"Lutheran" as a Family Name and Identity
“I ask that my name be left silent and people not call themselves Lutheran, but rather Christians. Who is Luther? The doctrine is not mine. I have been crucified for no one. St. Paul in 1 Cor. 3:4-5 would not suffer that the Christians should call themselves of Paul or of Peter, but Christian. How should I, a poor stinking bag of worms, become so that the children of Christ are named with my unholy name? It should not be dear friends. Let us extinguish all factious names and be called Christians whose doctrine we have.”
The above quote by Luther has resurfaced in the discussion over Lutheran identity at our Concordia universities. There are some who disagree that our colleges ought to use Lutheran symbols (making the case for a kind-of watered down Protestantism to “welcome” non-Lutherans). Ironically, those who disparage Lutheran symbols - if they were properly educated as Lutheran teachers - would recognize that our Lutheran confessions and creeds are called “symbols” in the Latin text of the Book of Concord. For both the confessions and visual representations of our Lutheran confession are symbolic, that is, an identifier, of where we stand. It is being honest. It is like a soldier wearing his uniform and bearing the flag of his nation. For a soldier outside of his uniform in opposing territory in wartime is a spy, and is subject to execution under international law.
Often, the advocates of dishonest evangelism, like enemy spies, will adopt a dishonest strategy of sailing under false colors: looking, acting, and sounding as un-Lutheran as possible. We see this with pastors who ape big-box Big Eva, with stages and drums and guitars, and maybe even fog machines and dancing girls.
Some who refuse to receive constructive criticism concerning “a paucity of Lutheran symbols” on our campuses have even dismissed such important visual confessional symbols as “decorations,” (misquoting the CUAA Task Force Report) as if we’re talking about suburban kitsch from Hobby Lobby adorning a tacky nouveau-riche McMansion. I think an Iskerian turn of phrase applies here. IYKYK.
Most human communication is non-verbal. Hence the importance of symbols. And we Lutherans are not iconoclasts - no matter what ill-informed past presidents spout off about the impropriety of crucifixes in our churches. We Lutherans are neither minimalist Calvinists nor non-sacramental Baptists. We are a confession with a long heritage of paintings and statues, of the crucifix and of the finest of Christian art. And it is not in the service of the Gospel to do as did the former lesbian bishopress of the Lutheran (sic) Church (sic) of Sweden who removed crucifixes from a nominally Lutheran church in order to make Muslims feel more welcome.
And although the name “Lutheran” was conceived as an insult, history has attached this name to our confession - much like in the way Catholic Christians were called “Athanasians” to distinguish them from Arians. Athanasius did not die for our sins, but Athanasius confessed the One who did. The same goes for Luther.
Indeed, our Lutheran Symbols speak of our churches as catholic, evangelical, and as being represented by the Symbol of the Augsburg Confession. Sometimes our churches are called “churches of the Augsburg Confession.” But typically, and nearly universally, our churches are called “Lutheran.” It has become our family name by centuries of use. It is not unlike the name “American.” Our country has no real connection to its namesake, but it would be highly impractical, if not impossible, at this point to change the name of the country and the nationality.
Thus it is essentially an act of breaking fellowship when a church removes the name “Lutheran” from its name, web presence, and church sign. Indeed, in this “spy-evangelism” dishonest approach of “bait and switch” confession, the letters LCMS often disappear as well. And typically, such churches practice open communion - not to mention non-denominational, neo-Evangelical, or even Pentecostalist worship practices - so it does make sense in a perverted kind of way to hide one’s confession under a bushel. I have yet to see a congregation that uses exclusively traditional liturgical worship, the hymnal, and prioritizes the Book of Concord to eschew the family name of “Lutheran” in exchange for the pottage of a hipster moniker that comes from some neo-evangelical “best practices” confab.
And while there is no synodical bylaw against removing the name “Lutheran,” or concealing one’s synodical affiliation from public eyes, and indeed such things are adiaphora - they do send a message: a separatist message, not unlike a son changing his last name sends a message to his father and mother and brothers and sisters - and to the world. It is a rejection, a breaking of fellowship.
There is a parallel to William Patrick Stuart-Houston, a Purple Heart-decorated veteran of the US Navy who died in 1987. He was initially denied service in the U.S. military on account of his being a nephew of Adolf Hitler. An appeal directly to President Roosevelt allowed him to serve. It is no small indicator of the power of the family name that Mr. Stuart-Houston changed his family name from “Hitler.”
While Luther was rightfully bothered by the slur “Lutheran” - as would any of us having a confession of the church named after us - this is the family name. Five hundred years of time and the entire world as place have cemented this usage into the consciousness of those who share our confession and those who do not. I know of one congregation that even removed the name of “God” from their congregational name, choosing instead as their identity the worldly neighborhood rather than the City of God.
Those churches who reject the name “Lutheran” have broken fellowship with us in a de facto way, expressing a sense of shame and shunning of their own heritage, theology, confession, and church affiliation. It is a big middle finger to the rest of us who have sought unity in the Bible and the Confessions - as well as “in doctrine and in ceremonies” as our Augsburg Confession words it.
So if the intent were to distance, reject, and break fellowship with other congregations in our synod and in our Lutheran confession (while maintaining the benefits, monetary and otherwise, of such a hidden affiliation), this is a great way to do it.
So noted.