View source for Confessional Lutheranism

{{Short description|Lutherans who accept the doctrines taught in the Book of Concord}}
{{lutheranism|expanded=history}}
'''Confessional Lutheranism''' is a name used by [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]]s to designate those who believe in the [[Christian theology|doctrines]] taught in the ''[[Book of Concord]]'' of 1580 (the Lutheran [[Creed#Christian confessions of faith|confessional documents]]) in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfulness to the ''Book of Concord'', which is a summary of the teachings found in [[Christian scripture]], requires attention to how that faith is actually being [[homiletics|preached]], [[systematic theology|taught]], and [[Christian philosophy|put into practice]]. Confessional Lutherans believe that this is a vital part of their identity as Lutherans.

The term "Confessional Lutheran" is generally used among more [[Conservative Christianity|conservative churches]] found in organizations like the [[International Lutheran Council]] (ILC), [[Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference]] (CELC), and the [[Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum]], though other Confessional Lutheran denominations are independent of the same. Confessional denominations [[Confessional subscription|subscribe]] to the ''Book of Concord'' because ''(quia)'' it agrees with the Bible. In contrast, churches of the larger [[Lutheran World Federation]] subscribe to the ''Book of Concord'' as an exposition of faith insofar as (''quatenus'') it agrees with the Christian Bible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/who-we-are/faith |title=Beliefs |access-date=2010-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023070501/http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/who-we-are/faith |archive-date=2010-10-23 }}</ref>

==History==
Two main confessional movements arose during the 19th century: the [[Old Lutherans]] and the [[Neo-Lutheranism|Neo-Lutheran]]s.<ref>{{citation | last = Nelson, E | first = Clifford | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=q3xyPFA_8O0C&pg=PA509 | title = The Lutherans in North America | edition = Revised | place = Minneapolis | publisher = Fortress Press | year = 1980 | page = 509| isbn = 9781451407389 }}.</ref> The Old Lutherans originated from the [[Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)#Quarrels over the union|Schism of the Old Lutherans]], while Neo-Lutheranism arose in Germany in the 1830s from the [[Pietism|Pietist]]-driven ''[[Lutheranism#Revivals|Erweckung]]'' ("Awakening"). Neo-Lutheranism itself contained [[Neo-Lutheranism#Repristination versus Erlangen school|differing camps]]. It gave rise later to those calling themselves confessional Lutherans.

Neo-Lutheranism developed in reaction to Pietism on the one side and [[Rationalism]] on the other, both of which had arisen in the previous century. German clergymen such as [[Martin Stephan]], [[C. F. W. Walther]], [[F. C. D. Wyneken]], and [[Wilhelm Löhe|Wilhelm Loehe]] became a part of the movement as they studied the works of [[Martin Luther]] and the ''Book of Concord''.

The Old Lutheran and Neo-Lutheran movements spread to the United States with the Neo-Lutheran Loehe and the Old Lutheran [[free church]] leader [[Friedrich August Brünn]],<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/02/display.asp?t1=b&word=BRUNN.FRIEDRICHAUGUST | title = Christian Cyclopedia | contribution = Brünn | publisher = LCMS}}.</ref> both sending missionaries to newly arrived German immigrants in the [[Midwest]], and with the immigration of groups including the Saxons who settled in [[Missouri]] under Stephan and Walther, the Germans who settled in [[Indiana]] under Wyneken, and the Prussians under [[Johannes Andreas August Grabau|J. A. A. Grabau]] in Western [[New York (state)|New York]] and southeastern [[Wisconsin]] (the [[Lutheran Synod of Buffalo|Buffalo Synod]]).

In Scandinavia, where [[High Church Lutheranism]] and Pietist Lutheranism has been highly influential, the [[Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland]], [[Missionsprovinsen|Mission Province of the Church of Sweden]], and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway]] entered into schism with their [[national church]]es due to "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countries involving matters of both Christian doctrine and ethics"; these are members of the International Lutheran Council with their bishops having secured their lines of [[apostolic succession]] from other traditional Lutheran Churches, such as the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya]].<ref name="Block2019"/><ref name="Obare">{{cite web |author1=[[Walter Obare]] |title=Choose Life! |url=https://media.ctsfw.edu/Item/GetFullText/498 |publisher=[[Concordia Theological Seminary]] |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Ross2016"/>

[[File:AugsburgConfessionArticle7OftheChurch.jpg|thumb| ...one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.—[[Augsburg Confession]]<ref>{{citation | chapter-url = http://www.bookofconcord.org/augsburgconfession.php#article7 | title = Augsburg Confession | chapter = Article 7, Of the Church | publisher = Book of Concord}}.</ref>]]

[[File:FranzAugustOttoPieper.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Franz Pieper]] (1852–1931) taught the importance of a ''quia'' subscription]]

==Church bodies using the title "confessional"==
Contemporary Lutheran church bodies that identify themselves as confessional tend to be either members of the International Lutheran Council, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum, or certain other independent Lutheran bodies. Among the members of the ILC are the [[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]], the [[Lutheran Church–Canada]], the [[Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church]] of Germany, the [[Lutheran Church of Australia]], and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil]]. Among the CELC are the [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Synod]]. Other confessional Lutherans include the [[Church of the Lutheran Confession]], the [[American Association of Lutheran Churches]], the [[Concordia Lutheran Conference]], the [[Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America]], member congregations of the [[Protes'tant Conference]], and member congregations of the [[Orthodox Lutheran Confessional Conference]] of Independent Congregations,<ref name = "OLCC">{{citation | url = http://olcc.us/ | title = OLCC | place = US}}.</ref> the United Lutheran Mission Association,<ref name = "ULMA">{{citation | url = http://www.unitedlutheranmission.org/ | title = United Lutheran Mission}}.</ref> and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America]]<ref name = "ELCM">{{citation | url = http://www.elcm.org/ | title = ELCM}}.</ref> (all of North America).

In the Nordic countries, members of the [[Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses]] are a part of the International Lutheran Council: these include the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, the Mission Province of the Church of Sweden, and the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway.<ref name="Block2019">{{cite web |last1=Block |first1=Mathew |title=Swedish Lutherans consecrate new bishop |url=https://ilc-online.org/tag/mission-province-in-sweden/ |publisher=[[International Lutheran Council]] |access-date=7 May 2021 |language=English |date=13 June 2019}}</ref> These dioceses entered into schism with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Church of Sweden, and Church of Norway, respectively, due to "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countries involving matters of both Christian doctrine and ethics".<ref name="Ross2016">{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Paula Schlueter |title=Nordic Lutheran churches seek ILC membership |url=https://reporter.lcms.org/2016/nordic-lutheran-churches/ |publisher=[[Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]] |access-date=7 May 2021 |language=English |date=28 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="Block2019"/> [[Apostolic succession]] of the Mission Province is derived from [[Walter Obare|Walter Obare Omwanza]], the presiding bishop of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya]], who, assisted by bishops Leonid Zviki from Belarus, David Tswaedi from [[South Africa]], and [[Børre Knudsen]] and Ulf Asp from Norway, consecrated [[Arne Olsson]] as bishop of the diocese.<ref name="Block2019"/><ref name="Obare"/> The Concordia Lutheran Church and the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden]] are other bodies that identify as Confessional Lutherans in the region of Scandinavia.

The [[Lutheran Church - International]], which has an Evangelical Catholic churchmanship, describes itself as adhering to Confessional Lutheranism as it holds that it "preaches, teaches, and confesses the Gospel of Jesus Christ as faithfully witnessed by the [[Augsburg Confession]] of 1530 and the Book of Concord."<ref name="LCI2011">{{cite web |title=News from the LC-I |url=http://www.lutheranchurchinternational.org/ |publisher=Lutheran Church-International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916165918/http://www.lutheranchurchinternational.org/ |archivedate=16 September 2011|accessdate=2 February 2025|year=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bulletin: Pentecost and Ordinary Time 2024 |url=https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/2dd65e00-9688-4351-8bdc-a3bf83abb8e9/downloads/219ba6b3-b13b-4b50-9548-e811974643b4/LC%E2%80%93I%20BULLETIN%202024-09.pdf?ver=1736526623701 |publisher=LC-I |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=English |date=2024 |quote=We do not want to provide reasons for those outside of our church body to be confused as to where we stand and for what we stand as a confessional Christian Lutheran church body in the evangelical catholic understanding.}}</ref>

Additionally, the [[Association of Free Lutheran Congregations]] (AFLC) describes themselves as confessional. The autonomous congregations within the AFLC are only required to officially subscribe to the unaltered Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism,<ref name = "What we believe, AFLC">{{citation | url = https://www.aflc.org/about-us/what-we-believe/ |title = What We Believe | publisher = AFLC}}.</ref> but many member congregations officially subscribe to more, or all, of the Book of Concord, while others do so unofficially in matters of doctrine and practice. All internally trained AFLC pastors are taught a ''quia'' subscription of the Book of Concord, leaving the denomination as a whole "unofficially" confessional in matters of preaching and teaching.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Though there are some congregations in the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] which would call themselves "confessional", many of those congregations have decided to leave the ELCA due to the [[Liberal Christianity|liberal leanings]] of the denomination, most notably their stances expressed in the 2009 ELCA convention.<ref name = "ELCA Believe">{{citation | url = http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe.aspx | title = What We Believe | publisher = ELCA}}.</ref>  The ELCA as a whole does not use the title "confessional" to describe itself, but it and the other member churches of the Lutheran World Federation do ascribe to the unaltered Augsburg Confession and the other confessional documents in the ''Book of Concord'' as true interpretations of the Christian faith.<ref name = "ELCA Confession">{{citation | chapter-url = http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Statements-of-Belief/ELCA-Confession-of-Faith.aspx | title = Statements of Belief | chapter = Confession of Faith}}.</ref> Additionally, the [[Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil]] uses the title "confessional" on its name, but it instead has a "''Quatenus''" subscription to the Book of Concord and it is a member of the [[Lutheran World Federation]].

=="''Quia''" versus "''Quatenus''" subscription==
Lutheran church bodies and Lutheran individuals that identify themselves as confessional generally hold to a "''quia''" ([[Latin]] for "because")  rather than a "''quatenus''" ([[Latin]] for "insofar as") [[Confessional subscription|subscription]] to the ''Book of Concord,'' which contains the [[Apostles' Creed]], [[Nicene Creed]], [[Athanasian Creed]], [[Luther's Small Catechism]], [[Luther's Large Catechism]], the [[Augsburg Confession]], the [[Apology of the Augsburg Confession]], the [[Smalcald Articles]], the [[Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope]], and the [[Formula of Concord]].

''Quia'' subscription (the ''Book of Concord'' is adhered to ''because'' it is faithful to the [[Bible|Scriptures]]) implies that the subscriber believes that there is no contradiction between the ''Book of Concord'' and the [[Bible|Scriptures]]. ''Quatenus'' subscription (the ''Book of Concord'' is adhered to ''insofar as'' it is faithful to the Scriptures) implies that the subscriber leaves room for the possibility that there might be a contradiction of the Scriptures in the ''Book of Concord'' in which case the subscriber may hold to the Scriptures against the ''Book of Concord''.<ref name="TCL">{{citation | url = http://user.txcyber.com/~wd5iqr/tcl/conf_sub.htm | title = Confession Subscription | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060629100242/http://user.txcyber.com/~wd5iqr/tcl/conf_sub.htm | archive-date = 2006-06-29 }}.</ref> Some Confessional Lutherans {{who|date=January 2019}} maintain that this distinguishes them from other ("mainline") Lutheran bodies and Lutherans, who, they believe, hold to a ''quatenus'' subscription.

[[C. F. W. Walther]] explained the meaning of confessional subscription: <blockquote>An unconditional subscription is the solemn declaration which the individual who wants to serve the church makes under oath (1) that he accepts the doctrinal content of our Lutheran Confessions, because he recognizes the fact that they are in full agreement with Scripture and do not militate against Scripture in any point, whether the point be of major or minor importance; and (2) that he therefore heartily believes in this divine truth and is determined to preach this doctrine.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walther|first=C.F.W.|date=1858|title=Why Should Our Pastors, Teachers and Professors Subscribe Unconditionally to the Symbolical Writings of Our Church|url=http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/WaltherWhySubscribeUnconditionallySymbolical.pdf|journal=The Lutheran Western District Convention}}</ref></blockquote>

==Views on the Antichrist==
Confessional Lutherans,<ref>''[[Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope]]'' ([http://bookofconcord.org/treatise.php full text]), a Lutheran Confession in the [[Book of Concord]].</ref> including the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and Church of the Lutheran Confession officially maintain that the [[Early Christianity|early apostolic Church]] had been led into the [[Great Apostasy]] by the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and that the [[Pope as Antichrist|Pope is the Antichrist]];<ref>[http://www.wels.net/about-wels/doctrinal-statements/antichrist Statement on the Antichrist] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222233710/http://www.wels.net/about-wels/doctrinal-statements/antichrist |date=February 22, 2013 }}, [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]]</ref><ref>Nolting, Paul F., [http://www.clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/endtimes/antichrist1.html The Antichrist (part 1)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522192542/http://www.clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/endtimes/antichrist1.html |date=2013-05-22 }}</ref><ref>[http://clclutheran.org/library/BriefStatement.html A Brief Statement of our Doctrinal Position], 1932</ref> the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod affirms that "Antichrist" refers to the office, and not to the person,<ref>[http://www.lcms.org/Document.fdoc?src=lcm&id=552 Connection between the antichrist and the pope], LCMS Frequently Asked Question.</ref> while the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod states that the reference is to the office, but not to the exclusion of the current office holder:

{{blockquote|There are two principles that mark the papacy as the Antichrist. One is that [[Papal supremacy|the pope takes to himself the right to rule the church]] that belongs only to [[Christ]]. He can make laws [[Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church|forbidding the marriage of priests]], eating or [[Friday fast|not eating meat on Friday]], [[Christian views on birth control|birth control]], [[Christian views on divorce|divorce]] and remarriage, even where there are not such laws in the Bible. The second is that he teaches that [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] is not by [[Sola fide|faith alone]] but by faith and [[good works|works]]. The present pope upholds and practices these principles. This marks his rule as [[Anti-Christian|antichristian rule]] in the church. All popes hold the same office over the church and promote the same antichristian belief so they all are part of the reign of the Antichrist. The Bible does not present the Antichrist as one man for one short time, but as an office held by a man through successive generations. It is a title like King of England.<ref name=WELS-CL>{{cite web |url=https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4242 |work=WELS Topical Q&A |title=Roman Catholic |publisher=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |access-date=5 July 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927213220/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=19&cuItem_itemID=4242 |archive-date=27 September 2009 }}</ref>}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Christianity}}

*Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (UAC)
* [[Lutheran Confessional Synod]]
*[[Lutheran Orthodoxy]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://bookofconcord.org ''The Book of Concord''], a collection of Lutheran confessions, 1580
*[http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/statements-belief/this-we-believe/this-we-believe ''This We Believe''], a confession of faith by [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]]
*''The Eternal Word:  A Lutheran Confession for the Twenty-First Century'' ([[Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference]]):
**[http://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleI.pdf Article I: Holy Scripture]
**[http://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleII.pdf Article II: Justification]
**[http://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleIII.pdf Article III: The Holy Spirit]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleIV.pdf Article IV: The Person and Work of Christ]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/CELC_Article_V.pdf Article V: Eschatology - Doctrine of the Last Things]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticle%20VI.pdf Article VI: The Church's Mission]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleVII.pdf Article VII: The Church – Unity of Spirit-Bond of Peace]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/download/eternal_word/TheEternalWordArticleVIII.pdf Article VIII: Sanctification]
**[https://celc.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Article-IX-Final-May-23-2025.pdf Article IX: The Triune God]

{{Confessional Lutheran Revivals}}
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[[Category:Confessional Lutheranism| ]]
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