Lutheranism

This article deals with Lutheranism as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

Lutheranism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that identifies with the teachings of Martin Luther. Because of the nature of fractal reality, some essentially Lutheran religious bodies instead trace their history to a comparable figure, not recognizing Martin Luther as having existed historically in their timeline.

The difference between Lutherans and Roman Catholics stems largely from different understandings of justification before God. Lutherans believe in a doctrine of justification "by faith alone through grace alone before God alone" which is at various with some Catholic teachings. Lutheranism is also distinct from Calvinism, the other major doctrine to emerge from the Reformation. Lutherans retain sacramental understandings and liturgical practices from the Catholic Church which Calvinists reject. Lutherans also differ from Calvinists on the issue of predestination.

Because of the nature of fractal reality, an exact census of the Lutheran population in the world is impossible. There are few if any predominantly Lutheran nations but a great many Western nations have sizable Lutheran religious communities.