History of Lutheranism

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    Protestant Reformation
    . Today, Lutheranism has spread from Europe to all six populated continents.

    Roots of Reformation (15th century)

    See also: Reformation and Christianity in the 16th century

    The 15th century saw many changes in European society, each of which can be attributed as a contributor to the academic and political climate that allowed for the spread of the Lutheran movement. Many religious movements prior to Martin Luther had promoted ideas that he came to adopt including the

    Desiderius Erasmus to question the role and nature of the Church
    itself.

    Societal upheaval in Europe

    Luther's father, Hans, by Lucas Cranach the Elder

    At the beginning of the 16th century, the European continent had seen vast changes in the ordering of society and culture in the last 200 years. The dramatic loss of population due to the Black Death had created new economic opportunities and mobility among the lower classes of society. New technologies came about to address labor shortages and the need to increase productivity, which in turn created new classes of society to support manufacture and trade. Hans Luther, the father of Martin Luther, was a member of this new middle class. Hans Luther made a living leasing and operating copper mines and smelters. The Luther family enjoyed enough income and social status that it was possible for Hans to envision a university education and career as a lawyer for his son.

    The 14th century had also produced upheaval in the

    Roman Catholic Church with the resolution of the Western Schism in the early part of the century, the controversies surrounding the papacies of the Renaissance era and new pressures brought by the invasions of Christendom by the burgeoning Ottoman Empire
    .

    Spread of literacy

    The spread of books and higher education had an obvious impact on the Lutheran reformers. The

    University of Wittenberg, a university that would house a young Augustinian
    friar as a "Professor of Bible" named Martin Luther.

    The start of the Reformation

    Cardinal Albrecht of Hohenzollern, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, was using part of the indulgence income to pay bribery debts;[1] portrait by Albrecht Dürer
    , 1519
    The sale of indulgences shown in A Question to a Mintmaker, woodcut by Jörg Breu the Elder of Augsburg, c. 1530

    In 1516–17,

    St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[2]

    On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to

    Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. Hans Hillerbrand writes that Luther had no intention of confronting the church, but saw his disputation as a scholarly objection to church practices, and the tone of the writing is accordingly "searching, rather than doctrinaire."[3] Hillerbrand writes that there is nevertheless an undercurrent of challenge in several of the theses, particularly in Thesis 86, which asks: "Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?"[3]

    Tetzel's coffer, on display at the St. Nicholaus church in Jüterbog (article in German).

    Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs,"[4] insisting that, since forgiveness was God's alone to grant, those who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.

    According to

    Protestant Reformation,[5] and celebrated each year on 31 October as Reformation Day. Some scholars have questioned the accuracy of Melanchthon's account, noting that no contemporaneous evidence exists for it.[6] Others have countered that no such evidence is necessary, because this was the customary way of advertising an event on a university campus in Luther's day.[7]

    The Ninety-five Theses were quickly translated from Latin into German, printed, and widely copied, making the controversy one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press.[8] Within two weeks, the theses had spread throughout Germany; within two months throughout Europe.

    Justification by faith

    Main article: Sola fide
    95 Theses

    From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, the books of Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. As he studied these portions of the Bible, he came to view the use of terms such as penance and righteousness by the Roman Catholic Church in new ways. He became convinced that the church was corrupt in its ways and had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity, the most important of which, for Luther, was the doctrine of justification—God's act of declaring a sinner righteous—by faith alone through God's grace. He began to teach that salvation or redemption is a gift of God's grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus as the messiah.[9] "This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification," he wrote, "is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness".[10]

    Luther came to understand justification as entirely the work of God. Against the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers are performed in cooperation with God, Luther wrote that Christians receive such righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ but actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to Christians (rather than infused into them) through faith.[11] "That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law," he wrote. "Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ."[12] Faith, for Luther, was a gift from God. He explained his concept of "justification" in the Smalcald Articles:

    The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24–25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23–25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us ... Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).[13]

    Response of the papacy

    Pope Leo X by Raphael

    Widening breach

    Luther's writings circulated widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1519, and students thronged to Wittenberg to hear him speak. He published a short commentary on

    Utraquists of Bohemia; Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen offered to place Luther under their protection.[why?][14]

    This early portion of Luther's career was one of his most creative and productive.[15] Three of his best known works were published in 1520: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian.

    Finally on 30 May 1518, when the Pope demanded an explanation, Luther wrote a summary and explanation of his theses to the Pope. While the Pope may have conceded some of the points, he did not like the challenge to his authority so he summoned Luther to Rome to answer these. At that point

    Catholic clergy so he prevailed on the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
    , who needed Frederick's support, to arrange a compromise.

    An arrangement was effected, however, whereby that summons was cancelled, and Luther went to Augsburg in October 1518 to meet the papal legate, Cardinal Thomas Cajetan. The argument was long but nothing was resolved. The Leipzig Debate took place in June and July 1519 at Pleissenburg Castle in Leipzig, Germany. Its purpose was to discuss Martin Luther's teachings, and was initiated and conducted in the presence of George, Duke of Saxony, an opponent of Luther.

    Excommunication

    First edition of Exsurge Domine

    On 15 June 1520, the Pope warned Luther with the papal bull (edict) Exsurge Domine that he risked excommunication unless he recanted 41 sentences drawn from his writings, including the Ninety-five Theses, within 60 days.

    That autumn, Johann Eck proclaimed the bull in Meissen and other towns. Karl von Miltitz, a papal nuncio, attempted to broker a solution, but Luther, who had sent the Pope a copy of On the Freedom of a Christian in October, publicly set fire to the bull and decretals at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520,[16] an act he defended in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles.

    As a consequence, Luther was excommunicated by Leo X on 3 January 1521, in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

    Exile

    Diet of Worms

    Main article: Diet of Worms
    Anton von Werner
    (1843–1915)

    The enforcement of the ban on the 41 sentences fell to the secular authorities. On 18 April 1521, Luther appeared as ordered before the Diet of Worms. This was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in Worms, a town on the Rhine. It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding. Prince Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, obtained an agreement that Luther would be promised safe passage to and from the meeting.

    Johann Eck, speaking on behalf of the Empire as assistant of the Archbishop of Trier, presented Luther with copies of his writings laid out on a table, and asked him if the books were his, and whether he stood by their contents. He confirmed he was the author, but requested time to think about the answer to the second question. He prayed, consulted friends, and gave his response the next day: "Unless I shall be convinced by the testimonies of the Scriptures or by clear reason ... I neither can nor will make any retraction, since it is neither safe nor honourable to act against conscience."[17] He is also famously said to have added: "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen." ("Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."). This description of the declaration may be apocryphal,[18] as only the last four words appear in contemporaneous accounts.

    Over the next five days, private conferences were held to determine Luther's fate. The Emperor presented the final draft of the

    Desiderius Erasmus.[citation needed
    ]

    Exile at Wartburg Castle

    Wartburg Castle, Eisenach

    Luther's disappearance during his return trip was planned.

    Wartburg Castle at Eisenach, where Luther grew a beard and lived incognito for nearly eleven months, pretending to be a knight called Junker Jörg.[20]

    During his stay at Wartburg (May 1521–March 1522), which he referred to as "my Patmos",

    Louvain.[23] In a letter to Melanchthon of 1 August 1521, he wrote: "[L]et your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides."[24]

    The room in Wartburg where Luther translated the New Testament into German. There is an original first edition of the translation under the case on the desk.

    In On the Abrogation of the Private Mass, in the summer of 1521, Luther widened his target from individual pieties like indulgences and pilgrimages to doctrines at the heart of Church practices. His essay Concerning Confession rejected the

    Roman Catholic Church's requirement of confession, although he affirmed the value of private confession and absolution
    . In the introduction to his New Testament—published in September 1522 and selling 5,000 copies in two months—he explained that good works spring from faith; they do not produce it.

    In Wittenberg,

    adult baptism, Christ's imminent return, and other revolutionary doctrines.[22]
    Luther decided it was time to act.

    Return to Wittenberg

    Michael the Deacon and Martin Luther convene in Wittenberg, painted by Inès Lee and commissioned by Sir John Das (2018).
    See also: Radical Reformation

    Around Christmas 1521,

    Anabaptists from Zwickau entered Wittenberg and caused considerable civil unrest. Thoroughly opposed to their radical views and fearful of their results, Luther secretly returned to Wittenberg on March 6, 1522. "During my absence," he wrote to the Elector, "Satan has entered my sheepfold, and committed ravages which I cannot repair by writing, but only by my personal presence and living word."[22]

    For eight days in

    Invocavit Sunday, and concluding the following Sunday, Luther preached eight sermons, which became known as the "Invocavit Sermons." In these sermons, he hammered home the primacy of core Christian values
    such as love, patience, charity, and freedom, and reminded the citizens to trust God's word rather than violence to bring about necessary change:

    Do you know what the Devil thinks when he sees men use violence to propagate the gospel? He sits with folded arms behind the fire of hell, and says with malignant looks and frightful grin: "Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my game! Let them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I delight in it." But when he sees the Word running and contending alone on the battle-field, then he shudders and shakes for fear.[22]

    In 1534,

    Lutheran Churches.[28] For Lutherans, "the Ethiopian Church conferred legitimacy on Luther’s emerging Protestant vision of a church outside the authority of the Roman Catholic papacy" as it was "an ancient church with direct ties to the apostles".[29]

    Political and religious conflict

    What had started as a strictly theological and academic debate had now turned into something of a social and political conflict as well, pitting Luther, his German allies and Northern European supporters against Charles V, France, the Italian Pope, their territories and other allies. The conflict would erupt into a religious war after Luther's death, fueled by the political climate of the Holy Roman Empire and strong personalities on both sides.

    After the

    Edict of Worms
    . Over time, however, this term came to be used for the religious movements that opposed the Roman Catholic tradition in the 16th century.

    Gnesio-Lutheran activity during the controversies leading up to the Formula of Concord
    .

    Lutheranism would become known as a separate movement after the 1530

    Philipp Melanchthon prepared the Prima delineatio. Although this was rejected by the Emperor, Melanchthon improved it as a private document until it was signed at a meeting of the Schmalkaldic League as the 1537 Apology of the Augsburg Confession, but the Catholic side did not respond to it until the 1545–63 Council of Trent
    .

    In turn several Lutheran states led by Elector John Frederick I of Saxony and Landgrave Philip I of Hesse met at the town of Schmalkalden, where they established the Schmalkaldic League in 1531. At first, the Nuremberg Religious Peace of 1532 granted religious liberty to members of the Schmalkaldic League. During this time, Martin Luther used his political influence to prevent war, but recognized the right of rulers to defend their lands in the event of an invasion (see Luther's concept of the Beerwolf ruler).[30]

    Martin Luther and the Reformation also brought a period of radical change to church architecture and design. According to the ideals of the Protestant reformation, the spoken word, the sermon, should be central act in the church service. This implied that the pulpit became the focal point of the church interior and that churches should be designed to allow all to hear and see the minister.[31][page needed] The focus was on the preaching of the Word, rather than a sacerdotal emphasis. Holy Communion tables became wood to emphasize that Christ's sacrifice was made once for all and were made more immediate to the congregation to emphasize man's direct access to God through Christ. Therefore, catholic churches were redecorated when they became reformed: Paintings and statues of saints were removed and sometimes the altar table was placed in front of the pulpit, as at Strasbourg Cathedral in 1524. The pews were turned towards the pulpit. The first newly built Protestant church was the court chapel of Neuburg Castle in 1543, followed by the court chapel of Hartenfels Castle in Torgau, consecrated by Martin Luther on 5 October 1544.

    Front page of the Peace of Augsburg

    Luther died in 1546. In 1547, the Schmalkaldic War started out as a battle between two Lutheran rulers, but soon, Holy Roman Imperial forces joined the battle and conquered the members of the Schmalkaldic League, oppressing and exiling many Lutherans as they enforced the terms of the Augsburg Interim until religious freedom was secured for Lutherans through the Peace of Passau of 1552 and the Peace of Augsburg of 1555.[32]

    Religious disputes between the Crypto-Calvinists, Philippists, Sacramentarians, Ubiquitarians, and the Gnesio-Lutherans raged within Lutheranism during a series of controversies

    Concordia: doctrinal harmony

    However, the Lutheran movement was far from defeated. In 1577, the next generation of Lutheran theologians gathered the work of the previous generation to define the doctrine of the persisting Lutheran church. This document is known as the

    Lutheran Orthodoxy. The Lutheran Church traditionally sees itself as the "main trunk of the historical Christian Tree" founded by Christ and the Apostles, holding that during the Reformation, the Church of Rome fell away.[33][34] As such, the Augsburg Confession teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".[35] When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, they explained "that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils."[35]

    Early Orthodoxy: 1580–1600

    See also: Lutheran orthodoxy § Early orthodoxy: 1580–1600

    The Book of Concord gave inner unity to Lutheranism, which had many controversies, mostly between

    crypto-Calvinistic
    " influence. Lutheran theology became more stable in its theoretical definitions.

    High Orthodoxy: 1600–1685

    See also: Lutheran orthodoxy § High orthodoxy: 1600–1685

    Jesper Rasmussen Brochmand, Salomo Glassius, Johann Hülsemann, Johann Conrad Dannhauer, Johannes Andreas Quenstedt, Johann Friedrich König and Johann Wilhelm Baier
    .

    The theological heritage of

    Georgius Calixtus, which caused the Syncretistic Controversy. Another theological issue was the Crypto-Kenotic Controversy.[36]

    Late Orthodoxy (1685–1730)

    See also: Lutheran orthodoxy § Late orthodoxy: 1685–1730
    Halle, Germany, a center of Pietism

    Generally, the 17th century was a more difficult time than the earlier period of Reformation, due in part to the Thirty Years' War. Finland suffered a severe famine in 1696–1697 as part of what is now called the Little Ice Age, and almost one third of the population died.[37] This struggle to survive can often be seen in hymns and devotional writings.

    Late Orthodoxy was torn by influences from

    Philipp Jakob Spener and August Hermann Francke warned that Lutheran orthodoxy degenerated life-changing scriptural truth into meaningless intellectualism and Formalism. Pietism increased at the expense of orthodoxy, but their emphasis on personal morality and sanctification came at the expense of teaching the doctrine of justification. The Pietisitic focus on stirring up devout emotions was susceptible to the arguments of rationalist philosophy.[38]

    The last prominent orthodox Lutheran theologian before the Enlightenment and

    Stephan Prätorius
    , which have often been later mixed with Pietistic literature.

    Rationalism and revivals

    orthodox Lutheranism. During the 1700s, Germany turned to rationalism
    .

    Rationalism

    Into this complicated religious scene,

    supernaturalism. Morality and church-going plummeted together.[38]

    Genuine piety was found almost solely in small Pietist gatherings. However, some of the laity preserved Lutheran orthodoxy from both Pietism and rationalism through reusing old catechisms, hymnbooks, postils, and devotional writings, including those written by Johann Gerhard, Heinrich Müller, and Christian Scriver.[39] Aside from that, however, Lutheranism vanished in the wake of rationalist philosophy.[38]

    Revivals

    The Awakening

    Napoleon's invasion of Germany promoted rationalism and angered German Lutherans, stirring up a desire among the people to preserve Luther's theology from the rationalist threat. This Erweckung, or Awakening, argued that reason was insufficient and pointed out the importance of emotional religious experience. Small groups sprang up, often in universities, which devoted themselves to Bible study, reading devotional writings, and revival meetings.[40] Members of this movement eventually took to restoring the traditional liturgy and doctrine of the Lutheran church in the Neo-Lutheran movement. A layman, Luther scholar Johann Georg Hamann, became famous for countering rationalism and advancing the Awakening.[41]

    This Awakening also swept through

    Lars Levi Læstadius began the Laestadian movement that emphasized moral reform.[43] In Finland, a farmer, Paavo Ruotsalainen, started a reform movement when he took to preaching about repentance and prayer.[43]

    Old Lutherans

    In 1817,

    Schism of the Old Lutherans. Many Lutherans, called "Old Lutherans", despite imprisonment and military force,[41] chose to leave the established churches and form independent church bodies, or "free churches" while others left for the United States and Australia. A similar legislated merger in Silesia prompted thousands to join the Old Lutheran movement. The dispute over ecumenism overshadowed other controversies within German Lutheranism.[44]

    Neo-Lutherans

    Despite political meddling in church life, local leaders sought to restore and renew Christianity. High school teacher

    superintendent at Weimar and part of the Inner Mission movement, joined with the Romantic movement with his quest to preserve human emotion and experience from rationalism.[47]

    Results

    Stormtroopers holding German Christians propaganda during the Church Council elections on July 23, 1933, at St. Mary's Church, Berlin.

    The Neo-Lutheran movement managed to slow secularism and counter atheistic

    Reich Church, the German Protestant Church in 1933. After World War II, the German Protestant Church was re-founded with the new name Protestant Church in Germany
    .

    See also

    References

    1. Rupp, Ernst Gordon
      . "Martin Luther," Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 2006.
    2. ^ "Johann Tetzel," Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007: "Tetzel's experiences as a preacher of indulgences, especially between 1503 and 1510, led to his appointment as general commissioner by Albrecht, archbishop of Mainz, who, deeply in debt to pay for a large accumulation of benefices, had to contribute a considerable sum toward the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Albrecht obtained permission from Pope Leo X to conduct the sale of a special plenary indulgence (i.e., remission of the temporal punishment of sin), half of the proceeds of which Albrecht was to claim to pay the fees of his benefices. In effect, Tetzel became a salesman whose product was to cause a scandal in Germany that evolved into the greatest crisis (the Reformation) in the history of the Western church."
    3. ^ a b Hillerbrand, Hans J. "Martin Luther: Indulgences and salvation," Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
    4. ^ Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, 60; Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 1:182; Kittelson, James. Luther The Reformer. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishing House, 1986, 104.
    5. ^ "Luther's lavatory thrills experts", BBC News, October 22, 2004.
    6. ^ Iserloh, Erwin. The Theses Were Not Posted. Toronto: Saunders of Toronto, Ltd., 1966.
    7. ^ Junghans, Helmer. "Luther's Wittenberg," in McKim, Donald K. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 26.
    8. ^ Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 1:204–05.
    9. ^ Wriedt, Markus. "Luther's Theology," in The Cambridge Companion to Luther. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 88–94.
    10. ^ Bouman, Herbert J. A. "The Doctrine of Justification in the Lutheran Confessions" Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, Concordia Theological Monthly, November 26, 1955, No. 11:801.
    11. ^ Dorman, Ted M., "Justification as Healing: The Little-Known Luther Archived 2007-09-23 at the Wayback Machine," Quodlibet Journal: Volume 2 Number 3, Summer 2000. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
    12. ^ "Luther's Definition of Faith".
    13. ^ Luther, Martin. "The Smalcald Articles," in Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, 289, Part two, Article 1.
    14. ^ Macauley Jackson, Samuel and Gilmore, George William. (eds.) "Martin Luther", The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, New York, London, Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1908–1914; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1951), 71.
    15. ^ Spitz, Lewis W. The Renaissance and Reformation Movements, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987, 338.
    16. ^ Brecht, Martin. (tr. Wolfgang Katenz) "Luther, Martin," in Hillerbrand, Hans J. (ed.) Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, 2:463.
    17. ^ Macauley Jackson, Samuel and Gilmore, George William. (eds.) "Martin Luther", The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, New York, London, Funk and Wagnalls Co., 1908–1914; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1951, 72.
    18. ^ Hillerbrand, Hans J. "Martin Luther: Diet of Worms," Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
    19. ^ Bratcher, Dennis. "The Edict of Worms (1521)," in The Voice: Biblical and Theological Resources for Growing Christians. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
    20. ^ Schaff-Herzog, "Luther, Martin," 72; Geoffrey Elton, Reformation Europe: 1517–1559, London: Fontana, 1963, p. 53; Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe's House Divided, 1490–1700, London: Allen Lane, 2003, p. 132.
    21. ^ Luther, Martin. "Letter 82," in Luther's Works. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann (eds), Vol. 48: Letters I, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1963, 48:246. John, author of Revelation, had been exiled on the island of Patmos.
    22. ^ a b c d Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, Vol VII, Ch IV.
    23. ISBN 0-8006-2814-4
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    24. ^ Martin Luther, "Let Your Sins Be Strong," a Letter From Luther to Melanchthon, August 1521, Project Wittenberg, retrieved 1 October 2006.
    25. ^ Daniels, David D. (2 November 2017). "Martin Luther and Ethiopian Christianity: Historical Traces". University of Chicago. Retrieved 9 April 2018. In that year Luther welcomed a new voice into his ecumenical dialogue: Michael the Deacon, an Ethiopian cleric. Recalling his dialogue with Michael, Luther stated: "We have also learned from him, that the rite which we observe in the use of administration of the Lord's Supper and the Mass, agrees with the Eastern Church." Luther expressed his approval of the Church of Ethiopia along with his embrace of Deacon Michael in a letter dated July 4, 1534: "For this reason we ask that good people would demonstrate Christian love also to this [Ethiopian] visitor." According to Luther, Michael responded positively to his articles of the Christian faith, proclaiming: "This is a good creed, that is, faith" (see Martin Luther, Table-Talk, November 17, 1538 [WA, TR 4:152–53, no. 4126]).
    26. ^ Luther Digest: An Annual Abridgment of Luther Studies, Volumes 2-4. Luther Academy. 1994. p. 146. During the summer of 1534, an Ethiopian monk Deacon Michael visited Wittenberg. With great satisfaction Luther recorded that among the Christians in Ethiopia neither the private Mass nor the Mass canon was known, and their order of service generally corresponded to that of evangelical congregations of Germany (WA Tr 5:450, #6045).
    27. ^ Daniels, David D. (31 October 2017). "Martin Luther's fascination with Ethiopian Christianity". The Christian Century. Retrieved 9 April 2018. For his part, after having Luther's Articles of the Christian Faith interpreted to him, Deacon Michael proclaimed: "This is a good creed, that is, faith."
    28. ^ Daniels, David D. (28 October 2017). "Martin Luther's 'dream' church? It wasn't in Europe". Religion News Service. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
    29. ^ Daniels, David D. (21 October 2017). "Honor the Reformation's African roots". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
    30. ^ Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 3:199–228.
    31. ^ Hosar, Kåre (1988). Sør-Fron kirke. Lokal bakgrunn og impulser utenfra (Dissertation, Art History) (in Norwegian). University of Oslo.
    32. ^ Fuerbringer, L., Concordia Cyclopedia Concordia Publishing House. 1927. p. 425
    33. ^ Junius Benjamin Remensnyder (1893). The Lutheran Manual. Boschen & Wefer Company. p. 12.
    34. The Lutheran Witness
      . pp. 82–83.
    35. ^
      The Lutheran Witness
      . When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, "This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers" (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of the Augsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).
    36. ^ Lutheran Theology after 1580 Archived 2009-10-17 at the Wayback Machine article in Christian Cyclopedia
    37. ISBN 0-465-02272-3
      .
    38. ^ a b c Fuerbringer, L., Concordia Cyclopedia Concordia Publishing House. 1927. p. 426
    39. ^ Devotional Literature Project Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
    40. South Wisconsin District (LCMS)
      , 1967. p. 10.
    41. ^ a b c Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 180.
    42. ^ Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 182.
    43. ^ a b c Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 183.
    44. ISBN 0-85229-290-2
      .
    45. ^ Christian Cyclopedia article on Brünn
    46. ^ a b c d Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 184.
    47. ^ Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 187.
    48. ^ Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 188.
    49. ^ Gritsch, Eric W. A History of Lutheranism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. p. 185.

    Further reading

    • Arand, Charles P, and Robert Kolb, eds. The Lutheran Confessions: History and Theology of the Book of Concord (2012)
    • Bodensieck, Julius, ed. The encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church (3 vol 1965) vol 1 and 3 online free
    • Brauer, James Leonard and Fred L. Precht, eds. Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (1993)
    • Granquist, Mark. Lutherans in America: A New History (2015)
    • Meyer, Carl S. Moving Frontiers: Readings in the History of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (1986)
    • Roeber, A. G. Palatines, Liberty, and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America (1998)
    • Wengert, Timothy J. and Mark Granquist, eds. Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions (2017)
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