Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

The Inner World

The Civil World

The Natural World

Spread Events

The Catholic Church and Lutherans Sign a Joint Declaration on Justification

Lutheranism

Citation Formats

General Reference

APA Style

BibTeX

Origin from 1999

On 31 October 1999, at St. Anne's Church in Augsburg, Germany, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy for the Catholic Church and Bishop Christian Krause for the Lutheran World Federation, on the anniversary of Martin Luther's 1517 posting of the Ninety Five Theses in Wittenberg. The declaration states that a consensus exists between the two traditions on the basic truths of the doctrine of justification, that believers are accepted by God by grace alone through faith in Christ and not because of their own merit, and that the doctrinal condemnations each side issued against the other in the sixteenth century no longer apply to the teaching on justification as the declaration presents it. The World Methodist Council joined the declaration in 2006, the Anglican Consultative Council affirmed it in 2016, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches signed it in 2017.

Facts
Dates
Start YearSourced to the subject's own account
from 1999 1
End Year
to 2017 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountThe 1999 declaration was joined by the World Methodist Council in 2006, the Anglican Consultative Council in 2016, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches in 2017, its widest ecumenical adoption to date.
Status
Established 1
Sourced to the subject's own accountEstablished marks the signing itself and the consensus statement the two traditions jointly issued. It is not a claim that every doctrinal difference between Lutherans and Catholics on justification is resolved, a point the declaration itself acknowledges, and it is not an assessment of the declaration's reception among individual Lutheran churches or theologians who have since disputed it.
Learn More
How the Catholic Church and Lutherans Signed a Joint Declaration on Justification

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

On 31 October 1999, at St. Anne's Church in Augsburg, Germany, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy for the Catholic Church and Bishop Christian Krause for the Lutheran World Federation.

The date was chosen deliberately, the anniversary of Martin Luther's 1517 posting of the Ninety Five Theses in Wittenberg, the act that opened the division the declaration was signed to address.

The declaration states that a consensus exists between the two traditions on the basic truths of the doctrine of justification, that believers are accepted by God by grace alone through faith in Christ and not because of their own merit, and that the doctrinal condemnations each side issued against the other in the sixteenth century no longer apply to the teaching on justification as the declaration presents it.

Other bodies joined the same declaration in the years after Augsburg. The World Methodist Council joined in 2006, the Anglican Consultative Council affirmed it in 2016, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches signed it in 2017, extending a bilateral Catholic and Lutheran agreement into a document four traditions now share.

What the 1999 Augsburg signing changed for the Reformation's divided churches was placing a shared consensus statement on the doctrine at the center of the sixteenth century split, then watching three more traditions add their own signatures across the following eighteen years.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Wittenberg, Sacred Sites

This source names Wittenberg directly: "posting of the Ninety Five Theses in Wittenberg."

Source Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of JustificationLutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unitythe holders' own account
World Methodist Council, Organizations

This source names World Methodist Council directly: "The World Methodist Council joined the declaration in 2006, the Anglican Consultative Council affirmed it in 2016, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches signed it in 2017."

Source Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of JustificationLutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unitythe holders' own account

Occurred In

Germany, Countries
Source Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of JustificationLutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unitythe holders' own account

Spread Event Of

Lutheranism, Denominations

Closes a 63-year gap since 1963's The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania Unites Seven Missions, the most recent event already on Lutheranism's map, with the Lutheran World Federation's own joint declaration ending its mutual condemnations with the Roman Catholic Church over the doctrine central to the Reformation split.

Source Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of JustificationLutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unitythe holders' own account
Sources
1. Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, 1999the holders' own accountView the Source
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, 2026View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.