"Mīļais latvieti": Ernsta Glika Jaunās Derības priekšvārds kā teoloģiski antropoloģiska, pedagoģiska un Heilsgeschichte pieeja latviešu kristianizācijai

The article analyzes the foreword “Dear Latvian” to Ernsts Glück’s (1654–1705) Latvian edition of the New Testament (1685) as a multi-layered document in which theological anthropology, pedagogy, and a (proto-)Heilsgeschichte perspective converge. Glück views the Latvian coram Deo—as homo peccator yet at the same time capax Dei, that is, a being capable of receiving God’s Word in the mother tongue and becoming homo spiritualis. For him the vernacular is not a neutral conduit but a verbum vehiculum: in translation it carries the viva vox Evangelii and thus Christ himself, making the Word effectively audible in church, school, and home catechesis (Rom 10:17). Accordingly, the Bible’s translation into Latvian is not merely a statement of principles but an event in salvation history: Old Testament diagnosis (darkness) passes into the New Testament fulfilment (light in Christ), which is inculturated in the Latvian language and practices. The foreword thus functions as a catechetically normative text, a stabilizer of language and identity, and an instrument of a people’s theological formation, placing Glück alongside Luther as a catechetical reformer who not only translates but shapes a nation through language, the Word, and education. The article compares Glück’s view with Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann’s (1810–1877) Heilsgeschichte theology, showing similarities in first principles and differences in methodology: Gliks works pastorally and through inculturation, Hofmann dogmatically and systematically. A cultural theological perspective makes it possible to see Glück’s work as a civilizational turning point that, in the 17th century, fundamentally integrated the Latvians into Western Christian civilization, laying the foundations for the development of their language, education, and national self-consciousness. Today, amid the civilizational conflict between West and East, Glück’s work reminds us of the significance of language and the Gospel for shaping a people’s identity, freedom, and spiritual resilience.