Do Lutherans have pictures like Catholics do?

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joe371 said:
Wow, I am shocked…I suppose it depends on which Lutheran church you attend…
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The old ones in Europe are pretty decked out. The ones in America, not so much. Similar to the iconoclast Catholic churches around here in Green Bay when the bishop about 30 years ago decided Calvin was right.
 
Per_Crucem said:
The old ones in Europe are pretty decked out. The ones in America, not so much. Similar to the iconoclast Catholic churches around here in Green Bay when the bishop about 30 years ago decided Calvin was right.
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I have often wondered why certain non-Catholics object to pics/statues of the saints e.g. Mary, all the while owning a nativity scene, usually statues…:confused:
 
joe371 said:
I have often wondered why certain non-Catholics object to pics/statues of the saints e.g. Mary, all the while owning a nativity scene, usually statues…:confused:
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Depends. I think most object more to the veneration aspect than the actual statue. Though some, like the very strict Reformed churches, won’t have any images (nativity or otherwise).
 
Per_Crucem said:
Depends. I think most object more to the veneration aspect than the actual statue. Though some, like the very strict Reformed churches, won’t have any images (nativity or otherwise).
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My only question is: why would a protestant think that catholics worship the mother of God? 🤷 The simple answer: they are being lied to…:eek:
 
joe371 said:
Wow, I am shocked…I suppose it depends on which Lutheran church you attend…
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Christians from north America are also shocked when they see the interiors of Lutheran parishes in Europe, especially the attention provided the Blessed Virgin. Some of these churches were built before the Reformation so the emphasis was on depictions of Christ and the saints. After the Bible was printed into German the religious art was less ornate but Lutherans continued to build churches with some devotion to the Virgin Mary. We don’t see much art in our modern churches.
 
Now of days, we are lucky to even see a corpus of Christ in north America Lutheran churches.
 
joe371 said:
My only question is: why would a protestant think that catholics worship the mother of God? 🤷 The simple answer: they are being lied to…:eek:
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It’s never been a charge that we laid at the feet of the medieval church. Our objection to the invocation of the saints had more to do with the underlying theology behind it at the time of the Reformation, than to the use of images or the idea of those asleep in Christ praying for us.
 
EvangelCatholic said:
Christians from north America are also shocked when they see the interiors of Lutheran parishes in Europe, especially the attention provided the Blessed Virgin. Some of these churches were built before the Reformation so the emphasis was on depictions of Christ and the saints. After the Bible was printed into German the religious art was less ornate but Lutherans continued to build churches with some devotion to the Virgin Mary. We don’t see much art in our modern churches.
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Not Lutheran, but a similar example. This is the high altar of the Cathedral in the city where I currently live: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Christ_Church_Cathedral_altar.jpg
 
Per_Crucem said:
It’s never been a charge that we laid at the feet of the medieval church. Our objection to the invocation of the saints had more to do with the underlying theology behind it at the time of the Reformation, than to the use of images or the idea of those asleep in Christ praying for us.
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In your opinion, what was the underlying theology of the Catholic Church regarding the invocation of the saints at the time of the Reformation? :confused:
 
joe371 said:
In your opinion, what was the underlying theology of the Catholic Church regarding the invocation of the saints at the time of the Reformation? :confused:
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Very different than what it is today. Superstition, primarily.
 
Triptychs are a common regilious article in old Lutheran churches; even in more modern parishes in Europe.
 
This is more common in America; a somewhat small crucifix or none at all 🤷
 
joe371 said:
For example…?
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For example Luther critiqued the “festival of relics” at the Mainz Cathedral because the relics were closely tied to the sale of indulgences and the bilking of people out of their money to help build the cathedral.

He writes about it in his Works:
On September 15, 1521, Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz celebrated the annual festival of relics at his newly built cathedral, the Church of St. Moritz and Mary Magdalene in Halle, with the official announcement that indulgences would be granted to all visitors to the exhibition of relics. Anyone who prayed at a shrine and gave alms was promised an indulgence of four thousand years; anyone who confessed his sins to one of the priests hearing confessions in the cathedral during the ten days of the celebration would receive a plenary indulgence. Pope Leo X had issued a bull in 1519 granting the cathedral of Halle the same privileges granted to the Church of St. Peter in Rome: its confessors were authorized to absolve cases usually absolved only by the apostolic see in Rome; in addition, they could convert vows into financial contributions for the completion of the Halle cathedral—privileges not unusual in the established indulgence practice of the Roman curia. (LW 39:241).
*
 
House_Harkonnen said:
For example Luther critiqued the “festival of relics” at the Mainz Cathedral because the relics were closely tied to the sale of indulgences and the bilking of people out of their money to help build the cathedral.

He writes about it in his Works:
On September 15, 1521, Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz celebrated the annual festival of relics at his newly built cathedral, the Church of St. Moritz and Mary Magdalene in Halle, with the official announcement that indulgences would be granted to all visitors to the exhibition of relics. Anyone who prayed at a shrine and gave alms was promised an indulgence of four thousand years; anyone who confessed his sins to one of the priests hearing confessions in the cathedral during the ten days of the celebration would receive a plenary indulgence. Pope Leo X had issued a bull in 1519 granting the cathedral of Halle the same privileges granted to the Church of St. Peter in Rome: its confessors were authorized to absolve cases usually absolved only by the apostolic see in Rome; in addition, they could convert vows into financial contributions for the completion of the Halle cathedral—privileges not unusual in the established indulgence practice of the Roman curia. (LW 39:241).
*
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Thank God abuses were not…and are not a part of the official teachings of the Catholic Church…
 
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