Do Lutherans believe in the Blessed Mother Mary?

Answer 1

No, since they believe there is one mediator between God and men, and also that neither Mary nor the Saints have any divinely sanctioned authority to help. They see them as having lived Godly lives and having done many things worthy of admiration and in some cases emulation. But they are only regarded as human, whereas Jesus is divine and sits currently at the right hand of the Father.

Answer 2

Answer #1

Again there are some popular myths. the popular myth is (Luther denied the Virgin Birth) this is not strictly speaking true=-what Luther did do was minimize the role of St. Mary in the church-it is almost unheard of to have a Lutheran church named ( St. Mary"s - but some do exist. the elaborate Mary=worship such as multiple titles for the Holy Virgin and so on- true they do not have this in Lutheranism. Luther believed also that Jesus Had Human siblings- brothers and sisters- and thus Mary was not (Ever Virgin) but had normal offspring with St. Joseph. There is evidence for and against this in The Bible- Some say St. James was a natural brother of Christ.

Answer #2

As a starting point, it helps to first distinguish whatthe four central Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church are, so that it might be better understood where Lutherans stand in relation to these dogmas; i.e. what are the salient objects of belief regarding Mary? The four central Marian doctrines held by, but not limited exclusively to, Catholics are:

• the Immaculate Conception of Mary
• Mary is the theotokos; i.e. Mary is literally the 'bearer of' (mother of) God
• the Perpetual Virginity of Mary (virgin before, during and ever after the birth of Jesus)
• the Assumption of Mary into Heaven

Beliefs in Lutheran communities vary widely on these Marian dogmas. On the one hand, many communities hold only to the Virgin Birth of Jesus. On the other hand, some Lutheran communities seek ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church on all four.

Martin Luther

Many of Martin Luther's own statements also provide a path for ecumenical discussion between contemporary Lutherans and Catholics. Regarding the Immaculate Conception, Luther writes:

• It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin (Sermon: On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God, 1527) This is found in Hartmann Grisar's book, Luther Vol. IV. Grisar cites the source as "Werke," Erl. Ed., 15 Page 58.

• . . . she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin. . . . God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil. . . . (Luther's Works, American edition, vol. 43, p. 40, ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress, 1968).

There is also the possibility for ecumenical dialogue between contemporary Lutherans and Catholics on Mary's Perpetual Virginity when Luther writes:

• in childbirth and after childbirth, as she was a virgin before childbirth, so she remained. (Sermon on the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Luthers Werke 52:688- 99, quoted in Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary Through The Ages, 158.)

and again when he comments on John 2:12 as follows:

• I am inclined to agree with those who declare that "brothers" really means "cousins" here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins brothers. (Luther's Works, 22: 215.)