Which branch of Lutheranism would Martin Luther agree with today?

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LutheranDK said:
One thing I DO believe I’m rather sure of is that Luther would not return to Catholicism. If you read Luther’s writings, it is clear that there are certain dogmas he will not abandon, no matter the cost, and among these are the Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide-doctrines.
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Luther might be pleased with some of the dialogue that has occurred on the subject of sola fide. He might also be pleased with the state of the clergy and the holiness of the recent popes.

I think he might also be persuaded AS MANY PROTESTANTS HAVE BEEN that sola scriptura is itself unbiblical.

Hard to see a reason why he would remain separated from a Church with which he might no longer disagree…
 
Genesis315 said:
Which is the most conservative and anti-Catholic? That’s the one he would join.
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He believed that Mary was the mother of God… you know all the things that Catholics believe about her.

Do any modern day Lutherans beleive this?
 
BellFarfalla,
He believed that Mary was the mother of God… you know all the things that Catholics believe about her.
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Do any modern day Lutherans beleive this?
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Most certainly. As mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has to be the mother of God.
 
BelFarfalla said:
He believed that Mary was the mother of God… you know all the things that Catholics believe about her.

Do any modern day Lutherans beleive this?
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Of course Mary was the mother of God, because she was the mother of Jesus. This is not a matter of different interpretation; it is a fact.

What is NOT a fact, however, is that this means that she was without sin, didn’t die, can intercede on our behalf, and all of the other “special powers” attributed to her.

Mary is now as dead as the keyboard I’m using to type this, as is Luther, Peter, and all others who have died from the beginning of time, until this date, and until the day of Judgement.

In Christ
 
Luther would certainly not be ELCA, simply because the ELCA has abandoned many of the central tenants of the faith which he taught. Luther might be LCMS, although I think certain things would disturb him about that church - mainly the presence of church growth movement, etc.

If we took him right out of his time and placed him in ours, without the benefit of exposing him to historical circumstance, I believe he would be a member of the Lutheran Confessional Synod. (LCMS without the liberals.) Personally I believe that if we gave him the benefit of seeing history and her debates/splits, Luther would be WELS.
 
StevenFrancis said:
None of them. I believe he would have come to abandon sola scriptura, and would have reconciled with Rome. They, did, over time, after all institute a great number of his changes.
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Not the ones he most cared about–particularly in the doctrine of justification. He had a pretty hardline stance there–I’m not sure that the recent Joint Declaration would satisfy him. Arguably the trend in Catholicism has actually been toward what Luther would consider Pelagianism–certainly the Augustinian side of Catholicism is once again in eclipse (as it was in Luther’s corner of the Catholic Church in his own day, though not necessary across the board). Of course, Augustinianism and justification by faith alone are not the same thing–Luther recognized this, but I think he thought he was taking Augustine further, where in fact he was going off in a rather different direction.
It’s my understanding that Luther did not want to split from the Catholic Church anyway.
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No one who understands the term does–except perhaps Mormons, radical fundamentalists, etc. However, Luther certainly wanted to split from the Papacy after about 1520. He considered it Antichrist. He didn’t just have “issues”–he rejected it hook, line, and sinker (after a certain point).
Many of those changes ended up happening,
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Which ones?
and I think he’d find today’s papacy just fine.
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I seriously doubt that.
If he did look at one of them at all, I suppose it would be the one that is oldest and closest to both the Catholic Church, and his ideas. He loved the liturgy, the Eucharist (and the other sacraments), Mary, the Saints etc. Much of which is very subdued and Downplayed in the modern Lutheran Church.
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Not in my experience of LCMS Lutheranism, but as Steadfast pointed out to me above the LCMS Lutherans near me are very high church.

Edwin
 
Mary is now as dead as the keyboard I’m using to type this, as is Luther, Peter, and all others who have died from the beginning of time, until this date, and until the day of Judgement.

You can’t possibly REALLY believe this,
unless you believe in the Jehovah’s Witness doctrine
of Soul-annihilation at death.

Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
 
LutheranStudent said:
Luther would certainly not be ELCA, simply because the ELCA has abandoned many of the central tenants of the faith which he taught. Luther might be LCMS, although I think certain things would disturb him about that church - mainly the presence of church growth movement, etc.

If we took him right out of his time and placed him in ours, without the benefit of exposing him to historical circumstance, I believe he would be a member of the Lutheran Confessional Synod. (LCMS without the liberals.) Personally I believe that if we gave him the benefit of seeing history and her debates/splits, Luther would be WELS.
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I think if we gave Luthur the benifit of history and her debates, he would have left his reformationist philosophy and returned to that as defined by Rome.
 
Lampo said:
Would he be a Missouri Synod Lutheran? Wisconsin Synod? ELCA? All of them?
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Um, Luther’s theological views varied widely throughout his life. Depending on his theological view, probably any of them at some point throughout his life. And even the Catholic Church, when he was younger.
 
Remember that in Luther’s day, the printing press was new. When he was training to be a priest, he didn’t have access to the vast writings we can pull up on the internet or order on Amazon.com today. Priests in Luther’s day were relatively poorly educated by today’s standards.

Luther was a brilliant man and I have great respect for him. However, when I was coming into the RCC, our priest discussed the reformation during RCIA and summed it up as, “there was plenty of sin to go around on all sides.” In my opinion, the big sin that caused the reformation was pride: on all sides. So, if Luther came back today, which church he would choose to affiliate himself with would depend upon whether or not he’s overcome his pride issues or if he’s still in purgatory struggling with them! I’m sure, if he is, that he’ll be meeting me there and we can struggle with it together!
 
Well, considering that Luther praised Mary as “ever-Virgin,” and insisted on private confession, he might choose “neither of the above,” as far as LCMS or ELCA, although the former would definitely be closer.

I think it was the late Jaroslav Pelikan who quipped that the ELCA was becoming Methodist and the LCMS was becoming Baptist. Too many LCMS congregations are getting rid of the liturgy and becoming mega-church wanna-bes.

I have come to see the Reformation as a tragedy. Perhaps, in God’s providence, it was the wake-up call that the Church in Luther’s day needed to clean up its act in the Catholic Reformation.
 
Now if I were a cynical catholic polemicist, I might make a crack that Luther today would join one of those separatist Mormon groups out in Utah so he could have multiple wives! But of course, I’m not such a crank, am I?

Assuming the best of the man, I think Contarini is on to something!
 
Since none of the Lutheran Churches I know about teach anti-Semitism, he’d probably reject them all.
 
Since none of the Lutheran Churches I know about teach anti-Semitism, he’d probably reject them all.
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Martin Luther was a product of his times. Anti-Semitism was hardly something original with Luther in those days. If he were here today it’s hard to say where he would be. Speculation about what he might be today based on what he was and what he wrote in the 16th century is probably pointless. 🤷
 
gcnuss said:
Martin Luther was a product of his times. Anti-Semitism was hardly something original with Luther in those days. If he were here today it’s hard to say where he would be. Speculation about what he might be today based on what he was and what he wrote in the 16th century is probably pointless. 🤷
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Some have speculated that Luther’s anti-Semitic writings may have contributed to the early 20th century anti-Semitism - and eventually the political climate in Germany that gave us the holocaust.
 
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