wfn.org | 29 LWF member churches respond positively to Joint Declaration

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

Current situation

GENEVA, 16 April 1998 (lwi) - By Easter, 29 of the 122 member churches of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) eligible to vote had submitted a
positive response to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. So far, no negative response on the
lifting of the condemnations has arrived.

The deadline for the responses is May 1 but a number of churches have
informed the LWF that due to internal planning their responses would arrive
after that date.

So far, seven responses have arrived from Africa, four from Asia, 13 from
Europe, three from Latin America and the Caribbean and two from North
America. Two churches, the Lutheran Church in Liberia and the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Denmark (ELCD), agree to the lifting of the
condemnations but do not agree there is a consensus on justification.

Last year, the LWF member churches were asked whether they accept "the
conclusions reached in Paragraph 40 and Paragraph 41 of the Joint
Declaration and thus join 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 justification in
the Lutheran Confessions do not apply to the teaching on justification of
the Roman Catholic Church presented in the Joint Declaration."

Danish church says "yes" and "no"

The ELCD Council on Inter-Church Relations asked its bishops, in their
capacity of responsibility for doctrinal teaching in the church, to reply
to the questions raised. The 12 bishops' unanimous response is summarized
by the ELCD council as follows:

"l. There is not in the Joint Declaration (JD) a sufficient degree of
consensus on the basis of which it could be given status for a binding
confessional acceptance, nor for regarding the text of the JD as a new
symbol of the Christian Church.

A full consensus on the teaching of justification between the Evangelical
Lutheran Churches and the Roman Catholic Church would imply that full
intercommunion between our churches would follow.

2. We acknowledge, however, the fact that the JD has helped the Evangelical
Lutheran Churches and the Roman Catholic Church to further develop a mutual
understanding of each other as true Christian churches.

3. Against this background and in the light of the continuing dialogue
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Churches,
we, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, find it important to
declare that the condemnations from the period of Reformation concerning
the doctrine of justification do not apply to the teaching of the Roman
Catholic Church as formulated in the JD. The Church of Denmark Council on
Inter-Church Relations looks forward to participating in the continuing
dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church on the doctrine of justification by
faith and on the questions pointed out in Paragraph 43 of the Joint
Declaration on Justification."

Danish Bishop Niels Holm, chairperson of the ELCD council's theological
committee says LWF general secretary, Ishmael Noko, might well place a copy
of the Danish reply in both the "yes" and "no" piles. "We would like to
express our willingness to do away with the Lutheran condemnations because
they are not beneficial to the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue," Bishop Holm
told the Danish church's official newspaper the Christian Daily. "On the
other hand, there is no basis for a unanimity which, for instance, turns
the Joint Declaration into a new symbolic book. But we must continue the
dialogue with the Catholic Church, including the understanding of the
teaching on justification. As the question is worded by the Lutheran World
Federation we cannot answer either "yes" or "no" to endorse the Joint
Declaration on Justification."

Iceland and another three German synods accept Joint Declaration

The Evangelical Lutheran Church - The National Church of Iceland, however,
received "with joy the consensus manifested in the 'Joint Declaration on
the Doctrine of Justification'." This consensus removes major hindrances on
the way to church fellowship, the Icelandic response states.

In Germany, the synods of Mecklenburg, Saxony and Brunswick, also have
agreed to the document. Brunswick bishop and LWF president, Christian
Krause, said the document was "highly significant" for the ecumenical
movement. Bishop of Saxony, Volker Kress, considers the declaration to be a
"mutual recognition of the truth of our proclamation". At the same time, he
deplores that the text has no immediate practical consequences.

Prior to the Saxony synod's decision, Leipzig professor of theology, Ulrich
Kuhn, warned against rejecting the Joint Declaration. This would be a
"negative signal in a world that has a low opinion of the Christian faith",
he said.

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