Lutheranism is the branch of Christianity that traces its beliefs to the teachings of Martin Luther and the 16th-century movements that his reforms inspired. Along with Anglicanism, the Reformed and Presbyterian (Calvinist) churches, Methodism, and the Baptist churches, it is one of the five major branches of Protestantism. According to the Lutheran World Federation, there are nearly 66 million Lutherans worldwide. Of these, 36 million live in Europe, 13 million in Africa, 8.4 million in North America, 7.3 million in Asia, and 1.1 million in Latin America.
Martin Luther was a Catholic priest and professor who saw abuses and error coming from the church, and sought to correct them in 1517 when he tacked his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, Germany. He considered the church leadership to be largely uninformed and unaccountable. By Luther’s account, his theology was developed via his personal search for a gracious God. He had been taught that the righteousness of God was a quality of God against which this divine judge measured all humans and found them wanting. He gradually came to understand God’s righteousness as a gift that God bestowed on humanity and by which He reconciled mankind to Himself. His famous passage, “The righteous (or “just”) shall live by faith” was the result.
Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification “by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone”, the doctrine that scripture is the final authority on all matters of faith, denying the belief of the Catholic Church defined at the Council of Trent concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition.
Apart from the theological reforms of Luther, the teachings and liturgy of Lutheranism are very similar to those of the Catholic Church. There are several Lutheran groups worldwide. The two main denominations in America are the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). The LCMS believes that all scripture is inerrant but the ELCA only accepts the Bible as inerrant except for its historic and scientific content.