Expert: Martin W. Eldred - 5/16/2009

Question
what are the differences between the two?

Answer
Kyle:

Thank you for your question.  I will try and give you a brief outline of the basics of Lutheran history and theology.

Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic monk, priest, and Doctor of Theology in sixteen century Germany.  The Reformation, as it is now called, started by Luther's honest and pious efforts at calling attention to some needs for reform from within the church.  What he had not calculated was the extent of the political and traditional minefield in which he was entering.  The eventual break with Rome, therefore, was in Luther's mind, was a necessary evil given the human realities of the day.  Many early Lutheran theologians saw themselves less as a separate church or denomination and more as a reforming movement of the church that would eventually reunite with Rome.  One way to say it is that since Luther was the first successful break from Rome, the apple didn't fall to far from the tree, so to speak.

That being said, Luther and the early Lutheran theologians sought to change as little as possible.  Worship was, at first, still called, The Mass with all its liturgical portions.  Lutheran worship today still essentially follows that pattern, thus Lutherans and Roman Catholics can attend one another's worship and find most of it to be familiar.

Luther did change the number of sacraments from seven to two- Baptism and Holy Communion-using the formula that a sacrament should be first, instituted and commanded by Christ himself and second, serve as a means of grace, that is Gods forgiveness is given through it.

Luther and Lutherans gave up praying to saints and the necessity of confessing to a priest as unnecessary, embracing instead a direct, open communication with God through Jesus Christ directly.  One radical change was that the believer could pray, and confess sins directly to God through prayer.  Individual and corporate confession, often with the pastor leading, was not abandoned, juts not held as the only way.

Another big change was the emphasis on the priesthood of all believers whereby all Christians, not matter their vocation (from the Latin for, calling) are to be seen as equally important and holy before God.  A pastors/priests call is no more important or holy than the bakers, just different.

While there are many differences, the are far more similarities and over the past few years we have become much more cooperative with each other.  This way, we can do more to help people together instead of fighting about what keeps us apart.

I hope that this helps.

Martin