Description
Christians have always turned to the Sermon on the Mount for inspiration. In Life Can Begin Again, Helmut Thielicke, himself one of the great preachers of the twentieth century, comes to grips with what is often seen as a collection of lovely, but impossible ideals. Thielicke makes it clear that the Sermon on the Mount can never be understood if, even for a moment, we forget the person of the Preacher of the Sermon. For without the person and work of Jesus Christ the marvellous words of the Beatitudes and the injunctions that follow them are the most radical and devastating distillation of God’s claims that can be conceived – they leave us in utter hopeless dismay. Only through Christ can these words of the law become the glorious gospel that promises a new life. Once again, as in his other best-selling works How the World Began and The Prayer that Spans the World, Thielicke brings profoundly biblical religion alive for modern readers.
Originally translated by the American Lutheran theologian John W. Doberstein, this reprinted edition of Life Can Begin Again was published to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of Helmut Thielicke’s death.
About the Author
Helmut Thielicke was one of the most outstanding preachers and theologians of the German Lutheran Church. Dismissed by the Nazi regime from his post of Professor of Theology at Heidelberg in 1940, he came to prominence in Stuttgart where, during the worst of the bombing raids and in spite of continuing Nazi opposition, he continued to preach to a congregation of several thousand each week.
After the war, he joined the faculty of the University of Tübingen as a Professor of Systematic Theology, later becoming Rector at the University of Hamburg, the first Protestant theologian to hold this position. During this time, he also became a world traveller, lecturing and preaching in the United States, South Africa, Australia and Latin America. He died in Hamburg in 1986.
Contents
Translator’s Note
1. Journey Without Luggage
2. The First Installment of Happiness
3. The Salt, Not the Honey of the World
4. The Costs of Grace
5. Every Word an Oath
6. No Retaliation!
7. Does Faith Pay Dividends?
8. Talking About God or With God?
9. Homecoming
10. Overcoming Anxiety
11. The Judge Accused
12. An Elementary Course in Faith
13. Venturing the Harder Road
14. Time’s Up!
15. The Foundation of Life
