The Encyclopedia of World Religions

270 S Lutheranism

rist Jesus’ body and blood are really present, regardless of the faith of the person who eats the bread and drinks the wine. Lutheran worship services generally preserve the form of the Catholic Mass, but they have always been in the ordinary language of the peo ple. Lutheran worship also has a distinctive tra dition of hymn writing and singing that stretches back to Luther himself. ORGANIZATION Lutheran congregations belong to state and national churches. No official, council, or organi zation has authority over all Lutheran churches. Lutherans often call those in charge of the churches in a specific region “bishops.” The power of bishops is balanced by elections both within individual congregations and in regional and national assemblies. Each Lutheran congregation has one or more ordained ministers, who may be married. At the beginning of the 21st century, Lutherans were split over whether women could be ministers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America accepted women ministers. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod did not. SIGNIFICANCE Lutheranism has been most important in Ger many, Scandinavia, and places where emigrants from those countries settled in sizable numbers. It has not, however, had great influence on the broader currents of American religious history. In the United States the most influential form of Prot estantism has tended instead to be Calvinism. Further reading: Richard Cimino, ed., Lutherans Today: American Lutheran Identity in the Twenty first Century (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 2003); Eric W. Gritsch, Fortress Introduction to Lutheranism (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1994); Martin E. Marty, Lutheranism: A Restatement in Question and Answer Form (Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1995).

say that, while the Bible may contain historical and scientific errors, what is important is the message underlying the biblical account. Lutherans also accept a distinct set of writings known as “confessions.” After the ancient CREEDS , two writings from the Reformation are the most important confessions: the Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Small Catechism is a book Luther wrote to teach the basics of Christianity to children. The Augsburg Confession is an account of Lutheran beliefs that Lutherans presented to the Holy Roman Emperor at Augsburg in 1530. Lutherans insist on one basic principle: SALVA TION by GRACE through FAITH . They teach that peo ple are sinners and cannot earn a proper relation ship with God. Therefore, God sent his son J ESUS to establish that proper relationship. This proper relationship is given freely as a gift. Human beings do not need to do any “good works” in order to receive it. They simply have to accept God’s gift. This acceptance is known as faith. To express these ideas, Lutherans often dis tinguish between “law” and “gospel.” The law is what a person must do. It is useful, for example, in governing people. But following the law cannot save people. The gospel is the message of God’s gift of salvation. PRACTICES Traditionally, Lutherans talk about two “means” or ways by which human beings receive God’s grace. They call them “Word” and SACRAMENT . “Word” refers to communicating the gospel. In Lutheran worship services this takes place in two main ways: through readings from the Bible and through the PREACHING of a sermon. “Sacrament” refers to two acts that Lutherans say were established by Jesus himself: BAPTISM and the E UCHARIST . Lutherans insist that both sacra ments are effective not because they are human acts but because in them God gives his grace to human beings. In keeping with this view, Luther ans continued the Catholic practice of baptizing infants. They have also insisted that in the Eucha