The Confessional Indifference to Altitude

[JM]

"For Lutherans versed in confessional history, the attempt to claim one liturgical style as the authentic one should invoke memories of the Augsburg Interim, one of the most significant confessional crises of the sixteenth century. To understand fully the Lutheran confessional position regarding the liturgy, five documents are crucial: 1) the explanation of the third commandment in the Large Catechism, 1529; 2) Article VII of the Augsburg Confession, “Concerning the Church” (satis est), 1530; 3) Article XXIV of the Augsburg Confession, “Concerning the Mass”; 4) Article XXVI of the Augsburg Interim, “On the Ceremonies and the Use of the Sacraments,” 1548; and 5) Article X of the Formula of Concord, “Concerning Ecclesiastical Practices: Which Are Called Adiaphora or Indifferent Matters,” 1577."

The Confessional Indifference to Altitude — Lutheran Forum

It astounds me that, in the twenty-two years I have shared responsibility for the liturgical formation of seminarians, I have heard Lutherans invoke the terms “high church” and “low church” as if they actually describe with clarity ministerial positions regarding worship. It is assumed that I am “hi

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