That may well be true, but pietism was not Luther’s thing. The authority of Scripture was Luther’s thing, and the ELCA is butchering that.
>>I understand that, but the downfall of Lutheranism started in the 17th century with the Pietist movement, which rejected Lutheran scholasticism if favor of emotionalism.
I’ll agree to disagree with you about Luther’s biblical scholarship because reading Luther dissuaded me of Lutheranism.
It’s an uneasy balance between scholasticism and emotion. Either one without the other, or without the proper balance, makes trouble. Pietism erred by rejecting scholasticism, as you say. And that’s where a LOT of denominations are right now, as well as the whole culture. The emotionalism has probably been a huge contributing factor to moral relativism, which has led to post-Christianity and now post-modernism.
Most people don’t care mush (oops. a typo too good to correct. lol) at all WHAT they believe - only that they believe it sincerely.
We can agree to disagree on Luther if you like. Are there hermeneutical principles you accept rather than those he espoused?