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1. Term The term “Lutheranism” may be used in a variety of ways: as describing the form of Christianity that developed from the 16th-century Reformation at Wittenberg and most particularly from the teachings of its leader, Martin Luther (1483–1546); as describing the theological and confessional tradition based on the documents of the Book of Concord; or as describing the self-understanding and/or the identity of church bodies throughout the world that claim agreement with Luther’s teaching. Luther himself, however, decried the use of his name: “I ask that [people] make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then could I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have [people] call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold” ( LW  45.70–71). The term was first used in 1520 in the traditional way of naming a heresy after its head. Th…