Robert Kolb. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. Editor: Thomas Riggs, 2nd Edition, Volume 1, Gale, 2015.
Overview
Lutheranism, named after the German religious leader Martin Luther (1483-1546), began with the publication of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses (1517), an attack on abuses of the Catholic Church. Luther’s ideas precipitated the Protestant Reformation, which was a religious and political movement in Western Europe during the early 16th century whose aim was to reform certain practices of the Catholic Church and to make the church more accessible to all people—not just the privileged or wealthy. The Reformation resulted in the establishment of continental Protestantism, which by the end of the 16th century embraced two main schools of thought—the Reformed Churches and the Lutherans. Lutheran theology shaped the agenda of early modern Western Christianity by arguing that salvation comes from faith alone and that Scripture, not the church, is the only basis of religious authority. As Lutheranism has spread internationally, it has retained its foundational emphasis on the power of faith and on biblical authority, even as church practices have evolved to adapt to local customs.
Luther and his followers initially opposed the term “Lutheran,” which was used derisively by opponents of Luther’s proposed reforms. Many early churches preferred “Evangelical” (meaning “Gospel centered”), which became part of the official name of the church in many countries. After beginning in Germany, Lutheranism quickly spread across northern Europe, becoming one of the main strands of Protestantism. In the 17th century Lutheranism was challenged by the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation, which reduced the strength of Lutheran churches, especially in Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. Communist oppression in central Europe further weakened the Lutheran movement.
In 2009 Lutherans constituted one of the largest Protestant groups, with 73.8 million adherents gathered in more than 3.7 million churches in some 100 countries. About half of all Lutheran churches are establishment churches founded during the Reformation in Germany, the Nordic countries, and the Baltic countries or churches in central Europe that survived the Counter-Reformation and Communist oppression. Membership in these churches is declining, perhaps due to a trend toward secularization in many places in Europe. A similar trend has been found in the immigrant churches that were established in Africa, Australia, North America, and South America, which largely follow the European Lutheran tradition. However, churches established by missionaries—especially in Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and Tanzania—have been experiencing dynamic growth in membership due to new evangelistic movements and the appeal of the Lutheran message to struggling communities.
History
Martin Luther’s call for reform initially concerned the Catholic practice of indulgences. An indulgence is a papal dispensation from punishment in purgatory, which in Luther’s time could be earned by performing good deeds or by giving money to the church. Luther, a Catholic priest and a professor at the University of Wittenberg, attacked the practice because he could not find a biblical basis for it, because it financially exploited believers, and because it created doubt about salvation and God’s unconditional grace. He wrote down his complaints in the Ninety-Five Theses, which he nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517. The document spread rapidly through the new medium of print and launched a movement to organize Lutheran churches in Germany, Scandinavia, and parts of central Europe. In 1521 the pope excommunicated Luther.
Lutheranism was first defined in the Augsburg Confession (1530), written by Luther’s Wittenberg colleague Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560). A second colleague, Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558), pioneered a new church order by authoring constitutional documents for many territories and cities that reformed liturgy (such as burial and marriage rites), mandated schools, and prescribed elements of church government. After significant disagreements among Luther’s and Melanchthon’s students over the way to achieve salvation, the relationship between church and state, the use of rituals, and the way to conduct public teaching, theologians—including Jakob Andreae (1528-1590), Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), David Chytraeus (1530-1600), Nikolaus Selnecker (1532-1592), Andreas Musculus (1514-1581), and Christoph Körner (1518-1594)—produced the Formula of Concord (1577) and then the Book of Concord (1580). The latter contained the Formula and other Lutheran confessions of faith and initiated an era of orthodoxy (1580-1750).
Orthodox Lutheranism attempted to interpret the Bible as Luther had, by emphasizing the authority of Scripture and the justification of sinners before God by his grace alone. The leading theologians of this period—including Johann Gerhard (1582-1637)—wrote massive works on Christian dogma that relied on the metaphysics of Aristotle to inform biblical teaching. They incorporated Aristotle’s use of syllogism, or deductive reasoning, to teach biblical concepts and even applied his theory of substance and accidents (that all things have essential and incidental properties) as ways to describe reality.
Criticism that the Lutheran Church had become sterile and failed to cultivate religious devotion within society led to the Pietist movement, spurred on in the late 17th century by Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705), a pastor in Frankfurt and Berlin. The movement was centered in the German towns of Württemberg and Halle, where August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) started a foundation that promoted parish and individual renewal, Bible reading, and missionary activity. Francke’s foundation sent Heinrich Melchior Mühlenberg (1711-1787) to minister to North American immigrants in 1748, and Mühlenberg organized the Pennsylvania Ministerium, the first Lutheran synod (organizational body) in the United States.
In the 18th century Lutheranism entered a period of rationalism, which placed emphasis on reason. As a result, leading theologians of the era modified or laid aside traditional biblical doctrines. Claus Harms (1778-1855) of Kiel, opposing rationalism, began a confessional revival in 1817, which marked a return to 16th-century doctrinal standards and emphasized justification by faith in Christ alone, the use of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and Bible reading. N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) in Denmark and Gisle Johnson (1822-1894) and Carl P. Caspari (1814-1892) in Norway also advocated traditional Lutheran teaching to oppose rationalist criticism of biblical doctrine. This struggle continued until the end of the 19th century, when Lutheranism experienced a rise in liberal theology that attempted to adapt the church’s message to prevailing social trends.
During the 19th century, German, Nordic, and Slovak emigrants established Lutheran churches in North America, Australia, and South Africa. At the same time European missionaries took their message and customs to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the United States Samuel Simon Schmucker (1799-1873) headed a movement to Americanize Lutheranism. This involved deemphasizing specific Lutheran teaching for a more general Protestant way of thinking and an openness to public life that embraced, for example, the rejection of slavery and alcohol. Schmucker’s efforts were countered in the 1860s by Charles Porterfield Krauth (1823-1883), among others. Meanwhile, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811-1887) organized the synod of Missouri along strictly confessional lines.
Twentieth-century Lutheran churches experienced a variety of theological movements, including the existentialism of German scholar Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) and the application of the Lutheran confessions to modern life by Werner Elert (1885-1954) and others. Pietistic revivals in Scandinavia—which focused on biblical teachings and strict adherence to the Bible’s moral code and which were led by Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) in Norway, Heinrich Schartau (1757-1825) and Carl Olof Rosenius (1816-1868) in Sweden, Lars Levi Laestadius (1800-1861) and Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg (1811-1893) in Finland, and Vilhelm Beck (1829-1901) in Denmark—revitalized 19th- and 20th-century parish life in these countries.
Lutheranism was the second-largest religion in the Russian Empire. Then, under the Soviet regime (1922-91), as in Nazi Germany (1933-45), Lutheran clergy and laity fell victim to persecution. Soviet officials wiped out the clergy of Lutheran churches in Russia by either executing them or sending them to Siberia. Occupied territories of the Soviet Union, particularly Estonia and Latvia, also experienced brutal suppression of Lutheran church life. Under the Nazi regime, many Lutheran leaders suffered martyrdom (execution for one’s faith), including German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Danish pastor Kaj Munk (1898-1944), and Polish pastor Karol Kulisz (1873-1940).
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Empire in 1991, the Lutheran churches of eastern Europe and Russian Asia found their numbers severely diminished. Church and lay leaders began to reestablish religious communities, striving to regain their voice and role in public life, especially in nations where Lutherans had been a significant part of the population, such as in Estonia and Latvia. In Russia Lutheran churches reached beyond traditional members (those of German or Finnish origin) to attract other ethnic groups, including Slavic Russians, Finno-Ugric people, and members of groups from Central Asia. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Muslim forces persecuted Lutherans in Africa, Indonesia, and other areas. In African nations facing civil war, churches reorganized in refugee camps. While some refugees returned home and restored their congregational life, others continued to face strife as tensions persisted.
There have been several attempts to organize Lutherans worldwide. In 1947 the Lutheran World Convention was replaced by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a worldwide network of Lutheran churches whose goals include strengthening the religion’s identity and fostering interfaith relations. In 1993 the International Lutheran Council was organized, incorporating many of the churches that were not members of the LWF. While membership in Lutheran churches in western and northern Europe has declined since 1970, the churches of eastern Europe have regained some of their strength following the fall of Communism in 1989. North American and Australian churches have also seen declining membership, but mission churches in Asia, Latin America, and especially Africa have experienced rapid growth in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Membership patterns among Lutheran churches have followed general trends among Christian churches. In many mission churches, the departure of missionaries prompted a reinvigoration of evangelism as outreach fell into the hands of the indigenous population.
Central Doctrines
Lutheran theology has tended to follow Martin Luther’s understanding of the Christian faith. Luther believed that human beings are righteous, or free from sin, by virtue of two different sets of relationships. As God’s creations, they are righteous through his grace and favor; they enter this relationship through trust or faith in him. In relation to other creatures, especially other humans, Lutherans practice righteousness in acts of love (corresponding to God’s Word) at home, at work, and in political and religious communities.
According to Lutheranism, because humans do not love and trust God above all, they exist as sinners in a broken relationship with God. This broken relationship is exhibited in their failure to love his other creatures. To restore humans’ trust in him, God the Son (Luther maintained the traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity) became human as Jesus Christ, suffered the condemnation that God had pronounced on sinners, died, and reclaimed life for them through his resurrection. God justifies (restores to righteousness) sinners by forgiving their sins; through Christ he creates within them trust in him, and through the Holy Spirit he calls and moves them to new obedience, which enables them to practice love toward their neighbors.
Luther taught that certain people are chosen by God to be saved, although no one is excluded from salvation. People are brought to trust in God by the Holy Spirit through the “means of grace”—oral, written, and sacramental forms of God’s Word. The Word is given authoritatively, according to Luther, in the Holy Scriptures, which the Holy Spirit inspired. Bible reading and preaching form the foundation of Lutheran piety.
Luther had initially emphasized baptism as a primary way that God creates believers, but its importance for daily life receded as subsequent generations regarded it only as an entry point to the Christian life and not as the basis for pious living. Lutherans continued to focus, however, on the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist, or Communion) as a means by which God expresses his will to forgive and provide life. Luther believed that Christ’s body and blood were present in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, bestowing on recipients God’s grace and forgiveness. However, he did not try to define the nature of this mysterious presence—unlike the Catholic Church, which uses the Aristotelian concept of substance in its doctrine of transubstantiation (the transformation of the Eucharist into Christ’s body and blood). Differing views over the true presence of Christ in the bread and wine led to conflict between the Lutheran and Reformed strands of Protestantism; the latter viewed Christ as spiritually, but not literally, present in the Lord’s Supper. The two traditions attempted to resolve this conflict with the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973, which stated that the different views of the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper should not divide Reformed Christians and Lutheran Christians in their reception of the Lord’s Supper.
Lutheran churches have experienced tensions over moral issues, including the understanding of sexual roles and behavior, proper forms of worship, and some doctrinal issues, as the cultural landscapes of North America and Western Europe have changed and as churches experiment with ways to make the Christian message clear in new contexts. Mission churches have reviewed, revised, and in some cases rejected practices introduced by missionaries in the wake of their departure. Many mission churches, led by the locally educated laity and clergy, are increasingly experimenting with native forms of art and music to express their faith.
Moral Code of Conduct
Luther taught that faith in Christ, not moral living and the performance of good works, leads to salvation. Believers have an obligation, or a “new obedience,” to perform good works flowing from their faith in Christ. It is Christ’s forgiveness, liberating believers from sin and evil, that frees them to serve their neighbors in love. Lutheran Pietists emphasize a strict adherence to moral codes, some forbidding pleasures such as dancing or card playing.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Lutherans in the established churches of Europe and culturally prominent churches in North America faced the challenge of cultural pressures that induced them to abandon or ignore Christian principles and adopt positions popular in their societies. For example, in Nazi Germany some Lutheran groups under persecution became more strict in exercising their codes of conduct in order to distinguish themselves from the dominant culture. In other cases, particularly in western Europe and North America, some Lutherans have accommodated changing social attitudes—for instance, regarding homosexuality—while others have fiercely resisted these changes. For example, in the United States the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been much more open to homosexuality (it ordains gay and lesbian pastors) than the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which maintains that homosexuality is sinful.
Sacred Books
Lutherans view the Bible as the only authority for their teachings and approach to life. Martin Luther insisted that doctrine comes from Scripture alone. However, he did not mean Scripture to be used apart from the Christian tradition, including the interpretations and teachings of important figures such as the apostles and the Czech priest Jan Hus (1372-1415), whose work greatly influenced the Protestant Reformation. A few Lutheran theologians, such as Karl Heim (1874-1958), have endeavored to make meaningful bridges between Lutheran doctrine and the natural sciences and technological developments.
Most Lutherans have turned to the Augsburg Confession (composed in 1530 by Philipp Melanchthon) and the other confessions of faith that appear in the Book of Concord. They provide an interpretation and summary of Lutheran teachings. Some Lutherans have made major contributions to historical-critical studies of the Bible, while others have rejected many aspects of historical criticism. Historical-critical studies use a variety of modern literary and historical standards for analysis of biblical text. This approach has been increasingly supplemented and transformed by so-called narrative criticism of the Bible, which looks at the text of individual books as a whole in their cultural contexts rather than at questions of origin, often on the basis of modern criteria.
Sacred Symbols
Lutherans retained most of the central symbols of the medieval Catholic Church, including the crucifix (a cross with the body of the suffering Christ) and other forms of the cross, candles and other light-giving vessels (especially in northern Europe), and images of Jesus. Unlike some Protestants, Lutherans are not opposed to the use of images, although they discarded representations of saints that involved superstitious practices. The crucifix is often the preferred expression of the cross.
Early and Modern Leaders
In the 16th and 17th centuries, territorial princes encouraged the development of Lutheran theology, culture, and values and gave the Lutheran Church political support. Such princes included John (1468-1532), John Frederick (1503-1554), and August von Sachsen (1526-1586) of Saxony (now in Germany), who were electors of the Holy Roman Empire; Philip (1504-1567), landgrave of Hesse (now in Germany); Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), king of Sweden; and Ernst the Pious (1601-1665), duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (now in Germany).
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Lutherans took political leadership roles in various movements for national identity. For example, Lajos (Louis) Kossuth (1802-1894) led the 1848 revolution in Hungary, and Milan Rastislav Stefanik (1880-1919) was a leader in the movement to create Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I. The Swedish bishop Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931) led the Life and Work ecumenical movement, which sought to overcome the long-standing differences that separated Christians into their various churches, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. Although many church leaders, including Lutherans, compromised with or promoted the Nazi Party in Germany, some opposed its tyranny; for example, the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945 for plotting to overthrow German chancellor Adolf Hitler.
Christian Krause (1940- ), bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Braunschweig, served as president of the Lutheran World Federation in the 1990s and led opposition to South African apartheid and efforts to formulate the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification of 1999 with the Roman Catholic Church. The growing significance of Lutheran churches in developing countries was underscored as Ishmael Noko (1943- ) of Zimbabwe served as director of the Lutheran World Federation from 1994 to 2010 and Martin Junge (1961- ) of Chile succeeded him. In 2010 the Lutheran World Federation elected Palestinian bishop Munib A. Younan as its president.
Major Theologians and Authors
Johannes Brenz (1499-1570) and Urbanus Rhegius (1489- 1541), both contemporaries of Martin Luther, helped shape Reformation teaching. Luther’s student Matthias Flacius Illyricus (1520-1575) composed the first Protestant hermeneutics (the study of the principles of biblical interpretation) and pioneered the writing of Protestant church history. Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586), Jakob Andreae (1528-1590), and David Chytraeus (1530-1600) summarized Luther’s teachings in the Formula of Concord (1577). Johann Gerhard (1582-1637), Abraham Calov (1612-1686), and Johann Andreas Quenstedt (1617-1688) exemplify the thinkers of 17th-century Lutheran Orthodoxy.
The so-called Erlangen school of the 19th century, whose followers included F. H. R. von Frank (1827-1894), Theodosius Harnack (1817-1889), and J. C. K. von Hofmann (1810-1877), attempted to use historical Lutheran thought to address modern problems by relating the theology of Luther and the Lutheran confessions to western Europe. The work of Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889) and Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930) represents an attempt to depart from traditional Lutheran theology in order to discuss the modern world on its own terms. In the 20th century reactions against their ideas came from professors in the Erlangen school, such as Werner Elert (1885-1954) and Paul Althaus (1888-1966).
Organizational Structure
Lutheran theology prescribes no organizational structure. During the Reformation, churches in Sweden retained bishops; most other territorial churches were governed by consistories (government-appointed commissions for the administration of the church) until the 20th century, when some Lutheran churches adopted an episcopal form of government, in which bishops have some authority over the churches in their region. Churches organized by immigrants or missionaries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, or elsewhere embrace a variety of governing approaches, including the autonomy of local congregations. As with other Christian traditions, in the early 21st century central church administrations in many North American and western European countries have diminished in terms of their significance to and hold on the laity and clergy. Regional units of these churches have assumed a more significant role in church life, but the most important developments have taken place at the level of the congregation.
Houses of Worship and Holy Places
Lutheran reformers converted medieval Catholic churches with few, if any, changes in structure or furnishings. The importance of proclaiming the Word of God makes the pulpit a central point of worship, and the altar and baptismal font are also significant as sites where God bestows life and forgives sins through the Lord’s Supper or baptism. Because Lutherans emphasize music, the organ is an integral part of the church.
Since 1950 some Lutheran churches have pioneered experimental architectural forms in the construction of new church buildings. The varied results can be seen in places ranging from Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki, Finland, which was built as a church in the round and imaginatively incorporates the massive rock on which it was built, to Kramer Chapel in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which was built in the shape of a triangle and was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. Churches in this group were most often designed in the round or make imaginative use of clear glass walls.
The recent focus on anniversaries of important dates during the Reformation, such as Martin Luther’s 500th birthday, which was celebrated in 1983, has renewed interest in Wittenberg as the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation. Another important anniversary in 2017 marks 500 years since the posting of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses. Many renovations in Wittenberg have been made in anticipation of the increase in tourism for the anniversary.
What is Sacred
Lutherans reject the idea that divine power is mediated through objects. Thus, they do not hold any objects as sacred.
Holidays and Festivals
Lutherans continue to follow the liturgical calendar of the medieval Catholic Church and its system of pericopes (lessons read in Sunday worship), although the number of saint’s days is drastically reduced to secondary celebrations of a few New Testament figures. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost anchor the church year, and there is a focus on Christ’s suffering during Passion Week, with special attention to Good Friday. In 1617 the Festival of the Reformation (October 31) was introduced. Centennial celebrations of the birth and death of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, and the presentation of the Augsburg Confession in 1530 have played a role in reaffirming and reshaping expressions of Lutheran identity since the 17th century.
In 1983 the celebration of Luther’s 500th birthday inspired new research and scholarship on the religious leader and the Reformation. Particularly in East Germany, this anniversary inspired the Marxist government and the Lutheran Church, along with other religions, to work together for the first time since the government was established 35 years earlier.
Mode of Dress
There are a variety of clerical vestments in Lutheran practice. In Sweden and certain areas of Germany, the clergy continues to use medieval-style garments. In other European territories, pastors wear a robe similar to 16th-century academic garb, sometimes with clerical bands or a ruff collar. In the 20th century the liturgical revival, or return to ceremonial worship, led to the widespread use of the cassock (an ankle-length robe worn by Roman Catholic and Anglican clergy), the surplice (a white outer garment), and later the alb (a full-length linen vestment with long, narrow sleeves, worn primarily by priests), particularly in North America. Clerical dress in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as in traditionally Lutheran areas, continues to show great variety; some still use traditional vestments or elaborate liturgical garb, while others deemphasize the use of clerical garments.
Dietary Practices
There are no special dietary practices in Lutheranism. Compulsory fasting was abolished during the Reformation, though Martin Luther urged its pious use. Moderation in eating and drinking is expected of believers.
Rituals
Luther adapted the liturgy of the medieval Catholic Church and translated it into German. Over the years Lutheran churches have used the core of this historical liturgy, translated into the vernacular, for their services. They emphasize two elements: the sermon and the Lord’s Supper. Congregational hymn singing plays a significant role in worship.
For the most part, Lutherans follow the traditional Western liturgy with local adaptations, using the Psalms as the basis for much of the formal praise of God, regular Scripture readings, the sermon, and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as standard elements of regular Sunday worship. Weddings and funerals also follow traditional forms, focusing on a sermon, hymns, and prayer. Some Lutherans have joined other Christian groups in fostering piety through pilgrimages, not because they regard pilgrimage sites as holy places with special resident power but because these sites help awaken a sense of the history of the church and serve to build community.
In English-speaking lands, Lutherans have since the late 19th century adapted Anglican liturgical forms similar or identical to their own. The late 20th century witnessed increasing experimentation in Lutheran churches, including liturgical variation and new musical forms such as folk and jazz. Some churches have emphasized a return to ancient forms, such as introducing the Eucharistic Prayer into the communion liturgy, while others have explored using electronic media for public relations and continuing education for pastors, church workers, and laity.
Rites of Passage
The Lutheran Church practices infant baptism, through which God establishes a relationship with each individual, leading him or her toward faith. Confirmation of adolescents affirms the baptismal gift of forgiveness of sins and serves as a person’s entry into the Lutheran community. Since the 1960s Lutherans in North America have come to emphasize baptism as God’s effective promise to his people.
Membership
In traditionally Lutheran areas of Europe, all children were baptized as a sign of membership of the Lutheran Church. In churches organized by immigrants or missionaries in other parts of the world, membership has also been bestowed through baptism. However, the church expects that all members will receive instruction in the faith, often through Martin Luther’s Small Catechism (1529), which was written to instruct children on the basic concepts of church doctrine. Some Lutheran churches use financial contributions, in the form of a church “tax” or “dues,” to define certain levels of membership.
Since the 20th century Lutheran mission societies and church-sponsored groups have spread their message to non-Christians through radio, television, and printed materials, and they have attempted in many countries, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, to train members for evangelism. In the 21st century Lutherans have used the Internet for outreach, creating congregational and denominational web sites, such as the Lutheran World Federation (http://www.lutheranworld.org) and the International Lutheran Council (http://www.ilc-online.org), and web sites for educational and social welfare institutions.
Religious Tolerance
Although Lutheran rulers in the early modern period, between the years 1500 and 1800, often sent dissidents into exile, Luther insisted that only God’s Word should be used to persuade those outside the accepted faith. Lutherans were active in forming the Faith and Order and Life and Work interdenominational movements, which merged to form the World Council of Churches in 1948. The Lutheran World Federation negotiated a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church in 1999, recognizing a broad consensus between the two churches, noting differences, and lifting historic mutual condemnations.
Social Justice
Influenced by Martin Luther’s emphasis on God’s Word and the fundamental place of the Bible in Christian practice, early Lutherans promoted literacy and education throughout central and northern Europe. In the 19th century, as industrialization brought poverty and other social and economic changes, Lutheran Church leadership failed to meet the needs of urban workers in Europe. This led to a widespread “inner mission,” focusing on charitable work in Lutheran areas. Notable were German pastors Theodor Fliedner (1800-1864) and Johann Heinrich Wichern (1808-1881), who worked in prisons, education, and hospital care.
In the 20th century Lutherans led independence movements in Africa, in particular the former European colonies of Namibia and Tanzania. European, North American, South African, and Indian Lutherans have also led movements for social justice to bring the aid and support of the church and its message to those caught in situations of social oppression or exploitation. For example, Lutherans in India have led the development of Dalit theology, which is an attempt to speak the Gospel to the Dalits, or the untouchables of India’s caste system.
In many countries Lutherans have developed hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the elderly or disabled. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh (1877-1946) developed an extensive program of care for the disadvantaged and disabled at Bethel in Bielefeld, Germany. Karol Kulisz (1873-1940) began ministerial service work in Dziegielów, Poland, in the early 20th century, which has continued in Poland and the Czech Republic and has been enlivened since the end of Communism. Bethesda Lutheran Communities, located in Watertown, Wisconsin, has developed and expanded care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the United States. Lutherans have also pioneered means of conveying the Christian message and life to deaf and blind people and have founded groups such as the antiabortion organization Lutherans for Life.
Social Life
Martin Luther’s teachings on marriage (that it was the most honorable calling from God and the foundation of God’s order for the world), his criticism of monasticism (rejecting a higher calling for monks), and his own marriage in 1525 (until 1521 he was a Catholic priest and unable to marry) provided a new model for 16th-century Christians. Lutherans generally have maintained their traditional emphasis on family life. However, debates about homosexuality have divided church members in the early 21st century. Lutheran parents continue to use Luther’s Small Catechism to educate their children in the faith.
Controversial Issues
There is significant disagreement about abortion and homosexuality among North American and European Lutheran churches. For example, the Evangelical Church in Germany and Church of Sweden support same-sex relationships, while other denominations condemn such relationships as sinful. Elsewhere—in Africa and Asia, for example—Lutherans generally hold more conservative positions concerning social issues. Of particular concern are the questions of ordaining homosexual pastors and blessing same-sex relationships. Tensions over these issues have led to the breaking of ties between Lutherans in the developed and developing worlds. For example, in 2013 the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus formally severed ties with the Evangelical Church in America and the Church of Sweden over their acceptance of homosexuality.
Moreover, questions regarding the relationship of the office of the pastoral ministry and the activities of the laity have caused disputes in several Lutheran churches, particularly in North America and western Europe. These disputes have been especially pronounced in denominations that have emphasized congregational polity and strong roles for laity. In these denominations, fears of the diminution of the pastor’s role have led to debates about how to define those respective roles and their appropriate powers within the church.
“Worship wars” over retention of traditional liturgies, recourse to “higher” liturgical expressions from Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy traditions, and employment of modern music and simpler forms of worship expression arose in the second half of the 20th century. In the early 21st century these issues continue to engage some European and North American Lutheran churches. Those who believe that liturgy and other pious practices should adjust to, adopt, or adapt to popular cultural practices have come into conflict with those favoring the preservation of Lutheran traditions, music, and liturgy. Thus, debate continues over whether conformity to popular cultural forms enhances or debases God’s Word.
Cultural Impact
Martin Luther’s gift for linguistic expression helped shape the modern German language, particularly through his translation of the Bible. Lutherans have subsequently contributed to the national literature of various countries. In Slovakia, for example, L’udovít Štúr (1815-1856) and Josef Miloslav Hurban (1817-1888) established a literary language and produced works that helped form the country’s emerging national identity.
Although the great artists Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) and Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) were among Luther’s earliest followers, Lutheran contributions to the visual arts paled in comparison with the musical accomplishments of its composers—above all, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), who expressed his faith in his compositions. He built on a heritage of hymnody and composition that started in Luther’s own circle by Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748) and others and that Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), and Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) continued in the 17th century.