THE KUKMIN DAILY

If Martin Luther were to post his theses for our present time, what would they be? “They would urge us to embody the spirit of the Lord’s Prayer in our lives each day. The Christian faith is not a concept; it must be made concrete in life. For the Korean church or for the U.S. church, Luther would urge us to restore God as our first love, and to return to the Biblical foundation.”

In response to the question, “If a second religious reformation took place today, what would Martin Luther emphasize?” distinguished church historian and Christian thinker John Woodbridge (76), a research professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, gave this reply focusing on the Lord’s Prayer and the power of the Gospel.

“The Gospel is power, but this era does not believe in its power. There is a pressing need to restore the power of the Gospel,” Prof. Woodbridge said. “The U.S. unfortunately is losing the Gospel’s power.” He enjoined, “Don’t follow in the footsteps of the U.S. church, which is enveloped in materialism and secularization, and has lost the authority of the Bible.”

During an interview on March 19 at The-K Hotel on Baumoe-ro in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Prof. Woodbridge identified the greatest legacy of the Reformation as its spirit of “Only Faith” and “Only Bible.” He said these two slogans have contributed profoundly to the formation of Christianity today. “‘Only Faith’ became the revolution of personal salvation, and ‘Only Bible’ became the single source of that salvation,” he said. He noted that the Reformation also contributed significantly to the expansion of women’s rights.

“As the true character of the Gospel was diffused through the religious Reformation, there was marked progress in the promotion of women’s rights…The impetus for actualizing this was the value that Martin Luther placed on the family,” he said. “Luther, viewing the Roman Catholic ban on clergy marriage as anti-Bible, got married, had many children and formed a loving family…Through the image he presented, he completely transformed the way people saw God.”

Prof. Woodbridge explained, “Up until the 16th century, God was the epitome of fearsome being. But Luther changed people’s sense of God to that of loving father…And this brought changes in the understanding of father and mother within the family as well.”

Prof. Woodbridge visited Korea as the keynote lecturer for the Reformation Quincentennial Joint Academic Conference, which opened on March 18 at Torch Trinity Graduate Univesity, and where he spoke on “Biblical Authority for Religious Reformers.”

Reporter Sangmok Shin (smshin@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok


Full Story in Korean:
존 우드브리지 교수 “주기도문을 매일 삶에서 구현하고 있나요”: 종교개혁 공동학술대회 주강사로 방한, 美 트리니티신대원 존 우드브리지 교수