“...to be Lutheran and to be Christian are not in any way matters in tension. [I am] one who is a Lutheran because He is a Christian—who, if he were not a Lutheran, would not be a believer of any kind—one who sees the only logical alternative to his commitment to the Christian Lutheran faith to be Epicuranism in its most popular form: “Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we are dead.”

“I do not mean to say that it is more important to be a Lutheran than to be a Christian. If a Christian is properly described as one who is united with Christ by true faith in Him, then no church affiliation of any kind can be placed on a level with it, let alone on a level above it. To be a Christian, in the sense of accepting the Christian faith, is to be in the only condition in which salvation is possible.”

“....One often hears the idea, variously expressed, that it is more important to be a Christian than to be a Lutheran....” The sentence, I am a Lutheran because I am a Christian, [rather,] asserts (1) that the Christian faith is clearly revealed, (2) that it can be grasped and understood, (3) that it can be accurately stated, taught, and confessed, and (4) that this has been done in traditional Lutheranism. It is a further consequence of this conviction to hold that convinced members of other denominations would think exactly the same way about their view of the Christian message—and, thinking that way, would reject my views which are specifically Lutheran. It is only for such persons—those who take seriously their own view of Christianity and that of Christians who disagree with them—that I have any real respect. The big enemy of the true Christian faith is compromise, toleration, the spirit that we all are right—as if the important thing is not to be Lutheran but to be Christian without any denominational confession whatever.”

“In my first paragraph I also voiced my view that Epicureanism is the only logical alternative to my Christian Lutheran faith. You may well wonder why.... it is no idle comment; it is seriously meant. It is related between two contrasts: The one is the contrast between the Lutheran church and other churches, and the other is that between the Christian faith and all other religions.”

“The first contrast implies that if I believe, as I do, that the gospel or the Word of God is witnessed to purely and truly in the Lutheran Confessions, then there is no point in thinking of forsaking the Lutheran church to seek membership somewhere else. On the one hand, what is true and good in other churches can always be acknowledged as such and made use of (like the excellent Anglican prayers and other liturgical material). On the other hand, what makes any of the other churches distinctively what they are (such as papal authority in the Church of Rome) simply has to be rejected by the Lutheran—and membership in that church must likewise be rejected. For me as a convinced Lutheran, there is no acceptable alternative to Lutheranism in the various other denominations; therefore, the only logical alternative seems to be abandonment of the faith in favor of Epicureanism.”

“The second implies that there can be no rival of any kind to the Christian faith. God became a human being in Jesus Christ once and for all. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Christianity is simply in a class by itself among the ‘religions.’”

....“A careful reader will probably pick up another signal from these pages [of Hamann’s book.] There is in them an undercurrent of disappointment concerning the present state of Lutheranism in the world. As the late Dr. Sasse said very often, the ecumenical movement has destroyed dogma throughout the church. World Lutheranism is in a state of disintegration, and enthusiasm for the old faith seems to be disappearing, even in those parts of Lutheranism that used to make a great deal of their loyalty ot the Confessions. Much is still said in those quarters about confessional Lutheranism, but a great deal of that talk is mere talk, pious conventionalism.”

Henry Hamann, “On Being a Christian: A Personal Confession” (1996)