Just exactly what are the Lutheran Confessions?

My aim in these writings is to offer some context and understanding to people who know little or nothing about the Lutheran Reformation and the documents upon which Lutheranism is founded.

During his lifetime Martin Luther was the one person who gave the Reformation in Germany a face. It was to Luther that others looked for direction and unity. When there was conflict, whether religious or otherwise, Luther was the first choice to negotiate peace. In fact, this was Luther’s role right up to the end. He died in the city of Mansfeld after settling a dispute between the owner of a cooper mine and the local Count who wanted to bring the industry under tighter control.

After Luther died the Lutheran movement began to split apart. For several years Lutheran theologians and political leaders in Lutheran areas worked to find common ground for unity. Finally in 1580 they succeeded in gathering together what they believed to be the foundational documents of Lutheranism and wrote The Formula of Concord as a sort of summation of those documents. The included documents in order of inclusion were:

·         The Three Chief Articles. (The three ancient creeds accepted by all Christians, the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed)

·         The Augsburg Confession of 1530

·         The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531)

·         The Smalcald Articles of Martin Luther (1537)

·         Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537)

·         The Small Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)

·         The Large Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)

·         The Formula of Concord (1577)