wfn.org | Most LWF member churches favor Joint Declaration

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

LWF COUNCIL
Press Release No. 02/98

Most LWF member churches favor Joint Declaration
92 percent of churches responding say 'yes' to justification document

GENEVA, 9 June 1998 (lwi) - To date, 91.8 percent of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) churches responding to the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church have responded
positively. This represents 45.2 million Lutherans in these churches--78.5
percent of the Lutherans in LWF member churches. Specifically, they were
asked by LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko in a February 1997 letter to
tell whether their church accepted conclusions reached by the Joint
Declaration [see below for text of question and conclusions].

As of 8 June, 86 of the 124 LWF member churches had responded to the
document, according to an analysis of these responses by the Institute for
Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France. The responses represent 51.4
million Lutherans (89 percent of the Lutherans within LWF member churches).
The Institute s analysis was presented today to the LWF Council at its
annual meeting here. Of those, 79 churches have said "yes" to the
declaration.

The responses included 19 African churches, 23 from Asia, 30 from Europe,
11 from Latin America and three from North America.

Only five churches (Malagasy, Kinki [Japan], Estonian Church Abroad, Baden
and the Lutheran Church of Nigeria) answered negatively. This represents
5.8 percent of the respondents (2.7 percent of the Lutherans in LWF member
churches). Two other churches, Denmark and Schaumburg-Lippe, the Strasbourg
Institute found "difficult" to classify. If these two responses are added
to the negatives, it would total 8.1 percent of the respondents and 10.7
percent of LWF Lutherans.

The Institute concluded, "We believe that an affirmation of the conclusions
of the Joint Declaration by the Council would be fully in line with the
consensus indicated by the responses." The Council is expected to vote
whether to accept or reject the Joint Declaration next week after studying
the Strasbourg analysis.

Noko announced yesterday that Catholics were at a similar stage in
evaluating the Joint Declaration. Until both confessions have reached a
positive conclusion, no decision will be made regarding the formal
announcement of the Joint Agreement and the lifting of mutual
condemnations.

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LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko s letter of February 1997 asked the
churches: "Does your church accept the conclusions reached in paragraphs 40
and 41 of the Joint Declaration and thus join in affirming that, because of
the agreement on the fundamental meaning and truth of our justification in
Christ to which the Joint Declaration testifies, the condemnations
regarding the justification in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the
teaching on justification of the Roman Catholic Church presented in the
Joint Declaration?"

Paragraph 40: "The understanding of the doctrine of justification set forth
in this Declaration shows that a consensus in basic truths of the doctrine
of justification exists between Lutherans and Catholics. In light of this
consensus the remaining differences of language, theological elaboration,
and emphasis in the understanding of justification described in paragraphs
18 to 39 are acceptable. Therefore the Lutheran and the Catholic
explications of justification are in their difference open to one another
and do not destroy the consensus regarding basic truths."

Paragraph 41: "Thus the doctrinal condemnations of the 16th century, in so
far as they relate to the doctrine of justification, appear in a new light.
The teaching of the Lutheran churches presented in this Declaration does
not fall under the condemnations from the Council of Trent. The
condemnations in the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching of
the Roman Catholic Church presented in this Declaration."

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of Lutheran
churches. Founded in Lund, Sweden, in 1947, the LWF now has 124 member
churches in 69 countries representing over 57 million of the world s 61
million Lutherans. The LWF headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/