Thinking Fellows Podcast

Episode: Why is Luther's Bondage of the Will Ignored?

Date: October 27, 2025
Participants: Caleb Keith (host), Scott Keith, Adam Francisco, Steven Paulson

Overview

This episode of the Thinking Fellows takes a provocative and in-depth look at Martin Luther’s seminal work, The Bondage of the Will (De Servo Arbitrio), with the central question: Why is this foundational work so widely ignored—especially among Lutherans—despite its enduring importance for Reformation theology? Through a candid, often humorous roundtable, the panel explores historical, theological, and cultural reasons for this neglect, drawing out the challenging claims of the book and their implications for contemporary Christianity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Is The Bondage of the Will Ignored?

• Modern Christianity’s Focus on Moral Virtue

  • Scott Keith contends that most of Christianity, including contemporary Lutheranism, has become “a quest for better moral virtue through Jesus.” Moral improvement and behaviorism have overtaken proclamation:

    “If you are pursuing just morality and virtue as sort of the end … you can’t have at the core the bondage of the will.” (03:29 – Scott Keith)

  • The bound will, as a doctrine, disrupts this by denying human autonomy in being good.

• The Conversation Ender

  • Caleb points out that referencing The Bondage of the Will often ends theological dialogue rather than begins it:

    “…if you bring it up, it’s a conversation ender nowadays, not a conversation starter.” (01:17 – Caleb Keith)

• Historical Ignorance (Not Just a Modern Issue)

  • Steven Paulson notes that the avoidance of this book began almost immediately after its publishing:

    “It was a very popular book. It went like hotcakes. And then absolutely nothing afterward … they wanted to hide it and they wanted to put it in the closet …” (07:22 – Steven Paulson)

2. Theological Stakes: What the Book Asserts

• Scripture’s Clarity

  • Luther’s confidence in the “absolute clarity” of Scripture is unsettling to many:

    “It states bluntly that Scripture is completely clear, that when you read it, you know exactly what it’s saying. And you don’t need to run and get anybody to instruct you about what the Bible is actually saying.” (09:08 – Steven Paulson)

• Law and Gospel: Not Just a Hermeneutic

  • The panel stresses that Luther places law and gospel not as interpretive strategies, but as God’s two ways of speaking, forcing a theological crisis.

    “Law and gospel is not your way of looking at things; it’s the way God does things.” (13:03 – Steven Paulson)

3. Why Luther’s View Is Unsettling

• Assertion vs. Discussion

  • Luther’s bold assertions stand in contrast to Erasmus’s (and modernity’s) preference for intellectual “discussion”:

    “You cannot have preaching without assertions. Think about the preacher coming in to the pulpit … and saying, ‘Christ died for you. Maybe. Let's discuss it.’” (18:15 – Scott Keith)

  • Modern theology tends to opt for endless deliberation to avoid hard claims—mirrored in corporate, consensus-seeking culture:

    “Rather than having assertions, why don’t we put out ideas that all of us can discuss?... I would rather have that than have Luther asserting things, which, by the way, is what a preacher does.” (17:21 – Steven Paulson)

• Repetitiveness as Theological Necessity

  • Luther’s repetition comes from a need to keep refuting the same anthropological objections:

    “The key now is not to try to stop being repetitive, but be repetitive about the right thing. When you get the right thing that you're repetitive on, then what do you want other than to repeat it?” (27:50 – Steven Paulson)

4. Contemporary Avoidance in Practice

• The “Church Growth” Dilemma

  • Pastoral resistance to the doctrine is linked with practicality:

    “The worst thing you can possibly do in order to grow your church is to have the absolution at the beginning of your worship service… you begin your liturgy by telling them they have a bound will … how many of those people are going to come back the next time?” (25:40 – Steven Paulson)

• Scholastic and Anthropological Shifts

  • Modern and Reformed theological traditions tend to absorb or skip over the “bondage” with categories of new spiritual freedom or “restored” will, returning to older “scholastic” ideas:

    “Across Lutheranism and the Reformed, there’s a resurgence in the scholastic traditions right now…confessing the bound will, but jumping very quickly to a new free will…” (24:09 – Caleb Keith)

5. Who Actually Reads The Bondage of the Will Today?

• Reformed Interest

  • The Reformed (Calvinist) tradition, ironically, seems to value and translate the text more than contemporary Lutherans—highlighting its continuity with their own emphases on divine sovereignty.

• Anthropology vs. Theology

  • Modern theology, both inside and outside the church, is more “anthropological” than theological, focusing on human freedom rather than God’s agency:

    “Now we're going to study man...The key thing, the central thing, the main thing about what makes you a human being? Free will. Yep, that's what it is.” (34:40 – Steven Paulson)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On contemporary Christianity’s discomfort:

  • “You can’t talk about the bondage of the will, if that is your presupposition [that Christianity is about striving for virtue].” (04:16 – Scott Keith)

• On assertion vs. endless discussion:

  • “Christ died for you. Maybe. Let’s discuss it.” (18:15 – Scott Keith, satirical tone)

• On the academic neglect:

  • “We’re the only...theologically Lutheran [organization]...on the 500th anniversary of the bondage of the will...even talking about it.” (05:39 – Scott Keith)

• On law and gospel’s existential weight:

  • “God actually only has two words. He has his law and his gospel...the toughest task of a theologian is to wrestle with that your entire life.” (14:44 – Scott Keith)

• On the modern appetite for anthropology over theology:

  • “What do you suppose they figure is the key thing, the central thing...about what makes you a human being? Free will. Yep, that’s what it is.” (34:40 – Steven Paulson)

• On why discussing the bound will feels dangerous:

  • “If you can get around [the bound will], not talk about it very much, all of these categories become open back to those old...more exciting or natural...ideas again.” (11:28 – Caleb Keith)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• 01:17 – Introduction of the main topic and question of the episode
• 03:29 – Scott Keith’s proposal: moralism has replaced proclamation in the church
• 07:22 – Steven Paulson on the early historical neglect of Luther’s book
• 09:08 – The unsettling clarity of Scripture in Luther’s theology
• 13:03 – Law and Gospel as the very voice of God, not merely an interpretive tool
• 18:15 – The necessity of bold assertions in preaching, contra Erasmus
• 25:40 – Church growth pragmatics and resistance to the bound will
• 24:09 – Scholasticism, new will, and the sidestepping of Luther’s core challenge
• 34:40 – The rise of anthropological (man-centered) theology in modernity

Tone & Style

The conversation throughout is lively, occasionally irreverent, and deeply concerned with the theological integrity of Lutheran (and Christian) tradition. The panelists are self-deprecating, willing to poke fun at themselves and others, but unwavering about the seriousness of Luther’s argument.

Conclusion

The Bondage of the Will remains at the heart of Luther’s—and the Reformation’s—theology, but is ignored today because its message clashes with the prevailing focus on personal improvement, free will, and consensus-driven religion. The panel argues for a return to its bold assertions, even if uncomfortable, as the very substance of Christian proclamation.

For further engagement:

• Listen to the full episode for in-depth development of each point.
• Recommended for those interested in the intersections of historical theology, church practice, and contemporary religious culture.