High Church Lutheranism is a movement that began in 20th-century Europe and emphasizes worship practices and doctrines that are similar to those found within both Roman Catholicism and the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism. In the more general usage of the term, it describes the general High Church characteristics of Lutheranism in the Nordic countries such as Sweden, Finland, and the Baltics. The mentioned countries, once a part of the Swedish Empire, have more markedly preserved Catholic traditions.
The terms High Church and Low Church were historically applied to particular liturgical and theological groups within Anglicanism. The theological differences within Lutheranism have not been nearly so marked as those within the Anglican Communion; Lutherans have historically been unified in the doctrine expressed in the Book of Concord. However, quite early in Lutheranism, polarities began to develop owing to the influence of the Reformed tradition, leading to so-called "Crypto-Calvinism". The Pietist movement in the 17th century also moved the Lutheran church further in a direction that would be considered "low church" by Anglican standards. Pietism and rationalism led not only to the simplification or even elimination of certain ceremonial elements,[1] such as the use of vestments,[2] but also to less frequent celebration of the Eucharist, by the end of the era of Lutheran Orthodoxy. There has been very little iconoclasm in Lutheran churches and church buildings have often remained richly furnished. Some monasteries also continued as Lutheran after the Reformation. Loccum Abbey and Amelungsborn Abbey in Germany have the longest traditions as Lutheran monasteries.
In old church orders, however there was much variation which could now be described as "high church" or "low church". One example of the more Catholic ones is the Swedish Church Ordinance 1571. The Agenda of the church order of Margraviate of Brandenburg (1540) contained unusually rich provision for ceremonial usages.[3] The legacy of Brandenburgian Lutheranism was later visible in Old Lutherans' resistance to compromise in the doctrine of Real Presence. Other church orders following closely to pre-Reformation rites and ceremonies were Palatinate-Neuburg (1543, retaining a eucharistic prayer[4]) and Austria (1571, prepared by David Chytraeus).[5]
In Europe, after long influence of Pietism, theological rationalism, and finally, 19th century German Neo-Protestantism, a ground for 20th-century High Church or Evangelical Catholic Movement developed. The terms "High Church" (Evangelical Catholic) and "Low Church" (Confessing Evangelical) began to be used to describe differences within the Lutheran tradition. However, this terminology is not necessarily as characteristic for a Lutheran's identity as it often is for an Anglican.[7]
Sometimes there is a distinction made between Nordic style Lutheranism and German style Lutheranism, with the latter being more influenced by pietism and the former having both retained and later also revived more of its pre-Reformation liturgy and practices and therefore being more high church. Examples of this are well-preserved church interiors, apostolic succession, and a clear episcopal structure. Although the name Nordic is used, it is actually mostly applicable to Sweden and Finland, and to a lesser extent, to Estonia and Latvia because those countries were part of the Swedish empire and were therefore the jurisdiction of the Church of Sweden.The other Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were under the influence of Danish rule in which the German form is dominant.[citation needed]
High church movements
The roots of 20th-century Lutheran High Church Movement are in 19th century neo-Lutheranism, confessional Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, and the Liturgical Movement. The Lutheran high church movement has been much less significant than, for example, Anglo-Catholicism within the Anglican Communion. High church Lutheranism has often been (especially in Scandinavian churches) a theologically orthodox revival movement at least among clergy, with a strong ecclesiology, standing in opposition to State church and "Folk church" ideologies, which parallel Erastianism within Anglican Church. In this respect there are resemblances to the Oxford Movement in Anglicanism. The range within High Church Movement varies across a spectrum from moderate to papalist. The Second Vatican Council led to a breakthrough for the High Church Movement, which is slowly gaining support.[8]
In Northern Europe, the term High Church has been often used pejoratively,[9] and was not necessarily ever used by pioneers of the movement, who identified themselves as Catholics of the Augsburg Confession. Nevertheless, the term "high church" has established itself at least in Sweden and Germany. Especially in North America, term "high church" is avoided, because it is seen to not take seriously Lutheran confession and historical tradition as evangelical Catholic.[10] The term "high church" has also been criticized by theologians like Hermann Sasse (in German context) as not to integrate itself into authentic Lutheran tradition. Among "low church" Liberal Protestant, Protestant, Confessing Evangelical, or Pietist Lutherans, Evangelical Catholic Lutheranism is seen as a violation of Reformation ideals[citation needed].
While the Church authorities have often by various actions tried to prevent the formation of Catholic parishes within the European State Churches, the Catholic movement has been preserved by many confraternities, religious orders, and monastic communities. It is growing in countries such as Norway.[11]
High Church movements have in some cases, especially in Northern Europe, fallen into crisis because of the issue of ordination of women. In Norway the issue has resulted in the establishment of the Nordic Catholic Church. In Germany, on the other hand, the primary issue has been the lack of historical episcopate and apostolic succession.
Nevertheless, the Catholic movement has influenced whole church bodies, and in some cases has developed liberal expressions. The liturgical emphasis does not always indicate Catholic Lutheranism, because in the Lutheran Church, the Liturgical Movement apart from the Catholic movement has been influential. Thus in Europe a certain amount of "high church" interest has been based on aesthetics, tastes in paraments, vestments, and ceremonies, without any theological argumentation or sense of historical continuity. Similarly, interest in mediaeval church buildings may have no concerns regarding the theology behind the form of worship taking place within these buildings.
Sweden
Historically Sweden, including the former Swedish province of Finland, has had a more elaborate form of liturgy, which preserved more links to the medieval catholic tradition than other Nordic countries. Hence the most remarkable Lutheran high-church movement by its influence on the whole church body has been in the Church of Sweden, influenced at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries by the Anglo-Catholic part of the Church of England. The first religious order within the high church movement was the Societas Sanctae Birgittae, and it still exists. The movement spread intensively through the activity of Gunnar Rosendal, the hymn writer Olov Hartman, and the retreat director Jan Redin. The more subtle high church influence of Bishop Bo Giertz has been remarkable especially among Pietists. The early high church movement caused the emergence of retreat centres, more frequent celebration of the Mass, and lively historical-critical study of the Bible.
The strong social passion of the Catholic Movement within Church of England never took root in the same way in Sweden.[12]
The ordination of women as clergy began in 1958, and caused a split within the Swedish high church party. One branch with liberal leanings accepted this step while the other did not. Later, one of the leading figures of the high church movement was Bishop emeritus Bertil Gärtner who was against the ordination of women. He was successor to Bo Giertz as bishop of Gothenburg. He died in 2009. His role in the High Church movement fell on Bishop emeritus Biörn Fjärstedt, the former bishop of Visby.
In Germany, the high church movement is much smaller than in Sweden. Because of several unions between Lutheran and Reformed churches since the Prussian Union, resulting in the simple spread of Calvinist concepts from the Reformed Churches by "osmosis", Lutheranism has often taken on a Reformed context. The high church movement within the Evangelical Church in Germany has been much less influential than in Sweden and perhaps less integrated to the state Lutheran tradition. Still the movement is strongly involved in ecumenism and the Liturgical Movement.
The 19th-century Old Lutheran and also Neo-Lutheran (e.g. Charles Porterfield Krauth) influence in North America was strong. The missionary work of Wilhelm Loehe, from Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, Germany, did much to contribute to Lutheran liturgical renewal in Germany and beyond.[15] Loehe's influence can be seen in the Lutheran migration to Australia and North America. In North America this was seen in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Iowa Synod.
Valparaiso University, an independent Lutheran institution, has also continued in its own evangelical catholic tradition. The development of this tradition is a unique blend between the movements within the various Lutheran church bodies. Students play a key role in crafting these services. Another significant contributor to the evangelical catholic values of Valparaiso University is the presence of the annual Liturgical Institute on its campus.
In North America, Lutheran liturgical renewal has also been seen in such organizations as the defunct St. James Society, the journal The Bride of Christ, the journal Gottesdienst, the defunct journal Motley Magpie, the Society of the Holy Trinity, the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood (influenced by German Evangelisch-Lutherische Gebetsbruderschaft), the Society of Saint Polycarp, the Society for the Preservation of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy, and the Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The most fundamental division in evangelical catholic circles is between those who are determined to remain Lutheran and those who are at least willing to consider that their catholicity might one day edge into Roman Catholicism.[19]
On February 21, 2011, it became public that Catholic authorities in Rome have invited the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church to join the Catholic Church through the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus and that the ALCC has officially and unconditionally accepted that invitation.[20]
Other countries
The Church of Norway is generally pietistic. The Pietism movement in Norway (embodied to a great extent by the Haugean movement fostered by Hans Nielsen Hauge) has served to reduce the distance between lay and clergy in Norway. The high church movement is more isolated and much smaller than in Sweden. It has been promoted by Ordo Crucis, Bønne- og arbeidsfellesskapet Kirkelig Fornyelse, Pro Ecclesia, and Samråd på Kirkens Grunn.
Through ecumenism, evangelical catholic ideas have been accepted more widely in academic theology, e.g. recent ecumenical Lutheran research in the Finnish School of Tuomo Mannermaa has begun to see Martin Luther as a Catholic teacher. This school of thought includes also Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson. Roman Catholic view of Luther in research has changed to positive since Joseph Lortz. In 1976 Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) suggested that the Augsburg Confession might possibly be recognized as a Catholic statement of faith. This however did not happen.[22] Within evangelical catholic Lutheranism, there has been less movement towards Roman Catholicism than within Anglo-Catholicism. Owing to liberalism in Lutheran churches, some well known Lutheran theologians, such as Richard John Neuhaus and Reinhard Hütter, have become Roman Catholic while others, such as Jaroslav Pelikan, have joined the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Theology and spirituality
The aim of the Evangelical Catholics is to recover the liturgical and confessional heritage of Lutheranism in continuity with the broad tradition that includes Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox.[19] The Movement stresses certain elements of the Church: Dogma, sacraments, hierarchy and ordained ministry, liturgy and continuity of the Church, all of which are traditional Lutheran theology, but were thought to have been neglected because of Pietism and the Age of Enlightenment. There is also emphasis on Catholic concept of priesthood and apostolic succession, ecumenism and Mariology. The Catholic concept of priesthood and continuity of the Church sets the movement apart from mainline Lutheranism and the ecumenical openness for some extent distincts the movement from Confessional Lutheranism. The approach to worship may also significantly vary within Confessional Lutheranism.
By theological emphasis the High Church Movement may vary from one country to another. The classical manifesto of the Scandinavian high church revival program is "Kyrklig förnyelse" by Gunnar Rosendal (1935). In its beginning the German high church movement was inspired by the 95 theses "Stimuli et Clavi" by pastor Heinrich Hansen (1917).
Evangelical Catholic spirituality is characteristically more theocentric and christocentric than that of Pietist, rationalistic, and Liberal Protestant Lutheranism. In addition to the Theology of the Cross there is usually emphasis on Christus Victor, which makes it clear that Easter is more important than Good Friday. Theocentricism makes salvation history and the cycle of the church year important, from point of view of the incarnation.
These stresses have created the need to give an evangelical interpretation to the sacrifice of the Mass in order to provide a more theocentric view to Real presence. E.g. in Sweden there has been discovering of Laurentius Petri´s theology on the sacrifice of the Mass.[24][25] According to Wilhelm Loehe, "the whole of Lutheranism is contained in the Sacrament of the Altar. Here all of the chief doctrines of Christianity, especially those highlighted by the Reformation, have their focal point."[26] In evangelical catholic spirituality the Mass is thus considered the heart of Christianity as it encapsulates the one, but eternally efficacious, sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.
One divide within high church Lutheranism is in the matter of the direction of the liturgy. Some follow the understanding of liturgy as "work of the people" whereas others follow the understanding of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV which states that the liturgy is not a sacrifice but squares with the public ministry. A common hallmark of this divergence is the preference of the term "Divine Service" for the liturgy of Holy Communion (from Gottesdienst, Gudstjaenst, Jumalanpalvelus) among those who see the liturgy as chiefly the service of Christ for the Church. This divergence in liturgical theology is also manifested in debates on the eucharistic prayers, the epiclesis, and the role of the laity in the liturgy.
The praying of the Divine office is also characteristic to high church Lutheran spirituality. Confession as a sacrament is part of Lutheran tradition and is not considered unique to "high church". A small number of evangelical catholic congregations reaffirm Melanchthon's wider use of the word "sacrament" (in the Apology and in Loci Communes) by considering Holy Matrimony, Unction, Confirmation, and Holy Orders to be Sacraments.
Liturgical practices
Formal liturgy based on the western Catholic Mass with varying degrees of chanting, the use of organ music, crucifixes, silver chalices, hosts and the use of vestments for Holy Communion has always been characteristic of Lutheran worship. The use of hosts has been an important way to express belief in Real presence. The return of the weekly Mass, sign of the cross, eucharistic prayer and regular use of vestments in all churches are results of the liturgical movement, but things like altar servers, Gospel processions, incense, aspersions, a complete eucharistic prayer (i.e. including the epiclesis rather than merely Christ's Words of Institution) are regarded as "high church". Also genuflection, together with the elevation of the host and chalice, is often regarded among more Protestant-minded Lutherans as Roman Catholic practices, although Martin Luther himself held these practices [27] and they were part of early Lutheranism. In Lutheran churches the use of altar bells during the elevation (to draw the attention of the congregation during the Words of Institution) was occasionally practiced until the 18th century.[4][28] Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the moment of Elevation is also a Lutheran practice.[29] However, except in special occasions of Swedish High Church societies[30] and among the most high-church of the North American Lutheran Churches like the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is seldom practised, even in high church circles. Unlike in Anglican Church, use of "fiddleback" chasubles are not seen as an adherence to Roman Catholic practice, because they were traditionally used in Lutheran churches in Germany until the Enlightenment and in Nordic countries until the Liturgical movement. Today they are more rare and are not necessarily favoured by clergy in Nordic countries because of the associations with the former era of liturgical decline.
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation.
Mass is the main eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church, as well as in Anglican, Methodist, Western Rite Orthodox, and Old Catholic churches.
Anglo-Catholicism, Anglican Catholicism, or Catholic Anglicanism comprises people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The Paschal Triduum, Holy Triduum, or Easter Triduum, or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. It recalls the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
"High church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality and resistance to "modernisation". Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originated in and has been principally associated with the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, where it describes Anglican churches using a number of ritual practices associated in the popular mind with Roman Catholicism. The opposite is low church. Contemporary media discussing Anglican churches tend to prefer evangelical to "low church", and Anglo-Catholic to "high church", though the terms do not exactly correspond. Other contemporary denominations that contain high church wings include some Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches.
Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. Although the term liturgy is used to mean public worship in general, the Byzantine Rite uses the term "Divine Liturgy" to denote the Eucharistic service.
In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour and homage to God. In the New Testament, various words are used to refer to the term worship. One is proskuneo which means to bow down to God or kings.
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A minority within the RCUS remained out of the merger in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches (CC) to form the United Church of Christ (UCC).
Neo-Lutheranism was a 19th-century revival movement within Lutheranism which began with the Pietist driven Erweckung, or Awakening, and developed in reaction against theological rationalism and pietism. This movement followed the Old Lutheran movement and focused on a reassertion of the identity of Lutherans as a distinct group within the broader community of Christians, with a renewed focus on the Lutheran Confessions as a key source of Lutheran doctrine. Associated with these changes was a renewed focus on traditional doctrine and liturgy, which paralleled the growth of Anglo-Catholicism in England. It was sometimes even called "German Puseyism". In the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, neo-Lutheranism was paralleled by Johann Adam Möhler. The chief literary organ of the neo-Lutheranism was Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, edited by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg.
The term Evangelical Catholic is used in Lutheranism, alongside the term Augsburg Catholic, with those calling themselves Evangelical Catholic Lutherans or Lutherans of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship stressing the catholicity of historic Lutheranism in liturgy, beliefs, practices, and doctrines. Evangelical Catholics teach that Lutheranism at its core "is deeply and fundamentally catholic". The majority of Evangelical Catholic Lutheran clergy and Evangelical Catholic Lutheran parishes are members of mainstream Lutheran denominations.
The Liturgical Movement began as a 19th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship within the Roman Catholic Church. It has developed over the last century and a half and has affected many other Christian churches, including the Church of England and other churches of the Anglican Communion, and some Protestant churches. A similar reform in the Church of England and Anglican Communion, known as the Oxford Movement, began to change theology and liturgy in the United Kingdom and United States in the mid-nineteenth century. The Liturgical Movement has been one of the major influences on the process of the Ecumenical Movement, in favor of reversing the divisions which began at the Reformation.
Catholicity is a concept pertaining to beliefs and practices widely accepted across numerous Christian denominations, most notably those that describe themselves as Catholic in accordance with the Four Marks of the Church, as expressed in the Nicene Creed of the First Council of Constantinople in 381: "[I believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."
Lutheranism is present on all inhabited continents with an estimated 80 million adherents, out of which 74.2 million are affiliated with the Lutheran World Federation. A major movement that first began the Reformation, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant branches claiming around 80 million out of 920 million Protestants. The Lutheran World Federation brings together the vast majority of Lutherans. Apart from it, there are also other organisations such as the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as multiple independent Lutheran denominations.
Gunnar Rosendal was a Swedish Lutheran priest, Doctor of Theology, and parish priest of Osby. Through his books promoting High Church Lutheran theology and spirituality, especially Kyrklig förnyelse (1935), he became a leading and disputed figure of the Catholic movement in the Church of Sweden.
Hochkirchliche Vereinigung Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses is a Lutheran High Church organisation in Germany. It was founded in Berlin, October 1918, inspired by High Church theses Stimuli et Clavi 1917 by Heinrich Hansen. Later it has been greatly influenced by Evangelical Catholic theology of professor Friedrich Heiler.
Kyrklig förnyelse is a manifesto of the Scandinavian Lutheran High Church movement, written by Swedish priest Gunnar Rosendal.
Anglican interest in ecumenical dialogue can be traced back to the time of the Reformation and dialogues with both Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the Oxford Movement, there arose greater concern for reunion of the churches of "Catholic confession". This desire to work towards full communion with other denominations led to the development of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, approved by the Third Lambeth Conference of 1888. The four points were stipulated as the basis for church unity, "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing made towards Home Reunion":
The Seal of the Confessional is a Christian doctrine which affirms the special protection and privilege of the words spoken during confession between a penitent and his or her pastor. A form of this principle exists in the doctrine and practice of many modern Lutheran churches.
The Augustana Catholic Church (ACC), formerly the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (ALCC) and the Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran (ECCL), is an American church in the Lutheran Evangelical Catholic tradition. The ACC says it is unique among Lutheran churches in that it is of both Lutheran and Anglo-Catholic heritage and has also been significantly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. The church was founded in 1997 by former members of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Its headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ACC has long had a policy of seeking union with the Roman Catholic Church and announced in 2011 that it would accept the conditions of Anglicanorum coetibus and join the personal ordinariates as they are established. Later developments on limitations of joining the ordinariate caused the ACC to hold their offer while they established intercommunion with groups such as the Old Roman Catholic Church of North America. The church claims a membership in excess of 60,000 in 12 countries.
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism that identifies with the teachings of Martin Luther, a 16th-century German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation. The reaction of the government and church authorities to the international spread of his writings, beginning with the 95 Theses, divided Western Christianity. During the Reformation Lutheranism became the state religion of numerous states of Northern Europe, especially in northern Germany and the Nordic countries, Lutheran clergy became civil servants and the Lutheran churches became part of the state.
↑ Nordic Folk Churches: A Contemporary Church History. By Björn Ryman, Gunnar Heiene, Aila Lauha. Published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2005 ISBN0-8028-2879-5, p. 145
↑ Högkyrkligheten i Sverige och Finland under 1900-talet by Bengt Ingmar Kilström. Helsingborg 1990, ISBN91-7830-052-5, p. 9
↑ Lutheran Ceremonia by John W. Berg. Motley Magpie Volume 1, Number 2, March 2003
Sasse, Hermann: “A Brotherly Warning Against the ‘High Church’ Danger,” translated by M.C. Harrison in The Lonely Way: Selected Letters and Essays (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2002), pgs. 304-305.
Heiser, James D. Stewards of the Mysteries of God, Repristination Press, 2011. ISBN978-1-891469-41-1
Giewald, A. & Thomann, G. "The Lutheran High Church Movement in Germany and its liturgical work: an introduction", Lulu.com, 2011. ISBN978-1-4709-7378-0
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