The
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a document created by and agreed to by the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian UnityThe Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962-1965.Pope John XXIII wanted the Catholic Church to engage in the contemporary ecumenical movement...
and the
Lutheran World FederationThe Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the many differing Lutheran...
in 1999, as a result of extensive
ecumenical dialogueLutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue began in July, 1964 as an outgrowth of Vatican II and the new openness of the Roman Catholic Church to dialogue with other Christian denominations and other religions. It was held under the auspices of the U.S...
, ostensibly resolving the conflict over the nature of
justificationIn Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God. The concept of justification occurs in many books of the Old and New Testaments....
which was at the root of the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
.
The Churches acknowledged that the
excommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
s relating to the doctrine of justification set forth by the
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
do not apply to the teachings of the Lutheran churches set forth in the text; likewise, the churches acknowledged that the condemnations set forth in the
Lutheran ConfessionsThe Book of Concord or Concordia is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century...
do not apply to the Catholic teachings on justification set forth in the document.
The
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is a document created by and agreed to by the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian UnityThe Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962-1965.Pope John XXIII wanted the Catholic Church to engage in the contemporary ecumenical movement...
and the
Lutheran World FederationThe Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran churches headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of Lund in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1947 to coordinate the activities of the many differing Lutheran...
in 1999, as a result of extensive
ecumenical dialogueLutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue began in July, 1964 as an outgrowth of Vatican II and the new openness of the Roman Catholic Church to dialogue with other Christian denominations and other religions. It was held under the auspices of the U.S...
, ostensibly resolving the conflict over the nature of
justificationIn Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God. The concept of justification occurs in many books of the Old and New Testaments....
which was at the root of the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
.
The Churches acknowledged that the
excommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
s relating to the doctrine of justification set forth by the
Council of TrentThe Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered to be one of the Church's most important councils, it convened in Trento between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
do not apply to the teachings of the Lutheran churches set forth in the text; likewise, the churches acknowledged that the condemnations set forth in the
Lutheran ConfessionsThe Book of Concord or Concordia is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century...
do not apply to the Catholic teachings on justification set forth in the document.
Confessional LutheranConfessional Lutheran is a name used by certain Lutheran Christians to designate themselves as those who accept the doctrines taught in the Book of Concord of 1580 in their entirety, because they believe them to be completely faithful to the teachings of the Bible...
s, such as the
International Lutheran CouncilThe International Lutheran Council is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. It is to be distinguished from the Lutheran World Federation, which represents the larger, more theologically inclusive Lutheran churches...
and the
Confessional Evangelical Lutheran ConferenceThe Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference is the successor to the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America except that it is international in scope rather than restricted to North America....
, reject the Declaration.
On July 18, 2006, members of the
World Methodist CouncilThe World Methodist Council, founded in 1881, is an association of churches in the Methodist tradition which comprises most of the world's Wesleyan denominations.- Extension and Organization:...
, meeting in Seoul, South Korea, voted unanimously to adopt this document as well.
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