Pr Joshua Yong

Part I – From Reformation to Rationalism

The 16^th Century Protestant Reformation was a great and mighty work of God. It was a spiritual revival of the Church. The Reformation also gave rise to various Protestant denominations. These different denominations arose when Christians believed in the same gospel, but held to unique distinctives. To preserve the unity in the church, those who held to the same distinctive gathered together and formed new denominations. Many denominations have since expanded and grown, and some may no longer be the same denomination they once were. Today, we see many denominations born out of the Reformation returning to Rome. Yet, this is not surprising, as the Word of God has warned us (Rev 17:1-6) that when the Antichrist comes, he will build his one-world church where he will oppose and blaspheme God.

When we study the history of various denominations, we see the general direction and trend many of these denominations were heading towards. We see the falling away of Christianity. This is a clear sign that we are already living in the last of the last days.

What should we make of the Lutheran Church today?

Early Political And Religious Conflict

What happened to Lutheranism after Luther died? By the time of Luther’s death in 1546, several rulers of German states had converted to Lutheranism. These imperial states adopted the Lutheran faith and confession and they stood opposed to the ruling Roman Emperor, Charles V, who was Catholic. This brought about political and religious tensions between these Lutheran rulers and the Catholic Emperor. These tensions soon boiled over, and shortly after Luther died, the Schmalkalden War broke out in 1547. Lutheran rulers launched a preventive war against the Emperor – which Luther had vehemently opposed while he was alive – which they lost. Although Lutherans lost the political war and were forced to flee, Lutheranism did not die. Many Lutherans sought refuge in places such as England, where they would influence the English Reformation. Though many of the German cities were returned to the Empire, which held to Roman Catholic doctrines, the people still held on to the gospel and to the Protestant Faith.

The second Schmalkaldic War soon broke out in 1552, with the Lutheran Germans victorious. This led to the signing of the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, thus ending the political struggle between the Roman Catholics and Lutherans with the agreement that rulers were allowed to choose either one as the official confession of their state.

Several disputes broke out within Lutheranism, prompting Lutheran theologians to produce a confession that expressed their faith and their distinctive. In 1576, a group of Lutheran theologians met to resolve the differences between the different factions of Lutheranism. They worked on a document that satisfied most Lutherans  and it was then presented to the Elector Augustus in 1577. This document was known as the Formula of Concord.

In 1580, this Formula was published together with the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Catechisms of Luther, and several other documents to make up The Book of Concord.

Pietism and the Age of Enlightenment

Lutheranism from 1580 to 1730 was characterised by a desire to defend and express true Christianity. The focus was on polemics, especially against the Jesuits of the Roman Catholic Church. Some Lutherans viewed this focus on polemics as an overemphasis on the mind and a neglect of the heart. They started to warn against spiritual lethargy or “dead orthodoxy”. The reaction to this “dead orthodoxy” was Pietism. The first major Pietist was Philip Jakob Spener (1635-1705), a German Lutheran Theologian, a prolific writer and a professor at the University of Halle. Pietism was a movement that emphasised a genuine spiritual experience and inward transformation. However, Pietism often swung too far to the extreme of mysticism, with less emphasis on doctrine.

At this time, Europe was right in the midst of  the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) – a war which broke out between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

During this confusing time came the Age of Enlightenment, which in turn led to the infiltration of German Rationalism.

The Age of Enlightenment began in 1650 after Rene Descartes published a book called Discourse on the Method. His motto was “I think therefore I am.”

This led to the rise of rationalism, where rational thinking, nature, and science became the framework upon which the world was viewed. With the Age of Enlightenment, there was a complete shift in how people thought about the world. People no longer wanted to be governed by Scriptural or Church authority; instead, they wanted to be governed by reason and science. By the 1750s, rationalism was already threatening to overtake the pietism of Lutheranism. Lutheran Theologians such as Christian Wolff (1679-1754) and Johann Salomo Semler (1725-91) began to teach that Scripture was to play a subordinate role to the human mind and reason, thus undermining the authority of Scripture. Whereas theology takes a supernatural view of the world, rationalism takes a naturalistic view. With the infiltration of rationalism, the Lutheran Church was soon on the decline.

An Awakening

The decline of the Lutheran Church stirred up some within the denomination to seek a revival and reform within the Church. This led to the rise of the “New-Lutherans” who warned against rationalism. Men such as Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) and August Friedrich Christian Vilmar (1800-1868) devoted themselves to the study of God’s Word in small groups. They also sought to restore the traditional liturgy and the confessions of the Lutheran Church. This brought about a spiritual “awakening” within the Lutheran Church.

While the New-Lutherans were able to slow down the inroads of rationalism, they were not able to stop it completely. The Lutheran Church was soon infiltrated by liberalism, and it continued its decline. By the 19^th Century, the Lutheran Church was divided into three main camps – a liberal camp, a traditional camp, and a moderate camp. The shorted-lived awakening would soon be forgotten, and liberalism would gain further inroads.