26 people voted. Of those, 13 (50%) felt that Lutherans were neither Catholic nor Protestant. 11 (42%) felt Lutherans were Protestant. And the other 2 (8%) felt there was no difference between denominations. Hardly a scientific survey, but some interesting thoughts.
Although I am often told, "Oh, Lutherans, they're just like Catholics," nevertheless Lutherans are seen as Protestant or a separate entity. But no one seems to want to mistake them with Catholics.
Are Lutherans Protestant? Well, we'll get into the history later.
It didn't surprise me that I got votes that "there are no differences among denominations." In today's ecumenical world, denominational identities are eroding faster and faster among many major denominations.
What surprised me was that no one felt there was no difference at all among religions! Obviously, I have few, if any, unitarian types visiting this forum. Or should I rejoice that people do see Christianity as much different from other world religions? I don't know.
A seminary professor of mine told me that the term "Protestant" originally came when the Catholics and Lutherans signed an agreement ending a war. Of course, groups like the Calvinists and Zwinglians and the Anabaptists and the Arminians were excluded. These groups "protested" and were known as "Protestants."
Searching for such evidence seemed much more difficult. I guess that means I should have taken better notes in class. Or kept better track of my notes so I could find them now. Or maybe not have been so hasty in shredding my notes.
Most historians, it seems, point to the Second Diet of Speier as the time when the term "Protestant" was first used-and, ironically, because Lutherans were denied the rights they previously enjoyed (it will come as no surprise, then, that another religious war will break out after this edict). Thus, Lutherans as well as Calvinist, Zwinglians, Arminians, Anabaptists, and others were known as "Protestants." But what were these Diets of Speier about?
Schaff writes:
As Protestantism advanced, the execution of the Edict of Worms became less and less practicable. This was made manifest at the imperial Diet of Speier, held in the summer of 1526 under Archduke Ferdinand, in the name of the Emperor. The Protestant princes dared here for the first time to profess their faith, and were greatly strengthened by the delegates of the imperial cities in which the Reformation had made great progress. The threatening invasion of the Turks, and the quarrel of the Emperor with the Pope, favored the Protestant cause, and inclined the Roman Catholic majority to forbearance.
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