The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum James and Christianity

In order to avoid the kind of twaddling word games that I have observed on the "For Whom Did Christ Die? thread, let me start right out with a confession of "insufficient theological education." My "incomprehension" of the meaning of your description of Luther is absolutely "genuine," and I am asking for clarification and/or explanation in good faith.

"Dreadful" I take to be your personal evaluation of Luther, and while I might be interested in knowing the reasons why you consider him or his theological views "dreadful," I think I understand pretty well what you mean by describing Luther in this way.

However, I honestly have no idea what you mean when you refer to him as a "nominalist Catholic." I have never heard Luther described in this way. I usually take the word "nominal" to mean "in name" or "in name only," and I would think of a "nominal Catholic" as one who identified herself as or bore the name of Catholic, but did not adhere to Catholic beliefs or practices (e.g., my mother in law). Luther ultimately rejected both the name and many of the central beliefs and practices of Roman Catholicism, and the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Luther and anathematized him and his beliefs.

Of course, you actually refer to Luther as a "nominalist Catholic," which makes me think you might be referring instead to the old nominalist/realist controversy. Most scholars consider Luther a nominalist or at least a conceptualist with respect to the nature of universals, and generally speaking, the Roman Catholic Church has tended to favor realism while Protestants have had stronger nominalist tendencies. While I can understand why someone might call Luther a "nominalist Protestant" (although I don't know what his nominalism would have to do with his view of the Book of James), I'm really clueless as to why you would call him a "nominalist Catholic," and I think it is fair of me to ask for clarification. Please help me to understand what you mean or have in mind by calling Luther a "nominalist Catholic"?