AboutBrad Varvil Expertise I am happy to field questions regarding Lutheran theology and practice, and it's context
within the western catholic tradition. General questions on the Christian faith are also
welcome.
Experience I have served in lay ministry for over ten years, and am currently a pastor in a small, confessional Lutheran communion in the Evangelical Catholic tradition. I have worked with several Lutheran and non-Lutheran communions over the years, and have a particular fondness for catholic ecumenism.
Education/Credentials I have a BA in Religion and Philosophy from a small midwestern Lutheran college, and am completing an M.Div. at a small, independent, Lutheran seminary in the Pacific Northwest.
Question Do all Lutherans teach that the Catholic church is the whore of BAbylon and that the pope is the antichrist because that is what luther thought?
Answer Dear Hasani,
It is important to keep Luther in his context. During the 16th century, and for several centuries leading up to his time, the Pope was as much a political world ruler as he was a clergyman... and some might argue, he was more political than religious in many instances. When the popes of Luther's time and prior attempted to murder those with simple piety and reflection on Christ, who often could not stomach the political corruption of the church in their day, we see at work in such popes a spirit of anti-christ.
So, to be even handed about the whole affair, we must recognize that the Roman Catholic Church of today is not the same critter that it was during the late middle ages. The Pope does not pretend to have total dictatorial power over every world government and leader anymore, and they don't use death sentences and torture to stiffle voices of reform that point out religious or political excess. Also, we should recognize that the Lutheran Christians are not the same today as they were then, either-- we're not fighting for our lives and watching our loved ones burned at the stake for reading Bibles in the common language, and we need not be bound by the vicious polemical language of that time.
Today, Lutherans still see an excess in Roman practice, when the Pope arrogates to himself total dictatorial power over the whole Christian Church, forcing all Christians to receive whatever he says whenever he says it, as an ill omen in the Church. Personally, I have a lot of respect for Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, but I think their respective theology of the Church is somewhat flawed. Because of that flaw, Christians in the Roman Church are always at significant risk of dealing with a bad pope rising to power someday, and facing the same persecution Luther did back in the 16th century. In fact, I think there are several recent Roman mystics who allude to this same potential problem.
Today, I and many other Lutherans, would say something along these lines: when the pope walks in the light of Christ, exhibiting the marks of faith, hope, and love, we are happy to walk with him in Christian brotherhood. When he does not, we will not walk with him in unity, no matter what he thinks the power of his office is. And so, we cannot pledge eternal fealty to the pope, knowing the great and horrible sins propagated by the papacy over time, but we can say that we will walk with any true Christian brother in our own time, be they pope or otherwise.
