That’s what the pen had printed on it – Trinity Lutherean Church. I know this is a typo, but it seems to me that it describes what many Lutheran churches have become.
In the world of art and antiques if a work is in the style of a renowned artist it is –esque. A painting in the style of Titian but not by him is Titianesque. So a pot can be Orhesque and not be by Orh; food even can be Italianesque but not really Italian.
I suspect this is what some scholars mean when they describe something as Markan, Lucan, Matthean, and Pauline. They don’t really think that a man named Mark wrote Mark or that the Paul of the Bible really wrote it, but someone in their school of thought did. When confessional scholars do this, I don’t like it. I think they do so not to deny apostolic authorship but to appear more erudite and educated.
So to be a Lutherean is to be like Lutherans of old, to be following in the steps of Luther or at least in the Lutheran tradition. I suppose really referring to oneself as Lutherean would be better than leaving out the name Lutheran altogether. Although the LCMS passed a resolution against doing this several conventions ago, you still find websites where you are hard-pressed to find the word Lutheran anywhere. No these are “Community” churches, these are “Pointe” churches the addition of the superfluous “e” only sharpens the point that they are not of a particular point, i.e., confession.
This is what it comes down to. “Lutheran” is a confession of a particular faith even as Baptist, Methodist, and Orthodox are. When we won’t use the term we are broadening our confession. I realize that just because a church uses the name Lutheran doesn’t mean they are, but when they won’t use the name Lutheran and are content to be a “community” or a “pointe,” it surely means they are not. At best they are Lutherean. Find one name Trinity, and I will send them some pens.
