Religion_Christ_Prot

Lutheranism, the branch of the Western Christian church that adopted the religious principles of Martin Luther, as opposed to those of the Roman Catholic Church and of the followers of John Calvin, the Anglican Communion, and the sectaries of the Reformation period. Lutheran churches often term themselves Evangelical as distinct from Reformed, but these uses are not always strictly applied.

Lutheranism cannot be defined or understood without some reference to the personal experience and the biblical studies of Luther, which came to voice in 1517 in his famous Ninety-five Theses for debate over indulgences and in his attack on the theology and sacramental practice of the late medieval church of the West. In 1521 Luther was excommunicated; his followers accepted the designation "Lutheran" in part against his will and in spite of the fact that it was filled, in many instances, with implications of derision and sectarianism. The Lutheran movement spread from the University of Wittenberg through much of Germany and into Scandinavia, where it was established by law.

The theological vigour of Luther's generation gave way to an arid orthodoxy in the late 16th and 17th centuries. This in turn precipitated a pietist reaction that asserted the need for living faith in addition to right doctrine (see Pietism). The Pietists encouraged missionary and charitable work in addition to devotional practice. Eighteenth-century Lutheranism was marked by Rationalist influences. Orthodoxy was reasserted during the next century, notably by the Danish bishop and poet N.F.S. Grundtvig. Grundtvig's contemporary and countryman Søren Kierkegaard criticized orthodoxy and the state church through a highly personalized philosophy that was to form the basis of Existentialism.

In America, Lutherans were among the earliest colonists to settle in New Netherland and New Sweden (on the Delaware River), and they were followed by German colonists who settled especially in the present Middle Atlantic states, the Shenandoah Valley, Georgia, and Nova Scotia, Canada. Because of some geographic and much linguistic isolation and because the majority of American Protestantism was at first of Reformed background, Lutheranism did not play a major role in shaping the early political and religious complexion of the nation.

The geographic spread of Lutheranism in the United States was extended by migrations to the western frontier and by the large immigrations during the 19th and early 20th centuries of Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, and Finns. Many of these immigrants settled in the Midwest, and from there later pushed on to the far West. Since immigrants brought with them from Europe a variety of languages and customs, they organized in congregations and later synods according to their national origins. It was largely the prolongation of linguistic and ethnic barriers that prevented Lutheran union until well into the 20th century, when the barriers broke down and advance into intra-Lutheran ecumenical relations became rapid.

Lutheran doctrinal statements are usually said to include nine separate formulations that together form the Book of Concord. Three belong to the early Christian church--the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed in its western form, and the so-called Athanasian Creed. Six derive from the 16th-century Reformation--the Augsburg Confession, the Apology for the Augsburg Confession, the Schmalkald Articles, Luther's two Catechisms, and the Formula of Concord. Only the three early creeds and the Augsburg Confession are recognized by all Lutherans. Luther's Catechisms have met almost universal acceptance, but many Lutheran churches rejected the Formula of Concord because of its strict and detailed doctrinal statements. The Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism may properly be said to define Lutheranism inclusively in its doctrinal aspect, though Lutherans may be divided on many issues raised since the Augsburg Confession of 1530.

The largest and one of the oldest of non-Roman Catholic, non-Orthodox families of Christians, Lutheranism is represented in most areas of the world, but its particular geographic orientation has been in northern and western Europe and in younger countries settled by Germans and Scandinavians. It has been represented with less strength in Switzerland, the Low Countries, and Scotland, where Reformed confessions predominated, and it has been a secondary influence in the British empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, where the Anglican communion has prevailed. Because of early and persistent efforts of continental missionary societies and later separate Lutheran denominations, Lutheranism has been significantly represented in the mission fields and in the formation of what were formerly called the younger churches.

How long does it take to resolve an argument? It took Lutherans and Roman Catholics more than 450 years to reconcile their differences over justifying grace. But they enter the new millennium with a breakthrough agreement that gives a common teaching on justification and ends mutual condemnations.

"Developments have taken place which not only make possible, but also require the churches to examine the divisive questions and condemnations and see them in a new light," Lutherans and Roman Catholics said in a historic Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, signed by representatives of the pope and the Lutheran World Federation in Augsburg, Germany on October 31, 1999.

Make no mistake about it: This is an important ecumenical breakthrough. The teaching about God's justifying grace was at the heart of the Reformation debates in the sixteenth century, and Luther made it his central emphasis. Both the decrees of the Council of Trent and Lutheran confessional documents included condemnations of the other's position as they understood it, condemnations that have continued to influence how each church sees the other. Now the two churches have reached "a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification." In the light of this consensus, they conclude, "the corresponding doctrinal condemnations of the sixteenth century do not apply to today's partner."

This Declaration has special significance because it is a joint action, not just a theoretical analysis. In this joint action involving the two churches at the level of worldwide ministries, they teach in common where they once condemned; then they declare that those earlier condemnations no longer apply to the partner today. The ecumenical movement has reached many theological agreements, but here the agreement is also received and acted on by the two churches in an official way. The Joint Declaration thus functions as a kind of reception of fifty years of scholarly work that has prepared the theoretical ground for this breakthrough. At the same time, it is a joyous, celebratory event where Christians recognize in each other a common teaching on this central issue for the first time in 450 years. We should not overlook the value of this kind of action for the healing of divisions.

What basis does the Declaration give to explain its dramatic conclusions? Fundamentally, it teaches that the two traditions on justification are actually complementary, not contradictory. Christians share the conviction that God's salvation is a gift that makes human beings "justified" or righteous before God. But Lutherans and Roman Catholics use different emphases to explain this justifying grace from God and its effects. Once thought to be contradictory, these different emphases are presented in the Declaration as two valuable approaches to the same basic faith consensus, each offering a helpful and complementary insight about grace.

For example, the Declaration says, because Lutherans wished to show that only God's saving action in Christ and nothing else is the basis of justification, they emphasized the distinction between this justifying action and the renewal of life that follows. But Roman Catholics, more interested in the renewing effects of grace, tended to emphasize the transforming effects of grace in a Christian life active in faith, hope, and love.

Are these opposed? No, says the Declaration, since "we confess together that sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ....Such a faith is active in love and thus the Christian cannot and should not remain without works. But whatever in the justified precedes or follows the free gift of faith is neither the basis of justification nor merits it." Common confession on this topic and the other related topics is so basic that the remaining differences "are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations."

The Declaration uses an interesting approach to show that affirmations used by one church tradition are not denials of the other church's teaching. So, it explains, when Lutherans call the justified "sinners" and their continuing opposition to God "truly sin," still "they do not deny that, despite this sin, they are not separated from God." But Roman Catholics, while naming the inclination toward sin in justified people "concupiscence," not sin, still "do not thereby deny that this inclination does not correspond to God's original design for humanity and that it is objectively in contradiction to God and remains one's enemy in lifelong struggle." In short, making one point does not necessarily mean denying another, says the Declaration again and again as it considers issues that have historically been sources of division.

A small additional clarifying statement, called the "Annex" and linked to the signing ceremony, makes even a further point. It recalls the common biblical and liturgical heritage that allows Roman Catholics as well as Lutherans "together" to "understand the Christian as simul iustus et peccator (at the same time righteous and sinner)." This official "Annex" was issued in response to complaints about the Declaration from some German Lutheran theologians and from an earlier Vatican "Clarifications." The "Annex" allowed the churches to reach back into shared ancient faith foundations that precede the more recent divisions of the last five centuries.

But the focus of the Joint Declaration is on the present and the future. Because the partners have experienced the "necessary purification of past memories" called for by Pope John Paul II in Ut unum sint, they now see each other in a new light. The agreement clears the air and the deck for joint evangelization about God's graciousness. In an achievement-based society like ours, the proclamation of God's gracious mercy will be even better news now that Lutherans and Roman Catholics can avoid condemning each other to proclaim it.



	Lutheranism Lutheranism, the branch of the Western Christian church that adopted the religious principles of Martin Luther, as opposed to those of the Roman Catholic Church and of the followers of John Calvin, the Anglican Communion, and the sectaries of the Reformation period. Lutheran churches often term themselves Evangelical as distinct from Reformed, but these uses are not always strictly applied. Lutheranism cannot be defined or understood without some reference to the personal experience and the biblical studies of Luther, which came to voice in 1517 in his famous Ninety-five Theses for debate over indulgences and in his attack on the theology and sacramental practice of the late medieval church of the West. In 1521 Luther was excommunicated; his followers accepted the designation "Lutheran" in part against his will and in spite of the fact that it was filled, in many instances, with implications of derision and sectarianism. The Lutheran movement spread from the University of Wittenberg through much of Germany and into Scandinavia, where it was established by law. The theological vigour of Luther's generation gave way to an arid orthodoxy in the late 16th and 17th centuries. This in turn precipitated a pietist reaction that asserted the need for living faith in addition to right doctrine (see Pietism). The Pietists encouraged missionary and charitable work in addition to devotional practice. Eighteenth-century Lutheranism was marked by Rationalist influences. Orthodoxy was reasserted during the next century, notably by the Danish bishop and poet N.F.S. Grundtvig. Grundtvig's contemporary and countryman Søren Kierkegaard criticized orthodoxy and the state church through a highly personalized philosophy that was to form the basis of Existentialism. In America, Lutherans were among the earliest colonists to settle in New Netherland and New Sweden (on the Delaware River), and they were followed by German colonists who settled especially in the present Middle Atlantic states, the Shenandoah Valley, Georgia, and Nova Scotia, Canada. Because of some geographic and much linguistic isolation and because the majority of American Protestantism was at first of Reformed background, Lutheranism did not play a major role in shaping the early political and religious complexion of the nation. The geographic spread of Lutheranism in the United States was extended by migrations to the western frontier and by the large immigrations during the 19th and early 20th centuries of Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, and Finns. Many of these immigrants settled in the Midwest, and from there later pushed on to the far West. Since immigrants brought with them from Europe a variety of languages and customs, they organized in congregations and later synods according to their national origins. It was largely the prolongation of linguistic and ethnic barriers that prevented Lutheran union until well into the 20th century, when the barriers broke down and advance into intra-Lutheran ecumenical relations became rapid. Lutheran doctrinal statements are usually said to include nine separate formulations that together form the Book of Concord. Three belong to the early Christian church--the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed in its western form, and the so-called Athanasian Creed. Six derive from the 16th-century Reformation--the Augsburg Confession, the Apology for the Augsburg Confession, the Schmalkald Articles, Luther's two Catechisms, and the Formula of Concord. Only the three early creeds and the Augsburg Confession are recognized by all Lutherans. Luther's Catechisms have met almost universal acceptance, but many Lutheran churches rejected the Formula of Concord because of its strict and detailed doctrinal statements. The Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism may properly be said to define Lutheranism inclusively in its doctrinal aspect, though Lutherans may be divided on many issues raised since the Augsburg Confession of 1530. The largest and one of the oldest of non-Roman Catholic, non-Orthodox families of Christians, Lutheranism is represented in most areas of the world, but its particular geographic orientation has been in northern and western Europe and in younger countries settled by Germans and Scandinavians. It has been represented with less strength in Switzerland, the Low Countries, and Scotland, where Reformed confessions predominated, and it has been a secondary influence in the British empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, where the Anglican communion has prevailed. Because of early and persistent efforts of continental missionary societies and later separate Lutheran denominations, Lutheranism has been significantly represented in the mission fields and in the formation of what were formerly called the younger churches. Lutheranism acknowledges no world headquarters, but the vast majority of the world's Lutherans cooperate in the Lutheran World Federation, which has offices in Geneva. Lutherans & Catholics: Ending an old argument How long does it take to resolve an argument? It took Lutherans and Roman Catholics more than 450 years to reconcile their differences over justifying grace. But they enter the new millennium with a breakthrough agreement that gives a common teaching on justification and ends mutual condemnations. "Developments have taken place which not only make possible, but also require the churches to examine the divisive questions and condemnations and see them in a new light," Lutherans and Roman Catholics said in a historic Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification, signed by representatives of the pope and the Lutheran World Federation in Augsburg, Germany on October 31, 1999. Make no mistake about it: This is an important ecumenical breakthrough. The teaching about God's justifying grace was at the heart of the Reformation debates in the sixteenth century, and Luther made it his central emphasis. Both the decrees of the Council of Trent and Lutheran confessional documents included condemnations of the other's position as they understood it, condemnations that have continued to influence how each church sees the other. Now the two churches have reached "a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification." In the light of this consensus, they conclude, "the corresponding doctrinal condemnations of the sixteenth century do not apply to today's partner." This Declaration has special significance because it is a joint action, not just a theoretical analysis. In this joint action involving the two churches at the level of worldwide ministries, they teach in common where they once condemned; then they declare that those earlier condemnations no longer apply to the partner today. The ecumenical movement has reached many theological agreements, but here the agreement is also received and acted on by the two churches in an official way. The Joint Declaration thus functions as a kind of reception of fifty years of scholarly work that has prepared the theoretical ground for this breakthrough. At the same time, it is a joyous, celebratory event where Christians recognize in each other a common teaching on this central issue for the first time in 450 years. We should not overlook the value of this kind of action for the healing of divisions. What basis does the Declaration give to explain its dramatic conclusions? Fundamentally, it teaches that the two traditions on justification are actually complementary, not contradictory. Christians share the conviction that God's salvation is a gift that makes human beings "justified" or righteous before God. But Lutherans and Roman Catholics use different emphases to explain this justifying grace from God and its effects. Once thought to be contradictory, these different emphases are presented in the Declaration as two valuable approaches to the same basic faith consensus, each offering a helpful and complementary insight about grace. For example, the Declaration says, because Lutherans wished to show that only God's saving action in Christ and nothing else is the basis of justification, they emphasized the distinction between this justifying action and the renewal of life that follows. But Roman Catholics, more interested in the renewing effects of grace, tended to emphasize the transforming effects of grace in a Christian life active in faith, hope, and love. Are these opposed? No, says the Declaration, since "we confess together that sinners are justified by faith in the saving action of God in Christ....Such a faith is active in love and thus the Christian cannot and should not remain without works. But whatever in the justified precedes or follows the free gift of faith is neither the basis of justification nor merits it." Common confession on this topic and the other related topics is so basic that the remaining differences "are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations." The Declaration uses an interesting approach to show that affirmations used by one church tradition are not denials of the other church's teaching. So, it explains, when Lutherans call the justified "sinners" and their continuing opposition to God "truly sin," still "they do not deny that, despite this sin, they are not separated from God." But Roman Catholics, while naming the inclination toward sin in justified people "concupiscence," not sin, still "do not thereby deny that this inclination does not correspond to God's original design for humanity and that it is objectively in contradiction to God and remains one's enemy in lifelong struggle." In short, making one point does not necessarily mean denying another, says the Declaration again and again as it considers issues that have historically been sources of division. A small additional clarifying statement, called the "Annex" and linked to the signing ceremony, makes even a further point. It recalls the common biblical and liturgical heritage that allows Roman Catholics as well as Lutherans "together" to "understand the Christian as simul iustus et peccator (at the same time righteous and sinner)." This official "Annex" was issued in response to complaints about the Declaration from some German Lutheran theologians and from an earlier Vatican "Clarifications." The "Annex" allowed the churches to reach back into shared ancient faith foundations that precede the more recent divisions of the last five centuries. The Declaration is respectful of the condemnations from the past. Nothing is taken away from their "seriousness," it says, and they remain for both churches today "salutary warnings." But the focus of the Joint Declaration is on the present and the future. Because the partners have experienced the "necessary purification of past memories" called for by Pope John Paul II in Ut unum sint, they now see each other in a new light. The agreement clears the air and the deck for joint evangelization about God's graciousness. In an achievement-based society like ours, the proclamation of God's gracious mercy will be even better news now that Lutherans and Roman Catholics can avoid condemning each other to proclaim it.