Lutheran Quarterly Collection (7 vols.)

by Samuel Yonas Deressa; Oswald Bayer; Steven D. Paulson; Mark C. Mattes

and

3 more

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2017–2019

Overview

Under the editorial guidance of Paul Rorem, Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Princeton Theological Seminary, Lutheran Quarterly provides excellent historical and theological scholarship to Lutheran teachers, clergy, missionaries, and students.

Lutheran Quarterly Books, formerly published by Eerdmans, emphasizes Lutheran theology and the history of doctrine, as seen in the three titles by Gerhard Forde, Oswald Bayer, and collections of essays on Luther’s teachings edited by Timothy Wengert.

Key Features

• Addresses issues of Lutheran theology, hermeneutics, and homiletics
• Examines the theology of Martin Luther, Gerhard O. Forde, Jurgen Moltmann, and more
• Explores the rich history of the Lutheran church

Product Details

• Title: Lutheran Quarterly Collection (7 vols.)
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Volumes: 7
• Pages: 1,957
• Christian Group: Lutheran
• Topic: Theology

Luther’s Outlaw God: Volume 1: Hiddenness, Evil, and Predestination

• Author: Steven D. Paulson
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 308

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this first of three volumes addressing Luther’s outlaw God, Steven D. Paulson considers the two “monsters” of theology, as Luther calls them: evil and predestination. He explores how these produce fear of God but can also become the great and only comforts of conscience when a preacher arrives.

Luther’s new distinction between God as he is preached and God without any preacher absolutely frightened all of the schools of theology that preceded it, and for that matter all that followed Luther, as well. That fear coalesced in various opponents like Eck and Latomus, but in a special way in Desiderius Erasmus.

For Paulson, bad theology begins with bad preaching, and since the church is what preaching does, bad preaching hides the church under such a dark blanket that it can hardly be detected. He argues that the primary distinction of naked/clothed or unpreached/preached radiates out in all directions for Luther’s theology, and shows what difference this makes for current preaching. Specifically, Paulson takes up the central question of all theology (and life): What is God’s relation to the law, and the law’s relation to God? Luther’s answers are surprising and will change the way you preach.

Luther’s Outlaw God confronts the realities of life’s often harsh and cruel mysteries through an open confrontation with the actual texts of Martin Luther’s proclamation of God’s word as preacher and professor. Paulson leads readers into Luther’s use of sermon and lecture, where no safe haven is to be found in God’s law and demandls for human obedience. Instead, Paulson accompanies readers into Luther’s pulpit and lectern as the battlefields, where God goes to war against Satan’s manifest deceptions with the cross of Christ in order to usher in the peace that God’s gift of trust in Christ reestablishes.

—Robert Kolb, emeritus, Concordia Seminary

Steven D. Paulson is professor of systematic theology at Luther House of Study, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The Early Luther: Stages in a Reformation Reorientation

• Author: Berndt Hamm
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 320

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The development of Martin Luther’s thought has commanded much scholarly attention because of the Reformation and its remarkable effects on the history of Christianity in the West. But much of that scholarship has been so enthralled by certain later debates that it has practically ignored and even distorted the context in and against which Luther’s thought developed. In The Early Luther Berndt Hamm, armed with expertise both in late-medieval intellectual life and in Luther, presents new perspectives that leave old debates behind.

A master Luther scholar, Hamm provides fresh insights into the development of Luther’s theology from his entry into the monastery through his early lectures on the Bible to his writing of the 95 Theses in 1517 and The Freedom of a Christian in 1520. Rather than looking for a single breakthrough, Hamm carefully outlines a series of significant shifts in Luther’s late-medieval theological worldview over the course of his early career. The result is a more accurate, nuanced portrait of Reformation giant Martin Luther.

Berndt Hamm is professor emeritus of modern church history at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and the author of The Reformation of Faith in the Context of Late Medieval Theology and Piety.

The Essential Forde: Distinguishing Law and Gospel

• Author: Gerhard O. Forde
• Editors: Mark C. Mattes, Steven D. Paulson, and Nicholas Hopman
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 244

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

No twentieth-century American understood Luther’s law-gospel distinction better than Gerhard O. Forde, who was professor of theology at Luther Theological Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Because Forde kept this Lutheran distinction razor sharp, his theological writings are an essential inheritance for us today. This volume, The Essential Forde, aims to provide the essence of Forde’s writing centered upon Luther’s and Scripture’s essential distinction, that is, the distinction between law and gospel. The editors of this volume have chosen some of the most definitive writings of the renowned Gerhad Forde, whose influence continues to grow. The list of works trace the contours of Forde’s theological argument. Organized around “Law and Gospel,” the selections start off with some historical background on that doctrinal locus, but for the most part express Forde’s own views of the law and the gospel, including death and resurrection, the bondage of the will, good works, preaching, and the sacraments. Besides these essential writings, the book will provide a definitive introduction by the editors, which includes a brief biography of Forde, an essay regarding his doctrinal interpretation, and a sketch of the Forde legacy. Also contained in the volume will be a comprehensive bibliography of all of Forde’s published works plus work published about him.

The editors have produced a helpful sample of significant studies from the pen of the most insightful North American interpreter of Luther in the latter decades of the twentieth century. Readers experience the master of the phrase well-turned on Luther’s lathe from a number of Forde’s writings. The personal reflections and ruminations of the editors prepare readers for venturing into the depths of Forde’s imaginative contemporary translation of the heart of the proclamation of Christ in the works of the Wirrenberg Reformer. Here, readers learn how the law kills both nomian and antinomian attempts to turn away from the crucified and risen Christ’s freely given gift of new life and what it means to live as a righteous child of God through daily repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

—Robert Kolb, emeritus, Concordia Seminary

Gerhard O. Forde was Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Life, Works, and Witness of Tsehay Tolessa and Gudina Tumsa, the Ethiopian Bonhoeffer

• Editors: Samuel Yonas Deressa and Sarah Hinlicky Wilson
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 298

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This book opens a window into the lives and extraordinary witness of a Christian couple whose faithful life of service has earned them the moniker of Ethiopia’s Bonhoeffer. Part One introduces the reader to the extant writings of Gudina Tumsa. Part Two is a highly personal account of Gudina and Tsehay’s life, witness, and sufferings. The collection concludes with an essay by Samuel Yonas Deressa on the impact of Gudina’s vision. Gudina lives on in the many Ethiopian Christians who continue to be inspired by his life and witness.

Praise be to God for this work-as overdue as it is timely. Kudos to Samuel Yonas Deressa and Sarah Hinlicky Wilson for their research and diligence, for making this narrative of heroic faith available and accessible. Lutherans and other Christians in the Global North, where churches seem to be thinning and aging, need this model of boldness from the Global South. Gudina did not pursue martyrdom. Tsehay did not seek to be tortured. But neither did either of them recoil from their confession of the gospel in the face of terror. And the Holy Spirit bears witness, adding multitudinously to those who are saved in Ethiopia. Yes, Termllian’s timeless maxim comes alive: the blood of martyrs is indeed the seed of the church.

—John Arthur Nunes, president of Concordia College-New York

Samuel Yonas Deressa is a PhD candidate at Luther Seminary and was a president of a graduate school in Ethiopia, where he gave training on leadership (Foundation for Academic Excellence Ministry) and was a lecturer at Mekane Yesus Seminary on African theology and Christian-Muslim relations in Africa.

Sarah Hinlicky Wilson is an adjunct research professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, and the editor of the theological quarterly Lutheran Forum.

The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology

• Author: Mark C. Mattes
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 216

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this significant book Mark C. Mattes critically evaluates the role of justification in the theologies of five leading Protestant thinkers—Eberhard Jungel, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jurgen Moltmann, Robert W. Jenson, and Oswald Bayer—pointing out their respective strengths and weaknesses and showing how each matches up with Luther’s own views. Offering both an excellent review of recent trends in Christian theology and a powerful analysis of these trends, Mattes points readers to the various ways in which the doctrine of justification has been applied today. Despite the greatness of their thought, Jungel, Pannenberg, and Moltmann each accommodate the doctrine of justification to goals aligned with secular modernity. Both Jenson and Bayer, on the other hand, construe the doctrine of justification in a nonaccommodating way, thus challenging the secularity of the modern academy. In the end, Mattes argues that Bayer’s position is to be preferred as closest to Luther’s own, and he shows why it offers the greatest potential for confronting current attempts at self-justification before God.

Mark C. Mattes (PhD, University of Chicago) is professor of philosophy and religion at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. He previously served parishes in Illinois and Wisconsin. Mattes has authored, edited, or translated a number of books and is an associate editor of the Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions. He also serves as associate editor for Lutheran Quarterly and as a contributing editor for Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology.

The Wittenberg Concord: Creating Space for Dialogue

• Author: Gordon A. Jensen
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 235

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

One of the mostly forgotten gems of the sixteenth century Reformations is the Wittenberg Concord. Signed in 1536 by representatives of evangelical southern German imperial cities and territories and the Lutherans, the dialogue that led to the concord provided space for the participants to have a meaningful dialogue that led to the recognition of each other’s understanding of the sacraments as orthodox. This was remarkable, given the very public failures at Marburg in 1529 and Augsburg in 1530. The lack of agreement threatened the unity of the evangelical estates and made them, along with the Reformation teachings, vulnerable to attack by the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church.

The dialogue participants created enough space in their own understandings of the sacraments of baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper to allow the agreement to occur—and function reasonably well, at least until the beginning of the Thirty Years War in 1618.

The final two chapters explore how this concord has impacted the church since its acceptance, and how the lessons learned from this dialogue can assist churches today in providing healthy spaces for ecumenical dialogue to discuss controversial issues.

If Lutheran and Reformed churches are ever to engage in truly fruitful ecumenical dialogue, then differences over the Lord’s Supper need to be directly and honestly addressed. Can history help here? The Marburg Colloquy, where Luther and Zwingli clashed so bitterly, casts a long shadow and seems to represent a dead-end for dialogue; but it was not the only time the Lutherans and the Reformed discussed the matter. Yet there is more to the history of the debate than that unfortunate clash. The less well-known Wittenberg Concord of 1536 is a key moment in ecumenical history and, while certainly not the result of easy or straightforward discussion, provides a basis for thinking about the matter of the Eucharist in a way which prioritized purpose over presence, sought to overcome the division and points back to earlier, less controversial emphases in Luther’s ow11 Reformation thinking on th.e sacraments. Professor Jensen’s work thus makes important contributions both to our understanding of the Lord’s Supper in the Reformation and to potential ecumenical discussions today.

—Carl R. Trueman, Princeton University

Gordon Jensen is the William Hordern Chair of Theology and Dean of Studies at Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon in Canada. He is the author of Walking Together in Christ (2006), as well as numerous articles, essays, and chapter contributions.

Theology the Lutheran Way

• Author: Oswald Bayer
• Editors: Jeffery G. Silcock and Mark C. Mattes
• Series: Lutheran Quarterly Books
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication Date: 2017
• Pages: 336

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Rather than asking if theology is theoretical or practical—a question that reveals a fundamental lack of understanding about the nature of theology in general—it is better to ask "What exactly is theology?" It is this question that Oswald Bayer attempts to answer in Theology the Lutheran Way, clearing up misconceptions about the essence of theology. Along with Luther himself, Bayer claims that theology, rather than being something that we do, is really what God does.

Based primarily on the third section of Bayer’s original German work of the same title, this book evaluates certain approaches to theology that have been influential, from Schleiermacher’s understanding of theology to debates with Kant, Hegel, and Bultmann. It also includes a substantial section on Luther from the original in order to clarify the Lutheran tradition.

Oswald Bayer is professor emeritus of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany, and director of the Luther Academy Sondershausen-Ratzeburg. He is also an ordained pastor of the Lutheran Church of Württemberg and was the editor of Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie from 1986 to 2006. His research focuses especially on Luther and Hamann.