<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In his honest desire to reform the Catholic Church, Martin Luther looked up sometimes to Eastern Christianity and its Ancient Fathers. Especially in the context of his debates with Catholic theologians, Luther tried to accomplish a theological norm through quotes and arguments from the spiritual thesaurus of the Eastern Church. In spite of the fact that Luther‘s references to the Eastern Church show a certain ambiguity and are not as extensive as one would wish today, these are of particular importance and carry undeniable weight for the Reformation period and the Reformers’ knowledge of Eastern Christianity. Luther’s mentions of the Eastern Church constitute until today the basic points of modern ecumenism between Protestantism and Orthodoxy.</p></abstract>

In his honest desire to reform the Catholic Church, Martin Luther looked up sometimes to Eastern Christianity and its Ancient Fathers. Especially in the context of his debates with Catholic theologians, Luther tried to accomplish a theological norm through quotes and arguments from the spiritual thesaurus of the Eastern Church. In spite of the fact that Luther‘s references to the Eastern Church show a certain ambiguity and are not as extensive as one would wish today, these are of particular importance and carry undeniable weight for the Reformation period and the Reformers’ knowledge of Eastern Christianity. Luther’s mentions of the Eastern Church constitute until today the basic points of modern ecumenism between Protestantism and Orthodoxy.

Some of Martin Luther‘s Written References to the Eastern Church

Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Evangelische Theologie an der TU Dortmund

Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Some of Martin Luther\u2018s Written References to the Eastern Church"}

In his honest desire to reform the Catholic Church, Martin Luther looked up sometimes to Eastern Christianity and its Ancient Fathers. Especially in the...

Some of Martin Luther‘s Written References to the Eastern Church

Published Online: Jan 11, 2018

Page range: 360 - 370

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ress-2017-0025

Keywords
Luther, Eastern Church, Orthodox Theology, Reformation and Orthodoxy, Leipzig Debate

© 2017 Vasilică Mugurel Păvălucă, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Some of Martin Luther‘s Written References to the Eastern Church

Published Online: Jan 11, 2018

Page range: 360 - 370

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ress-2017-0025

KeywordsLuther, Eastern Church, Orthodox Theology, Reformation and Orthodoxy, Leipzig Debate

© 2017 Vasilică Mugurel Păvălucă, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Luther, Eastern Church, Orthodox Theology, Reformation and Orthodoxy, Leipzig Debate