A Doctrinal Study of the ELCA in 2012

Abstract

Professor Brug offers his most recent analysis of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). After a quick review of the history leading up to the formation of the ELCA, Brug takes a close look at three specific areas of the ELCA: their official teachings, dogmatics, and popular doctrine in the church. This analysis leads Brug to reaffirm that the doctrinal gap in the ELCA has only widened over the years, and that the ELCA remains, “the American Lutheran church which has departed the farthest from the doctrinal position of confessional Lutheranism.”