I will approach Luther’s thinking on work and vocation from two different directions. The first is Luther’s Christ-centered ontology, which, albeit never fleshed out by him methodically, is a permanent framework in his writings. This ontology has the embodied God, the reality of Jesus Christ, as its focal point, which in turn explains Luther’s fondness of thinking in paradoxes. As in the figure of Jesus Christ the deprecated is praised, the humble is exalted, the slave is lord, so reality saturated with Jesus Christ is defined by the laws of the paradoxical.
The other direction to approach Luther’s way of thinking is his teaching on the priesthood of all believers (also referred to as universal priesthood), which enhances the appreciation of everyday human life and its ordinary activities. Equality before God results in personal responsibility, which leads to a new picture of human community and society.