The Lutheran Church Past and Present [antikvár]

P R E F A C E This book is a presentation of the world-wide Lutheran church. Theologians and church leaders describe the past and present situation of their own church using historical and theological analyses and portray her specific task which has been handed down from the Reformation. Such an undertaking carries with it a certain risk. First of all, in such a limited space only a selection of relevant problems can be dealt with. The authors and the editor hope, however, that they have made a representative choice with regard to subject which will satisfy both the expert on the Lutheran church as well as those readers who are not of the Lutheran tradition. There is however, perhaps a risk in the fact that no "outside" opinion is expressed in this book. It might be asked whether we know ourselves sufficiently and whether unconscious characteristics, which certainly belong to the phenomenon of Lutheranism, as they do to any other church, might not be brought more appropriately to memory by those outside of the Lutheran tradition. Nevertheless, risky as our task may be, we are of the opinion that for the Lutheran church as alsó for the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole it is of decisive importance at present how a church sees herself or at least how she would like to be understood. For this reason the identity of our church has been chosen as a study project by the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg (Francé). The plan for this book was worked out by common effort of the research staff. It is in this framework that this book seeks to fulfil its function. It is an aid to finding our own identity and attempts to clarify the question of which task is alloted to this identity within Christianity as a whole: does the "Lutheran voice" hold a special chavisma in ecumenism? How has our church made use of this opportunity? How can her genuine call for the edification of the Church of Jesus Christ be made loud again in the midst of the present conditions in a changing