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| - In early Lutheranism, the Gnesio-Lutherans like Joachim Westphal and Andreas Musculus had a 'high' understanding of the sacraments, but were strongly opposed to any compromise with Calvinism and Zwingliism, as well as with Roman Catholic doctrine. In the era of Lutheran orthodoxy, theologians Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard (especially in his Confessio Catholica) were deeply rooted in patristic theology. They saw the continuity of Catholicism in Lutheranism, which they understood not as a re-formation of the Church, but rather a renewal movement within and for the Catholic Church, from which they had been involuntarily and only temporarily separated.
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| abstract
| - In early Lutheranism, the Gnesio-Lutherans like Joachim Westphal and Andreas Musculus had a 'high' understanding of the sacraments, but were strongly opposed to any compromise with Calvinism and Zwingliism, as well as with Roman Catholic doctrine. In the era of Lutheran orthodoxy, theologians Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard (especially in his Confessio Catholica) were deeply rooted in patristic theology. They saw the continuity of Catholicism in Lutheranism, which they understood not as a re-formation of the Church, but rather a renewal movement within and for the Catholic Church, from which they had been involuntarily and only temporarily separated. The only evangelical feature of Lutheranism is justification by faith, as defined by Law and Gospel and simul iustus et peccator. The term evangelical has a different origin and meaning in Lutheranism than in "Evangelicalism". (In German, there is a difference between evangelisch and evangelikal; in Swedish, there is a corresponding difference between "evangelisk" and "evangelikal"). In Lutheran tradition, evangelical (evangelisch) refers to the gospel, with the specific meaning of "grace centered". The opposite of evangelical is not "catholic" or "liberal", but legalistic. After the so-called Enlightenment Schleiermacher, which moved Protestant thought further from traditional Catholicism, Lutheranism split into two main groups: "orthodox" (confessional) Lutheranism, and "rationalistic" Lutheranism. . In the 19th century, "Evangelical Catholicism" was seen as a vision for the Church of the future. The term was used by Lutherans such as Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach and Heinrich Leo within the post-Prussian Union church in Germany who were inspired by the church of the Middle Ages, and by neo-Lutheran Friedrich Julius Stahl. The term Evangelical Catholic is often used today instead of the term "High Church Lutheranism" because it is a theological term and genuinely Lutheran. It is comparable to the term "Anglo-Catholic" within Anglicanism. Evangelical Catholic Lutheranism is not strictly defined, and can mean, for example, the theologically, biblically, and socially conservative ultra-high church Lutheranism of the strongly Roman Catholic-oriented Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church and the more Eastern Orthodox-oriented Evangelical Catholic Church, the relative high church Confessional Lutheranism found in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and espoused by Arthur Carl Piepkorn, the Evangelical Catholic Orthodoxy of Gunnar Rosendal, the more theologically liberal high ecclesiology of Carl Braaten, the very liberal Evangelical Catholicity of Nathan Söderblom, or even the more liberal Catholicism of Friedrich Heiler, or ecumenical vision of Hans Asmussen and Max Lackmann. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada defines its doctrinal basis as such: "We derive our teachings from the Holy Scriptures and confess the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian church. We hold to orthodox catholic theology as enunciated in the ecumenical councils of the first five centuries of Christianity." In 1976 Joseph Ratzinger, the later Pope Benedict XVI, suggested that the Augsburg Confession might be possible to recognise as a Catholic statement of faith. This did not happen due to differences in understanding of the theology on justification. Some small "Evangelical Catholic" church bodies include the Evangelical Catholic Church, Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church, the Lutheran Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Marian Catholic Church, the International Lutheran Fellowship, Association of Independent Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Catholic Communion. The Nordic Catholic Church in Norway has roots in High Church Lutheranism. The current Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has centered on the sufficiency of the Bible.
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