Product Description

Born in controversy and raised in university settings, the Lutheran reform movement was embroiled immediately, publicly, and perennially in theological disputes and political battles. While controversies during Martin Luther's lifetime centered on disagreements with Rome and Geneva, present and later differences emerged over interpreting Luther's and Melanchthon's theologies on such issues as governmental interference, liturgical practices, justification's implications for good works and sin, the Lord's Supper, and election. It is this defining dis-concord, alternating with attempts at concord and conciliation, that is reflected in the documents newly translated in this indispensable documentary companion to The Book of Concord, which includes the works of Agricola, Eck, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, and Luther.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #528718 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 277 pages

About the Author
Robert Kolb is Director of the Institute for Mission Studies, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and co-editor of the new translation of The Book of Concord (Fortress Press, 2000).

James A. Nestingen is Professor of Church History at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.

Excerpted from Sources and Contexts of the Book of Concord by Robert Kolb, James A. Nestingen. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
From the Foreword (pre-publication version):

While the Reformation movement led by Martin Luther was conceived in Wittenberg, in the midst of the university's enterprise of teaching and learning, the Lutheran church which it produced was born at Augsburg, through a public act of confessing the faith. This confessing took lasting form in a document. The Lutheran princes, municipal representatives, and theologians assembled at Augsburg in June 1530 directed their testimony of the biblical message toward church and world in the Augsburg Confession. This act of confessing was preserved as a written statement of faith, the birth certificate and charter of the Lutheran church. This confessional document addressed specific issues of concern to the Christian community in a series of articles intended to define the teaching of Scripture for the situation of that day.

Again in 1537, as they prepared for the council called by Pope Paul III, Lutheran theologians subscribed to a confession of faith composed by Luther, the Smalcald Articles. These articles also treated fundamental elements of biblical teaching under dispute within the specific context of the time. Forty years later Lutheran churches confessed their faith in the Formula of Concord, again with reference to twelve topics being debated within their own historical context.

In each of these cases sixteenth-century Lutherans defined their faith and their church by proclaiming and teaching the content of Scripture within the nexus of their own setting and circumstances. Implicit in this observation is the fact that, like all historical documents, the living confession and exposition of the Christian faith found in the Book of Concord can be better understood when the conditions and issues of the time are clearer. This clarity is in part obtainable by reading other documents from the period which shed light on the debates and concerns that moved the theologians of the period to address the questions posed for their church. Indeed, the documents in the Book of Concord are understandable as they were written, also for those who live in the very different circumstances of the turn of the twenty-first century. But their contents may be digested more thoroughly with the aid of information and insight regarding the debates and discussions of their own time. Such insights and information may be gained from contemporary documents.

This volume is intended to aid and support the study of the sixteenth century Lutheran confessions. It presents fourteen texts that help illumine the situations in which the authors of these confessions perceived themselves to be. Some of these documents have previously appeared in English translation, but in almost every case they are out of print. In this collection several documents are available which have not previously been at the disposal of English readers. To aid instructors and students in their study of the confessions, we also make suggestions in this preface for the use of other available translations of documents which can illumine the confessional texts.

The Documents in this Volume

Chronologically, Luther's catechisms were the first of what would later be called the Lutheran confessions to appear in print. . . . At the same time he was writing and preaching on the fundamentals of biblical learning during the 1520s, the reformer was urging other colleagues in Wittenberg and elsewhere to create a primer of the faith for families, teachers, and pastors to use in the instruction of young people. One of the early attempts, A Booklet for Laity and Children, appeared in 1525 [document #1]; it demonstrates how one person among Luther's disciples, under his influence, perceived the catechetical task to which the reformer addressed his own efforts in 1528 and 1529. Luther himself finally took the writing of the children's catechism (the Small Catechism) and the accompanying teacher's guide (his Large Catechism) in hand. He did so in part because others in his circle had not found time to produce these works which he considered most urgent, in part because one of his students had indeed produced his own catechisms. Johann Agricola, among the brightest and best of Luther's earliest students, prepared instructional materials for the pupils in the schools of Eisleben, where he was rector. These works reflected his antinomian views, which had brought him into sharp disagreement with the Wittenberg theologians, led by Philip Melanchthon and Martin Luther, at just this time. His One Hundred Thirty Questions for the Girl's School in Eisleben [document #2] also illustrates how those in the Wittenberg circle understood the task of catechizing the young; at the same time it reveals how Agricola's use of the law of God differs from that of Luther and Melanchthon. Luther's own catechism represents his attempt to counteract the influence of Agricola in the field of Christian education.

At the same time Luther felt compelled to devote his energies to meet the pressing needs for the instruction of the young, imperial politics was driving Lutheran governmental officials and theologians to explain their program for the reform of the church in doctrine and life. Emperor Charles V called an imperial diet for late spring 1530 in the city of Augsburg. There, he demanded, the Evangelical princes and cities of his empire were to justify their alterations in ecclesiastical practice. When the delegation of Elector John of Saxony arrived in Augsburg, a new publication by the leading Roman Catholic theologian in Germany, Johann Eck, greeted them. His Four Hundred Four Articles gathered citations from writings of the Wittenberg reformers and other authors who opposed the papal party into one malodorous potpourri of heresies, associating Luther, Melanchthon, and their colleagues with Anabaptist and Sacramentarian ideas of various sorts [document #3]. Some of the citations from the Wittenberg theologians themselves were taken out of context and given a heretical spin. The Lutherans, led by Melanchthon, recognized that they would have to make clear that the faith they confessed belonged solidly to the catholic tradition of the whole church.

Customer Reviews

Valuable Companion To the Book of Concord
As indicated by the title, this book is a useful compilation of Reformation Era documents surrounding the Book of Concord. The writings include both Lutheran and Roman Catholic material, including several polemical pieces. Perhaps the most valuable in my opinion, is the Roman Confutation of the Augsburg Confession, which would enables you to sit down with this book and your Book of Concord and read article by article the Augsburg Confession (AC), the respective response by the Roman Catholics, and the subsequent counter by the Lutherans in the Apology. Also very useful is the Catolog of Testimonies, which demonstrated to the Calvinist objectors that the Christology of the Lutheran theologians was not novel to the Christian church, but in fact entirely in line with the confession of the Early Church Fathers and Councils.

The book also contains various precursor documents to the writings in the Book of Concord, as well as some of the religio-political compromises that were attempted in the years after Luther's death. Altogether this book is a valuable companion to the Book of Concord, both for its historical and theological interest.

Get Into The Book of Concord with Context
This book is just excellent for all students of the Lutheran Confessions. All these fascinating and relevant sources for the Confessions were out of print, or never published in English before.

As now involved in teaching class on the Formula, fascinated by the Leipzig Interim and Chemnitz' "Judgment on Certain Controversies." He states things so plainly and is not politically correct at all, e.g. "it is of utmost importance to establish what limits are to constitute the defining elements of this harmony. Often in the church not only princes and political advisors, but even theologians have sought harmony on the basis of human judgment which led people away from the purity of the Gospel. Therefore, it is necessary in the church that the rule for such harmony be the Word of God."

Wingert's translation of Luther's catechetical material as well as Melanchthon's Disputation, The Catalog of Testominies, Luther's sermon on descent into hell, and the Saxon Visitation ARticles of 1592.

This is great collection of wealth of background info which we Reformation students will sink our theological teeth into and be well rewarded, having greater perspective on the Confessions.

Translated by renown group of Lutheran scholars. Highly recommended.