This dictionary provides a comprehensive overview of Luther's life and work and the traditions emanating from the Wittenberg Reformation. It traces the history, theology, and practices of the global Lutheran movement, covering significant figures, events, theological writings and ideas, denominational subgroups, and congregational practices that have constituted the Lutheran tradition from the Reformation to today.

Table of Contents

• Contributors
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• A
• Aaron, S.
• Adiaphora
• Agricola, Johann
• Agricola, Mikael
• Albrecht of Mainz
• Alesius, Alexander
• Althaus, Paul
• Altona Confession
• American Civil War
• American Lutheran Church (1930–60)
• American Lutheran Church (1960–88)
• American Lutheranism Controversy
• Amsdorf, Nikolaus von
• Anabaptists/Spiritualists
• Andreae, Jakob
• Andreae, Johann Valentin
• Angola
• Ansbach Memorandum (Ansbacher Ratschlag)
• Anthropology
• Antinomianism/Antinomian Controversies
• Antitrinitarians
• Apartheid
• Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
• Apologetics
• Apology of the Augsburg Confession
• Architecture
• Argentina
• Arndt, Johann
• Arnold, Gottfried
• Art
• Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches.
• Astrology
• Atonement
• Augsburg
• Augsburg Confession
• Augsburg Interim
• Augustana Synod
• Augustine of Hippo
• Augustinianism
• Aulén, Gustaf
• Australia
• Australian Aboriginal People
• Austria
• Authority
• B
• Bach, Johann Sebastian
• Balkan Lands
• Baptism
• Barmen Confession
• Barnes, Robert
• Barth, Karl
• Batak Church
• Batak Confession
• Baur, Ferdinand Christian
• Bayer, Oswald
• Beck, Vilhelm
• Bengel, Johann Albrecht
• Berggrav, Eivind
• Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
• Beza, Theodore
• Bible Interpretation
• Bible Translations
• Biel, Gabriel
• Bodelschwingh, Friedrich (the Elder) and Friedrich (the Younger) von
• Boe, Paul A.
• Boehm, Anthony William
• Böhme, Jacob
• Bolivia
• Boltzius, Johann Martin
• Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
• Book of Concord
• Bora, Katharina von
• Botswana
• Braaten, Carl
• Brahe, Tycho
• Brakemeier, Gottfried
• Brazil
• Bremen
• Brenz, Johannes
• Bucer, Martin
• Bugenhagen, Johannes
• Bullinger, Heinrich
• Bultmann, Rudolf (Karl)
• Buxtehude, Dietrich
• C
• Cajetan (Thomaso de Vio)
• Calixt, Georg
• Calov, Abraham
• Calvin, John
• Calvinism as a Second Reformation
• Cameroon
• Campanius, Johan
• Campanus, Johannes
• Canada
• Canon
• Catechisms
• Catholicism
• Charles V
• Chemnitz, Martin
• Chile
• China
• Christology
• Church
• Church Law
• Chytraeus, David
• Cochlaeus, Johannes
• Colloquy
• Cologne
• Colombia
• Conciliarism
• Confessing Church
• Confession (Private) and the Confessional
• Confessionalization, Confessional Age
• Confession of Faith
• Confirmation
• Congo, Democratic Republic of the
• Conventicles
• Convents
• Conversion and Regeneration
• Corvinus, Antonius
• Courland (Kurland)
• Cranach, Lucas, the Elder
• Cranach, Lucas, the Younger
• Cranmer, Thomas
• Creation
• Creeds, Ecumenical
• Cruciger, Caspar, Sr.
• Cruciger, Elisabeth
• Crüger, Johann
• Czech Republic
• D
• Danish-American Lutheranism
• Dannhauer, Johann Konrad
• Darman, Paul
• Deaconesses
• Death and Dying
• Denmark
• Desta, Kentiba Gebru (Gobaw)
• Devotional Literature
• Dieckhoff, Heinrich Wilhelm
• Dietrich, Veit
• Dlamini, Paulina
• Dohms, Hermann Gottlieb
• E
• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Ebeling, Gerhard
• Ebenezer Community
• Eber, Paul
• Eck, John
• Ecology
• Economic Issues: Capitalism and Socialism
• Economic Life and Lutheranism
• Ecuador
• Ecumenical Dialogues
• Eighteenth Century
• Electors of Saxony
• Elert, Werner
• Elizabeth I
• El Salvador
• Emser, Jerome
• England
• Enlightenment
• Erasmus of Rotterdam (Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus)
• Eritrea
• Erlangen
• Ernst the Pious of Saxe-Gotha, Duke
• Eschatology (Apocalypticism, Chiliasm, Millennialism, Millenarianism)
• Estonia
• Ethiopia
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Evolution
• Exile
• Existentialism
• Exorcism
• F
• Fabricius, Johann Philipp
• Falckner, Justus
• Fathme, Pauline
• Fedde, Elizabeth Tonette
• Feldmanis, Roberts Emīls
• Fifohazana Movement
• Finland
• Finnish-American Lutheranism
• Finnish Interpretation of Luther
• Flacius, Matthias Illyricus, and the Flacians
• Fliedner, Theodore
• Flierl, Johann
• Forde, Gerhard
• Formula of Concord
• France
• Francke, August Hermann
• Francke, Gotthilf August
• Francke Foundations
• Franconia
• Free Will
• Freylinghausen, Johann Anastasius
• Fritschel, Sigmund and Gottfried
• Fritzsche, Gotthard Daniel
• Fry, Franklin Clark
• G
• Gender: Men and Women
• General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America
• General Synod
• General Synod South
• Geneva
• Georg, Duke of Saxony
• Georg, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
• Gerhard, Johann
• Gerhardt, Paul
• German Christians (Deutsche Christen)
• German Mysticism
• Germany since 1870
• Ghana
• Giertz, Bo Harald
• Glück, Johann Ernst
• Gnesio-Lutherans.
• God and Trinity
• Gómez, Medardo Ernesto
• Good Works
• Gospels
• Gossner, Johannes Evangelista
• Gregorius, Johann Gottfried
• Greiner, Johann Jakob
• Grīnbergs, Teodors
• Grumbach, Argula von
• Grundtvig, Nikolai Frederik Severin
• Guatemala
• Gunderson, Adolphus
• Gustavus Adolphus
• Guyana
• H
• Hamann, Johann Georg
• Hamburg
• Hamilton, Patrick
• Hammarskjöld, Dag
• Harms, Claus
• Harms, Ludwig
• Harnack, Adolf von
• Harnack, Theodosius Andreas
• Hauge, Hans Nielsen
• Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
• Heim, Karl
• Hell
• Hemmingsen, Niels
• Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm
• Henry VIII
• Hermann, Nikolaus
• Hesshus, Tilemann (Heshusens, Heshusius)
• Heyer, Johann Friedrich Christian
• Hildebrand, Carl (Baron von Canstein)
• History
• Hoffmann, Johannes Christian Konrad von
• Hoffmann, Melchior
• Holbein, Hans (the Younger)
• Holberg, Ludvig
• Holl, Karl
• Holocaust
• Holy Roman Empire
• Holy Spirit
• Honduras
• Honterus, Johannes
• Household, Children, Parents
• Humanism and the Reformation
• Hungary
• Hurban, Jozef Miloslav
• Hus, Jan
• Hymnody
• I
• Iceland
• Iconoclasm
• Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB)
• Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil (IELB)
• Imperialism
• Independent Lutheran Organizations
• India
• Inner-Lutheran Ecumenism
• Inner Mission
• International Lutheran Council
• Irbe, Kārlis
• Islam
• Iwand, Hans Joachim
• J
• Jacobs, Henry Eyster
• Jammo, Daffa
• Japan
• Jenson, Robert W.
• Jews
• Ji Brothers
• Joachim II Hector
• Jonas, Justus
• Jüngel, Eberhard
• Jurisprudence
• Justification
• Just-War Theory
• K
• Kalnins, Harald
• Kant, Immanuel
• Karlstadt, Andreas Bodenstein von
• Kavel, August Ludwig Christian
• Kenya
• Kepler, Johannes
• Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye
• Kingo, Thomas Hansen
• Kirchenordnungen
• Kitamori, Kazoh
• Knubel, Frederick Hermann
• Korea
• Krauth, Charles Porterfield
• Kretschmar, Georg
• Krman, Daniel, Jr.
• Kugappi, Aari
• Kugler, Anna Sarah
• Kuhr, Karl Otto
• Kumari Samuel, Prasanna
• Kurds
• Kuzmány, Karol
• L
• Laestadius, Lars Levi
• Latvia
• Law, Uses of the
• Law and Gospel
• Lectionary
• Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm
• Leipzig Proposal (Interim)
• Lenski, Gerhard Emmanuel
• Lenski, Richard Charles Henry
• Liberalism
• Liberation Theology and Marxism
• Liberia
• Lilje, Hanns
• Lindbeck, George
• Literature
• Liturgy and Worship
• Livonia
• Loehe, Wilhelm Konrad
• Lord's Supper
• Löscher, Valentin Ernst
• Lübeck
• Lundensian School
• Luther, Martin
• Lutheran Church in America
• Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
• Lutheran Council in the United States of America
• Lutheran Denominations in America, Minor
• Lutheran Education
• Lutheran Orthodoxy
• Lutheran Social Services
• Lutheran World Federation
• Luther Congresses
• Luther Interpretation and Reception
• Luther Renaissance
• Luther's Bible
• Luther's Breakthrough
• Luther's Roman Catholic Opponents
• Luther's Works
• M
• Madagascar
• Magdeburg
• Mahler, Carl Wilhelm Gustav
• Major, Georg
• Malawi
• Mancelius, Georgius
• Manikam, Rajah Bushanam
• Mannermaa, Tuomo
• Marburg Colloquy
• Marriage and Divorce
• Marty, Martin Emil
• Martyrdom and Persecution
• Mathesius, Johannes
• Mau, Carl Henning, Jr.
• Mecklenburg
• Meier, Theophil
• Melanchthon, Philip
• Methodism
• Mexico
• Meyfart, Johann Matthäus
• Middle East
• Migration
• Ministerium of Pennsylvania
• Ministry
• Mission and Evangelism
• Mission Societies and Academies
• Mömpelgaard/Montbéliard Colloquy
• Monasteries, Evangelical
• Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum)
• Mörlin, Joachim
• Morogoro, Lutheran Junior Seminary
• Mosheim, Johann Lorenz von
• Moshi, Stefano Ruben
• Mozambique
• Mühlenberg, Heinrich (Henry) Melchior
• Munk, Kaj
• Müntzer, Thomas
• Musculus, Andreas
• Musculus, Wolfgang
• Music
• Muss, Kurt
• Myconius, Friedrich
• Mystical Union
• N
• Nabetani, Gyoji
• Namibia
• Natural Science
• Natural Theology
• Nesib, Onesimos
• Netherlands, The
• New Sweden
• Nicaragua
• Nicholas of Lyra
• Nicolai, Philipp
• Niemoeller, Martin
• Nigeria
• Nihilism and Postmodernism
• Ninety-Five Theses
• Ninety-Five Theses, Posting of the
• Noko, Ishmael
• Nommensen, Ludwig Ingwer
• Norway
• Norwegian-American Lutheranism
• Nuremberg
• Nygren, Anders
• O
• Ockham, William of
• Oecolampadius, Johannes
• Oetinger, Friedrich Christoph
• Ohio/Buffalo/Iowa Synods
• Oldendorp, Johannes
• Ordass, Lajos
• Original Sin
• Orphanages
• Osiander, Andreas
• P
• Palatinate, The
• Pannenberg, Wolfhart
• Papacy
• Papua New Guinea
• Passavant, William Alfred
• Patristics
• Paul
• Paulssen, Bertha
• Peace of Augsburg
• Peasants’ War
• Pelikan, Jaroslav
• Penance, Penitence, Repentance
• Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity
• Peru
• Petersen, Anne Marie
• Petersen, Johanna Eleonora
• Petersen, Johann Wilhelm
• Petri (Nericus), Laurentius
• Petri, Olavus
• Peucer, Caspar
• Pfeffinger, Johann
• Philip of Hesse
• Philippists.
• Philosophy
• Pieper, Francis
• Piepkorn, Arthur Carl
• Pietism
• Poland
• Pomerania
• Pontoppidan, Erik Ludvigsen
• Praetorius, Michael
• Prayer
• Preaching
• Predestination
• Predestination (Election) Controversy
• Preus, Jacob
• Prierias, Sylvester
• Priesthood of All Believers
• Printing in Sixteenth-Century Lutheranism
• Prophecy
• Prussia
• Prussian Union
• Pufendorf, Samuel
• Q
• Quenstedt, Johann Andreas
• R
• Race/Minorities
• Rajaratnam, Kunchala
• Rationalism
• Reformation and Luther Jubilees, Anniversaries
• Refugees
• Regensburg Colloquy
• Repristination Theology
• Reu, Johann Michael
• Reuchlin, Johannes
• Reusch, Richard Gustavovich
• Revelation
• Revivals, Erweckungsbewegung
• Rhegius, Urbanus
• Rheticus, Georg Joachim
• Rhetoric
• Rinckart, Martin
• Ritschl, Albrecht
• Rosenius, Carl Olof
• Rotermund, Wilhelm
• Rudbeckius, Johannes
• Rumba, Edgars
• Russia
• S
• Sachs, Hans
• Sacraments
• Salvation
• Sanctification
• Sandell-Berg, Karolina Wilhelmina (Lina)
• Sasse, Hermann
• Saxonies
• Schlieper, Ernesto Theophilo
• Schlink, Edmund
• Schmucker, Samuel Simon
• Scholasticism, Late Medieval
• Schultze, Benjamin
• Schütz, Heinrich
• Schwartz, Christian Friedrich
• Schwenckfeld, Caspar von
• Scripture
• Scriver, Christian
• Seamen's Missions
• Seckendorff, Veit Ludwig von
• Selnecker, Nikolaus
• Seminex and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches
• Semler, Johann Salomo
• Servetus, Michael
• Sewushane, Martinus
• Sexuality
• Sierra Leone
• Sieveking, Amalie Wilhelmina
• Slavery and Colonialism
• Slovak Confessions of the Faith
• Slovakia
• Smalcald Articles
• Smalcald War
• Social Ministry, Community Chest, Poor Relief
• Söderblom, Nathan
• South Africa
• Spain
• Spalatin, Georg
• Spangenberg, August Gottlieb
• Spangenberg, Johann and Cyriacus
• Spener, Philipp Jakob
• Spitta, Karl Johann Philipp
• State
• Staupitz, Johann von
• Stöckel, Leonard
• Strasbourg
• Strigel, Viktorin
• Sudan Mission
• Sunday and Sabbatarianism
• Suriname
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Synergistic Controversy
• T
• Taiwan
• Tanzania
• Tappert, Theodore Gerhardt
• Tausen, Hans
• Telemann, Georg Philipp
• Temperance and Prohibition
• Ten Commandments
• Tetzel, Johann
• Thailand
• Theological Education
• Theological Prolegomena
• Theology of the Cross
• Thielicke, Helmut
• Thirty Years’ War
• Thomas Aquinas
• Thomasius, Christian
• Three Estates
• Tikhuie, Vehettge Lena
• Tillich, Paul J.
• Tokuzen, Kazuyoshi
• Tolstadius, Erik
• Tradition
• Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
• Troeltsch, Ernst
• Tumsa, Gudina
• Turss, Gustavs (Tūrs)
• Twofold Righteousness
• Two Realms
• Tyndale, William
• U
• United Lutheran Church in America
• United States of America
• Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA)
• University of Wittenberg in the Sixteenth Century
• V
• Valla, Lorenzo
• Vasa, Gustav
• Venezuela
• Vilmar, August Friedrich Christian
• Vocation
• Volga Germans
• W
• Walch, Johann Georg
• Wallin, Johan Olof
• Walther, Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm
• Wellhausen, Julius
• Welz, Justinian von
• Wesley, John and Charles
• Westphal, Joachim
• Wichern, Johann Hinrich
• Wigand, Johann
• Wingren, Gustaf
• Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
• Witchcraft and Magic
• Wittenberg, City of
• Wittenberg Circle
• Wittenberg Circle, Parties within
• Wittenberg Concord
• Wittenberg Unrest
• Women's Movement
• Word of God
• World Wars I and II
• Württemberg
• Wyclif, John
• Y
• Youth Work
• Yu, Thomas (Yu Qi-bing)
• Z
• Zambia
• Ziegenbalg, Bartholomäus
• Ziegenhagen, Friedrich Michael
• Zimbabwe
• Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig von
• Zurich
• Zwingli, Ulrich