Date of Award

8-20-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Systematic Theology

Scripture References in this Resource

Genesis 1:27-28; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 78; Ephesians 6:4; Acts 2:38-39

Abstract

Ledebuhr, Charles S. V. “Chrysostom and Luther on the Intergenerational Character of the Faith: Retrieving the God-Designed Parental Role in the Transmission of the Faith to the Next Generation.” MA Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2020. 167 pp.

Although hardly anyone would argue against the importance of parents in the faith formation of their children or that God commanded parents to pass on the faith to their children, there is still a clear tendency in the church to concentrate the teaching of the faith around the temple and the pastor rather than giving to the home and the parents the proper attention in accordance with God’s design. This thesis addresses the issue by harvesting contributions from two esteemed theologians of the history of the Church, John Chrysostom and Martin Luther. The analysis of relevant texts from these authors shows that Chrysostom and Luther support the thesis that the transmission of faith is inherently intergenerational, i.e., God created the human being in such a way that he has a natural tendency to learn from the previous generation and pass on to the next generation the faith in all its nuances or what it means to be completely human the way God intends us to be. Further insights from the research in Chrysostom and Luther also corroborate what other contemporary authors have been emphasizing, that the distinctiveness of the Christian life must be recovered in order to pass on to the next generation God’s account of what it means to be human. Otherwise, the world will inculcate in the young a different version of what it means to be human. The testimony of these two highly esteemed theologians, one from among the Church Fathers and the other from the Reformation era, should not be taken lightly. Therefore, this research contributes to the discussion aimed at recovering the role of parents in the faith formation of new generations by including the voices of Chrysostom and Luther in order that their inputs may be reappreciated.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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