A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Lutheran World Federation – following in the footsteps of the Anglican Communion?

The Christian Century has a brief article on tensions in the Lutheran World Federation over … suprise! Homosexuality! As in the Anglican Communion, the split is largely along north/south lines.

However, I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see the same level of acrimony that the Anglican Communion has experienced. Lutherans, in my admittedly limited experience, are not at all inclined to think of the LWF as “the church” in any meaningful sense (do most Lutherans think about the LWF at all?). And I have a really hard time imagining anyone pushing for a more centralized global Lutheran church body in order to impose a uniform policy as some parties have done in the AC.

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3 responses to “Lutheran World Federation – following in the footsteps of the Anglican Communion?”

  1. Chip Frontz

    I think you’re mostly right. The LWF has recently become in fact “a communion of churches,” but this has had far less time to become part of our consciousness than it has with Anglicans, who have had over a century to think globally Church-wise and even longer Empire-wise. There is also not the idea of centripetal force in Lutheran politics that there are in Anglican circles.

    However, I don’t think it should be discounted that moves in Europe and America could have an effect across the world and make partnership more difficult. Problems in partnership could and have become “talking points” in the continuing debate on whether to bless same-sex sexual relationships, etc.

    It might be possible that the LCMS might become more active in global partnerships, if the ELCA and some other European churches become unable to relate coherently to partner churches.

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  2. Chris (The Lutheran Zephyr)

    Chip makes some good points. In one sense, the LWF has an unfortunate international acronym and blends in with all kinds of other modern international organizations created in the mid-20th century. Surely we are a communion, but there is little authority in the LWF. Heck, much of world Lutheranism does not have authority figures on par with that of Episcopal bishops. Lutheran denominations are generally slow-moving organizations with decentralized power structures.

    Part of what makes the Episcopalian/Anglican story so juicy is the ability of a few strong personalities to dominate and dictate terms of the argument. The endless committees, studies, commissions, and biennial assemblies of the ELCA can make any controversy boring, whereas an individual bishop in The Episcopal Church can decide on his own authority (it seems to me) whether or not to ordain women (some episcopal bishops still will not ordain women!). And that authority, coupled with a feisty personality, makes things interesting and captures the public’s attention.

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  3. Joshie (Poo)

    The Anglican Bishops do make it more interesting, certainly, but they also make it more frustrating. Especially since the leadership style of the current “first among equals” doesn’t seem to be what is needed to keep the largest provinces from tearing the communion apart.

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