Martin Luther's Men

The group that calls itself "the oldest and largest Protestant communion" turned out in Minneapolis last week for an impressive show of strength. The Lutheran World Federation was holding its third assembly (the first in the U.S.), and before its ten-days' sessions were over, some 100,000 people were expected to join the 252 official delegates from 57 church bodies in 29 countries, representing more than two-thirds of the world's 70-odd million Lutherans.

Theme of the assembly was "Christ Frees and Unites," and on the stage of the 10,000-seat Minneapolis Auditorium the message was spelled out in the conference's three languages--English, German, Scandinavian. The assembly met each day in plenary session, then split up for separate discussion groups and meetings for visitors--which also included tours of Minnesota farms, a youth rally, a children's festival and $100,000 worth of exhibits on youth work, evangelism, other church activities. Most of all, the Lutherans focused their attention on the great leaders of their faith, who are among the giants of modern Protestantism.

Studying the Catholics. Hungary's lean, taut Bishop Lajos Ordass (TIME, Aug. 19) opened the assembly with a speech in which he modestly spoke of himself in the third person: "He would like to say that when he was in bondage in the most literal sense of the word, Christ gave him royal freedom." In another exposed position on the firing line of faith is another delegate: spade-bearded Bishop Otto Dibelius, 77, head of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg, whose 5,000,000-member flock is mostly on the Red side of Germany, and who is currently under fresh attack by the Communists for a treaty with the Bonn government providing a chaplaincy for the West German armed forces.

Presiding over the assembly was Germany's stocky Bishop Hanns Lilje of Hannover, head of the Lutheran World Federation, and he offered some provocative news: the federation's executive committee had approved creation of a Lutheran institute to study Roman Catholic theology.

Explained Bishop Lilje: "Each generation of Protestants must rethink the decision of the 16th century. We must be able to say why we today are not Roman Catholics. We want the truth--even if it is unpleasant. . . We want relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. We want to discuss not only the points at which we differ but the polemics of our faith."

Studying the Borderline. Among the other agenda items of the conference is the question of how Lutheranism should relate itself to the newly independent nations in Asia and Africa. Delegates will also discuss such posers as: How is the freedom man has in Christ related to the questions and answers given by depth psychology and psychotherapy? Where does the borderline lie between heresy and justified variety in doctrinal expression? Under what circumstances can: a Lutheran church unite with other churches?

A basic tension, as in all such international church gatherings, will be between U.S. churchmen, who tend to be impatient of theological lacemaking in favor of practical action, and their European colleagues, especially the Germans, who are inclined to explore the theoretical ramifications .before rolling up their sleeves.

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