How the Priesthood of All Believers Became American
This article examines how the common priesthood or priesthood of all believers emerged from a narrow German Lutheran context and became "Americanized" in the nineteenth century. References to the common priesthood in any of its variations were seldom in early America, and the article trace...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2023
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| In: |
Lutheran quarterly
Year: 2023, Volume: 37, Issue: 4, Pages: 424-458 |
| IxTheo Classification: | FA Theology KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBB German language area KBQ North America KDD Protestant Church RB Church office; congregation |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article examines how the common priesthood or priesthood of all believers emerged from a narrow German Lutheran context and became "Americanized" in the nineteenth century. References to the common priesthood in any of its variations were seldom in early America, and the article traces how Americans in the mid-nineteenth century, especially the church historian Philip Schaff, drew on new understandings of the common priesthood in nineteenth-century Germany propagated by August Neander, among others, and applied it to the American republican context. By the end of the nineteenth century, it had gained wide currency among Protestants in America and would become a key element of American Protestant self-understanding. Lutherans drew on it as well, but many remained ambivalent about broader claims, especially as it might impinge on the authority of the ordained office. In the formulation "the priesthood of all believers," the common priesthood continues to resonate in the twentieth century among a diverse range of American denominations from peace church Quakers to conservative Evangelicals, although interpretations of it continue to vary widely. |
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| ISSN: | 2470-5616 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Lutheran quarterly
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