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Do Lutherans consider the Latin or German edition of the Book of Concord more authoritative?

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This question pertains to confessional Lutherans (i.e., those whose subscription to the Book of Concord is a "*quia* subscription "), and only to the portions of the Book of Concord that were composed after the Reformation (i.e., this question does *not* pertain to the ecumenical creeds ). These, then, are the documents I'm asking about: | Confessional document | Principal author(s) | Original language(s) | Year of composition | | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------- | | Augsburg Confession | Philipp Melanchthon | German and Latin drafted in parallel | 1530 | | Apology of the Augsburg Confession | Philipp Melanchthon | Latin | 1531 | | Smalcald Articles | Martin Luther | German | 1537 | | Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope | Philipp Melanchthon | Latin | 1537 | | Small Catechism | Martin Luther | German | 1529 | | Large Catechism | Martin Luther | German | 1529 | | Formula of Concord (Epitome & Solid Declaration) | Jacob Andreae, Martin Chemnitz, Nicholas Selnecker, David Chytraeus, Andrew Musculus, Christopher Koerner | German | 1577 | Once these documents were compiled into the Book of Concord, it wasn't long before there was both a complete German and a complete Latin edition. While the intent of a translation is of course to render the original as faithfully as possible, there will inevitably be some differences. When it comes to the authority the documents hold for Lutherans, I could imagine confessional Lutherans believing one of the following: - the Latin versions are authoritative - the German versions are authoritative - the original language version of each is authoritative - the version translated into the primary language of the particular Lutheran denomination (e.g., English for the WELS and LCMS) is authoritative for that denomination - some alternative I haven't thought of I'm sure the number of people who could answer confidently about the worldwide population of confessional Lutherans is vanishingly small. I would accept an answer that conveys the position of any one large confessional Lutheran body, even knowing that other bodies may answer it differently.
Asked by Mr. Bultitude (15686 rep)
Sep 13, 2025, 04:19 PM