Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2015
Department 1
Religious Studies
Abstract
Unlike their Roman Catholic counterparts, early Protestants insisted that individual Christians could be certain that they personally enjoyed God’s favor and would be saved. Their faith in Christ’s redeeming work would give them “assurance of salvation,” and their ministers insisted that every Christian ought to feel that assurance. This article argues that Protestant assurance did not – and could not – banish believers’ anxiety that God’s saving promises had never been meant for them. “Behind” the God who promised salvation lurked a “hidden God” who had decided the ultimate fate of every individual before the beginning of time. Even the strongest believers – Martin Luther and the first-generation New England minister Thomas Hooker are offered as examples – dreaded the wrath of a terrifying God who might at any moment dash their comfort to pieces.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
DOI
10.1017/S0017816015000371
Recommended Citation
Tipson, Baird. "Thomas Hooker, Martin Luther, and the Terror at the Edge of Protestant Faith." Harvard Theological Review 108.4 (October 2015), 530-551.
Required Publisher's Statement
Original version is available from the publisher, Cambridge University Press.
Included in
Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons