Lutheranism
Lutheranism (or Lutheranism) is the theology based on the writings and thoughts of Martin Luther. It later became the Lutheran Protestant grouping of communities associated with that doctrine.
This is why it is called "Lutheran" to " Lutheran churches "or" Lutheran theology. "
Luther's theology is the common good of the whole Protestant Reformation. There are also theological currents referring specifically to him, including the Reformed churches.
Summary |
History
In the early sixteenth century , the Church Catholic Roman minting of indulgences. This system was already denounced by John Wyclif (1320-1384) and Jan Hus (1369-1415), who have emphasized the drifts.
In 1517 , Martin Luther , a monk Augustinian theologian and, at first protested against this practice. Then, on 31 October 1517 , he posted on the door of the church of Wittenberg in Saxony , his 95 theses condemning the principle of indulgences. The clash is theological movement born of the Protestant Reformation that will encourage, by reaction, a Catholic Reformation.
Indulgences
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had instituted the system of indulgences, which allowed, under certain conditions determined by the Catholic Church, first acts of piety (prayer, pilgrimage, ...) and, more often, venal conditions attached to these acts of piety, to see the temporal punishment of sinners attenuated or erased (punishment of the faithful on earth or those served by the souls in purgatory ) to ensure a place in paradise.
The system is perverted, and there were abuses increasingly acute. Among these include the indulgence granted in 1506 by Pope Leo X to anyone who would help build the new St. Peter's Basilica he wanted to be the largest church in the world. It is also the time of the scandal to the Dominican Johann Tetzel , in charge of selling indulgences 1516-1517 in the name of Albert of Brandenburg , Archbishop of Mainz , interested in the sale by a commission of 50% promised by the Curie Roman.
The system of indulgence - often misunderstood - did the people believe that they could be bought by money or work. In the eyes of Luther and according to the Apostle Paul of Tarsus , the practice of Christians repelled the true source of salvation : the grace of God.
The theological disagreement - Luther excommunicated
In 1518 , Luther even stated that in no case the Scriptures can not be contradicted by the pope. The pope is also subject to the authority of the Bible.
On 15 June 1520 , he is threatened to be excommunicated for his views, his writings were burned.
In return, 11 December 1520 , Luther burns the text of excommunication before the whole town of Wittenberg, treating the pope Antichrist. Luther has more supporters, the movement to reform the theology and the Christian Church was launched. Several princes of northern Germany, for religious reasons, and to seize church property, adopt the Reformation.
On 3 January 1521 , the pope pronounced the anathema against Luther and his supporters. Luther was eventually excommunicated.
The Diet of Worms
In April 1521, Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms , political meeting bringing together the various German princes. The Emperor Charles V asked him again to retract. Luther responds with his famous phrase: "My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I can not and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor healthy to act against his conscience. God help me.. " He was then condemned and outlawed by the Empire.
It will continue to write while being protected by the Prince Frederick III of Saxony.
The translation of the Bible
To practice his teachings, he translated the New Testament (or Second Alliance) in the language spoken by the people. It then broadcasts this translation through print development seventy years ago by Gutenberg. This translation is the basis for the creation of German writing, Hochdeutsch.
Major themes of the Lutheran Theological
They can be summarized by the Latin terms sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura, solo christo.
1. Sola Gratia (by grace alone)
This statement means first that the man is not saved by his moral or religious works. In fact, Luther wants to establish a trusting relationship with God and not a relationship that requires based on fear and guilt. The Eucharist is celebrated at every worship service with preaching , God reminds us that love is a real and present in the concrete gesture of his son who gives himself for the salvation of men. Everything starts with the initiative of love, this helping hand. At that time indeed dominated the fear of hell and divine judgment encouraged by some unscrupulous priests of the Roman institution. Tillich interprets Luther says: "It is this grace that reconciles me with myself, with others and the world (nature, cosmos) and with God. " Ethics will be a response to that love first is the "price of grace" says Dietrich Bonhoeffer , who will pay his life for his resistance to Hitler.
2. Sola Fide (by faith alone)
If man is not saved by works, he is simply asked to trust in God is faith that is born and grows mainly through the mediation of a pastor who preaches the good news grace and celebrates the sacraments. It is this confidence that makes him a member of the Church at once local and universal.
3. Sola Scriptura (By Scripture alone)
And one of the places where this message is heard by the cult excellence that brings together the Christian community around the preaching and the Eucharist are the two poles of the Lutheran church in a hymn of praise and inspiration of the Psalms. But this preaching draws its inspiration from a tradition after the Mass and who is reading and commentary on the Bible. Luther and continue the tradition of the lectionary it found in the Catholic mass. Thus the essential role of bishops and even the Pope will be responsible to train pastors preach well as knowing the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures, and animate the community liturgy.
4. Solo Christo (by Christ alone)
But unlike the homily catholic preaching of Luther is not an explanation of Catholic dogma , which he thinks they deviate too often biblical and patristic sources. Luther believed in the Bible there a core interpretive fidelity is that the Gospels and Epistles tell us of Jesus Christ and joined the great affirmations of the Apostles' Creed and text recognized by the Church Lutheran, as the Augsburg Confession (see below). And the preacher, rooted on this symbolic speech and participating in society and culture of his time, take the risk of analogies, metaphors and relationships that make him a prophet and a man of compassion.
Note that in later Protestantism has often privileged the "sola scriptura" but the thought of Luther, as we have seen above, is much finer and more nuanced.
The Sacraments
1. Source
It is especially through his treatise captivitate babylonica Praeludium, published in early 1520 that we find the thought of Martin Luther on the Sacraments. "Having reduced the Church in captivity, the Roman tyranny has attacked his soul by depriving it of the sacrament, while the sacrament does not belong to priests but to all."
For Catholics, in fact, the sacraments are means of grace which have an immediate effect, operating ex opere operato "in the hands of the priest. In John Calvin, it will only be visible signs of invisible grace.
For Luther, "the sacraments are the objective manifestation of a revelation that God has willed, both from outside and given concrete form in the incarnation, in the book, Water in the Bread and Wine" ( EG Leonard). And in all this, the role of priest (especially valued by speech explaining the sacrament and preaching) is secondary.
2. Sacrament: visible succession of a single incarnation
So there is for Luther a sort of visibility of the sacraments which extends the historical incarnation of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection did not take place only once. The priest can not renew this sacrifice in the sacrament. And this sacrament of succession continues in the Church through baptism (children or adults) and the Eucharist, which are clearly established by Jesus Christ in the Gospels and also the book of Acts. He pushes and the sacrament of marriage, order, extreme unction, reconciliation and confirmation were performed unevenly at that time and resume the force after the Council of Trent.
The sacrament is restored to the purity of his evangelical institution such as communication and the only non-renewable sacrifice of the cross, without human intervention.
3. Consubstantiation instead of transubstantiation
As the reformer Wycliffe, Luther abandons the Eucharistic doctrine of transubstantiation in favor of an explanation he would later call "consusbtantiation. Here, species are real and both bread and wine, flesh and blood of the savior, but only during the short time the believer eats and drinks.
Liturgy
1. The new organization liturgical
Although the organization of the ceremonies seemed to him "Rauch und Dampf" (smoke and noise) as the door opened to a pious legalism, Luther will be led to participate in the organization of religion at Wittenberg in 1523. It will then write the Gottesdienst Von Ordnung (In order of divine service) and Missa Formulae. In this spirit, will take place in 1525 the first celebration of the "German Mass" and his order to be published in 1526. This will provide a framework not only to Lutheranism following centuries, but also to Johann Sebastian Bach , who wrote for her one of his finest works. Here the plan is striking for its simplicity:
- Introit
- Kyrie eleison (no Gloria)
- Collection (prayer day)
- Epistle
- Gradual (German song)
- Gospel
- Creed (singing a paraphrase of the Creed by Luther)
- Preaching
- Our Father (singing a paraphrase made by Luther)
- Exhortation to communion worthily
- Words uttered first institution on the bread with distribution, then the wine
- Prayer of thanksgiving
- Blessing
2. True novelty: the vernacular
The mass will thus become a cult celebrated by a clergyman. It loses its character as a "renewed sacrifice of Christ offered by a priest for the salvation of the faithful." While it will always start with the austere and humble recognition of the man who needs to experience forgiveness and divine grace (Kyrie "Lord have mercy"). But it will not be a celebration that Luther finds mysterious and incomprehensible to the faithful, for now, reading the Bible will be in the language of the people and preaching a sermon is no longer a word but Luther think clearer for make Christ of the Bible familiar to most listeners. A Christ who reconciles us with God, others and the world, bringing us his salvation and grace. The "power of the keys is no longer entrusted to the Pope, now every preacher is the successor of Peter in the listener that opens the door to the kingdom of God.
3. Another novelty: the revival hymnody
Good musician and poet, Luther introduce emotion into the cult by multiplying together the songs that engage the best people, according to Luther, was not the Gregorian Chant , often very beautiful but now he felt the work specialists. He composed himself sixty hymns (including Ein Feste Burg, " A Mighty Fortress is Our God "), which remains one of the songs protesting the most known worldwide. His works were collected in 1524 in a widely circulated Enchiridion worldwide Lutheran - which shows the passage through the intelligent use of new media in Luther's time, it will also for the Bible. Many musicians and poets participated in this first Protestant hymnody (Sachs, Speratus, Spengler, Rupff, etc..) Whose names are still found in many Protestant hymns today.
Thus, after the music, Lutherans may remain among the Protestants, those who do not hesitate to introduce an aesthetic dimension in the liturgy. Not only in music but also in visual forms. Expression of Praise Church of satisfying the popular sensibility (color and liturgical vestments, stained glass, gestures, etc.).. Luther himself was very tolerant in this area he regarded as secondary.
Can we say that there is always a difference between today's Mass Catholic and Protestant worship inspired by Luther? Certainly to the extent that, for Catholics, the Mass is the renewal of the sacrifice of Christ, while for Protestants inspired Luther, the worship is more a celebration of the two poles of equal importance are the only living Eucharist as "memory" of the sacrifice of Christ and preaching the Word who enlightens.
The Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession ("CA" Confessio Augustana) is the fundamental confession of faith states imperial Lutherans. It was presented by the Lutheran Reformation Charles V at the Diet of the Empire at Augsburg in the year 1530. Until today the Augsburg Confession is the document required for each denomination Lutheran Church.
The first part (Basic Articles of Faith and Doctrine):
- Article 1. - From God
- Article 2. - From Original Sin
- Article 3. - From the Son of God
- Article 4. - The Rationale
- Article 5. - The Ministry of the Word
- Article 6. - From New Obedience
- Article 7. - From the Church
- Article 8. - This is the Church in the World
- Article 9. - From Baptism
- Article 10. - The sacrament
- Article 11. - The Confession
- Article 12. - Of Repentance
- Article 13. - Use of the Sacraments
- Article 14. - From the Government of the Church
- Article 15. - The Ecclesiastical Rites
- Article 16. - Of Civil Government
- Article 17. - From Back to the Judgement of Christ
- Article 18. - From Free Will
- Article 19. - On the Origin of Sin
- Article 20. - Of Faith and Good Works
- Article 21. - Of the Invocation of Saints
Part Two (Articles that are contested and where one deals with the abuses that have been corrected):
- Introduction
- Article 23. - From the Marriage of Priests
- Article 24. - From Mass
- Article 25. - The Confession
- Article 26. - Kinds of Foods
- Article 27. - Of monastic vows
- Article 28. - From the Power of Bishops
(For the full text of this central confession of the Lutheran churches at the following address And now? The main Lutheran countries are the Scandinavian nations ( Iceland , Norway , Denmark , Sweden ), the Finland , the Germany and Estonia. The Latvia (but not Lithuania , which is predominantly Catholic) was largely Lutheran. The Namibia is the only country outside of Europe, which is predominantly Lutheran. There are large communities of Lutherans in many other countries, like Brazil , the United States (particularly in the Midwest ), the Ethiopia , of Indonesia , Madagascar , the Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. The world's largest association of Lutheran churches are the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), whose members are the EELF and Protestant Churches of Alsace-Lorraine (EPAL), the International Lutheran Council (ILC), including the Evangelical Church Lutheran Synod of France and Belgium is a member, and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). Lutherans are a part of French Protestantism. They are mainly located in Alsace , in the Montbliard and Moselle , with the Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine. They are also present, to a lesser extent, "France's interior," primarily in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France , composed of 35,000 members in inspections ecclesiastical Montbliard (Franche-North County) and Paris (which also includes the parishes of Lyon, Marseille and Nice). Both churches are members of the Lutheran World Federation and the Protestant Federation of France. Lutherans are also present within the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of France and Belgium (EEL-SFB), composed of 1000 members in communion with the International Lutheran Council (ILC). Worldwide
France
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