Читать книгу Der Philipperbrief des Paulus - Eve-Marie Becker - Страница 18

We will now turn to a text that has generally not been counted among the most central writings of MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p): Melanchthon’s funeral speech on LutherLuther, Martin (“Oratio in funere reverendi viri D. Martini Lutheri”). However, this text gives a good impression of Melanchthon’s view on both Luther and Paul in 1546. After a complicated history of transmission that cannot be discussed here,1 the “Oratio in funere reverendi viri D. Martini Lutheri” has been edited again in 1997.

In his funeral speech on LutherLuther, Martin, MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) chooses a prominent literary type of an oratio that is known from antiquity: the laudatio funebrislaudatio funebris. In his speech, Melanchthon though claims several times that he would differ from the ancient prototype (… tantum de mortui laudibus …)Wischmeyer, OdaMelanchthon, Philip(p)2 since he would not intend to hold a laudation. This assertion, however, rather functions as an introductory trope.

MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) starts by placing LutherLuther, Martin in the list of de viris illustribus, which reaches from Adam to Johannes Tauler. Hereafter Melanchthon compares the regents of big ancient empires – Solon, Themistocles, Scipio and AugustusAugustus – with leaders of the church, such as Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, Augustine and Luther who, of course, exceed the former group of ancient figures. Afterwards, Melanchthon portrays Luther as a humanist and a teacher of the church.

In order to show LutherLuther, Martin’s humanist profile, MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) uses various proofs: He refers to respective attestations made by Erasmus; he talks about Luther’s virtues – in comparison with ancient ideas of virtues (see Hercules or Cimon); he claims that Luther was eager to read history-writing in order to interpret on the basis of exempla mentioned there contemporary time and life. In Melanchthon’s funeral speech, Luther appears as a true humanist.

Which role does Pauline exegesis play in MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p)’s speech and in his portrait of LutherLuther, Martin? Regarding how Melanchthon reads and uses Pauline texts here and how he summarizes Luther’s theology, two observations are of particular interest to me: First, Luther’s teaching – and this is the main argument in Melanchthon’s speech – “points to the will of God and the real worship, it interprets the Bible and the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”3 According to Melanchthon’s interpretation, Luther has renewed the true and necessary teaching, especially in regard to atonement (poenitentia). Luther had explained Paul’s teaching, “which says that Man is justified by belief,”4 as Melanchthon puts it. Here, again, the theologoumenon of justification occurs as a central element of how Luther conceptualizes Paul’s theology. The theologoumenon of justification, however, is not the only way in which Melanchthon characterizes in the funeral speech Luther’s achievements as a teacher.

Second, how does MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) use Pauline letters in general? How does he refer to Paul’s letter to the Philippians in particular? There is one direct quotation of Philippians existent in the funeral speech. At first, this quotation could be a kind of a reference of any sort to an ancient source text – Melanchthon uses Philippians in a rather unspecific way, in fact in conjunction with other biblical writings or pagan literature like Vergil. When quoting the Greek text of Phil 4:8, Melanchthon only refers to the first part of this verse (4:8a)5. Phil 4:8 is the only time that Paul uses the term ἀρετήἀρετή. The topic of “virtue” reflects precisely what Melanchthon addresses in the funeral speech and how he wants to dignify LutherLuther, Martin’s lifework.

MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) aims at revealing LutherLuther, Martin’s virtues (see above). For that purpose, he refers to the “short list of virtues” as being presented in Phil 4:8. However, Melanchthon himself does not make use of the term ἀρετήἀρετή here. Neither does he state that already Paul would have had an idea about human or specifically Christian virtues. Melanchthon rather presupposes that his audience knows this verse by heart so that Phil 4:8, in fact, acts as a key-element of the whole speech. Phil 4:8 is in the center of Melanchthon’s valuation of Luther and his ethos as a teacher of the church.

The role of Paul’s letter to the Philippians for the concept of MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p)’s funeral speech is not at all marginal. Philippians rather more appears to be a central source text – an “intertext” which Melanchthon continuously recalls. In the rhetorical frame of lauding LutherLuther, Martin and his lifework, it is thus less the theologoumenon of justification that dominates Melanchthon’s argument here, but much more the concept of creating Luther’s paradigmatic role in light of Paul’s selfSelbst, self, selfhood-description.

In the end of his speech, MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) points to various paradigmatic teachers, like Jeremiah, John the Baptist and Paul. He suggests adding LutherLuther, Martin to this list of paradigmatic teachers.6 By fashioning Luther as such a paradigmatic teacher, Melanchthon adequately reflects Paul’s selfSelbst, self, selfhood-conceptualization in Philippians. In no other letter does Paul shape such a clear concept of himself as an exemplumexemplum, which should be imitated by his readers.7 Besides his quotation of Phil 4:8, Melanchthon’s reading of Paul’s letter to the Philippians thus proves to be “appropriate” and in line with Paul’s pragmatics of writing in at least two dimensions:

First, MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) makes LutherLuther, Martin to appear as a true imitator of Paul. Hereby, he follows Paul’s pragmatics of letter-writing in Phil 3:17. When Melanchthon talks about Luther’s expectation of being close to God and Jesus Christ – after having been taken out of his body in order to see God’s identity8 – Melanchthon most obviously alludes to Phil 3:10f.: He makes Paul’s desire of recognizing Christ after being transformed into Christ’s fortune to become Luther’s own desire. Melanchthon actualizes Luther as the paradigm of a Christ-emulator as defined by Paul in his letter to the Philippians.

Second, in pointing to LutherLuther, Martin’s virtues and adding him to the list of paradigmatic teachers, MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p) explicitly requests of his audience to “imitate” Luther (… Virtutes etiam nobis necessarias pro nostra mediocritate imitemur …).9 Here Melanchthon obviously alludes another time to Paul’s demand of following or “mimicking” him (Phil 3:17): As Paul admonishes the community in PhilippiPhilippi to “imitate” him by doing what they have learned and received from Paul (Phil 4:9), Melanchthon makes Luther to be a virtue-based object of imitation. In Melanchthon’s speech, Luther becomes nothing less than an impersonation of Paul in his letter to the Philippians.

MelanchthonMelanchthon, Philip(p)’s exegesis of Paul has more to offer than a reiteration of a certain hermeneutical key: the theologoumenon of justification. Melanchthon demonstrates a high amount of exegetical sensitivity. He shows that there is finally no one-dimensional reading of Paul that would comply with a “Lutheran” or a “Melanchthonian Paul.” Studying Pauline exegesis in reformatory time will certainly reveal manifold ways of conceptualizing Pauline theology beyond the justification doctrine or mimetic ethics.