Thomas Garrett Isham
Every once in a while, a book of real significance comes into one’s hands, a book as unexpected as it is enriching and transformative.
Specifically, I have in mind The Quest for Holiness: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Investigation, by Adolph Köberle (pronounced Kerberla), published in Germany in 1936. So popular was this work that it passed through three editions in its first few years. (At present, it is available from Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, OR. Quotations in what follows are from that edition.)
I first got wind of the book when two members of our church, one of them our pastor, were overheard expressing enthusiasm for the book’s many merits. In subsequent conversation, they agreed they knew virtually nothing about the author and were unaware if he had followed up The Quest with another book or books equally successful.
With my attention piqued, I acquired a copy and set to reading it. I also went looking for background on its long-lived author (1898-1990), his career as a professor of theology, and any notable accomplishments beyond the book we are discussing. Although I scoured the Internet, there was a paucity of biographical information available, and most of that was in German. But more on this later.
For the moment, I would like to share a specimen from the book in question, to give readers a taste of the man’s graceful prose and manner of thought. “The desire for sanctification,” he begins on the very first page, “is always first aroused in man when he has become conscious, in some painful way, of his lack of peace and the erring restlessness of his life. So the experiences of age and suffering, of sickness and death that surround us may completely destroy the boundless, worldly, sensuous pleasures that have caused us to devote ourselves… to the enjoyment of life and they awaken within us the hunger for a more enduring and deeper meaning to life. The recognition of the transitoriness of all things temporal raises the question of eternity” (page 1).
The preceding lays out the plight of humanity at large, or of that portion of humanity that reflects on its circumstances. To meet the existential demands of human life, men have for many ages engaged in spiritual and psychological disciplines with the aim of countering the apparent meaninglessness that threatens the human endeavor.
“[T]he one who looks… deeply,” Köberle continues, “recognizes behind all the different efforts the idea that through the spurring on, the increase and multiplication of the natural powers of the will it becomes possible for man to grow holier… through sheer moral aspiration to bring himself into union with God.” (page 3.)
By what paths have men pursued this man-centered quest? Köberle finds examples in the moral discipline of Confucius, in the Buddhist monk’s relentless striving against the passions, in the discipline of Stoic morals, in the pious churchman “who conscientiously torments himself about the keeping of fasts and tithing,” in humanists and idealists who pride themselves on their autonomy, and in freemasons whose moral efforts aspire after God’s esoteric secrets. At bottom, the desire to fulfill ethical duties underlines these various paths, one and all. (page 3.)
Following this list of spiritual paths, and their dismissal as insufficient answers to the quest for holiness, the burden of the rest of the book pursues two major themes: justification and sanctification, and how these two aspects of Christianity work for the salvation of souls.
But before this, we must ask: who was the mystery man who penned a classic work and then disappeared from the scene. Who was Adolph Köberle, D. D.? A search of the internet revealed that his impact on the German-speaking world did not end with one outstanding work. He was, not surprisingly, an active and engaged churchman for all his very long life. It is mostly because we are non-German, or non-European Christians, that we know so little of him.
A child of the Lutheran church, Köberle studied philosophy and theology at the University of Tubingen. In 1928, he received his doctorate for the work that was later published as The Quest for Holiness. Owing to its popularity in Germany, the book was translated into English in 1936 by American theologian John C. Mattes. It is his translation that is published by Wipf & Stock.
Kberle was head of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Seminary in Leipzig from 1922 to 1926, an experience reflected in The Quest for Holiness by many citations urging the importance of mission work. From 1939 to 1966 he held the chair of systematic theology at Basel and later at Tubingen. Although The Quest for Holiness remained his signature work, he continued to write and teach as well as engage in the wider life of the church.
I was surprised to learn that Köberle had vigorously engaged with anthroposophy, the theosophical religious movement founded by the esotericist Rudolph Steiner early in the 20th century. I was surprised he considered this movement worthy of dialogue, but apparently anthroposophy was practiced widely enough in Germany to draw a response from a churchman as distinguished as Köberle. This cultish organization still exists and many people have heard of its Waldorf Schools, which number 1,200 worldwide, with Germany, the Netherlands and the United States having the largest number of schools.
So, Köberle the “mystery man” was in fact well employed in writing, teaching, researching, and dialoguing, a well-known figure in German religious circles, especially as a representative and interpreter of the heritage of Lutheran Pietism.
With these things in mind, let us return to The Quest for Holiness. A sense of what is in store for the serious reader is provided by the chapter titles, which are as follows: Man’s attempts to sanctify himself in God’s sight, God’s judgment on man’s self-sanctification, man’s justification before God through the word of forgiveness, sanctification as the work of God in the life of the justified sinner, sanctification as the answer of the justified sinner, the significance of sanctification in the preservation or loss of the state of faith, and the relation of justification and sanctification.
Köberle rings the changes on spiritual life, examining in detail the ups and downs faced by all believers. In good Lutheran fashion he states the case with realism and practicality. Luther’s great maxim, Simul justus et peccator, underlines all that Köberle thinks, writes and believes, and what he believes is that, despite a Christian’s inevitable sins and shortcomings, he remains by grace through faith in saving relationship with God. “In the sola fide,”he says, “our personality is attached to God in a relation of utter dependence. Man no longer tries to bind God to his own self-consciousness; he knows himself wholly bound by God and so faith brings humility with it. He no longer seeks to exalt himself… He does not ask about the result or the reward, he does not expect or count on a future sanctification, he does not boast of a future transformation” (page 82).
Two additional quotations should persuade readers that Köberle’s book is worth a try. First he speaks of the natural man and his renewal in the Spirit: “Man’s willing, feeling, thinking, when it is centered in itself knows only one spirit… the spirit that says: ‘Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven; and let us make us a name.’” God’s Spirit begins the work of renewal by collapsing this delusional hubris, and by teaching a self-knowledge that penetrates to the very core of all things. He does this by His sharp and powerful word, a word that judges the thoughts and intents of the inner man, of the heart, as it were (page 115.)
Köberle insists on God’s fidelity through thick and thin, if only we allow him an entrance. “He raises me up if I do not cast myself down through slackness (page 228).” Moreover, according to Luther, “[W]e have received forgiveness and a good conscience and are entirely acquitted, yet our life is of such a nature that one stands today and tomorrow falls. Therefore, even though we be godly and stand before God with a good conscience, yet we must ever pray that He would not suffer us to relapse and yield to trials and temptations” (Large Catechism, Sixth Petition).”
Köberle also comments on Luther’s struggles against “the ancient foe” (pages 228-29) and how those struggles shaped unique parts of his outlook and doctrine. Specifically, Köberle states, Luther’s view of salvation contrasted with not only the Reformed doctrine of election, but with Protestantism’s generic treatment of the possession of grace. For his part, Luther taught that grace was anything but a fixed quantity, passive and devoid of struggle and conflict. In fact, according to Köberle, Luther possessed “the most concrete satanology it is possible to imagine.” Hence the Great Reformer warned that once one temptation ceases, it is replaced in no time by another. Moreover, in Koberle’s view, it is this awareness of indwelling sin and its penchant of dangling temptation before believers that has generated Lutheranism’s hymns and litany, and the art of such as Bach and Durer.
Parenthetically, Luther reported an abundance of direct experiences of the devils, so much so that we are not surprised he developed a vivid and detailed satanology. His writings and counseling are replete with reports of devilish attacks, and with an array of defense mechanisms to counter their mischief. Though Luther was an erudite doctor of theology and professor of Scripture, he lived in a world saturated by the supernatural and awash in superstition. According to author and pastor Shane Lems in The Christian Library, “Witch, demon, gnome, mermaid, and hobgoblin myths were familiar to people of all ages and classes. Widespread were reports that the devil entered into an animal or even a person. People thought devils were everywhere: in houses, in fields, on the streets, in the water, in forests, and in fires. Recall the words to Luther’s A Mighty Fortress is Our God: ‘And through this world with devils filled…’” Far-fetched much of it may seem to modern sensibilities, but one must recall that devilish wiles are tailored to the belief system of the times in which they present themselves.
On a more encouraging note, let us close on this thought of Luther’s: “Satan would gladly kill me if he could. Every moment he is pressing me, is treading on my heels. Yet what he wishes will not be done, but what God wills.” Amen!
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