I am woefully ill-read on the reformation and subsequent development of the movements that grew out of it (I'll get to it in a few decades when I'm done with the first four centuries of the church) but I think I'm comfortable saying what you have described is too many Lutherans. We need to have an Olympics-meets-church-council competition featuring representatives of the different branches; medalists get to go on calling their branches "Lutheranism" (but hereafter "Gold Lutheranism, Silver Lutheranism, etc) and the rest need to adopt new verbiage. An ecumenical council of non-reformed judges will preside in the interest of fairness.
More seriously, I absolutely love the call for honesty and curiosity in our scholarship. I've been actively working through a lot of thoughts this past week or two on how to gracefully and lovingly communicate serious and fundamental differences of belief with friends and loved ones, and a call to loving curiosity feels like exactly the right advice at the right time.
I am woefully ill-read on the reformation and subsequent development of the movements that grew out of it (I'll get to it in a few decades when I'm done with the first four centuries of the church) but I think I'm comfortable saying what you have described is too many Lutherans. We need to have an Olympics-meets-church-council competition featuring representatives of the different branches; medalists get to go on calling their branches "Lutheranism" (but hereafter "Gold Lutheranism, Silver Lutheranism, etc) and the rest need to adopt new verbiage. An ecumenical council of non-reformed judges will preside in the interest of fairness.
More seriously, I absolutely love the call for honesty and curiosity in our scholarship. I've been actively working through a lot of thoughts this past week or two on how to gracefully and lovingly communicate serious and fundamental differences of belief with friends and loved ones, and a call to loving curiosity feels like exactly the right advice at the right time.
Haha yes. I think that this was tried once upon a time in Europe, only with broader Christianity. And it didn’t turn out too well 😉
I’m so glad it resonated! I’m really on a kick lately with how our scholarship can be something is formed by and forming us in the life of virtue. 😁😊