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| Purchase Norma Boeckler's illustrated Augsburg Confession here. |
The Augsburg Confession was presented on June 25, 1530. Like all faithful confessions, every effort was made to silence the confessors and keep the words from being heard.
From Wiki:
"The emperor had ordered the confession to be presented to him at the next session, 24 June; but when the Protestant princes asked that it be read in public, their petition was refused, and efforts were made to prevent the public reading of the document altogether. The Protestant princes, however, declared that they would not part with the confession until its reading should be allowed. The 25th was then fixed for the day of its presentation. In order to exclude the people, the little chapel of the episcopal palace was appointed in place of the spacious city hall, where the meetings of the diet were held. The two Saxon chancellors Christian Beyer and Gregor Bruck the former with the plain German copy, the other in traditional Latin language, stepped into the middle of the assembly, and against the wish of the emperor. The reading of the German version of the text by Christian Beyer lasted two hours and was so distinct that every word could be heard outside."
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| I used Norma Boeckler's Trinity symbol for this graphic. |
Like it or not, the Augsburg Confession is the standard for all Lutherans. The American Lutherans merely pay lip service to it while teaching against justification by faith. The very small ELDONA group is the only organization among Lutherans to endorse justification by faith alone while rejecting the Pietistic rationalism of Universal Objective Justification (forgiveness and salvation without faith).
Recently, SpenerQuest posted a hissy fit warning everyone to avoid ELDONA because of its teaching of justification by faith. The state of Lutheran apostasy is a vast collection of ironic humor.
Most of us at Augustana College did not know how the school got its named. Some really thought it was a blend of August and Anna. The pastor who confirmed me told me it was not necessary to read. "Just say you agree with it."
Nor did anyone then or now realize the struggle behind the naming of the school and synod. They were consciously rejecting the Church Growthism of the 19th century, which was revivalism - entertainment evangelism at its best.
Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. And the rest of us are condemned to watch those who have not learned from history - repeating the same old mistakes.
Every Lutheran has an obligation to read the original document, which Norma Boeckler has illustrated so well. I have posted my old graphics, because they are easily available to me from the blog.
Luther and the Book of Concord editors called themselves "theologians of the Augsburg Confession."
Lutherans today like to argue over every scrap of history, but they do not read their own classic douments - the Confessions, Luther's sermons, Chemnitz, and Gerhard.
Lex orendi, lex credendi. How we worship - that is what we really believe. From ELCA on up, the Lutherans promote the revivalism of the past, using amateur entertainment to draw people. Lutherans stopped singing Lutheran hymns because they are no longer Lutheran. In fact, they hardly sing hymns at all. They listen to the butchers of music howling about themselves, playing tinny and noisy instruments that belong in a street band or madhouse.
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| My Lutheran Hymnal can be ordered here. |