Neo-Lutheranism was a 19th century revival movement within Lutheranism which began as a reaction against theological rationalism and pietism. This movement focused on a reassertion of the identity of Lutherans as a distinct group within the broader community of Christians, with a renewed focus on the Lutheran Confessions as a key source of Lutheran doctrine. Associated with these changes was a renewed focus on traditional doctrine and liturgy, which paralleled the growth of Anglo-Catholicism in England[1]. It was sometimes even called "German Puseyism" [2]. In the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, neo-Lutheranism was paralleled by Johann Adam Möhler. The chief literary organ of the neo-Lutheranism was Evangelische Kirchenzeitung, edited by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg.
Neo-Lutheranism should not be confused with term Neo-Protestantism, represented e.g. by Adolf von Harnack and his followers, which means exclusively liberal theology.
^ Scherer, James A. (1993). "http://www.lsfmissiology.org/Essays/SchererTriumphofConfessionalism.pdf The Triumph of Confessionalism in Nineteenth-Century German Lutheran Missions]". Missio Apostolica2: 71–78. This is an extract from Scherer's 1968 Ph.D. thesis, "Mission and Unity in Lutheranism". Scherer was Professor of World Mission and Church History at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago until his retirement.
^ "Lutheranism". The Catholic EncyclopediaIX. (1910). Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved on January 14, 2007
