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Concordia Theological Monthly

Publication Date

2-1-1951

Document Type

Article

Keywords

lutheran church, england, english, great britain, henry viii, london, luther, anglican, germany, wittenberg, cambridge, charles, protestant, reformation, rome, tyndale

Submission Type

Bible Study; Lecture; Sermon Prep

Abstract

“Lutheran” is a word that many English people find hard to pronounce because it is so seldom used in this country. In few countries of Western Europe is the Lutheran Church as little known as it is in Great Britain. When recently an inquiry was made at the B. B. C. in London regarding the possibility of a Lutheran religious broadcast, the surprising reply was given: "It is the policy of the B. B. C. to broadcast only the services of those churches which are in the mainstream of the Christian tradition." How strange that the largest of all Protestant churches should be largely unknown in a country which has always been a bastion of Protestant Christianity! Today the word "Lutheran" comes somewhat easier to the English tongue because of the influx of tens of thousands of Lutheran refugee workers. Four centuries ago it was a common English word, not only in church circles, but even among the populace. The intervening four hundred years record interesting pulsations in the history of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain. At one time political expediency almost made her the official religion of the English people, at another period she was the only non-Anglican Church allowed by law, for another and long period she was the third official faith of the English court, but for the most of those four centuries she has been content to carry on quietly in her restricted sphere and away from the public eye.

Disciplines

History of Christianity

Submission Cost

Free

Submission Audience

Laity; Ministers; Scholars

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