“The Unity of Knowledge and Action” and “Act in accordance with Faith”—— A Comparative Study Between Wang Yangming’s and Martin Luther’s thoughts about the Practice of Human Self-transformation

Abstract

This article explores the similarities and differences between Wang Yangming’s teaching of “the unity of knowledge and action” and Martin Luther’s doctrine of “act in accordance with faith.” As a form of realizing self-transcendence practice, both of these propositions reflect the inherent tension between internal will (“knowledge” and “faith”) and external behavior. In their pursuit of moral transcendence and the fundamental transformation of subjective life, both thinkers essentially challenge the notion of segregating the “inner” and “outer,” attempting to break down the barriers between the internal and external, resulting in a conceptual generalization of the two. However, there are notable differences in their specific theoretical expressions. Namely, they have different understandings of the priority of the “inner” and the “outer.” For Yangming, “knowledge” and “action” are fundamentally the same (moral) effort, while Luther insists on the primacy of “faith,”emphasizing that good deeds are merely the result of faith.