Spirit, writers, and biblical readers in "the Practical Circumstances of Life": A political hermeneutic

[Extract] This essay is a historical exploration of the political hermeneutic embedded in Luther’s commentary on this text, a passage that encouraged the reformer again, relatively late in life, to consider scripture, human spirit, and divine speech as generators of meaning. My exploration does three things. First, I briefly set the commentary in the broad contexts of Luther’s biography and religious politics. Second, I review his interpretation of the passage and point out how Luther applies basic principles of his theology. Third, I call attention to the anthropological background to Luther’s concept of spirit, a terribly neglected element of Luther’s intellectual environment. I conclude by suggesting the political force of Luther’s approach to biblical knowledge at the height of the Reformation. Although my account roams widely through Luther’s corpus, the early 1540s are my chronological benchmark, a time at which the Protestant movement was making decisive gains.