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Lutheran: Definition from Answers.com

Lutheranism in America traces its heritage to the Reformation of the sixteenth century in Germany and northern Europe, stressing justification by faith and the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. While Lutherans may have resided in the Dutch settlements of New Netherland beginning in the mid-1620s, the first Lutheran-majority community was a Swedish colony established on the Delaware in 1638 and subsequently captured by the Dutch in 1655. During the eighteenth century, however, many German Lutherans settled in Pennsylvania and the southern colonies. In 1742, Henry M. Muhlenberg was sent from Germany and helped unite most Lutheran pastors in North America into the Ministerium of North America in 1748. At the close of the American Revolution, there were 120,000 Lutherans in 300 congregations throughout the new nation.

The Rise of the General Synod

In the new Lutheran world, English-speaking synods revealed a willingness to participate in mainstream Protestant culture, showing sympathy for the temperance and antislavery movements. Many German-speakers, by contrast, preferred Lutheran exclusivity and encouraged the establishment of German newspapers and schools. The changing character of American Lutheranism was epitomized by Samuel Schmucker, who was instrumental in the founding of Gettysburg Seminary in 1826—a bastion of American Lutheranism in the nineteenth century. In 1834, Schmucker published his Elements of Popular Theology, which defended unity with all orthodox Christian bodies who held a common faith based on the "fundamental doctrines of Scripture," and extolled the Augsburg Confession as a model because it left certain theological questions open. After 1820, most Lutheran synods coalesced into the new General Synod, which was given authority to devise plans for seminaries, give missionary instruction, and provide aid to poor ministers and families. A network of orphanages, homes for the aged, and hospitals also began to appear in the Lutheran community, and several new colleges were founded.

The Challenge of Confessionalism

During the 1830s and 1840s, many Lutherans fled from Prussia, Saxony, Norway, and Sweden for a variety of political, religious, and economic reasons. Settling in the Midwest, they brought with them a theology of confessionalism, which stressed adherence to the historic confessions of the Lutheran tradition, most notably the Book of Concord (1580). The greater numbers of European Lutherans helped to cut off Lutheranism in the United States from other Protestant denominations. Most prominent of the new German synods was the Missouri Synod, formed in 1847, which took a confessional stance and opposed Americanization. Its vision was that of super-congregationalism, in which a synod had no authority over individual congregations. Other German and Scandinavian synods took less dogmatic stands, but inclined more to the theology of Missouri than that of the General Synod.

Theological Disputes

In the 1850s, a distinct theological division emerged between advocates of confessionalism and Neo-Lutherans who held to the Augsburg Confession only insofar as it conformed ostensibly to the Bible, rejecting unbiblical teachings such as original sin, private confession, baptismal regeneration, and the "real presence." Samuel Schmucker, the acknowledged leader of the Neo-Lutherans, was a vocal evangelical regarded with scorn by opponents of American Lutheranism. When he issued his Definite Synodical Program in 1855, which sought to rework the Augsburg Confession to conform to American values, it was rejected even by several eastern synods and American Lutheranism suffered a defeat from which it never recovered during the nineteenth century. Throughout the nineteenth century, moderates continued to search for an acceptable basis on which to unite the synods in the East and the Midwest. In 1867, they formed the General Council, which adopted the Akron Rule in 1872, reserving Lutheran pulpits for Lutheran pastors and Lutheran altars for Lutheran communicants. The issues of the Civil War provoked another division: five southern synods withdrew from the General Synod to form what in 1886 would become the United Synod, South. Advocates of confessionalism in the Midwest responded to the withdrawal of the southern synods by forming the Synodical Conference in 1872 to coordinate their activities.

Lutheranism in the Late Nineteenth Century

After the Civil War, German and Scandinavian immigration continued, with the high point being reached in 1882, but the motivations for this were now more economic than religious. Church growth occurred in the East as well as the Midwest, with the General Council's membership being one-third English, one-third German, and one-third Swedish. The Missouri Synod also made gains in the East, although most of their new members were migrants to the Midwest. Twenty-eight institutions of higher education were established between 1870 and 1910. Lutheran church life was influenced by the pietistic strain in Protestant America, but was unaffected by the Social Gospel. All its energy was devoted to home missions and evangelical outreach, for the focus of Lutheran interest was on personal not social ethics.

Renewed Doctrinal Controversy

Biblical criticism had only a slight impact on nineteenth-century Lutheranism. Instead, Lutherans focused on confessionalism and predestination. Divisions arose between those who favored inclusive confederation (the General Synod), confessional subscription (the General Council and the United Synod, South), and complete unity in doctrine and practice (the Synodical Conference). The General Synod acquired a new appreciation for its Lutheran heritage in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and committed itself to the Augsburg Confession, but nevertheless continued a good relationship with evangelical denominations and enacted no bar on altar or pulpit fellowship. Despite this, closer relations did develop between the General Synod, the General Council, and the United Synod, South, at the end of the century. During the 1870s, the Synodical Conference was itself divided over predestination (or the "election of grace"). The Lutheran doctrine of election applied only to salvation, not damnation, and was never a central aspect of the faith. Nevertheless, Friedrich A. Schmitt of the Norwegian Synod accused the Missouri Synod's president, C. F. W. Walther, of Calvinistic leanings. After acrimonious debate, several synods left the Synodical Conference with a consequent decline in funding for education and missionary work.

The First Steps Toward Lutheran Unity

Efforts to celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation in 1917 united Lutherans in the United States and led them to establish the Lutheran Bureau to provide ordinary Americans with information on the Lutheran heritage. The outbreak of war that year provided a further opportunity for Lutheranism to acquire national prominence. The entry of Lutherans into military service led to the creation of the National Lutheran Commission for Soldiers' and Sailors' Welfare, a trans-synodical body that established camps, recruited pastors, and raised $1.35 million. The National Lutheran Council (NLC) handled problems on the home front and aided reconstruction in Europe. Even the midwestern synods worked with the National Lutheran Council, though conflict did erupt over cooperation with other Protestant churches. The drive toward Lutheran unity was cemented by the creation of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America (NLCA) in 1917, and the formation the following year of the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA), which united most of the eastern-based synods into one body. Significantly, the ULCA was much more centralized than any of its predecessor synods, with much less congregational autonomy.

Depression and War

Lutheranism remained a conservative force in the 1920s and Lutherans remained rural-oriented, though there was a shift in mission work toward recovering unchurched Lutherans in the cities and the Northwest. After disputes within the National Lutheran Council, moderate midwestern synods formed the American Lutheran Conference, banning cooperation with other Protestants and restricting altars and pulpits, and in 1930 they merged into the American Lutheran Church. The Great Depression of 1929 dramatically reduced budgets and prompted calls for collective social responsibility. The Lutheran Home Missions Council of America was formed to transcend ethnic boundaries and allow for a degree of altar and pulpit fellowship, but most Lutheran churches in the mid– twentieth century remained committed to the confessional viewpoint. The outbreak of war in 1941 gave new life to the National Lutheran Council, which recruited chaplains, supported orphan missions, and ministered to armed forces personnel.

The Postwar World

During the 1950s, the Lutheran churches saw great growth, though Lutheran evangelism was based on a sacramental emphasis rather than revivalism, and Lutherans came closer together in ecumenical ventures. The ALC and ELC (formerly the NLCA) completed merger in 1960 to form The American Lutheran Church and the ULCA and the Augustana Synod united in 1962 to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). New types of ministry were initiated to address contemporary social problems, as theologians tried to enunciate a Lutheran doctrine that allowed for engagement in social justice without denying the action of grace in making a Christian. Throughout these mergers, however, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod stood apart, insisting that doctrinal conformity was the prerequisite for Lutheran unity.

Lutheranism Today

For Lutherans other than the Missouri Synod, merger became an end in itself and in 1987 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was formed from a merger of the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America. In 2000 the ELCA endorsed a concordat with the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., allowing for a high degree of altar and pulpit fellowship. In 1999, membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stood at 5,149,668 members compared with 2,582,440 for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and 722,754 for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Some smaller groups include the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations with 32,984, the American Association of Lutheran Churches with 18,252, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod with 16,734, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 15,012, and the Church of the Lutheran Brethren in America with 13,920.

Bibliography

Avery, William O. Empowered Laity: The Story of the Lutheran Laity Movement for Stewardship. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1997.

Bachmann, E. Theodore, with Mercia B. Bachmann. The United Lutheran Church in America, 1918–1962. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1997.

Nelson, E. Clifford, ed. The Lutherans in North America. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.

Nelson, E. Clifford, and Eugene L. Fevold. The Lutheran Church Among Norwegian-Americans: A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg, 1960.

Todd, Mary. Authority Vested: A Story of Identity and Change in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 2000.

Trexler, Edgar R. Anatomy of a Merger: People, Dynamics, and Decisions That Shaped the ELCA. Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg, 1991.

Among all the major individual varieties of Latin Christianity to emerge from the Reformation, Lutheranism stands alone for two reasons. In the first place, it bears the name of an individual. Secondly, its hallmark, more vital even than the reference to Martin Luther (1483–1546), consists of its formal, agreed-upon confessions of faith, in particular the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (1530), but also (save in Scandinavia) the Formula of Concord (1577) and the other documents contained in the Book of Concord (1580), which claim faithfulness to both the Scriptures and Luther's teachings. To answer the question, "What is Lutheranism?" therefore requires, at least in principle, no more than a careful reading of these theological sources with the understanding that conduct flowed from conviction. It can be no surprise, then, that Lutherans have traditionally relegated all other religious matters—liturgy, polity, hymnody, spirituality, and the like—to the realm of adiaphora or "things indifferent." The teachings were at the time of the Reformation, and remain now, the heartbeat of Lutheranism.

By contrast, even the finest of Lutheran scholarship has little to say about its distinctive characteristics, if any, with respect to its political, social, intellectual, artistic, and cultural preferences over time. Thus, even its hymnody and its vibrant traditions in choral music were put in service to its teachings. For the unengaged student, Lutheranism presents the unavoidable impression that all matters which make it a distinct variety of Christianity have rightly had a theological, as well as musical, standard applied to them. To the uninitiated and the veteran alike, it may well appear that once one has gotten the teachings of the Lutherans correct and arranged them in their proper relationships to one another, one has grasped all that is essential when it comes to understanding Lutheranism in almost any place and time. One is reminded of nothing so much as the words on the back of a coin struck in Württemberg on the fiftieth anniversary of the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses: "God's Word and Luther's Teachings are Never to be Forgotten!"

Luther had been in his grave for more than twenty years when this medal was struck. The Formula of Concord, to say nothing of the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy, did not yet exist. But the conviction that true doctrine was the equivalent of true religion did. Indeed, this very characteristic is not a caricature and, no matter how obvious it is, it must be underlined whenever one seeks to penetrate to the core of Lutheranism. Luther himself reportedly declared, "Others before me have contested practice, but to contest doctrine, that is to grab the goose by the neck!"

Even when one rightly approaches the core of Lutheranism by way of its teachings, there remain more and less enlightening ways to do so. One can, as noted above, and rather in the manner of Lutheran Orthodoxy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, turn the exercise into an utterly misleading game of theological pick-up sticks. If, however, the objective is to render an image of Lutheranism that encompasses its whole as well as its many parts, one further and rather subtler characteristic must be given its due. Luther was indeed a theologian, and Lutheranism does indeed remain a highly theological version of even Latin Christianity. But, both Luther and the movement that sprang from him had almost no inclinations to systematic theology in a manner that might be recognized by, for example, Thomas Aquinas.

Neither Luther nor Lutherans in general have sought to create a Summa Theologica in which everything from the creation ex nihilo to human procreation has its own perfectly consistent theological understanding. This is not to say that Lutheran religious thought consisted merely of random insights on one unrelated topic after another in the manner of some types of mysticism. Instead, the consistency or univocality of Lutheran theology derived from its genesis over time from a single, unitary point of departure. Thus it began, by Luther's own testimony, with his personal search for a gracious God. He had been taught that the righteousness of God was a quality of God against which this divine judge measured all humans and found them wanting. On the bases of his lectures and writings from late 1518 through mid-1519, it is now a matter of nearly absolute certainty that he consciously rejected what he had been taught and then gradually came to understand God's righteousness as a gift that God bestowed on humanity and by which he reconciled mankind to himself. Thus, the famous passage, "The righteous (iustus, 'made righteous') shall live by faith" applied directly not only to the theology he taught as a professor at Wittenberg but also to his personal religious life. "Faith" itself was no longer an attribute that played a role in moving the sinner toward salvation but the central, unwilled response to having been made righteous by the benefits of Christ. By comparison with sola gratia, Luther did not even use the terms sola fide and sola scriptura with much frequency. They did not do more than indicate the principal source for and the manner by which the Christian received and held grace.

The theology that marked Lutheranism was therefore intensely practical and rarely, before Kant, speculative or philosophical in the least. Two examples will illustrate the point. The first concerns the subject of predestination, which came under dispute during the 1560s in a few places that were, for the most part, south of the Main River and along the Rhine—most notably in Strasbourg. Those who introduced the issue were commonly Italian converts to Calvinism such as Girolamo Zanchi (1516–1590) and Peter Martyr Vermigli (1500–1562). The issue, certainly related theologically to Luther's position in De servo arbitrio (1525; On the bondage of the will), nonetheless never caught fire among the German Lutherans. In its eleventh article, the Formula of Concord observed that the subject had not been an issue "among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession" and then addressed it anyway. Taking the approach and even borrowing some of the language that was used at Strasbourg in 1561–1563, the formulators declared that there were good biblical grounds in support of both the doctrine of election and the assertion that Christ came for all. But, because God's predestining belonged to his hidden will and Christ's coming for all to his revealed will, Lutherans would henceforth ignore predestination and preach only what God had revealed to all. For the most part, Lutherans to this day have carefully observed this self-denying ordinance. They were single-minded about the original insight regarding justification and remained tenaciously within it.

A second illustration from Luther himself may also be revealing. It concerns the subject of "hiddenness" and a similar, related principle of self-denial in general. Luther observed, for example, that everyone of sound mind could know that God existed, that he created all things, that he was omnipotent, and so forth. What humans could not know were God's intentions toward them because God had hidden and continued to hide this knowledge in the folly of Christ. Moreover, this keen awareness of what God has revealed and what he has hidden guided even Luther's exegetical practices. Consequently, his biblical lectures often contained the declaration regarding a particular passage, "It is too dark there. I cannot go there because all is hidden." Indeed, his first reaction to Johann Agricola of Eisleben's (c. 1494–1566) insistence that the Law should not be preached to the saved (the fundamental issue at stake in Lutheranism's first Antinomian Controversy, which involved the notion that a saved Christian was free from the dictates of the Law) was not to press on to the truth of the matter but—in part because he was one of Luther's favorite students—that Agricola should stop talking about the matter.

Nonetheless, little more than a generation had passed before Luther's followers had fallen into so many internecine theological quarrels that Jakob Andreae of Württemberg (1528–1590) and others took up the work that led to the Formula of Concord. In addition to predestination, Andreae and his colleagues addressed ten such controversies that threatened to undo the unity implied in the name "theologians of the Augsburg Confession." To modern ears, some of these issues were truly frivolous and may have derived more from some individuals' vanity than serious theological considerations. Georg Major's (1469–1550) tactic of expressing Luther's views of the place of works in the economy of salvation may be a case in point. Somehow, his declaration that "Good works are dangerous to salvation" seems intended more to enrage than to enlighten. It is easy to understand Philipp Melanchthon's (1497–1560) giving thanks at the point of death for at last being released from the rabies theologorum ('the madness of the theologians').

With this much granted to the merely human, the emphasis should fall here on two related practical, political realities that forced theological reflection. The first was Emperor Charles V's (ruled 1519–1556) victory over the Schmalkaldic League in 1547–1548 and his determination to establish religious peace within the empire by force if necessary. Thus, the Augsburg Interim required of the Lutheran rulers that they reinstitute the Mass in their territories, provide for an unmarried clergy, and cease secularizing religious foundations, among other, more local, arrangements. In addition, by putting the free imperial city of Constance under siege, the emperor demonstrated that he was more than willing to employ force during this interim before the calling of a general council. Consequently, in order to meet these terms, Strasbourg found itself compelled to negotiate a treaty with its long-time non-resident bishop, while Magdeburg to the northeast resisted imperial pressure successfully by holding firm behind its outlying marshes to defend its choice of resistance. At the same time, Maurice, called on account of his political behavior the "Judas of Meissen," now enjoying the title elector of Saxony (1547–1553), found so much resistance to the new order in his territories that he felt compelled to negotiate a somewhat milder version, called the Leipzig Interim, whose intent was to defend Lutheran doctrine, albeit without much regard for contrary practices, in the face of these temporary practical concessions.

A genuine theological problem lay at what became an internecine pamphlet war among the theologians of the Augsburg Confession. Mathias Flaccius Illyricus (1520–1575) led the defenders of Magdeburg's policy on the grounds that the Leipzig Interim violated the spirit, if not the letter, of true Lutheranism. In this instance, there was no authoritative text to which the parties could turn, if only because the Augsburg Confession's seventh article was silent with respect to any of the specifics regarding what actions (or lack thereof) fell under the umbrella of "things indifferent." According to the Magdeburgers with Matthias Flaccius Illyricus, the "Genesio" or Original Lutherans (as they were now called) insisted that while some practices, such as the celebration of the Mass, might be indifferent in themselves, they were intolerable in a Lutheran territory, because they in fact promoted a false gospel. The outrage was so great that there are present-day Lutherans who still call themselves Genesios. During the late 1570s, its simple existence forced the inclusion of Section X in the Formula of Concord, which basically endorsed the Genesios' position.

The decade from the mid-1540s to the mid-1550s also called for greater theological precision in imperial politics. The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) inserted the Augsburg Confession (1530) into the imperial constitution by declaring that adherents to it would be guaranteed a modicum of religious freedom, depending on the confession of the town or principality that was their home. This is the famous provision that is summarized with the anachronistic term cuius regio eius religio, according to which the ruler's confession determined the religion of the town or principality. Some try incorrectly to draw from this provision the beginnings of state-dominated religion. Instead, this provision merely stated that the prevailing religion in any territory or city was to be the one that existed there before the Schmalkaldic War.

There was a problem, however, lurking beneath the easy reference to the Augsburg Confession as the imperial confessional standard. Which Augsburg Confession? In 1540 Melanchthon had been given the task of revising the version that was submitted at Augsburg in 1530 in light of the Wittenberg Concord of 1536. Specifically, he had used the language, approved expressly by Luther, cum pane et vino ('with bread and wine') rather than in pane et vino ('in bread and wine') as a way to describe just how the consecrated elements in the Lord's Supper were presented as the body and blood of Christ. One change of preposition provided certain Reformed theologians, notably those active at the court of the elector palatine, just enough room to assert that their understanding of the spiritual presence of the body and the blood came under the umbrella of "the Augsburg Confession" and therefore of the Peace of Augsburg.

At last an assembly of evangelical princes, meeting at the request of the elector palatine at Naumburg in January 1561, declared that the standard was the invariata (the version of 1530), but that the variata (Melanchthon's version of 1540) might be used to explain its teaching on contentious issues. No sooner had they returned home than they were confronted with a round-robin inquiry from Emperor Ferdinand I (ruled 1558–1564), in which he asked whether the elector palatine was or was not in harmony with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of 1530. They replied that, while perhaps technically he was not, the emperor should not presume to take any actions against him.

These festering disagreements and Reformed aggressiveness in northern Germany go much of the way to explaining why, about seventy-five years later, in the aftermath of the Battle of White Mountain, the Lutheran princes decided to sit on their hands when General Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein attacked the Electoral Palatinate, deposed the elector, reduced parts of Heidelberg to ashes, shipped the contents of the university library, the Palatinum, off to the pope as a gift, and inaugurated the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Certain developments within Lutheranism contributed to this decision not to intervene in defense of a generous interpretation of the Peace of Augsburg. Perhaps it was the price the Reformed were called upon to pay for their aggressive attempts over the past seventy years to convert Lutheran princes. In the event, it was Germany, and in particular northern, Lutheran Germany that paid the price by becoming the playground for armies from all over Europe, while the south had the burden of paying for it all.

The reference above to "certain developments within Lutheranism" points to the two paths between which Lutherans chose beginning in the early seventeenth century and continuing on through the mid-eighteenth century. They persist to this day under the terms "Pietism" and "Lutheran Orthodoxy." Both had deep roots. As should be evident, Orthodoxy can claim parentage in the heavily doctrinal character of Lutheranism from the outset, through the Genesio Lutherans, the Formula of Concord, Martin Chemnitz with his monumental Examination of the Council of Trent (1565–1573), and into the professorial life of seventeenth-century Lutheran theological faculties. Pietism, on the other hand, can claim its origins with Martin Bucer (1491–1551) of Strasbourg and a tradition that produced such luminaries in the movement toward a more "heartfelt" religion, as evident in two later products of Strasbourg, Johannes Arndt (1555–1621) and his Vier Bücher vom wahren Christentum (1606; Four books on true Christianity), and Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705), the collegia pietatis, and his Pia Desideria (1675), which is still read and cherished by many. That the two parties did not think well of one another is evident from the story about Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), who was frustrated by a powerful Pietist preacher at the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig. It was said that whenever he encountered the preacher on the street, Bach would "compose and throw another fugue" at him.

One may legitimately wonder whether Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss, despite the evident reference to followers of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, was a parody of Lutheran theologians he had met. Research has only begun on these theologians, but two matters are presently apparent. In the first place, they were indeed extremely learned men who brought to their tasks Aristotle, both of the Metaphysics and the Posterior Analytics, the ancient authority whose very dominance of Wittenberg's theological faculty Luther once celebrated. Secondly, it was the Orthodox who turned the substance of Lutheranism into a laundry list of virtually self-standing doctrines that the theologian needed only to memorize. While so doing, they no longer studied Luther himself nor did they cite him in their general histories of doctrine or their works on specific theological topics. Finally, their influence lasted long past the eighteenth century and can be said to have peaked in the nineteenth century. This is not to say that no one read Luther any longer. The Finnish "Luther Readers" both in Finland and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan read him regularly, but more for the sake of spiritual enrichment than of theological learning. It was left to the Swedish Luther Renaissance of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries to return to a genuinely theological-critical study of Luther himself.

Save in a few synodical groupings and a handful of individuals, notably in North America, Lutheran Orthodoxy is no longer particularly influential. Pietism in both vibrant and decadent forms is a different matter. Beginning with Bucer, who was truthfully more a religious thinker and churchman than a theologian, those with Pietist proclivities have downplayed the theological character of Lutheranism as a distortion that drew the believer's attention away from the inclination of the heart, moral behavior, and the amendment of life that must follow the hearing of the Gospel.

To take but two examples, one at the beginning and the other near the end of the story, in the mid-1530s Bucer wrote a book called The True Care of Souls. In it (among other concerns) he listed Christians by type according to the extent to which they approximated the ideal and then prescribed different forms of pastoral care that would help them advance on the classification table. He did bow toward the central teaching from Luther that a Christian remained simul iustus et peccator ('at the same time righteous and a sinner'). But this was for him merely a background principle to the main task of creating more genuine believers and moral members of the church on earth. Still, Bucer's list of exercises remained some distance from Luther's insistence that true pastoral care occurred in the preaching of God's Word, which did all that could be done to create true people of God.

Spener differed from Bucer first in that he openly criticized the theologians and churchmen of his day for their self-serving lack of attention to improving the tenor of Christian life. Secondly, he favored the establishment where possible of collegia pietatis ('colleges of piety') in which the truly repentant and committed would withdraw to increase their search for true piety and their willingness to perform good works. Bucer, too, had engaged himself in similar work, known as the Christliche Gemeinschaften or ecclesiolae in ecclesia ('little churches within the church'), shortly before being forced as a condition of the Interim to leave Strasbourg for England while under a storm of criticism from both the government and many of his fellow pastors for the tendencies of these small fellowships to split the existing parishes and churches. It should be noted that these efforts were not strictly anti-dogmatic but simply did not evidence much interest in public teachings. The Pietist movement reached its apogee in August Hermann Francke (1663–1727) with his school and later university at Halle, institutions that came to specialize in the training of servants for the Prussian bureaucracy.

Lutheranism in the main experienced the same fate as most other branches of Christianity during the early modern period. By the end of the eighteenth century, true religion had retreated from the public sphere into the private. Whereas the "two kingdoms" through which God ruled his creation—the world of daily affairs in politics, society, and business, and the world of faith—had once served one another, by the end of early modern times, the kingdom of the world had come to dominate. Lutheranism in both its Orthodox and Pietist forms thus abandoned the public sphere to a heretofore-unknown realm of religious indeterminacy, and it did so well before the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. By their own doing, Lutherans turned true religion into a private matter that was by and large excluded from the "real world" of politics, business, and society. Christendom had died. Europe was born.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Translated by Charles Arand, et al. Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis, 2000.

Luther, Martin. D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Weimar, 1883–. Comprises Luther's published works, correspondence, the German Bible, and table talks. Commonly referred to as "the Weimar edition" or simply "WA." ——. Luther's Works. Translated and edited by Jaroslav Pelikan, Helmut Lehmann, et al. 55 vols. St. Louis and Philadelphia, 1955–1986.

——. Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and James A. Nestingen. Minneapolis, 2001.

Secondary Sources

Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Translated by James Schaaf. 3 vols. Philadelphia and Minneapolis, 1985–1993.

Elert, Werner. The Structure of Lutheranism. Vol. 1, The Theology and Philosophy of Life of Lutheranism Especially in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Translated by Walter A. Hansen. St. Louis, 1962. Informative but filtered through a neo-Kantian framework.

Kittelson, James M. Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career. Minneapolis, 1986.

——. Toward an Established Church: Strasbourg from 1500 to the Dawn of the Seventeenth Century. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz 182. Mainz, 2000.

Maurer, Wilhelm. Historical Commentary on the Augsburg Confession. Translated by H. G. Anderson. Philadelphia, 1986.

Nischan, Bodo. Princes, People and Confession: The Second Reformation in Brandenburg. Philadelphia, 1994.

—JAMES M. KITTELSON

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Martin Luther · Johann Sebastian Bach
Dietrich Bonhoeffer · Albert Schweitzer
Søren Kierkegaard · Philipp Melanchthon
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Trygve Lie · Dag Hammarskjöld
C. F. W. Walther · Martin Chemnitz
Gerald B. Kieschnick
Book of Concord

Augsburg Confession
Apology of the Augsburg Confession
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Roman Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation and, though it was not his original intention, left Western Christianity divided.[1]

The split between Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church arose mainly over the doctrine of justification before God. Specifically, Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification "by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone," which varied from the Roman Catholic view of "works in addition to faith". Lutheranism is also distinct from the Reformed Churches, another major church which arose during the Reformation. Unlike the Reformed Churches, Lutherans have retained many of the sacramental understandings and liturgical practices of the pre-Reformation Church. Lutheran theology differs considerably from Reformed theology in its understanding of divine grace and predestination to eternity after death.

Today, millions belong to Lutheran churches worldwide;[2] furthermore, the world's 400 million Protestant Christians[3] can trace their tradition, at least in part, back to Luther's reforming work.

Doctrine

The Bible

Lutherans believe that the Bible, as a divinely inspired book, is the source of all revealed divine knowledge. Scripture alone (Sola scriptura) is the formal principle of the faith, the final authority for all matters of faith and doctrine.

Lutherans understand the Bible as containing two distinct types of content, termed Law and Gospel (or Law and Promises).[4] In the Lutheran view, properly distinguishing between Law and Gospel prevents the Gospel teaching of justification by grace through faith alone from being obscured.[5]

Views on the nature of biblical authority changed during the history of Lutheranism. Martin Luther taught that the Scriptures were the Word of God, and that it is the only reliable guide for faith and practice. He held that every passage of the Bible has one meaning, the literal sense as interpreted by other Scripture. [6] The 17th century is termed the Orthodox period of Lutheran scholasticism, in which theologians emphasized biblical inerrancy. During the eighteenth century, Rationalism, which advocated reason rather than authority as the final source of knowledge, began to influence Lutheranism. Rationalism questioned the authority of the Bible. Gottfried Leibnitz and others sought to reconcile Christianity with the new philosophy, but in general, most of the Lutheran laity did not accept it.[7] In the nineteenth century, a confessional revival reemphasized the authority of the Bible and agreement with the Lutheran Confessions. Today, Lutherans disagree about the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Conservatives tend to stress biblical inerrancy, confessionalism, and orthodoxy, while liberals use the higher critical method of biblical interpretation.

Lutheran Confessions

The Book of Concord, published in 1580, contains ten documents which some Lutherans believe are faithful and authoritative explanations of Holy Scripture. Besides the three Ecumenical Creeds, which date to Roman times, the Book of Concord contains seven credal documents articulating Lutheran theology in the Reformation era.

The doctrinal positions of Lutheran churches are not uniform, and the Book of Concord does not hold the same position in all Lutheran churches. For example, the State Churches in Scandinavia consider only the Augsburg Confession as a "summary of the faith" in addition to the three ecumenical Creeds.[8] Lutheran pastors, congregations, and church bodies in Germany and the Americas traditionally agree to teach in harmony with the entire Lutheran Confessions. Some Lutheran church bodies require this pledge to be unconditional, while others allow their congregations to do so "insofar as" the Confessions are in agreement with the Bible.

Summary of Doctrine

The key doctrine, or material principle, of Lutheranism is the doctrine of justification. Lutherans believe that humans are saved from their sins by God's grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide). Lutherans believe that this grace is granted for the sake of Christ's merit alone (Solus Christus). Traditional Lutheran theology holds that God made the world, including humanity, perfect, holy and sinless. However, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, trusting in their own strength, knowledge, and wisdom.[9][10] Consequently, people are saddled with Original sin, born sinful and unable to avoid committing sinful acts. [11] For Lutherans, original sin is the "chief sin, a root and fountainhead of all actual sins."[12]

Lutherans teach that sinners are not capable of doing any good works that can satisfy God's justice.[13] Every human thought and deed is colored by sin and sinful motives.[14] Because of this, all humanity deserves eternal damnation in hell.[15] God has intervened in this world because he loves all people and does not want anyone to be eternally damned.[16] By God's grace, made known and effective in the person and work of Jesus Christ, a person is forgiven, adopted as a child and heir of God, and given eternal salvation.[17] For this reason, Lutherans teach that salvation is possible only because of the grace of God made manifest in the birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection, and continuing presence by the power of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus Christ [18].

Lutherans believe Jesus Christ is both by nature God and by nature man in one person, as they confess in Luther's Small Catechism that he is "true God begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man born of the Virgin Mary".[19]

Lutherans are Trinitarian because they confess in the Athanasian Creed, "we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: the glory equal, the majesty coeternal".[20] Lutherans reject as error the idea that the Father and the Son are merely faces of the same person, because both the Old Testament and the New Testament show them to be two distinct persons.[21] Lutherans believe the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.[22]

Lutherans believe that individuals receive this gift of salvation through faith alone.[23] — a full and complete trust in God's promises to forgive and to save [24] Even faith itself is seen as a gift of God, created in the hearts of Christians[25] by the work of the Holy Spirit through his means of grace, which are the Word[26] and the Sacraments [27]. It is important to note the words — through faith,[28] not by faith. Faith is seen as an instrument that receives the gift of salvation, not something that causes salvation.[29] Thus, Lutherans reject the so-called "decision theology" which is common among modern evangelicals.

Lutherans accept monergism, which states that salvation is by God's act alone, and reject the teaching that humans in their fallen state have a free will concerning spiritual matters.[30] Lutherans believe that although humans have free will concerning civil righteousness, they cannot work spiritual righteousness without the Holy Spirit, since righteousness in the heart cannot be wrought in the absence of the Holy Spirit.[31] Lutherans believe that the elect are predestined to salvation.[32] Lutherans believe Christians should be assured that they are among the predestined.[33] However, they disagree with those that make predestination the source of salvation rather than Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection. Unlike Traditional Calvinism, Lutherans do not believe in a predestination to damnation.[34] Instead, Lutherans teach eternal damnation is a result of the unbeliever's sins, rejection of the forgiveness of sins, and unbelief.[35]

Lutherans are not dogmatic about the number of the sacraments.[36] In line with Luther's initial statement in his Large Catechism some speak of only two sacraments,[37] Baptism and Holy Communion, although later in the same work he calls Confession and Absolution[38] or "Repentance" "the third sacrament."[39] When it defines "sacrament" the Apology of the Augsburg Confession lists Absolution as one of them.[40]

They teach that Baptism is a saving work of God,[41] mandated and instituted by Christ.[42] Thus it is administered to both infants[43] and adults.[44] Children born to practicing Lutheran families are baptized shortly after birth.

Lutherans hold that within Holy Communion, also referred to as the Sacrament of the Altar or the Lord's Supper,[45] the consecrated elements of bread and wine are the true body and blood of Christ "in, with, and under the form" of bread and wine for all those who eat and drink it,[46] a doctrine that the Formula of Concord calls the Sacramental union.[47] Some Lutherans use the term Eucharist to refer to Communion, noting its use in the Book of Concord; however, others reject the term on the basis that the word Eucharist ("thankgiving") puts the emphasis on the human response to the sacrament, which is contrary to the Lutheran emphasis on God's omnipotence and human powerlessness. They note that in almost every case, the use of the term in the Book of Concord refers to doctrinal statements that are part of the Roman Catholic tradition.

Lutherans believe that all who trust in Jesus alone can be certain of their salvation, for it is in Christ's work and his promises in which their certainty lies.[48] The central final hope of the Christian is "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting" as confessed in the Apostles' Creed, but Lutherans also teach that, at death, Christians are immediately taken into the presence of Jesus,[49] where they await this resurrection and the second coming of Jesus on the Last Day.[50][51] Lutherans do not believe in any sort of earthly millennial kingdom of Christ either before or after his second coming on the last day.[52][53]

Although Lutherans believe that good works do not satisfy God's wrath, this is not to say that they hold good works to play no role in the Christian life.[54] Good works are the fruit of saving faith,[55] and always and in every instance spring spontaneously from true faith.[56] Any true good works have their true origin in God,[57] not in the fallen human heart or in human striving;[58] their absence would demonstrate that faith, too, is absent.[59]

Ecumenism with other Christians

Although they decried the division of the Church, early Lutherans tended to avoid ecumenical fellowship with other Churches, believing that churches should not share Communion and exchange pastors if they do not agree upon doctrine.

In the 18th century, there was some ecumenical interest between the Church of Sweden and the Church of England. John Robinson, Bishop of London, even fostered a plan for the union of the English and Swedish churches in 1718, supported by Count Gyllenberg, Swedish Ambassador to London. The plan fell through because of the opposition of most Swedish bishops, although Svedberg of Skara and Gezelius, Bishop of Turku (Finland) were in favour. The reason for the opposition was that the Church of England was too Calvinist for them [2].

In 1817, King Frederick William III of Prussia ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in his territory to unite, forming the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union. The unification of the two branches of German Protestantism sparked a great deal of controversy. Many Lutherans, termed Old Lutherans, chose to leave the established churches and form independent church bodies. Many left for America and Australia. The dispute over ecumenism overshadowed other controversies within German Lutheranism.[60]

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, German Lutherans cooperated with German Reformed churches on the frontiers of the newly formed United States. Other American Lutherans, from the Old Lutheran dissenters, formed churches with stricter attitudes toward ecumenism. In the twentieth century, many of those stricter churches have combined into denominations, the major being the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Presently, Lutherans are divided over how to interact with other Christian denominations. Typically, more conservative Lutherans assert that everyone must share the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) in complete unity (1 Cor. 1:10) before pastors can share each other pulpits or communicants commune at each other's altars. On the other hand, more liberal Lutherans are willing to share communion and to allow preachers from other Christian traditions in their pulpits.

Although the Lutheran World Federation has been in ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church since shortly after the Second Vatican Council, it was not until 1999 that far-reaching ecumenical relations were established between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church when they jointly issued a statement, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, that declared commonality of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran doctrines on Justification.[3]. While a number of Lutheran theologians saw this as a sign that the Roman Catholic Church was essentially adopting the Lutheran position, most Lutheran theologians disagreed, claiming that, considering the public documentation of the Catholic Church's position, this assertion does not hold up.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been actively involved in ecumenical dialogues with several denominations (the ELCA is one of the members of the LWF that signed the JDDJ). Recently, the ELCA has established "full communion" with several American Churches: the Moravian Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ.

Although not an "ecumenical" movement in the formal sense, in the 1990s influences from the megachurches of American evangelicalism (eg Hybels' "Becoming a Contagious Christian" from Willow Creek and Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" from Saddleback Church) have become common, particularly among more socially, politically, and theologically conservative Lutherans. Many of the largest Lutheran congregations in the United States have been heavily influenced by these "progressive Evangelicals." These influences are sharply criticised by confessional Lutherans as being foreign to the Lutheran tradition.[61]

The Porvoo Communion is a communion of episcopally led Lutheran and Anglican churches in Europe. Beside its membership in the Porvoo Communion, Church of Sweden also stand in full communion with the Philippine Independent Church and the United Methodist Church.

Ecumenism among Lutherans

The largest organizations of Lutheran churches around the world are the Lutheran World Federation, the International Lutheran Council, and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference. These organizations together include the great majority of Lutheran denominations around the globe.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF)-aligned churches do not believe that one church is singularly true in its teachings. According to this belief, Lutheranism is a reform movement rather than a movement into doctrinal correctness. For that reason, a number of doctrinally diverse LWF denominations, now largely separated from state control, are declaring fellowship and joint statements of agreement with other Lutheran and non-Lutheran Christian denominations.

By contrast, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference and International Lutheran Council as well as many unaffiliated denominations such as the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) maintain that the orthodox confessional Lutheran churches are the only churches with completely correct doctrine. They teach that while other Christian churches teach partially orthodox doctrine and have true Christians as members, the doctrines of those churches contain significant errors. More conservative Lutherans strive to maintain historical distinctiveness while emphasizing doctrinal purity alongside Gospel-motivated outreach. They claim that LWF Lutherans are practicing "fake ecumenism" by desiring church fellowship outside of actual unity of teaching.[62]

Practices

Many Lutherans place great emphasis on a liturgical approach to worship services; although there have always been substantial non-liturgical minorities (Hauge Lutherans from Norway, contemporary-worship oriented Lutherans today—see paragraph below). Music forms a large part of a traditional Lutheran service. Lutheran hymns are sometimes known as chorales, and Luther himself composed hymns and hymn tunes, perhaps the most famous of which is "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" ("Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"). Lutheran hymnody is reputed for its doctrinal, didactic, and musical riches. Many Lutheran churches are active musically with choirs, handbell choirs, children's choirs, and sometimes carillon societies (to ring bells in a bell tower). Johann Sebastian Bach, a devout Lutheran, composed music for the Lutheran church.

Many Lutherans also preserve a liturgical approach to the celebration of Communion (or the Lord's Supper), emphasizing the sacrament as the central act of Christian worship. Lutherans believe that Jesus' actual body and blood are present in, with and under the bread and the wine. This belief is called Real Presence or Sacramental Union and is different from consubstantiation and transubstantiation. Additionally Lutherans reject the idea that communion is a mere symbol or memorial. They confess in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession:

"...we do not abolish the Mass but religiously keep and defend it. Among us the Mass is celebrated every Lord's Day and on other festivals, when the Sacrament is made available to those who wish to partake of it, after they have been examined and absolved. We also keep traditional liturgical forms, such as the order of readings, prayers, vestments, and other similar things." (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV.1)

In the 1970s, many Lutheran churches began holding "contemporary" worship services for the purpose of evangelical outreach. These services were in a variety of styles, depending on the preferences of the congregation. Often they were held alongside a traditional service, to cater to those who were not comfortable with the more liturgical forms. As the Lutheran church enters the 21st century, some Lutheran congregations are holding "Contemporary Worship" services as their sole form of worship. Outreach is no longer given as the primary motivation, rather this form of worship is seen as more in keeping with the desires of individual congregations. Because Luther contemporized the worship service for his community, these congregations see their position as in keeping with "Confessional Lutheranism" (see Augsburg Confession article VII). Principle examples of this in the ELCA include Family of God, Cape Coral FL., The Well, Charlotte NC, Hosanna! of Lakeville, Minnesota, and Church of the Apostles, Seattle WA.. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest federation of international Lutheran Churches has in fact strongly recommended in the Nairobi Statement on Worship and Culture that Lutherans of the world make every effort to bring their services into a more contextually sensitive position.

"A given culture's values and patterns, insofar as they are consonant with the values of the Gospel, can be used to express the meaning and purpose of Christian worship. Contextualization is a necessary task for the Church's mission in the world, so that the Gospel can be ever more deeply rooted in diverse local cultures." The Nairobe Statement

Catechism, especially children's, is considered fundamental in most Lutheran churches. Almost all maintain Sunday Schools, and some host or maintain private nursery schools, primary schools, regional high schools and universities.

Life-long catechesis, since Martin Luther's day, was intended for all ages so that the abuses of the Church of that day would not recur. [63] With the emphasis on proper life-long catechesis, the Lutheran Church has a heritage rich in theology and doctrine.

Pastors usually teach in the common language of the parish. In the U.S., some congregations and synods traditionally taught in German, Finnish, or Norwegian, but this custom, which attracted unfavorable attention during World War I, has been in significant decline since the early/middle 20th century.

Pastors almost always have substantial theological educations, including Greek and Hebrew so that they can refer directly to the canonical Christian scriptures in the original language. All Lutheran pastors may marry and have families. Most Lutheran denominations, with the exception of the confessional-conservative synods, encourage female pastors.

While not an issue in the majority of Lutheran church bodies, some of them forbid membership in Freemasonry. Partly, this is because the lodge is viewed as spreading Unitarianism, as the Brief Statement of the Missouri Synod reads, "Hence we warn against Unitarianism, which in our country has to a great extent impenetrated the sects and is being spread particularly also through the influence of the lodges."[64] A 1958 report from the publishing house of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod states that, "Masonry is guilty of idolatry. Its worship and prayers are idol worship. The Masons may not with their hands have made an idol out of gold, silver, wood or stone, but they created one with their own mind and reason out of purely human thoughts and ideas. The latter is an idol no less than the former."[65]

Lutheran Churches in the United States use a number of hymnals as well as electronic projection media. The most widely used are: The Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and The Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006, ELCA and ELCIC), Lutheran Worship (1982, LCMS), Christian Worship (WELS), and The Lutheran Hymnal (1941, LCMS, WELS & CLC). In 2006, both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the LCMS, the two largest Lutheran denominations, released new hymnals: Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELCA) and Lutheran Service Book (LCMS).

In Australia, the official hymnal is the 'Lutheran Hymnal with Supplement' of 1986, which includes a supplement to the 'Lutheran Hymnal' of 1973, itself a replacement for the 'Australian Lutheran Hymn Book' of 1921. Prior to this time, the two Lutheran Churches in Australia (which amalgamated in 1966) used a bewildering variety of hymnals, usually in the German language.

International bodies

The three largest international Lutheran bodies are the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), which contains 140 member church bodies in 78 countries representing 66.2 million of the world's 69.7 million Lutherans. These numbers are disputed however, because they include millions of non-Lutherans that belong to merged Protestant church bodies containing Lutheran components.[66] The Lutheran World Federation supports the activities of Lutheran World Relief, a relief and development agency active in more than 50 countries. The other international bodies are the International Lutheran Council (ILC), of which the LCMS and the LCC are members and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC), of which the WELS and ELS are members.

Many Lutheran churches exist throughout the world which are not affiliated with the LWF, the ILC or the CELC, such as those affiliated with Augsburg Lutheran Churches or Church of the Lutheran Confession which are especially active in Africa and India; and those affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (UAC)or Church of the Lutheran Brethren, which are especially active elsewhere in Asia.

Throughout the world

Lutheran Church, Sydney, Australia

Lutheranism is present on all populated continents. Countries in which Lutheranism is the largest religious group are Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Namibia and Sweden.

While Namibia is the only country outside Europe to have a Lutheran majority, there are sizeable Lutheran communities in many other countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Indonesia (notably among the Orang Batak), Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, and the United States. Lutheran missions have also been established in many African countries like Sierra Leone.

Martin Luther is also credited with creating the very first Christmas Tree; he was said to have decorated a small tree in his house to symbolize the way the stars shone at night. Many Lutheran churches continue this tradition of an "Advent Tree" by decorating a tree in the sanctuary, narthex or gathering area in a similar fashion to the mainstream tradition, but only with white and gold colors, and only religious symbols (such as the cross, the orb, the Lamb, and the Shepherd's staff) instead of other more secular Christmas symbols as might be seen in American homes.

See also

v • d • e

Martin Luther
Works Portrait by Lucas Cranach der Ältere
Topics
People

Print sources

  • ELCA Perspective: Braaten, Carl E. (1983). Principles of Lutheran Theology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
  • LCMS Historical Perspective: Pieper, Franz (1950–1957). Christian Dogmatics. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. p.3 Volumes.
  • WELS Perspective: Lange, Lyle W. (2006). God So Loved the World: A Study of Christian Doctrine, Northwestern Publishing House.

Footnotes

  1. ^ MSN Encarta, s.v. "Lutheranism" by George Wolfgang Forell; Christian Cyclopedia, s.v. "Reformation, Lutheran" by Theore Hoyer.
  2. ^ Lutheran World Federation, "Slight Increase Pushes LWF Global Membership to 66.2 Million", The Lutheran World Federation, http://www.lutheranworld.org/ (accessed May 18, 2006). However, some Lutherans disagree with the way the Lutheran World Federation arrives at this number, as millions of them actually come from bodies that are largely Reformed, but include some Lutherans. For more information on this, see William Schumacher, "Theological Observer: How Many Lutherans?", Concordia Journal April 2005, http://www.csl.edu/CJApril05.pdf/
  3. ^ "Major Branches of Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents," adherents.com http://www.adherents.com/adh_branches.html#Christianity (accessed May 22, 2006).
  4. ^ Apology of the Augsburg Confession IV, 5
  5. ^ Walther, C. F. W. The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel. W. H. T. Dau, trans. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1929.
  6. ^ Braaten, Carl E. (1983). Principles of Lutheran Theology. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, p. 9
  7. ^ Benton, William, ed. (1978), "Lutheran Churches", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11 (15 ed.), Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., pp. 197–198, ISBN 0-85229-290-2.
  8. ^ F.E. Mayer, The Religious Bodies of America. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1954, p. 184. For further information, see The Formula of Concord in the History of Swedish Lutheranism by Seth Erlandsson
  9. ^ Paul R. Sponheim, "The Origin of Sin," in Christian Dogmatics, Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, eds. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), 385–407.
  10. ^ Francis Pieper, "Definition of Original Sin," in Christian Dogmatics (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 1:538.
  11. ^ Krauth, C.P.,The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology: As Represented in the Augsburg Confession, and in the History and Literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. 1875. pp. 335-455, Part IX The Specific Doctrines Of The Conservative Reformation: Original Sin.
  12. ^ Formula of Concord, Original Sin.
  13. ^ Rom. 7:18, 8:7 1 Cor. 2:14, Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent: Vol. I. Trans. Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, pp. 639-52, "The Third Question: Whether the Good Works of the Regenerate in This Life Are So Perfect that They Fully, Abundantly, and Perfectly Satisfy the Divine Law".
  14. ^ Gen. 6:5, 8:21, Mat. 7:17, Krauth, C.P.,The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology: As Represented in the Augsburg Confession, and in the History and Literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. 1875. pp. 388-90, Part IX The Specific Doctrines Of The Conservative Reformation: Original Sin, Thesis VII The Results, Section ii Positive.
  15. ^ Dt. 27:26,Rom. 5:12,2 Th. 1:9 Rom. 6:23, Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 38-41, Part VIII. "Sin"
  16. ^ 1 Tim. 2:4, Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 43-44, Part X. "Saving Grace", paragraph 55.
  17. ^ Rom. 10:4 Gal. 4:4–5
  18. ^ Gal. 3:13
  19. ^ Luther's Small Catechism, The Apostle's Creed, Second Article
  20. ^ Athanasian Creed , Book of Common Prayer translation, used in the Triglot ed. of the Book of Concord
  21. ^ Is. 63:8-9, Mueller, J.T., Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 158-160, section "The Doctrine of God", part 5. "The Holy Trinity Revealed in the Old Testament",Heb. 1:5, see Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 33-36, Part VI. "The Trinity".
  22. ^ The Nicene Creed and the Filioque: A Lutheran Approach by Rev. David Webber for more information
  23. ^ Augsburg Confession, Article 4, "Of Justification"
  24. ^ Heb 11:1
  25. ^ Ps. 51:10
  26. ^ John 17:20, Rom. 10:17
  27. ^ Mat. 26:28, Tit. 3:5
  28. ^ Rom. 3:22
  29. ^ Eph. 2:8
  30. ^ 1 Cor. 2:14, 12:3, Rom. 8:7, Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent: Vol. I. Trans. Fred Kramer, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971, pp. 409-53, "Seventh Topic, Concerning Free Will: From the Decree of the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent".
  31. ^ Augsburg Confession, Article 18, Of Free Will.
  32. ^ Acts 13:48, Eph. 1:4–11, Epitome of the Formula of Concord, Article 11, Election, Mueller, J.T., Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 585-9, section "The Doctrine of Eternal Election: 1. The Definition of the Term", and Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 124-8, Part XXXI. "The Election of Grace", paragraph 176.
  33. ^ 2 Thess. 2:13, Mueller, J.T., Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 589-593, section "The Doctrine of Eternal Election: 2. How Believers are to Consider Their Election, and Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 127-8, Part XXXI. "The Election of Grace", paragraph 180.
  34. ^ 1 Tim. 2:4, 2 Pet. 3:9, Epitome of the Formula of Concord, Article 11, Election, and Engelder's Popular Symbolics, Part XXXI. The Election of Grace, pp. 124-8.
  35. ^ Hos. 13:9, Mueller, J.T., Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. p. 637, section "The Doctrine of the Last Things (Eschatology), part 7. "Eternal Damnation", and Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 135-6, Part XXXIX. "Eternal Death", paragraph 196.
  36. ^ The Apology of the Augsburg Confession XIII, 2: "We believe we have the duty not to neglect any of the rites and ceremonies instituted in Scripture, whatever their number. We do not think it makes much difference if, for purposes of teaching, the enumeration varies, provided what is handed down in Scripture is preserved" (cf. Theodore G. Tappert, trans. and ed., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 211).
  37. ^ Luther's Large Catechism IV, 1: "We have now finished the three chief parts of the common Christian doctrine. Besides these we have yet to speak of our two Sacraments instituted by Christ, of which also every Christian ought to have at least an ordinary, brief instruction, because without them there can be no Christian; although, alas! hitherto no instruction concerning them has been given" (emphasis added; cf. Theodore G. Tappert, trans. and ed., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 733).
  38. ^ John 20:23
  39. ^ Luther's Large Catechism IV, 74-75: "And here you see that Baptism, both in its power and signification, comprehends also the third Sacrament, which has been called repentance, as it is really nothing else than Baptism" (emphasis added; cf. Theodore G. Tappert, trans. and ed., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 751).
  40. ^ The Apology of the Augsburg Confession XIII, 3, 4: "If we define the sacraments as rites, which have the command of God and to which the promise of grace has been added, it is easy to determine what the sacraments are, properly speaking. For humanly instituted rites are not sacraments, properly speaking, because human beings do not have the authority to promise grace. Therefore signs instituted without the command of God are not sure signs of grace, even though they perhaps serve to teach or admonish the common folk. Therefore, the sacraments are actually baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and absolution (the sacrament of repentance)" (cf. Tappert, 211). Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 13, Of the Number and Use of the Sacraments
  41. ^ 1 Pet. 3:21, Mueller, J.T., Christian Dogmatics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 491-496, section "The Doctrine of Baptism", part 4. "Baptism a True Means of Grace", and Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. p. 87, Part XXIII. "Baptism", paragraph 118.
  42. ^ Martin Luther, Small Catechism 4
  43. ^ Mat. 19:14, Acts 2:38–39
  44. ^ 1 Cor. 1:14.
  45. ^ 1 Cor. 11:20
  46. ^ 1 Cor. 10:16, 11:27,
  47. ^ The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article 8, The Holy Supper
  48. ^ Rom. 8:33.
  49. ^ Luke 23:42-43, 2 Cor. 5:8,
  50. ^ 1 Cor. 15:22–24.
  51. ^ Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 505-515; Heinrich Schmid, The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 624-632; John Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, 616-619
  52. ^ John 18:36.
  53. ^ Augsburg Confession, Article 17, Of Christ's Return to Judgment.
  54. ^ Tit. 2:14.
  55. ^ John 15:5, Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 62-3, Part XV. "Conversion", paragraph 88 The New Obedience Is The Fruit Of Conversion, The Product Of Faith.
  56. ^ 2 Cor. 9:8, Krauth, C.P.,The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology: As Represented in the Augsburg Confession, and in the History and Literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. 1875. pp. 313-4, Part D Confession of the Conservative Reformation: II, Secondary Confessions: Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, Part IV The Doctrinal Result, 2, Section iv, Of Good Works.
  57. ^ Phil 2:13
  58. ^ Rom. 7:18 Heb 11:6, Engelder, T.E.W., Popular Symbolics. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. pp. 39-40, Part VIII. "Sin", paragraph 46 “Original Sin”.
  59. ^ Mat. 7:15–16, Tit. 1:16. Augsburg Confession, Article 20, Of Good Works
  60. ^ Benton, William, ed. (1974), "Lutheran Churches", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11 (15 ed.), Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., pp. 198, ISBN 0-85229-290-2.
  61. ^ See scholarly articles on the [1] from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library and Implications of the Church Growth Movement for Lutherans: Possibilities and Concerns by Harold L. Senkbeil as examples of criticism from confessional Lutherans
  62. ^ see Ecumenism: Facts and Illusions by Kurt E. Marquart for a short explanation of the modern ecumenism movement from a Confessional Lutheran perspective
  63. ^ preface to Luther's Large and preface to Luther's Small Catechism.
  64. ^ See http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=564 Brief Statement was adopted as Missouri Synod doctrine in 1932, and from time to time has been adopted by other Lutherans
  65. ^ Report of the Lutheran Church, The Northwestern Lutheran, page 281, August 31, 1988.
  66. ^ For more information on this, see William Schumacher, "Theological Observer: How Many Lutherans?", Concordia Journal April 2005, http://www.csl.edu/CJApril05.pdf/

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