Why did Jesus die on the cross? Ask this question of a theologian, and the answer will likely be something to the effect that Jesus died so that our sins might be forgiven and the world might be saved from sin, death and evil eternally. Ask this question of a historian, however, and the answer will be quite different: Jesus died because his activity created conflict with the authorities of his time, and therefore they had him crucified.

In response to the articles appearing in Dialog 46:1 (Spring 2007), David Brondos defends his position that in Paul's thought Christ's death did not "effect" human salvation, over against Karl Donfried's critique of that position. While Brondos and Donfried agree that Luther got the essence of Paul's gospel right and that Paul did not understand Jesus' death in terms of satisfaction or penal substitution, Brondos argues that the idea of "inclusive substitution" defended by Donfried and characteristic of the "new perspective on Paul" is foreign to the thought of both Paul and Luther.

Did Paul and Luther proclaim the same gospel? Although

Two factors loom large in the crisis that the church and our institutions of theological education are facing today. The first is that the traditional formulations of the gospel that we have inherited are highly problematic from both a theological and a biblical perspective. The second is a model of church that in many ways no longer responds to our present-day realities. By defining the gospel in terms of transformation and healing and embracing new forms of community, we can enable more people to be immersed in the gospel in the context of communities that are both transformed and transforming. K E Y W O R D Schurch, gospel, Luther, theological education 138

If asked to identify the one figure and one teaching most responsible for the current fragmented state of Western Christendom, most church historians would point back to Martin Luther and his affirmation of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. While undoubtedly the reasons for the breakup of the Western Church are extremely complex, there can be no doubt that Luther's ideas played a key role, igniting a debate over soteriological questions that continues to divide Christians, in spite of the progress made in recent years through ecumenical dialogue, as reflected in documents such as the Joint Declaration on the DoctrineofJustification. In light of this, it might seem rather strange to claim that Luther's teaching on justification may hold the key to resolving some of the most important differences and disagreements regarding that doctrine that originally arose in large part as a result of his writings. Yeta number of studies have shown that Luther's thought on the subject was in many ways distinct, not only from the Roman Catholicism of his day, but from the Protestant Orthodoxy that arose after him.' Because of this, a reconsideration of certain aspects of Luther's teaching on justification may offer a fresh perspective from which to address some of the theo