The word Protestant was first used at the Diet of Speyer in 1529 to describe those who questioned the authority of Rome. It was 12 years after Martin Luther had sparked the Reformation with his rebellion against the papacy (see Reformation). Over the subsequent centuries, the term has been applied to a variety of denominations, including Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists and Anglicans. What unites these groups is an emphasis on individual study of the Bible, simplicity of worship and a belief in the importance of preaching. All these features can be traced back to Luther’s original dispute with Rome.
A variety of factors enabled Luther to break the stranglehold on Western Christianity of the Roman Church. Among them was the rise of nationalism in Europe. Rulers and, to a lesser extent, their people were no longer willing to be dictated to by the Pope and his ally the Holy Roman Emperor. This political, nationalist dimension fueled the initial spread of Luther’s ideas—and eventually his new church—throughout Germany and beyond, notably into Scandinavia, where it was taken up by both the Danish and Swedish royal families, who between them ruled the entire region.
The growth of national Lutheran churches, however, posed a challenge to maintaining a single set of beliefs. Initially the new churches united in signing up to the Augsburg Confession in 1530, and during his lifetime Luther remained a focus for them all, superseding the influence of individual rulers. At his right hand was Philipp Melanchthon, who, though he lacked Luther’s gifts as a leader and a preacher, brought intellectual backbone and theological order to the emerging church. “I had to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very warlike,” Luther wrote in the preface to one of Melanchthon’s books. “I am the rough pioneer who must break the road; but Master Philipp comes along softly and gently, sows and waters heartily, since God has richly endowed him with gifts.”
In the decades that followed Luther’s death in 1546, disagreements and divisions broke out. This period of turbulence, exacerbated by the efforts of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, resulted in a compromise in 1580, when most Lutherans signed up to the Book of Concord, a clear statement of the beliefs that united them.
Lutheran principles The Book of Concord identified the key and enduring elements of Luther’s reform program. Notable among these was the emphasis on sola scriptura, the supremacy of the Bible over any traditional or “man-made” teaching of the Church. It was agreed that the Bible had been written under the influence of the Holy Spirit and that it, rather than the Pope, represented the ultimate authority in Christianity. One of Luther’s greatest achievements was to translate the Bible from Latin into German so that it was more accessible. Another key principle was sola fide, sometimes also called “justification by faith alone,” which holds that human salvation comes via faith in God, and is not earned or influenced by good works, as is believed by Catholics.
“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”
Martin Luther, 1529
Of the Protestant churches that grew out of the Reformation, Lutheranism is the oldest and remains one of the closest to Catholicism. It accepts the sacraments—though most Lutherans favor only two, as opposed to the seven taught by Rome—but places them beneath preaching in the hierarchy of truths. It has bishops and monks, and while it prefers a plainer style of worship, this still includes music (Johann Sebastian Bach composed for the Lutheran Church).
The Book of Concord
This historic document, made up of ten separate sections, is the unifying force in world Lutheranism. It was agreed in Dresden in 1580 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original Augsburg Confession, where Luther and his followers had set out their beliefs in a series of theses. It was compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz, and was an attempt to maintain coherence between the various parts of what was then a fast-growing church. It begins by stating that Lutheranism stands in a direct line back to the principles and practices of the early Christian Church, and that it—rather than Rome—is the true inheritor of the spirit of that Church. As well as the Augsburg Confession itself, it includes the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, plus various of his other writings and sermons. All new Lutheran ministers must pledge unconditionally to uphold the Book of Concord.
Pietist practice In the eighteenth century, the conservatism of mainstream Lutheranism provoked opposition from within. The Pietist movement urged greater radicalism and an abandonment of the trappings of “Catholic” religion in favor of a deeper personal commitment to practicing in everyday life what the Bible taught. The Pietists are said to have inspired John Wesley to found the Methodist movement (see Methodism).
The continuing attachment of the Lutheran Church to the sacraments and to a traditional style of worship came under sustained attack in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from the Pietists. As its name suggests, this movement wanted to promote a more austere and individual type of piety, concentrating on repeated reading of the Bible and on living a simple, Godly life that rejected worldly pleasures. Its leading light was the Lutheran pastor Philip Jacob Spener (1637–1705), whose book Pia Desideria inspired many others, among them August Francke (1663–1727). A professor at the University of Halle, the intellectual home of Pietism, Francke is best remembered today as a founder of schools for the poor. Another Pietist, the theologian Heinrich Muller (1631–75), castigated the presence in Lutheran churches of the confessional, the altar, the baptismal font and the pulpit as “four dumb idols,” favoring instead gatherings for Bible study and prayer at “colleges of piety.”
There are an estimated 64 million Lutherans in the world. The biggest concentration continues to be in Germany and Scandinavia, and Lutheranism is the state religion in Denmark, Iceland and Norway. There are also sizeable Lutheran populations in the United States and in former German colonies such as Namibia. In line with many other churches, Lutheranism is acquiring large numbers of new recruits in both Africa and Asia, as the Christian map of the world continues to reshape itself.
“Faith is nothing else than trust in the divine mercy promised in Christ.”
Philipp Melanchthon, 1497–1560
the condensed idea
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| timeline | |
|---|---|
| 1517 | Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses |
| 1530 | Augsburg Confession |
| 1580 | The Book of Concord |
| 1675 | Pia Desideria |