Professor Paulos Huang delivered a lecture titled "Martin Luther and Soul Care", the second one in the series "Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment."
A series of lectures were held in in Shanghai Library in late April to explore the relationship between Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment.
Professor Huang, director and distinguished professor of the Sino-European Center of Shanghai University, talked about the anthropology of Luther and the purpose of soul care, which was Luther’s lifelong mission, on April 27.
Professor Huang first explained the anthropology of Luther from the holistic "humanology" of Hebrew creation theory. He said that Luther believed that besides flesh and spirit, human beings had souls, which combined flesh and spirit and included reason, knowledge, wisdom, emotion, will, and wish.
Regarding Luther as an engineer of the human soul, the professor shared that Luther’s lifelong mission was to care for the soul, not only to save his own soul, but also to help others.
The reason why Martin Luther paid attention to soul care was because of his own soul suffering, including arguments, accusations, impeachment, protests, appeal, complaints, anxiety, and pain. Prof. Huang said that Luther was suffering from his inability to achieve perfect holiness by his own power. God is holy, but he himself experienced melancholy in all kinds of things, as God’s righteousness made him fear, suffer and unable to gain confidence.
Luther feared God’s punishment, due to the conflict between the insurmountable evil in the heart and the sanctity of his 'God’s servant' status. Luther later referred to this difficult feeling as anxiety, which made people feel that God did not love them, for their evil was beyond remedy. It made Christians feel so sinful, doubtful and anxious that God could not help them.
Emphasizing conscience and confidence, Luther once said, "Saving one person from despair is worth more than a hundred kingdoms."
At the same time, Huang also compared Martin Luther's and Wang Yangming's understanding of conscience. He analyzed that the two shared the same view about ontology, as they both believed conscience was the foundation for knowing truth (God) and the driving force for the pursuit of sanctification. But there were differences in practice. Wang Yangming, king of Philosophy and master of the mind in the time of Luther, optimistically believed that people could be sanctified by their own efforts. Meanwhile, Luther pessimistically believed that only the Holy Spirit could help people become holy.
Huang then pointed out the purpose of Martin Luther’s soul care. He said that the goal of Martin Luther’s soul care was to gain freedom: freedom as a human being different from animals, freedom as a member of society, and freedom to be a just, holy and perfect creature.
Finally, the professor mentioned that Martin Luther believed "forgiveness", rather than "hate", was the solution to people’s bitterness.
The serial lecture topics were respectively "Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment", "Luther and Soul Care", "Luther and Reason", "Luther and the Paradox", "Luther and Liberalism", "Luther and Conservatism", "Luther and the Unity of Man and Nature (or God) ", "Luther and the Law", "Luther and Philosophy" and "Luther and Humanism."
Huang, a double Ph.D. holder in East Asian Studies and Western Intellectual Tradition at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Sino-Western Studies and Brill Yearbook of Chinese Theology, focuses on Chinese studies, Sino-Christian Academic Theology, dialogue between Chinese studies and Western studies in the light of globalization, the world's finest Finnish education, and translation of Martin Luther's works.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
2021年4月26-30日，“马丁·路德与第三次启蒙”系列十场讲座在上海图书馆举行，上海大学中欧人文研究与交流中心主任特聘博导教授黄保罗主讲。
在第二场讲座中，黄保罗教授以《马丁·路德与灵魂关怀》为题分享了马丁路德的人论、以马丁路德灵魂关怀为终身使命、及灵魂关怀的目的等。
黄教授首先从希伯来创造论的整全“人学”来讲解马丁路德的人论。马丁·路德认为人有肉体、魂体和灵体，其中魂体是肉体和灵体结合的结果，它包括理性、知识、智慧、情感、情绪、意志、意愿和欲望等。
接着，黄教授分享了马丁·路德是以灵魂关怀为终身使命的，不仅让自己的灵魂得到拯救，而且要帮助其他人，他赞赏说，“马丁路德是一位人类灵魂工程师”。
马丁·路德之所以关注灵魂关怀是因为马丁路德本人所受的灵魂之苦，包括争论、责难、弹劾、抗议、申诉、控告、指控、抱怨、焦虑、痛苦。黄教授介绍说，马丁路德痛苦于如何摆脱自己无法凭借己力而达到完美无瑕之圣洁的。因为上帝是圣洁的，而他本人却在各种中体验到忧郁，因为上帝的义让他恐惧，良心受煎熬，无法获得信心。
心中之恶的难以克服与修士神仆身份的神圣之间的冲突，使路德恐惧于上帝的惩罚。路德后来称这种难熬的感受为焦虑，它是铺天盖地袭来时令人觉得上帝并不爱他们的想法，令人感到自己邪恶得无可救药。让基督徒觉得自己得罪、怀疑及焦虑如此之多，以致上帝的恩典也爱莫能助。
路德非常强调良心和信心。黄教授引用路德的话介绍说：“把一个人的良心从绝望中救拔出来比一百个王国的价值更大。”
同时，黄教授也把马丁·路德和王阳明对于良心的认识做了一个比较。他分析说，两人在本体论是相同的：良知是存在于人心内认识真理（即上帝）的根基，在实践论上是有差异的：良知是追求成圣的动力，王阳明乐观地认为己力可成就，路德悲观地认为只有圣灵他力才可达成。
接着，黄教授指出，马丁·路德灵魂关怀的目的，他说到：“马丁·路德的灵魂关怀的目标是获得自由”，包括作为人区别于动物的自由、作为社会成员的自由和成为公义/圣洁/完美的被造者之自由。
最后，黄教授分享说马丁·路德认为要以“饶恕”而非“仇恨”来解决众人的灵魂之苦：苦毒。
黄保罗教授系列讲座（二）：马丁·路德与灵魂关怀 ——“马丁·路德与第三次启蒙”系列讲座（2）
Professor Paulos Huang delivered a lecture titled "Martin Luther and Soul Care", the second one in the series "Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment."
A series of lectures were held in in Shanghai Library in late April to explore the relationship between Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment.
Professor Huang, director and distinguished professor of the Sino-European Center of Shanghai University, talked about the anthropology of Luther and the purpose of soul care, which was Luther’s lifelong mission, on April 27.
Professor Huang first explained the anthropology of Luther from the holistic "humanology" of Hebrew creation theory. He said that Luther believed that besides flesh and spirit, human beings had souls, which combined flesh and spirit and included reason, knowledge, wisdom, emotion, will, and wish.
Regarding Luther as an engineer of the human soul, the professor shared that Luther’s lifelong mission was to care for the soul, not only to save his own soul, but also to help others.
The reason why Martin Luther paid attention to soul care was because of his own soul suffering, including arguments, accusations, impeachment, protests, appeal, complaints, anxiety, and pain. Prof. Huang said that Luther was suffering from his inability to achieve perfect holiness by his own power. God is holy, but he himself experienced melancholy in all kinds of things, as God’s righteousness made him fear, suffer and unable to gain confidence.
Luther feared God’s punishment, due to the conflict between the insurmountable evil in the heart and the sanctity of his 'God’s servant' status. Luther later referred to this difficult feeling as anxiety, which made people feel that God did not love them, for their evil was beyond remedy. It made Christians feel so sinful, doubtful and anxious that God could not help them.
Emphasizing conscience and confidence, Luther once said, "Saving one person from despair is worth more than a hundred kingdoms."
At the same time, Huang also compared Martin Luther's and Wang Yangming's understanding of conscience. He analyzed that the two shared the same view about ontology, as they both believed conscience was the foundation for knowing truth (God) and the driving force for the pursuit of sanctification. But there were differences in practice. Wang Yangming, king of Philosophy and master of the mind in the time of Luther, optimistically believed that people could be sanctified by their own efforts. Meanwhile, Luther pessimistically believed that only the Holy Spirit could help people become holy.
Huang then pointed out the purpose of Martin Luther’s soul care. He said that the goal of Martin Luther’s soul care was to gain freedom: freedom as a human being different from animals, freedom as a member of society, and freedom to be a just, holy and perfect creature.
Finally, the professor mentioned that Martin Luther believed "forgiveness", rather than "hate", was the solution to people’s bitterness.
The serial lecture topics were respectively "Martin Luther and the Third Enlightenment", "Luther and Soul Care", "Luther and Reason", "Luther and the Paradox", "Luther and Liberalism", "Luther and Conservatism", "Luther and the Unity of Man and Nature (or God) ", "Luther and the Law", "Luther and Philosophy" and "Luther and Humanism."
Huang, a double Ph.D. holder in East Asian Studies and Western Intellectual Tradition at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Sino-Western Studies and Brill Yearbook of Chinese Theology, focuses on Chinese studies, Sino-Christian Academic Theology, dialogue between Chinese studies and Western studies in the light of globalization, the world's finest Finnish education, and translation of Martin Luther's works.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Professor: Martin Luther and Soul Care
