I see that Lars has noticed this discussion, but I’ll spare him from linking to it. Luther at the Movies notes, “There are as many Lutherans in the United States today as there are Swedes in Sweden—9,000,000;” so why aren’t they more visible in the public square? Rev. McCain of Cyberbrethren says:
The very things that Lutheranism have that make it stand out in the crowded “marketplace” of American denominationalism are the very things that so many non-Lutherans find attractive, while cradle Lutherans sometimes seem determined to minimize or ignore them! What are we so embarassed about? The incessant self-loathing and self-depricating attitudes we display toward the treasure of doctrine and practice that is historic, Biblical and faithful Lutheranism is truly distressing to observe.
Dr. Veith explains that Lutherans still have an immigrant mindset, “grateful for this country, but they really didn’t think of it as ‘theirs’ in the same sense that those who were here before them could.”
Honestly, this discussion makes me curious about Lutheran distinctives. I need to look them up. Should I go somewhere other than the Book of Concord?
The Book of Concord is good. There are probably more reader-friendly books out there, but I’m not sure what to recommend. Something from Concordia Publishing would be a good bet–definitely not anything from Augsburg or Fortress.
You need to understand that I’m not quite “one of us” to the traditional Lutherans such as conservative Missourians and the Wisconsin Synod. My own group has a pietist orientation, which makes us sort of Samaritans.
I got that impression from your comments on Cranach. Can you explain a bit more? Why would pietism not be part of the conservative Lutheran umbrella?
And do you have any thoughts on Why I Am a Lutheran by Daniel Preus?
For a traditional, confessional Lutheran, pietism (a belief in the importance of personal conversion and sanctification) takes the focus off the work of God in saving us. For the traditional Lutheran, any baptized person who claims to have had a conversion experience is diminishing the importance of his baptism and setting his own works and experiences above the perfect work of God, done without his help. Traditional Lutherans consider conversion of the baptized a “work,” and thus a form of Arminianism.
I don’t know the Preus book, but most of the Preuses (they’re a sort of dynasty) are sound, as long as they’re publishing with Concordia.
I question the premise that Lutherans aren’t visible in the public square. A look at Wikipedia’s “List of famous Lutherans” shows that quite a few people are Lutherans whom you may not have suspected. I think it’s more likely that Lutherans tend not to be visible as Lutherans, for whatever reason.
Pietism (emphasis on living experience) and Orthodoxy (emphasis on correctness in doctrine) have both been significant strands in Lutheranism for a few centuries (Bach, for example, studiously walked the tightrope between both parties), and it’s arguable that Pietism is a bigger part of the background of groups like the Missouri and Wisconsin Synods than they would like to believe. Part of the political incorrectness of pietism in some Lutheran circles today dates back from the early life of CFW Walther, an influential early Missouri Synod figure, who had a negative experience with pietists who seemed to be taking repentant sorrow for sin and turning it into a meritorious work rather than God’s preparation for our hearts to receive the Gospel.
Pietism has become such a red flag word among some that in certain circles the working definition of pietism seems to be “anyone who doesn’t see things the way we do.” Which is the same as the working definition of an “extremist” in the ELCA. But I digress …
The Preus book is probably good. A good “bullet point” summary of where Lutherans are coming from is at the Doctrinal Statement of Faith of the Lutheran Brethren, a pietist-influenced group similar to the one Lars & I belong to, so it’s a good, simple summary of what a conservative Lutheran would believe. A couple of atypical things about the Lutheran Brethren – they have a different view of church membership from most Lutherans, though the “Statement” is pretty subtle about it. And they are the only Lutheran group I know of to be officially premillennial, which among many Lutherans is considered even worse than pietism (or at least its evil twin).
Come to think of it, the Lutheran Brethren also have a level of emphasis on conversion experience that many Lutherans would consider, well, un-Lutheran (see Lars’ comment above).
Sorry to be late with this, but thank you for the link, Michael.
Phil, if you want to know more about the Lutheran distinctives, then yes, the Book of Concord is essential. You can find one or two translations online as free downloads. The version most frequently cited is probably the Tappert, but there is a more recent version edited by Kolb; and Concordia Publishing House has, I believe, issued an edition for the general reader recently, perhaps called Concordia.
Again, the BC is the essential item.
Having said that, I will confess to not having read all of it. Most, but not all. Helpful to me as someone who has become an adherent of the Lutheran Confessions have been the works of Hermann Sasse: his We Confess series, also his study This Is My Body.
Dale