Big Red (240)
First, thank you, sir. You state very well the essence of Lutheran Christian doctrine as it now (for the most part) accurately proclaims the gospel, “by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”. I realize that quite a few people would be surprised to a post proclaiming Luther a Calvinist.
Over time, the Lutheran Church as a whole, settled on Melanchton and the “Augsburg Confessions” as its base Theological work (as recall, Luther gave Melanchton an endpoint of his thinking, Biblical texts he based it on, then freed Melanchton to actually develop, refine, and write the arguments*). Starting around 1860s,however, The German Lutheran Church argued that while Melanchton was the author, where there existed written differences between the “Augsburg Confessions” and Luther’s own writings, particularly “The Bondage of the Will”, Luther should prevail. This view being taught within German Lutheran seminaries, it became accepted into local church sermons and discussion as time progressed.
The primary overt disagreement between Melanchton and Luther is derived from their respective works, “The Augsburg Confessions” and “The Bondage of the Will”; despite there being no record of their having ever publicly disagreed while Luther was alive. The first and most important disagreement is that over what I called Calvinism (though Monergism predates Calvin and Calvinism seemed to me to be a more widely recognized label than Monergism). Melanchton openly abandoned “Bondage of the Will” in arguments after Luther’s death, asserting it was early, unrefined view, not the definitive understanding of the Word. In this matter, though, German theological returned to Luther’s argument that, under divine persuasion man was fallen to such a degree that only the will of the Lord was at work, mankind being so corrupt that his cooperation with regeneration was impossible.
It is precisely the fact the Melanchton himself explicitly abandoned “Bondage of the Will”, and laid out exactly why he was doing so, that you and the vast majority of Lutherans would be surprised or even take umbrage with my original statement naming Luther as a Calvinist. Within Germany, however, Luther’s Monergism prevailed in a large percentage of the Church, although battles on that topic were carefully kept in private. It is the fatalism of the Monergism that permeated much of German theological and moral teaching, Lutherans elsewhere (and especially in the US) following Melanchton on this issue and being very clearly Armenian in their thinking. Although not strict Arminian, they are of that branch. This frees them to succinctly state the numb of the Faith as you did in the post to which I reply.
The only other issue of note that differing between the pre-WWII (and to this day?) German Lutheran Church and Lutherans elsewhere, would be the matter of the Eucharist. Here, Luther agreed it was an act of transubstantiation as do the Roman Catholics, so on at least that issue he remained Catholic in his thinking. For whatever reason, the German Lutheran Church rejected Melanchton who was a strong believer in Consubstantiation, and adhered to Luther’s own position. On neither issue was there ever any great degree of enforcement beyond teaching as Cannon in seminaries, probably the least abrasive and most reasonable approach for the Church to take.
Monergism had become a tenant the faith for the majority, if not the vast majority, of German Lutherans by the 1920s, yet almost unheard of outside of Lutheran seminaries in the rest of the world. A situation you and I both benefit from today by seldom having to argue with Calvinism among ourselves (I say, ‘ourselves’, since I stand as close to Lutherans as possible, while officially remaining non-denominational). While no doubt open critique by those who focus primarily on the study of Theology, that’s a reasonable summary of what I understand were the major differences between German Lutheran thought and Lutherans elsewhere at the time the Nazi Party was rising within Germany prior to WWII.
Perhaps the fact that that Calvinism has become exceedingly common among US Christian denominations and independents, just when they face heretofore unheard pressure to accept pantheistic beliefs for the good of the nation, will serve to show whether my premise that a significant degree of fatalism is found in Christian communities where Calvinism prevails.
I hope that clears up my point in the earlier post and that you might understand my use of the label Calvinism rather than the less commonly heard term.
Regards
PS – I could be wrong on the details of Luther/Melanchton cooperation; I yield to your more accurate and recently reviewed history Lutheran theology and await correction should it be required.
