{"id":1130,"date":"2010-11-01T11:39:07","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T18:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2010-11-01T16:14:20","modified_gmt":"2010-11-01T23:14:20","slug":"words-make-a-difference-%e2%80%9cchristian%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=1130","title":{"rendered":"Words Make a Difference: \u201cChristian\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s the proper adjective to modify \u201cChurch\u201d in the Third Article of the Apostles\u2019 and Nicene Creeds: Should it be \u201choly <em>Christian<\/em> church\u201d or \u201choly <em>catholic<\/em> Church\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Luther used <em>Christlich<\/em>, the common German translation of <em>catholicam<\/em>.<br \/>\nToday French Lutherans use <em>universelle<\/em> = universal.<br \/>\nSwedes say <em>allm\u00e4nnelig<\/em> = everywhere.<br \/>\nNorwegians say <em>almen<\/em> = everywhere.<br \/>\nGermans say <em>allgemeine<\/em> = everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>The point: Christ\u2019s church is universal, and Lutherans around the world use different words to convey this universality.<\/p>\n<p>The 1958 <em>Service Book and Hymnal<\/em> (SBH) used \u201cHoly Christian Church\u201d but with a footnote commending \u201ccatholic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All subsequent hymnals used \u201ccatholic,\u201d creating confusion since most people associate the word \u201ccatholic\u201d with \u201cRoman Catholics.\u201d As Gerhard Ebeling states<a href=\"#_ftn1\"><em><strong>[1]<\/strong><\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>I can therefore only consider it harmful and hopeless to seek to possess ourselves of the concept \u201cCatholic,\u201d \u201cCatholicism\u201d in an evangelical sense. In saying that, I am well aware that it occurs in the Apostles\u2019 Creed and the Nicene Creed, but also that Luther constantly interpreted it by \u201cChristian.\u201d For the simple fact is that the concept \u201cCatholic\u201d involves the confusion of the <\/em>vera unitas ecclesiae<em> with the <\/em>unitas<em> of an ecclesiastical body \u2013 which means it involves the tendency to bind the holy, Christian Church \u201cto place and time, to person and gesture, by means of laws and outward pomp\u201d (Schwabach Articles,12).<a href=\"#_ftn2\"><strong>[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thus the more accurate and more ecumenical term is \u201cChristian.\u201d Those who insist on using \u201ccatholic\u201d are really anti-ecumenical because they are using the creeds to give a privileged status to a particular church rather than direct all to the Christ in whom is our true unity.<\/p>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"dot_clear.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"12\" \/><br \/>\n<a href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Gerhard Ebeling, \u201cThe Significance of Doctrinal Differences for the Division of the Church,\u201d <em>Word and Faith<\/em> (London, SCM Press, 1960) 183-84.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a>The seventeen Schwabach Articles were composed by Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, Brenz, and Agricola in the summer of 1529. They were used in October at a meeting in Schwabach to establish the Schwabach Articles, the basis for a united Northern German confession. The Schwabach and Torgau Articles (1530) served as the template for the Augsburg Confession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s the proper adjective to modify \u201cChurch\u201d in the Third Article of the Apostles\u2019 and Nicene Creeds: Should it be \u201choly Christian church\u201d or \u201choly catholic Church\u201d? Luther used Christlich, the common German translation of catholicam. Today French Lutherans use universelle = universal. Swedes say allm\u00e4nnelig = everywhere. Norwegians say almen = everywhere. Germans say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1130"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1143,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130\/revisions\/1143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}