Week 20 · AD 1901–2000
Mergers, Divisions, and Renewal
Lutheran mergers and splits in North America, and a council in Rome
This week
Mergers, divisions, and Vatican II
- American Lutherans merge in 1918, 1930, 1960, and 1962
- Conservative synods split over church fellowship
- Seminex splits the Missouri Synod over how to read the Bible
- Vatican II sets out how the Mass is celebrated
- Lutherans and Catholics sign a 1999 agreement on justification
The Two Disciples at the Tomb
Henry Ossawa Tanner, about 1906, Art Institute of Chicago. Peter and John at the empty tomb on Easter morning.
Church life
How Lutheran groups in North America came together
Church life
Four merger steps
- 1918: the United Lutheran Church in America forms
- 1930: the first American Lutheran Church forms from the Ohio, Iowa, and Buffalo synods
- 1960: a second American Lutheran Church forms
- 1962: the Lutheran Church in America forms
- Each merger asks how much doctrinal agreement a union needs
Controversy
Who confesses Christ, and who shares the Lord’s Supper?
Controversy
The Synodical Conference divides
- Formed in 1872: a group of conservative Lutheran synods (church bodies)
- 1955: the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) breaks with the Missouri Synod (LCMS)
- 1961: the Wisconsin Synod (WELS) breaks with the LCMS
- 1963: the ELS and WELS leave the Conference, which dissolves in 1967
- The issue: fellowship, sharing the pulpit and the Supper with churches that disagree in doctrine
Missouri Synod, 1974
The Seminex walkout
- 20 January 1974: the seminary board suspends its president, John Tietjen
- 19 February 1974: most students and faculty leave and form Seminex
- The dispute is about how to read and trust the Bible
- About 200 congregations (counts vary) leave the LCMS and form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) in 1976
Councils and events
Vatican II and the Confessions
Second Vatican Council
Rome’s council, 1962–1965
- Called by Pope John XXIII, and Pope Paul VI led its last three sessions
- Met in Rome from 11 October 1962 to 8 December 1965
- Sixteen documents cover the Mass, Scripture, and the Church
- Sacrosanctum Concilium (4 December 1963) encourages local languages and fuller participation
Lutheran classification: Mixed
Agreement and four rejections
- Agrees: Christ is the Word made flesh, and Baptism truly joins us to him
- Rejects the Pope’s supreme and infallible teaching office (Lumen Gentium 18, 25)
- Rejects Scripture and tradition as one source of revelation (Dei Verbum 9–10)
- Rejects that the priest offers the Mass as a sacrifice (Lumen Gentium 10–11)
- Rejects that Christians ask the saints for help (Lumen Gentium 50)
Major people
Eight people who shaped the century
Major people
Eight people who shaped the century
- William J. Seymour, led the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, 1906
- Bjug Harstad, opening sermon at Lime Creek, where the ELS began, 1918
- Francis Pieper, Missouri Synod theologian, Concordia Seminary president
- Walter A. Maier, speaker of The Lutheran Hour, 1930–1950
- Pope John XXIII, called Vatican II, 1962
- Billy Graham, Los Angeles crusade, 1949
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 1937
- Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” 1963
Wider world
Events beyond the church, from flight to the Moon
Wider world
Events beyond the church
- The Wright brothers make the first powered, controlled flight on 17 December 1903
- The Armistice of 11 November 1918 stops the fighting on the Western Front
- The U.S. stock market crashes in 1929, at the start of the Great Depression
- 1941–1945: the Nazi German state murders about six million European Jews
- Japan signs its surrender on 2 September 1945, ending World War II
- The UN adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948
Lutheran developments
Statements and agreements in North America
Lutheran developments
Mergers and confessions in North America
- Language and ethnic lines fade as German, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish churches merge
- The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) began on 1 January 1988
- It joined the American Lutheran Church (ALC), the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), and the AELC
- The LCMS’s Brief Statement (1932) calls the Bible God’s inspired Word
Lutheran developments
Hard questions and joint statements
- The Leuenberg Agreement (1973) sets up pulpit and table fellowship among signing churches
- The LWF, founded at Lund in 1947, does not include the LCMS
- In 1970 the ALC and LCA began ordaining women. The LCMS teaches this is contrary to Scripture
- In 1994 the ELCA rejected Luther’s hostile writings against the Jews
- 1999: the LWF and the Catholic Church sign a joint declaration on justification (being made right with God)
Confessional Lutheran connection
Christ and the sacraments
Christ is true God and true man
- Christ is true God and true man, who died to reconcile us (Augsburg Confession III)
- We are made right with God freely for Christ’s sake, through faith (Augsburg Confession IV)
- Baptism is necessary to salvation, and grace is offered through it (Augsburg Confession IX)
Christ and the sacraments
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
- Baptism gives God’s grace (Augsburg Confession IX and Small Catechism)
- Christ’s true body and blood are present in the Supper (Augsburg Confession X)
- Compare how these texts explain forgiveness and faith
- Compare Dei Verbum 9–10 with Formula, Rule and Norm on tradition
For discussion
Where do the Confessions call for church fellowship, and where do they call for separation?