We are Lutherans because we protest
against ecclesiastical authority and insist on private interpretation of
scripture. However, we read all
scriptures and can interpret them critically and sceptically.
Thus, we are "Lutherans" but not Christians. Catholics of the
Counter-Reformation would argue that Lutheranism must lead to this and they
would be right. Private interpretation must be informed by Biblical criticism
and modern science but remains private interpretation, not a church- or
party-line.
A former Catholic at University remarked
that the only good features of Protestantism were those differentiating it from
Catholicism. Another University student remarked that the progression from
Judaism to Catholicism to Protestantism to secularism is a move away from the
family towards the individual. I am happy to live at the secular end of that
progression. The family can be a small community of related individuals,
not an entity subordinating individuals to it.
In Judaism, God's covenant is with
Israel and the latter is propagated through the family. In Catholicism, God's
new covenant is with the Church and the latter is propagated through the family.
In Protestantism, God's new covenant is with each individual. In secularism,
there is society and the individual. In a large well to do Catholic family, the eldest son
inherited the family business, the second son entered a respectable profession
like medicine or law and a third son, not needed for inheritance or to produce
further heirs, could enter the respectable profession of the celibate
priesthood. Brought up as a Catholic, I now respect Luther's rebellion against
the sale of Indulgences and Papal interpretation of scripture.
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