The Seal of the Confessional is a Christian doctrine which affirms the special protection and privilege of the words spoken during

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

between a penitent (church member) and his or her pastor. A form of this principle exists in the doctrine and practice of many modern

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

churches.

History

The Roman Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and Reformer

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

initially proclaimed in his teaching that three sacraments should be preserved in the reformed church, namely

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

, the

eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

and

; Lutheran Christians today, do not all agree on the number of sacraments, but many include confession as a sacramental act. Some of the Nordic churches at the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

maintained virtually all aspects of their catholic faith and order, whilst breaking their links with the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. Later, these churches formally constituted themselves as Lutheran, the Church of Sweden doing so, for example, at The Convocation of Uppsala in 1593. There was a continuing ''de facto'' respect for principles such as the Seal of the Confessional, not least because it took the Nordic people a long time to promulgate any ecclesiastical law of their own. The first post-reformation ecclesiastical laws in the Kingdom of Sweden were not promulgated until 1686.

Contemporary practice

In a manner very similar to the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, the practice of private confession in the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches is an important part of their faith for some church members, and totally ignored by others. There is a huge range of attitudes towards the practice. However, where it is practiced, there is an understanding among the clergy that there is an inviolable confidence between the individual priest and the penitent. In continental Lutheran practice private confession is less common, but still present. Although the

Lutheran Confessions ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

do not make explicit mention of the seal of the confessional, later texts do address this doctrine. An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism, an expansion of this primary source of Lutheran doctrine widely used for teaching in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, says the following in regards to the Seal of the Confessional: In regard to individual confession and forgiveness,

Evangelical Lutheran Worship ''Evangelical Lutheran Worship'' (''ELW'') is the current primary liturgical and worship guidebook and hymnal for use in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, replacing its predecessor, the ...

, the current service book of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America states, "There is a confidential nature to this order, in keeping with the discipline and practice of the Lutheran church."

References

{{reflist

History

Contemporary practice

References

See also