gift - freely given and unconditional out of pure love. Orthodox Lutherans usually stop there. God's grace is a free gift, it cannot be earned, it is not done in order to "get" something. This grace is closely tied with our ideas of God's freedom, God's sovereignty, God's immutability, and all that good stuff. God loves you and that settles it.
Now me? I'm perfectly comfortable in that framework. That's the bread and butter (or bread and wine) of my faith. But there are many who get antsy around it. I can understand why - even if I don't agree. They tend to believe that it can lead to laziness, quietism, unwillingness to grow, change, or love (never mind that this really wasn't an issue for the Reformers themselves, I suspect those issues come from a different source but more on that another time).
Holm takes these un-nuanced concerns quite seriously, though. He wants to get to the heart of the matter of our relationship with God and neighbor through Law and Gospel. And he wants to do so in an interdisciplinary way by bringing in comments from sociologists. In examining Sahlin's sociological understanding of generosity he discovers that these critiques of Lutheranism don't really share Luthers' understanding of the gift of grace. They're setting up a strawman (though there are Lutherans who are quite comfortable in the straw).
For Luther (and for us) the Gospel is transformative, and the joy it creates is best freely given in turn. The gift of grace isn't done for reciprocity, it's done relationship, friendship, and congregational life together in God. Grace itself does the work of bringing us out of laziness, out of quietism, and towards a loving life in God's way. God's generosity and our generosity are not only focused on the individual, but on the neighbor. Each degree of care and presence builds the community more and more. We find some clear parallels to Jüngel's understanding of Christ's self-giving and the identity of God here (which I've often summarized as: "God does God stuff so that God can God more.").
This in turn gives us a great perspective on the imago dei - we bear God's image, in bearing Christ's image, in giving grace, praise, and love in the world. Not because we're doing it, but because God is at work. What a great nutshell of ecclesiology - we are given the grace of God not to be unmoved, but to be moved towards the very love of God in loving and bearing good news to the neighbor, and in doing so, are the Church.
Holm follows a traditional Lutheran focus on justification by grace through faith as a gift - freely given and unconditional out of pure love. Orthodox Lutherans usually stop there. God's grace is a free gift, it cannot be earned, it is not done in order to "get" something. This grace is closely tied with our ideas of God's freedom, God's sovereignty, God's immutability, and all that good stuff. God loves you and that settles it.
Now me? I'm perfectly comfortable in that framework. That's the bread and butter (or bread and wine) of my faith. But there are many who get antsy around it. I can understand why - even if I don't agree. They tend to believe that it can lead to laziness, quietism, unwillingness to grow, change, or love (never mind that this really wasn't an issue for the Reformers themselves, I suspect those issues come from a different source but more on that another time).
Holm takes these un-nuanced concerns quite seriously, though. He wants to get to the heart of the matter of our relationship with God and neighbor through Law and Gospel. And he wants to do so in an interdisciplinary way by bringing in comments from sociologists. In examining Sahlin's sociological understanding of generosity he discovers that these critiques of Lutheranism don't really share Luthers' understanding of the gift of grace. They're setting up a strawman (though there are Lutherans who are quite comfortable in the straw).
For Luther (and for us) the Gospel is transformative, and the joy it creates is best freely given in turn. The gift of grace isn't done for reciprocity, it's done relationship, friendship, and congregational life together in God. Grace itself does the work of bringing us out of laziness, out of quietism, and towards a loving life in God's way. God's generosity and our generosity are not only focused on the individual, but on the neighbor. Each degree of care and presence builds the community more and more. We find some clear parallels to Jüngel's understanding of Christ's self-giving and the identity of God here (which I've often summarized as: "God does God stuff so that God can God more.").
This in turn gives us a great perspective on the imago dei - we bear God's image, in bearing Christ's image, in giving grace, praise, and love in the world. Not because we're doing it, but because God is at work. What a great nutshell of ecclesiology - we are given the grace of God not to be unmoved, but to be moved towards the very love of God in loving and bearing good news to the neighbor, and in doing so, are the Church.
