MC500: Summer Intensive, Day 7 - Reflection

http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php

NOTES:
“indulgences" – substitution of one penance for another.
Luther's following so great, that movement poses threat to the very civil stability. (Luther declared an outlaw)

John Calvin - "the birth of the middle class"
(spying on friends and neighbors is just one means to preserve moral order)
"vocation in the world” you work out that vocation as you work out your salvation.

The Lutheran Church: Narrative of the Reformation
Europe was ready for something to happen. The printing press made the large impact on the emergence of the “literate” population. The number of people who could read however, were small. The books were expensive. People are however becoming educated and able to read for themselves. And individualism sort of emerges out of the birth of reading. The reading process was formerly, however, corporate.
Influence of the Pope diminishes, and thus the timing becomes ripe, for a revolution. Luther died 30 years after the posting of the 95 theses, was an Augustinian monk, was also a professor of scripture. Around 1518 “justification by grace” became sort of an epiphany which became the grid by which to evaluate every church practice in light of this.
“Priest of all believers” retrieval of some aspects of the early church, going against the sharp distinction between the clergy and the laity.

Worship in the Protestant Movement (pre-Lutheran church)
The church and state are one (at a local level, not at the “macro” level)
Church is about community (of saints) [who are we?] even though he’s talking about church meaning the universal church, for Luther, church is really this local “believers’” gathering: Practices of people in community.
Preaching of the Gospel; Eucharist; Baptism (reduction from 7 sacraments to about three) The Christendom is still there. Still a Trinitarian understanding, the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us, gives us gifts for ministry…
One of the primary benefits or identity of the church is the “forgiveness of sins.” This IS the work of the church, and to mediate that. Even though salvation is by faith, he does not envision the individual doing it by his or her own apart from the church.
One of the big shifts in the worship service is to the WORD. It becomes more central, the focus of the church becomes more to the preaching of the gospel (purely, from scripture). Preaching is done in German, people actually understand this. Catechisms are re-written, hymns are written, the sermon becomes a significant part of liturgy. What Luther aims for is for the people receive faith through the preaching of the gospel.
He doesn’t get rid of the sacraments, the Eucharist is still a core part of the church service.
He doesn’t change the practice of the baptism too much, but what he did explain was that the baptism – dying with Christ and rising with him is the “rhythm of life” for the Christian. Specific baptismal practices not altered, infant baptism still prevalent- unless conversion from another religion. Eucharist, the practice was pretty much similar but the understanding was shed more light on. The previous Catholic understanding of “re-sacrificing Christ” was rejected; the Eucharist was seen as the bread and wine was both the themselves and Christ’s. [getting increasingly technical about it: transubstantiation consubstantiation debate]
Orthodox traditions retain the “mystery” aspect of this.

Community: still in Christendom, everybody is a part of the church. And so as far as the vital Christian community, one thing Luther advocated was the closing of the monasteries. “we should not have two levels of Christians, everybody should be doing it.” [attempt to fuse the clergy laity split] confessing and forgiveness (the authority of the latter conferred to each member of the body)

Goes against penance, devotions to saints, relics, wanted actually Christians to live a life in service to the world. Wanted the 10 commandments to be part of the markers of our presence in the world, not the vows and other such things.

Church/state still there, very much a partnership, strong. Rulers and bishops still very intertwined. Luther does not challenge that. When Mennonites and other Anabaptists wanted to start churches, these were strictly prohibited by Luther’s convictions.

Luther saw a reality in terms of mission (three spheres: family, church, government) each had its own set of laws. In the home the natural domestic laws; in the church, the divine law; in government its own set of temporal laws. Same thing that Augustine was doing. In the case of government, God was working thru the prince. And so, the church unless something radically horrible was going on, should obey the prince. Because God has placed that prince there. It is very much a partnership and those two spheres was what Augustine was talking about.