wfn.org | Fwd: LWI 2008-064 European Church Leaders Pay Tribute to Reformer Johannes Bugenhagen

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

European Church Leaders Pay Tribute to Reformer Johannes
Bugenhagen
Significant Contribution to German, European Political and
Church Landscape 

GREIFSWALD, Germany/GENEVA, 3 October 2008 (LWI) - Church
leaders from Europe, German political leaders and academicians,
were among hundreds of people who mid-September participated in
the 450th anniversary of Johannes Bugenhagen's death. 

"The Evangelical Church of Pomerania owes the Reformation to
Johannes Bugenhagen," said Bishop Dr Hans-Juergen Abromeit in his
sermon during the Sunday worship anniversary in Greifswald's St
Nicholas Cathedral. "It is no exaggeration to say that the
political and ecclesiastical landscape of Northern Germany and
Northern Europe today would look different without Bugenhagen,"
Abromeit  told the over 500 worshippers who included participants
in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) 11 - 16 September European
Church Leadership Consultation in Greifswald. 

Bugenhagen was born in 1485 in Wollin, Pomerania and was for
many years a respected school headmaster in Treptow (Pomerania,
today in Poland). As of 1520 he got to know Luther’s writings,
became his friend and counselor, and then took over the
Wittenberg city parish. According to Abromeit, the theologian
whom Martin Luther called the “Bishop of the Reformation”
performed "at least 1,470 ordinations of pastors" in Wittenberg
alone.

Abromeit explained Bugenhagen's work on church order, which the
reformer understood as the "ministry of [an] evangelist," notably
in Brunswick, Lubeck, Hamburg, Schleswig, Holstein, Denmark and
Pomerania. He noted the reformer emphasized the responsibility of
church leadership as "primarily preaching the gospel and
celebrating worship … [as] that is where the heart of the church
beats." 

With reference to the planned merger of the Evangelical Lutheran
Churches of Mecklenburg, North Elbia and Pomerania, Abromeit said
it would be of benefit if some of these German churches unite in
a Church of the North. 

>Realist

In his tribute, Munich Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich pointed out
that Bugenhagen, unlike the visionary Martin Luther, had been the
realist among the reformers. Bugenhagen "did not write any
revolutionary, programmatic documents like his close friend
Luther," said Friedrich, chairperson of the LWF German National
Committee. "His most significant merit is considered to be the
painstaking, detailed drafting of Protestant church constitutions
('orders') in which the theological insights and goals of the
Reformers were translated into a form suitable for practical
implementation," he added. 

According to Friedrich, Bugenhagen was preoccupied with the
answer to the question: "What should I as a Christian do
concretely?" - which was of timeless relevance. "The modern forms
of positive thinking that are so popular today-the endeavor to
succeed by presenting oneself in good light, the planning of
one’s life in the certainty that it is feasible, together
with the related exaggerated opinions of the self-would have
seemed extremely strange to him," said Friedrich. 

Bishop Dr Christoph Klein, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg
Confession in Romania said, "Until we received our own Protestant
bishop in 1533, Bugenhagen ordained the pastors of our Lutheran
church in Transylvania, and was thus a kind of bishop for our
clerics at the time." 

Klein pointed out that Bugenhagen's connections with churches
beyond Pomerania and Central Europe nearly 500 years ago,
demonstrated the lively exchange within Europe long before the
accession of numerous Central and Eastern European countries to
the European Union. 

"May Bugenhagen's efforts to this extent remain an encouraging
inspiration for our commitment to the greater Lutheran church
worldwide," added Klein, LWF vice-president for Central Eastern
Europe.

Erwin Sellering, the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania minister for
health and social affairs and designate-premier, praised Martin
Luther and his fellow reformers for their message of "courage to
change," which is still relevant in view of today’s challenges
at local, national and global levels. 

The dean of the Theological Faculty of Greifswald’s Ernst
Moritz Arndt University, Prof. Michael Herbst, spoke of
Bugenhagen's commitment to education and Bible scholarship. He
mentioned the Bugenhagen monument near the university, which
depicts Bugenhagen with an opened Bible on his knees, his gaze
focused on the main building. (651 words)

Bishop Dr Hans-Juergen Abromeit’s sermon can be downloaded
from the LWF Web site at:
www.lutheranworld.org/Events/Greifswald/LWF_Greifswald_Bugenhagen-Abromeit_DE.pdf

Bishop Dr Johannes Friedrich’s lecture is available at:
www.lutheranworld.org/Events/Greifswald/LWF_Greifswald_Bugenhagen-Friedrich.pdf

>*        *          *

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