Tag: Martin Luther

Topic: Martin Luther

Vocation series – Differences between Luther and Calvin

If both Martin Luther’s station-based model of vocation and John Calvin’s gift-based model have a high view of vocation (they emphasize the process of vocational discovery) and are based on the belief that God works in the world through our gifts, what is then their major differences? In the gift-based model, of which Calvin can be considered a forerunner, the dichotomy between the active and contemplative life is rejected in favor of a more holistic position. Therefore, it does not exist a separation between two kinds of life: ordinary and religious. This is so because Calvin departs from the Aristotelian/Thomistic …

Vocation series – Luther’s repositioning of the concept of vocation

His disaffection with the monastic ideal strongly shaped Martin Luther’s theology of vocation. What Luther’s view of vocation tries to overcome is the dichotomy of serving our neighbor versus serving God (a dichotomy that Aquinas seems to have borrowed from the Greeks). Luther tries to overcome the idea that serving the neighbor has nothing to do with God at all. For Luther, stations in life are a kind of social roles. They are structures in human life and institutions. Those stations have duties attached to them. For example, being a parent could be a life station, so I would have …