Max Lackmann
Encyclopedia
Max Lackmann was a German Lutheran ecumenist.
Lackmann studied theology at Bonn and Basel as a pupil of Karl Barth
. He wrote against Nazi ideology, and he had to move from Germany to Basel. When he returned to Germany, he was ordained in 1940 and became pastor in Confessing Church
. His preaching in criticism of Nazi regime caused him to be sent to Dachau concentration camp. In there his stay in the "priest block" became to him a profound ecumenical experience, which led him later to dedicate his work to the reunion of the Christendom.
He belonged to the Sammlung movement of Hans Asmussen and had to retire earlier from Protestant church because of his "Catholic tendencies". Lackmann's answer to these accusations was, that “one is either a catholic Christian or one is no Christian.” Lackmann summed up the movement: "We want to say yes to tradition but no to traditionalism, yes to the office of the Pope but no to papism, yes to the right of the church but no to legalism, yes to the praised mother of the Lord but no to Marianism, yes to the spiritual center of Rome but no to centralism and Romanism." In his book on the Augsburg Confession
, Lackmann asserted that it contains a catholic confession of the ancient faith, and that it holds fast to the connection with the ancient Catholic, and even to the Roman Western Church.
Lackmann founded together with Paul Hacker and Gustav Huhn the League for Evangelical-Catholic Reunion. He took part in the Second Vatican Council
as journalist and as an unofficial observer of the League and published its report under the title "Mit evangelischen Augen" (1963)
Lackmann studied theology at Bonn and Basel as a pupil of Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
. He wrote against Nazi ideology, and he had to move from Germany to Basel. When he returned to Germany, he was ordained in 1940 and became pastor in Confessing Church
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
. His preaching in criticism of Nazi regime caused him to be sent to Dachau concentration camp. In there his stay in the "priest block" became to him a profound ecumenical experience, which led him later to dedicate his work to the reunion of the Christendom.
He belonged to the Sammlung movement of Hans Asmussen and had to retire earlier from Protestant church because of his "Catholic tendencies". Lackmann's answer to these accusations was, that “one is either a catholic Christian or one is no Christian.” Lackmann summed up the movement: "We want to say yes to tradition but no to traditionalism, yes to the office of the Pope but no to papism, yes to the right of the church but no to legalism, yes to the praised mother of the Lord but no to Marianism, yes to the spiritual center of Rome but no to centralism and Romanism." In his book on the Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
, Lackmann asserted that it contains a catholic confession of the ancient faith, and that it holds fast to the connection with the ancient Catholic, and even to the Roman Western Church.
Lackmann founded together with Paul Hacker and Gustav Huhn the League for Evangelical-Catholic Reunion. He took part in the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
as journalist and as an unofficial observer of the League and published its report under the title "Mit evangelischen Augen" (1963)
Works in English
- Evangelical thoughts on the reunion of Christians
- The Augsburg Confession and Catholic Unity (New York: Herder and Herder, 1963),
- The Evangelical Mass. Bund für evangelisch-katholische Wiedervereinigung. Published by Fides Publishers, 1963