confessional Lutheranism

Оn the Term Sacrifice of Representation in the Lutheran Liturgical and Theological Context

Olga Alexandrovna Rudaya master of theology, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
chri@yandex.ru

Rudaya O. A. Оn the Term Sacrifice of Representation in the Lutheran Liturgical and Theological Context, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 58–79.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-58-79

Language: Russian

Theological glossary of different confessions in our country changes due to good-natured and expanding dialogue between representatives of traditional Western Christianity. The article deals with sacrifice of representation, one of the terms influenced by such tendency. The author reviews briefly the teaching on the sacrifice in the New Testament, in early Church fathers’ writings, as well as in Catholic and Lutheran theologians of later centuries in general. Recent notion sacrifice of representation however was coined in another way — it’s rooted in the so-called mysterial theology of German Benedictine Odo Casel, who was an influential precursor of the II Vatican Council. Confessional Lutheran theologians are almost unanimous in their rejection of such a way of speaking despite a great ecumenical appeal of the term. We can name reasons for a highly cautious position towards the idea as follows: unwillingness to speculate neither in temporal, nor in philosophical, theological terms, full adequacy of mere faith in Real Presence of the true Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament, emphasis on catabatic perspective in the Sacrament. Furthermore, a Lutheran exegetical principle sedes doctrinae prevents from introducing any new theories not founded in the Holy Scripture into the Church’s theological discourse.

Key words: Eucharist, sacrifice of representation, the Book of Concord, Confessional Lutheranism, Lutheran-Catholic dialogue, Odo Casel, the Holy Communion, Sacrament, sedes doctrinae

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-rudaya-2023/

Sanctification and Theosis in Sergey Stragorodsky’s Understanding of Justification

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Konstantin Yur’evich Subbotin phd in philology, master of theology, rector, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
subb_konstantin@yahoo.com

Subbotin K. Yu. Sanctification and Theosis in Sergey Stragorodsky’s Understanding of Justification, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 80–98.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-80-98

Language: Russian

The article examines the soteriological concept of Sergius Stragorodsky in his master’s thesis «The Orthodox Teaching of Salvation». The author compares Stragorodsky’s position with how the concept of «deification» is used in the Orthodox tradition, and also evaluates it from the point of view of confessional Lutheran theology.
Despite the fact that Stragorodsky uses the term «deification» only once in his dissertation when quoting, the analysis of the concept of salvation in this and his other works, as well as the definition of theosis by renowned Orthodox theologians, suggests that the scope of the concept of «deification» is expressed in his dissertation in terms of «sanctification», «holiness», «unity with God». Thus, Stragorodsky describes salvation in terms close in meaning to «deification».
From the point of view of confessional Lutheran theology, Stragorodsky’s soteriology can be described as a confusion of the concepts of justification and sanctification. For Stragorodsky, justification is not an external forensic act, but an internal change. Stragorodsky describes justification as a lengthy process that takes place with the participation of the human will — the way Lutheran theology would describe sanctification. The article draws a parallel between this confusion of justification and sanctification and the views of Osiander condemned in the Formula of Concord. In addition, it is concluded that the comparison of the concept of «deification» in Eastern Christianity and the way Martin Luther used this term also has no basis.

Key words: theosis, Eastern theology, soteriology, confessional Lutheranism, justification, sanctification

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-subbotin-2023/

Status and Development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia from 1918 to 2018. An Outline

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Jouko Talonen Professor (emeritus), Doctor of Τheology University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology (Ulrikankuja 6 B 41, Vantaa, Suomi, 01400)
jouko.talonen@helsinki.fi

Talonen J. Status and Development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia from 1918 to 2018. An Outline, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 232–276.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-232-276

Language: Russian

The history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) from 1918 to 2018 is analysed. During the first period of independence (1918– 1940), the ELCL was the church of the majority of the population (55–57%). Quite positive was the period of the Kārlis Ulmanis’s rule. In Soviet Latvia in 1940–1941 and 1944–1987, the church was a persecuted and marginalized faith community. Efforts of Gustavs Turs (1890–1973), the «Red Archbishop», didn’t prevent the church decline. In 1987 the church had only 25,000 active members (about 1% of the population of the Soviet Republic). However, the straightforward estimation of the statistics if troublesome.
In the last years of communism, the church received new operational freedoms from the end of the 1980s onward. After Latvia became independent, the church’s activities continued to develop. However, there was no return to the National Church. However, the ELCL’s forms of work became more and more versatile starting in the 1980s. The Church’s theological profile has been conservative. This has been seen, among other things, in its solid relationship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in America, and in the fact that the church has stopped ordaining women.

Key words: Eucharist, liturgy, reform, Bible, righteousness, Trinity

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-talonen-2023/