Luther and The Unity of the Church (original) (raw)
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Catholic Churches signed a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. 2 This historic declaration "asserts that the past condemnations issued by both churches do not apply to their teaching as set forth in that document." 3 This was a breakthrough of significant proportions as it expressed "a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification and shows that the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations." 4 Through a process of dialogue spanning almost half a century agreement had been reached on a historical issue of doctrine which had divided Christianity for almost 500 years. Ecclesia Semper Reformanda Est…., the church is always in need of reform, was the call to arms of the sixteenth century reformation. 5 Luther, an Augustinian monk, initiated reform of the Latin rite when in 1517 he posted 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. These theses, conventionally posted, called for an academic discussion of the abuse and practice of indulgences prevalent at the time. 6
The Gospel Luther’s Linchpin for Catholicity
Concordia journal, 2013
responded, "we are not catholic! That's why Luther changed the phrase of the creed to holy Christian Church." These reactions point to the need to explore again how Luther defined and used the words catholic and Christian within the context of his understanding of ecclesiology and its apostolic task. Some Lutherans might suggest an even bolder approach and heed the advice of James Atkinson. He suggested that it is now time to set Luther free from all the confessional Lutheranism that has accrued around him, and "set him in the centre of a new catholicity, where he once belonged and still belongs." 7 Would, and could, Lutherans dare take up this challenge? Before making such a decision, it would be helpful to explore how the word catholic was used in the period before the reformation, and how Luther himself used it in shaping his theology and developing his ecclesiology. The starting point is to look at how the word catholic was translated and used in the period immediately prior to the beginnings of the reformation. Matters of Language: Catholic or Christian? The common perception today asserts that Luther set about with clarity of purpose, almost from the outset, his task of promoting the gospel over the Catholic Church. The opposition he encountered in the first years of the reformation struggle merely strengthened his resolve. He was warned at Augsburg by Cardinal Cajetan in the fall of 1518 that his views on justifying faith amounted to "creating a new church." Further, when forced by his opponent Johann Eck at the Leipzig disputation in 1519 into admitting his belief that Jan Huss (†1415) was no heretic, Luther knew that he was firmly beyond the Catholic pale even before the papal condemnations started arriving on his desk. Any residual desire he might have had to claim the title Catholic in his attempts to restore the church to its original calling was finally abandoned when he translated the creeds into German, removing the word catholic as a defining adjective of the church. This is the common perception of Luther's view. This perception is partially correct. Luther did indeed delete catholic as a descriptor and definer of the church in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and substituted, in its place, the word Christian. Furthermore, he was entirely consistent in this substitution-which is in itself remarkable because unwavering consistency is not a characteristic one normally associates with Luther. One must therefore assume that replacing catholic with Christian in his translation of the creedal formulas into German was a deliberate decision on his part. Luther never gives a theological explanation for this translation, other than to claim that it was the best translation available. As he notes in his 1538 treatise on The Three Creeds: "[Catholic (Catholica)] can have no better translation than Christian (Christlich) as was done heretofore. That is, although Christians are to be found in the whole world, the pope rages against that and wants to have his court alone called the Christian Church. He lies, however, like his idol, the devil." 8 Here 2
Luther and the Reformation After the final collapse of the Roman Empire by the English, 1453, the Holy Roman Empire ceased being an Empire, Holy and also Roman because of the actions within the Catholic Church in the state, circa this time, and then actions against it by Luther and King Henry. The Bible written in English and the death of the emperor and its general discontent of the people representing a lack of any realm of any Empire in that time period. Without an emperor, the Roman Empire would be a pseudo-empire. During the Renaissance it failed to be holy which Luther and Calvin asserted in their theses. Luther's 95 theses asserted that one could only get into heaven by Grace alone, and not indulgences. Luther's action brought shame upon the Vatican; and amplified it not being a Holy empire, either is it Roman if the Rome was not the head of the land. The end of the papal caesar also takes away its empire and Roman status. The Renaissance may be defined by the Reformation of the Church as an empire's dissolution of an empire. Eventually, the changing of the Pope, takes away its emperor, thereby its empire. Furthermore, discontent of the people took away Rome's power and nature. The people soon moved from people of Rome, to the country and state of Italy. Luther's 95 Theses was a foothold for the reformation.
'Old questions, new answers? Luther and the problem of catholicity'
Reformation 17 (2012), 161-76
Luther's omission of the word 'catholic' from his German translations of the creedal article on the Church have led many to suppose that he had little time for the concept of catholicity. A survey of vernacular devotional literature on the eve of the Reformation shows however that he was merely respecting traditional translation practice, and a study of his polemical writings in 1518-19 demonstrates that a strong concept of catholicity underpinned his critique of the Roman Church.
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation
The beginning and later growth of the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century was seen as a new challenge to religious authority that went beyond the Roman Catholic Church. Many viewed it as a threat to the whole social structure of society, from the monarch on down. As protest and dissent against the Church began to increase, several individuals would rise to prominence in Europe. These men would lead the Reformation and at the same time create a new religious structure within Christendom.
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation Paul A. Bishop
The beginning and later growth of the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century was seen as a new challenge to religious authority that went beyond the Roman Catholic Church. Many viewed it as a threat to the whole social structure of society, from the monarch on down. As protest and dissent against the Church began to increase, several individuals would rise to prominence in Europe. These men would lead the Reformation and at the same time create a new religious structure within Christendom.
Luther's 95 Theses: a Catholic Approach
Služba Božja (Divine Service) 58/2 pp. 210-224, 2018
Catholic historiography on Luther has experienced a deep evolution during the XXth Century. At its beginning remains the work of H.S. Denifle (Luther und Luthertum in der ersten Entwicklung, Mainz 1904), in which Luther was depicted as a very poor theologian, a morally corrupted monk and a hypocritical sinner. During the first years of the II World War we find instead the book Die Reformation in Deutschland (Freiburg 1939-40) of J. Lortz, in which Luther is presented as an homo religiosus, who was trying to restore the authentic form of Christianity. In his words, Luther's battle was against a "Catholicism that wasn't really Catholic" 1 : a prospective also mentioned in From Conflict To Communion (FCTC) 21. Later, in 1983, Catholics signed the common statement "Martin Luther -Witness to Christ", in the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity. My paper moves within this evolution of ideas.
The Search for Luther's Place in the Reformation
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 1994
La Foi des e'glises luthe'riennes. Confessions et cale'chismes. Edited by Andre Birmele and Marc Lienhard. Pp. 605. Paris: Editions du Cerf/Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1991. Fr. 249. 2 204 04066 5 (Cerf); 2 8309 0611 X (Labor et Fides) Martin Luther und die Reformation in Ostdeutschland und Siidosteuropa. Wirkungen und Wechselwirkungen. Edited by Ulrich Hutter with Hans-Giinther Parplies.