Gott im Wort

Luther's Reformation theology is quintessentially a theology of the word of God. However unlike Karl Barth's theology of the word, it was conceived completely on the basis of God's spoken word as understood in terms of human language, including concrete phenomena such as voice and breathing. This overall view of Luther's theology, from the doctrine of the Trinity to eschatology, describes Luther as an outstanding »thinker about language,« but the author also acknowledges the theological language which shows his understanding of the Scriptures, reason and the spirit, as well as his Bible translation. He makes constant reference to Luther's theological thinking in the context of language in comparison with Humboldt's, Hamann's, Hegel's, Heidegger's and Wittgenstein's understanding of the philosophy of language. It is Joachim Ringleben's basic assumption that it only makes sense to develop a theology of the word of God if it is done in a dialogue with the philosophy of language.