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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Should the Lutheran church be renamed?
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
The Lutheran church (there are several branches) are named for Martin Luther. Martin Luther said some pretty nasty things, particularly about Jews. How far has Lutheranism moved from Luther, and should it still be named Lutheran after him given what he wrote? Considering "On the Jews and Their Lies" (Von den Jüden und Ihren Lügen) for starters.
Should the Lutheran church(es) be renamed?
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Pomona
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# 17175
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Posted
Luther also wrote a lot of magnificent, awe-inspiringly godly things. The man was not a one-dimensional anti-Semite but a man of his time - finding a Christian from that era who wasn't anti-Semitic would be more of a challenge.
What could the Lutheran churches be called instead?
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
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Zach82
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# 3208
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Posted
Most Lutheran Churches actually call themselves "The Evangelical Church of Wherever." Not that "saying some nasty things" invalidates everything he ever said.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
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S. Bacchus
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# 17778
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Posted
I don't think that they should be re-named, but my impression is that the name 'Lutheran' is mostly used in English. In Germany, it is the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, which is admittedly a combination of Lutheran and non-Lutheran Protestant churches, but my impression is that Germans Lutherans do not usually use the word 'Lutheran', saying instead that they are 'Evangelische'.
Of the Established Lutheran Churches (other than the Church of England ![[Razz]](tongue.gif) ), only the Icelandic Church officially uses the word Lutheran, and then only in its very formal name (Hin evangeliska lúterska kirkja). Less formally, it's called the National Church (Ţjóđkirkjan).
The Danish Lutheran Church is called the Danish People's Church (Den Danske Folkekirke), its Norwegian counterpart is simply the Norwegian Church (Den norske kirke or Den norske kyrkja). The (now disestablished) Swedish Church is similarly called just that (Svenska kyrkan).
It would seem that 'Lutherans' only really become 'Lutherans' where they are a minority. I may be wrong, but my impression was that even in North America, people used to say they were 'German Church' or 'Norwegian Church' until that became politically incorrect on or about 2 April, 1917.
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'It's not that simple. I won't have it to be that simple'.
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Ad Orientem
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# 17574
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
It would seem that 'Lutherans' only really become 'Lutherans' where they are a minority.
In Finland, at least, where over 80% of the population are baptised Lutherans, it is referred to as the Lutheran Church or in Finnish, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko.
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I wasn't really thinking of the non-English churches with my question. My Berlin-born father discussed this yesterday - left Germany in 1936 - as inappropriate to have these churches named after a, in his words, a "Jew baiter".
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seekingsister
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# 17707
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Most Lutheran Churches actually call themselves "The Evangelical Church of Wherever." Not that "saying some nasty things" invalidates everything he ever said.
At least in my area this is not true. I was curious whether my anecotal evidence was valid, so I looked at ECLA churches within 40 miles of me--since I'm in a city, a couple hundred--with the ECLA church's website and it looks like almost all of them have the word Lutheran in the name.
I think they meant internationally. In Germany for sure it's called the evangelical church, no Luther in included.
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Luther also wrote a lot of magnificent, awe-inspiringly godly things. The man was not a one-dimensional anti-Semite but a man of his time - finding a Christian from that era who wasn't anti-Semitic would be more of a challenge.
What could the Lutheran churches be called instead?
Actually I do not buy that. The other Reformer were far less anti-semitic see a paper on Protestant Anti-semitism by a Jewish Scholar. Those named include Huldrych Zwingli, probably as close as you can get for a parralel for Martin Luther among other Reformers. Swiss, home territory and the same generation as Luther and pretty high status. John Calvin just does not make it; French refugee in Switzerland and generation later.
Jengie
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Belle Ringer
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# 13379
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Posted
John Wesley wouldn't recognize the USA Methodist Church that no longer mentions hell.
King Henry wouldn't recognize the TEC that ordains women and gays/lesbians/et al.
Churches morph.
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Luther also wrote a lot of magnificent, awe-inspiringly godly things. The man was not a one-dimensional anti-Semite but a man of his time - finding a Christian from that era who wasn't anti-Semitic would be more of a challenge.
What could the Lutheran churches be called instead?
Actually I do not buy that. The other Reformer were far less anti-semitic see a paper on Protestant Anti-semitism by a Jewish Scholar. Those named include Huldrych Zwingli, probably as close as you can get for a parralel for Martin Luther among other Reformers. Swiss, home territory and the same generation as Luther and pretty high status. John Calvin just does not make it; French refugee in Switzerland and generation later.
Jengie
Well, I was thinking of the 16th century in general - to be honest, one could use the whole of the Early Modern era and find very few non-anti-Semitic Christian theologians.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
In the case of anti-Semitism, if Luther goes, so does St. John Chrysostom and his prayers and liturgies. (Although with John C, his prejudice against Jews seemed more in the way of a turf war.)
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
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Arethosemyfeet
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# 17047
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
King Henry wouldn't recognize the TEC that ordains women and gays/lesbians/et al.
To be fair, King Henry would have been pretty disapproving of the CofE even 5 years after his death.
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moonlitdoor
Shipmate
# 11707
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Posted
As a point of clarification no prophet, are you or your father a member of a Lutheran church ?
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by moonlitdoor:
As a point of clarification no prophet, are you or your father a member of a Lutheran church ?
No. I have never been. He was not after leaving Germany. Anglican was the choice made later. Recently he was reading [url= http://http://eriklarsonbooks.com/the-books/in-the-garden-of-beasts/]In the Garden of the Beasts[/url], and remembered his young years in Berlin. He also mentions this church with its Nazi inspired woodwork. My grandparents' house was just off the Tiergarten (which is what the 'garden of beasts' roughly translates to, I would have said 'animal garden'), though the house no longer exists.
[ 19. August 2013, 21:00: Message edited by: no prophet ]
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
quote:
Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Luther also wrote a lot of magnificent, awe-inspiringly godly things. The man was not a one-dimensional anti-Semite but a man of his time - finding a Christian from that era who wasn't anti-Semitic would be more of a challenge.
What could the Lutheran churches be called instead?
Actually I do not buy that. The other Reformer were far less anti-semitic see a paper on Protestant Anti-semitism by a Jewish Scholar. Those named include Huldrych Zwingli, probably as close as you can get for a parralel for Martin Luther among other Reformers. Swiss, home territory and the same generation as Luther and pretty high status. John Calvin just does not make it; French refugee in Switzerland and generation later.
Jengie
Well, I was thinking of the 16th century in general - to be honest, one could use the whole of the Early Modern era and find very few non-anti-Semitic Christian theologians.
Zwingli is sixteenth century, basically the rest of the Protestant theologians we know about from Luther's day were not as bad as him.
Jengie
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
For Jade's education
Martin Luther 1483-1546, German
Ulrich Zwingli 1484-1531, Swiss
To give you some idea why I am using Zwingli and not Calvin
John Calvin 1509-1584, French refugee
Jengie
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
I'm well aware of when they lived and where they were from, actually. I just don't see a massive amount of difference between them - and they're all Early Modern Protestant theologians who lived mostly in the 16th century.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
Interesting that Anglican churches never got called Cranmerian (or Henrician I suppose). I wonder why?
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Interesting that Anglican churches never got called Cranmerian (or Henrician I suppose). I wonder why?
That's a very good question. My first take on the opposite end of your question is that there was no German nation to call the Lutheran church the German Church, until mid-19th century, with an argument that it couldn't have been called that because of the Roman Catholics in the south (mostly).
With the Anglican or C of E, the English nation existed, and they wanted to use the church as an instrument of nationhood and policy, among other purposes. Someone may have a more considered answer beyond speculation.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Most Lutheran Churches actually call themselves "The Evangelical Church of Wherever." Not that "saying some nasty things" invalidates everything he ever said.
At least in my area this is not true. I was curious whether my anecotal evidence was valid, so I looked at ECLA churches within 40 miles of me--since I'm in a city, a couple hundred--with the ECLA church's website and it looks like almost all of them have the word Lutheran in the name.
Capital C Churches, as in denominations.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
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Mockingale
Shipmate
# 16599
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Posted
I'm a little bothered by some of the nastier bits of Luther's legacy. I suppose every person has a dark side.
"Evangelical" wouldn't work in the States on its own - it's an already loaded word coopted by (mostly) fundamentalists.
Catholic Reformed maybe? Evangelical Catholic?
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
The Lutheran reformers actually called themselves the Evangelical movement of the Catholic Church or the Evangelisch Kirke. Roman Catholics during the Council of Trent started referring this movement as Lutheran.
Luther himself did not want a church named after him. But the name stuck especially as it migrated into English speaking countries.
Nearly all Lutheran bodies have passed resolutions renouncing Luther's Anti Semitic writings. Just recently the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America's then presiding bishop, Mark Hansen, formally apologized to the Anabaptist traditions of the remarks Luther and other Evangelical Reformers had made against them. I also think the Lutheran World Federation has also passed a resolution formally apologizing to the Anabaptist movements.
You must also remember during the Nazi Holocaust the Free Lutheran Church of Germany under the direction of Dietrich Bonhoeffer spoke up against what the Nazis were doing.
Luther was a product of his day. He was both a saint and a sinner--not any different than the contemporary Anglican Reformers. After all, there were also a lot of evil remarks that came from their mouths and pens too.
Remember, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I'm well aware of when they lived and where they were from, actually. I just don't see a massive amount of difference between them - and they're all Early Modern Protestant theologians who lived mostly in the 16th century.
So when I compare Luther with them do you think Luther is different?
Jengie
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Knopwood
Shipmate
# 11596
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
It would seem that 'Lutherans' only really become 'Lutherans' where they are a minority.
In Finland, at least, where over 80% of the population are baptised Lutherans, it is referred to as the Lutheran Church or in Finnish, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko.
In that case, would it not be because the co-establishment of the Finnish Orthodox Church precluded styling the Evangelical church as "the" Church of Finland?
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LQ:
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
It would seem that 'Lutherans' only really become 'Lutherans' where they are a minority.
In Finland, at least, where over 80% of the population are baptised Lutherans, it is referred to as the Lutheran Church or in Finnish, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko.
In that case, would it not be because the co-establishment of the Finnish Orthodox Church precluded styling the Evangelical church as "the" Church of Finland?
It's possible but I'm unable to say either way.
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Obviously it's for the Lutherans themselves to decide what they should be called, and I am not one of them; but I can't help feeling another name might further ecumenical relations.
There are some people--like me--who when growing up as Catholics were taught that Luther was pretty much evil incarnate.
A dark shadow remains --beyond rational thought, obviously!--about his name willy-nilly and unconsciously.
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Pondering.
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Gwai
Shipmate
# 11076
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Cara:
There are some people--like me--who when growing up as Catholics were taught that Luther was pretty much evil incarnate.
A dark shadow remains --beyond rational thought, obviously!--about his name willy-nilly and unconsciously.
To be fair though, I think that's partially because of prejudice. I obviously haven't heard what you were taught about Luther as a child, but I think sometimes it's just tribalism. I was taught that Catholics were evil. But I was taught it by a church I disagree with on about everything now days anyway, so the belief was relatively easy to throw off with the rest of what they taught. The reason I was told Catholics were evil is because they don't have bibles in their pews. Since I have been to Catholic mass multiple times, and don't remember whether or not those churches kept bibles in the pews or not. Still, even if they didn't, I wouldn't tell them that I thought changing would improve inter-denominational relations. I rather suspect the haters I heard would find something else...
Mind, don't take that as intended to dismiss your point, Cara. Just a thought based on a related experience growing up.
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A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
quote:
Originally posted by Cara:
There are some people--like me--who when growing up as Catholics were taught that Luther was pretty much evil incarnate.
A dark shadow remains --beyond rational thought, obviously!--about his name willy-nilly and unconsciously.
To be fair though, I think that's partially because of prejudice. I obviously haven't heard what you were taught about Luther as a child, but I think sometimes it's just tribalism. I was taught that Catholics were evil. But I was taught it by a church I disagree with on about everything now days anyway, so the belief was relatively easy to throw off with the rest of what they taught. The reason I was told Catholics were evil is because they don't have bibles in their pews. Since I have been to Catholic mass multiple times, and don't remember whether or not those churches kept bibles in the pews or not. Still, even if they didn't, I wouldn't tell them that I thought changing would improve inter-denominational relations. I rather suspect the haters I heard would find something else...
Mind, don't take that as intended to dismiss your point, Cara. Just a thought based on a related experience growing up.
Interesting, Gwai! Yes, of course, it is tribalism, or partly; and in the convents of my childhood, especially earlier on, the Reformation was seen as a tragic schism and Luther as evil for having started it all....obviously a very simplistic, wrong, and prejudiced viewpoint. I'm no longer Catholic, though I treasure much about my Catholic upbringing--but I don't treasure at all the hidebound narrow thinking there used to be.
Of course, like you with the teaching that Catholics were evil (!!! we were both being taught basically the opposite thing, sigh. Tribalism indeed), I have long since thrown off this belief.
I do hope it's clear I wasn't saying I still believed Luther was evil!
But I said that, because of the very early associations, the word "Luther", qua word, has a dark shadow over it... a sound thing, a subconscious thing, a sort of poetry thing...
not that I still believe what I was taught about him!
I'm not telling the Lutherans they should change their name because of any truth in the erroneous beliefs I was taught and have long since thrown off.
I'm just saying that, completely beyond my control or intention, the word is stuck with a dark aura, for me. Maybe I'm just weird and the only one this happens to. It's a language thing.
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Pondering.
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Fr Weber
Shipmate
# 13472
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
The reason I was told Catholics were evil is because they don't have bibles in their pews.
Well, *that* church is evil because they confuse worship with Bible study. So there!
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"The Eucharist is not a play, and you're not Jesus."
--Sr Theresa Koernke, IHM
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k-mann
Shipmate
# 8490
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
The Danish Lutheran Church is called the Danish People's Church (Den Danske Folkekirke), its Norwegian counterpart is simply the Norwegian Church (Den norske kirke or Den norske kyrkja). The (now disestablished) Swedish Church is similarly called just that (Svenska kyrkan).
It would seem that 'Lutherans' only really become 'Lutherans' where they are a minority.
While the Church of Norway doesn't use the word 'Lutheran' (or 'Evangelical') in the title, she officially describes herself as 'Evangelical Lutheran.'
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— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Gwai wrote:
quote:
Since I have been to Catholic mass multiple times, and don't remember whether or not those churches kept bibles in the pews or not.
I don't think they do. I was a regular mass-attendee for about 20 years of my life, and I rarely, if ever, saw that.
[ 20. August 2013, 23:39: Message edited by: Stetson ]
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
I haven't seen a Bible or other books on the pews in Catholic churches either. I'm not sure how they cope when they have a wobbly Eucharist table.
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Cara wrote:
quote:
But I said that, because of the very early associations, the word "Luther", qua word, has a dark shadow over it... a sound thing, a subconscious thing, a sort of poetry thing...
For me, the word "Nixon" carries the same sort of aura. It's a combination of the negative image of the most famous person to sport the name, with the sound and especially the appearance of the name itself. The big "x" in the middle and whatnot.
As for "Luther", it sounds rather harsh and cutting, like "ruthless". So probably lends itself well to a negative aural sensation for someone already trained to regard his legacy as negative. Possibly the guys who created the homonymal villain for DC Comics saw the same potential.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
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eppendorf
Apprentice
# 13961
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Posted
Lutherans in the United States are quite happy to be identified as such. Last week when the ELCA chose Elizabeth Eaton as its new Presiding Bishop, she spoke of the need to preserve a Lutheran identity. She reminded folks that Lutheran teaching is distinct from Protestantism in general. Several people said her comments about Lutheran identity went over very well with delegates to the Churchwide Assembly.
As for Germany, there are several large Landeskirchen that are 'evangelisch-lutherisch.' These include the churches in Saxony, Bavaria, Wuertermberg, central Germany (Thuringia and Saxony Anhalt), Brunswick, and northern Germany (everything north of the Elbe).
The Prussian Union Church of Frederick William III was a triumphalist endeavor of an absolute monarch, a Calvinist, who had Calvinist ideas of a powerful united Evangelical church that would unite the people of his kingdom. The union was enforced with a heavy hand.
[ 21. August 2013, 00:54: Message edited by: eppendorf ]
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
quote:
Originally posted by Zach82:
Most Lutheran Churches actually call themselves "The Evangelical Church of Wherever." Not that "saying some nasty things" invalidates everything he ever said.
At least in my area this is not true. I was curious whether my anecotal evidence was valid, so I looked at ECLA churches within 40 miles of me--since I'm in a city, a couple hundred--with the ECLA church's website and it looks like almost all of them have the word Lutheran in the name.
Capital C Churches, as in denominations.
First of all, they are called Synods, not denominations. Second of all, all of the synods have the word "Lutheran" in there somewhere.
See here.
I have noticed that some Lutheran congregations do opt to name their parishes "Evangelical" such-and-such, which to be fair, was what Luther preferred the church be called. However, in a church-rich city such as mine, it would not work to drop "Lutheran" from the name of a church, as it would be confusing-- there would be a dozen "evangelical" churches p and down the block of various denominations (Lutheran and other.)
I'm torn about the name thing. On the one hand, some of the things Luther said were absolutely despicable. While anti-semitism was part of the larger culture, he pretty much went for the gold medal in it. His tract referenced in the OP above was the product of childish spite at the Jews' lack of interest in converting en masse to Lutheranism; prior to that pamphlet, he condemned the pogroms. I don't think it is exaggerating to suggest that the textual temper-tantrum he threw above largely contributed to the propaganda campaign of the Third Reich that numbed Germans to what was happening to the Jews.
However-- at least in the US, a good portion of settler history involves an influx of Norwegian, Swedish, and German immigrants who populated the midwest, bringing Lutheranism with them. Thus, the re is a Lutheran culture that is less to do with any religious doctrine and more to so with remnants of old country values and attitudes. it is not all a bad thing. And It has very little to do with the spiritual paternity of Luther himself.
In short, if we changed the names of Lutheran churches, how the heck would the Lutherans know which church to go to? ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
I went right to wikipedia to prove you wrong, but it turns out all those Evangelical Churches in Germany are actually united Churches. Oh well, I still have the Church of Sweden, The Danish People's Church, and the Norwegian Church. Three is a high percentage, right? ![[Snore]](graemlins/snore.gif)
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Oh I probably should have said, I don't know a thing about Europe, the above stuff I said was about the US.
I thought the Danish/ Swedish/ Norwegian state churches were a sort of Lutheran/ Calvinist fusion, like the Covenant church.
[ 21. August 2013, 01:49: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
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Zach82
Shipmate
# 3208
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Oh I probably should have said, I don't know a thing about Europe, the above stuff I said was about the US.
I thought the Danish/ Swedish/ Norwegian state churches were a sort of Lutheran/ Calvinist fusion, like the Covenant church.
Not that I've heard, but plenty of German national Churches are.
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Don't give up yet, no, don't ever quit/ There's always a chance of a critical hit. Ghost Mice
Posts: 9148 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Aug 2002
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S. Bacchus
Shipmate
# 17778
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I don't think it is exaggerating to suggest that the textual temper-tantrum he threw above largely contributed to the propaganda campaign of the Third Reich that numbed Germans to what was happening to the Jews.
Actually, the idea that 'Accurate scholarship can/ Unearth the whole offence/ From Luther until now/ That has driven a culture mad' (of 'Der deutscher Sonderweg' as it's generally known amongst the German and/or pretentious), has been generally discredited. The main argument, as I remember it, is that France with the Dreyfuss scandal and the enthusiastic anti-Semitism of the Vichy regime makes it hard to see Lutheran Germany as different from the rest of Europe, even when 'Europe' is defined solely as the industrialized countries along its western edge.
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'It's not that simple. I won't have it to be that simple'.
Posts: 260 | Registered: Jul 2013
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Cara wrote:
quote:
But I said that, because of the very early associations, the word "Luther", qua word, has a dark shadow over it... a sound thing, a subconscious thing, a sort of poetry thing...
For me, the word "Nixon" carries the same sort of aura. It's a combination of the negative image of the most famous person to sport the name, with the sound and especially the appearance of the name itself. The big "x" in the middle and whatnot.
As for "Luther", it sounds rather harsh and cutting, like "ruthless". So probably lends itself well to a negative aural sensation for someone already trained to regard his legacy as negative. Possibly the guys who created the homonymal villain for DC Comics saw the same potential.
Exactly, your Nixon example is the sort of thing I mean....but for me "Luther" isn't harsh and cutting...the "th" sound isn't crisp enough for that..."ruthless" is a difficult example, because "ruth" of course is a positive quality, soft and gentle....yet it too has a dark feeling about it. (I can't imagine a blonde girl or woman called Ruth, for example.) "u" for me is always a dark letter and combined with the L in Luther sounds, not harsh and cutting, but sinister in a dark, cloudy, all-pervasive sort of way. I can see exactly why the DC comic people chose it.
Again, I hope it's clear that I've been making a fairly trivial point about the aural associations of the word/sound "Luther," for me, which are nothing whatsoever to do with what I actually think now about him as a man. It's just that, because I can't help having these associations, a church called The Lutheran Church is never going to sound especially benign or positive to me on a gut level--again, of course I'm not talking about the conscious, thoughtful level, on which I have many positive feelings for Lutherans, our brethren, united with the TEC.
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Pondering.
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ORGANMEISTER
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# 6621
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Posted
I can recall that when the ELCA was formed eons ago a friend of mine who was a Pastor proposed that the name should have been The Evangelical Catholic Church in America. He thought that name would have disassociated the church from any idea that it was the exclusive home for those of German and/or Scandinavian ethnicity. I tend to agree with him.
Posts: 3162 | From: Somerset, PA - USA | Registered: May 2004
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
In Brazil, the denominations are called Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (Igreja Evangélica de Confissăo Luterana no Brasil — IECLB) and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil — IELB). The former is associated with immigrants from Germany, the latter is Missouri. At times I have experienced huge rivalry between both churches at the local level.
Both churches call themselves 'Lutheran' in day-to-day speech, to distinguish them from other Evangelical churches. It is sometimes quite difficult in the Brazilian context, where the population tends to divide Christians into católicos and evangélicos, associating the latter with strong pentecostal movements. The fact that there are also historical Protestant churches goes largely unnoticed, even if their combined membership is considerable.
Another complicating factor is that there are also some weird sects around, some of which randomly insert 'Lutheran' in their name. The presiding pastors of IECLB and IELB already have had to publicly distance themselves from those.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I think I have heard that near the end of his life, Luther's attitude towards the Jews became much less extreme.
Can anyone tell me whether this is true?
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I don't think it is exaggerating to suggest that the textual temper-tantrum he threw above largely contributed to the propaganda campaign of the Third Reich that numbed Germans to what was happening to the Jews.
Actually, the idea that 'Accurate scholarship can/ Unearth the whole offence/ From Luther until now/ That has driven a culture mad' (of 'Der deutscher Sonderweg' as it's generally known amongst the German and/or pretentious), has been generally discredited. The main argument, as I remember it, is that France with the Dreyfuss scandal and the enthusiastic anti-Semitism of the Vichy regime makes it hard to see Lutheran Germany as different from the rest of Europe, even when 'Europe' is defined solely as the industrialized countries along its western edge.
Except when we consider that anti-semitism became extermination for Germany. Even pogroms in the east do not compare easily to that.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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uffda
Shipmate
# 14310
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Posted
Gramps49 has pretty much said it all. I agree with what he wrote. Luther has undergone quite a rehabilitation in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. Credit for that is due to Pope Benedict.
But you would find a nice summary of contemporary RC thought HERE
And Kelly, if they took the word Lutheran out of our Church's name, I suppose we'd have to rely on the lingering aroma of green jello salad to find our way there! ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Invincibly ignorant and planning to stay that way!
Posts: 1031 | From: Buffalo, NY | Registered: Nov 2008
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Forthview
Shipmate
# 12376
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Posted
Although it is virtually unheard of to have pew copies of the Bible in Catholic churches it doesn't mean that Catholics are unaware of the Bible.Every liturgical service will have several readings from the Bible.Sunday Mass will typically have a reading from the Old Testament,from the New Testament two readings,including always a reading specifically taken from one of the four Gospels - the whole interspersed with parts of the Psalms of David.
Many Catholic churches will feature (particularly on the European mainland) an open copy of a large New Testament open at the Gospel reading of the day.Similarly there are very often book stalls at the back of a church where copies of the Bible may be purchased.
Many Catholic churches will produce written copies of the readings of the day in the form of missalettes - i.e. the text of the Mass
with its biblical readings for the day.
Though few Catholics can quote chapter and verse from the Bible it is certainly not true to think that because there are no pew Bibles that observant Catholics are unaware of the contents of the Scriptures.
My wife - a non observant Catholic was just asked yesterday if Catholics would be allowed to go to a show at the Edinburgh Festival which concerned in some way the Gospel of Mark and then she was asked by the same person if she had ever heard of the New Testament. I cannot believe that the questioner was a typical Scottish Presbyterian.
Posts: 3444 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2007
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by S. Bacchus:
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I don't think it is exaggerating to suggest that the textual temper-tantrum he threw above largely contributed to the propaganda campaign of the Third Reich that numbed Germans to what was happening to the Jews.
Actually, the idea that 'Accurate scholarship can/ Unearth the whole offence/ From Luther until now/ That has driven a culture mad' (of 'Der deutscher Sonderweg' as it's generally known amongst the German and/or pretentious), has been generally discredited. The main argument, as I remember it, is that France with the Dreyfuss scandal and the enthusiastic anti-Semitism of the Vichy regime makes it hard to see Lutheran Germany as different from the rest of Europe, even when 'Europe' is defined solely as the industrialized countries along its western edge.
Fair point, although Luther certainly didn't freaking help. Also a good point is that Lutherans were at the forefront of significant liberation/ seclusion/ sabotage efforts in Germany.
In short, Luther is not Lutherans' fault.
[ 21. August 2013, 21:09: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Knopwood
Shipmate
# 11596
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Posted
Confusingly, the British and American Lutherans have inverse nomenclature. The Lutheran Church of Great Britain, whose female bishop notably participated in the installation at Canterbury, is the LWF/Porvoo-oriented synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in England is the ILC franchise, the descendants of the resistance to the Prussion Union, now self-styled by the cheekily tautologous "confessional Lutheran." This mirrors the American situation of the ELCA/ELCiC and LC-MS/LC-C.
The alphabet soup really calls to mind the old saw that "Anglicans will endure any amount of heresy to avoid schism; Lutherans will put up with endless schisms to avoid heresy" - which may no longer be as true as it once was.
quote:
Originally posted by ORGANMEISTER:
I can recall that when the ELCA was formed eons ago a friend of mine who was a Pastor proposed that the name should have been The Evangelical Catholic Church in America. He thought that name would have disassociated the church from any idea that it was the exclusive home for those of German and/or Scandinavian ethnicity. I tend to agree with him.
I have had a pastor who would have said the same thing. He was staunchly Reconciling-in-Christ and pro-Concordat, ordered the first run of the "cranberry book" hot off the press, and his study was covered with photos and notes of goodwill from various RC prelates. At seminary, he had been offered scholarships by both the LCA and the Episcopalians and opted for the former after comparing the Book of Concord with the Articles of Religion and favouring Luther's catholicity over Cranmer's and Hooker's. (I never asked him what he thought of Melanchton!) I still have the Service Book & Hymnal he gave me.
[ 22. August 2013, 07:19: Message edited by: LQ ]
Posts: 6806 | From: Tio'tia:ke | Registered: Jun 2006
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CL
Shipmate
# 16145
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by uffda:
Gramps49 has pretty much said it all. I agree with what he wrote. Luther has undergone quite a rehabilitation in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. Credit for that is due to Pope Benedict.
But you would find a nice summary of contemporary RC thought HERE
And Kelly, if they took the word Lutheran out of our Church's name, I suppose we'd have to rely on the lingering aroma of green jello salad to find our way there!
Luther has not been rehabilitated by the RCC and never will be. Decontextualised soundbites from scholars is not going to make it otherwise.
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"Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ." - Athanasius of Alexandria
Posts: 647 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jan 2011
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