Most anyone who has studied Reformation history is aware of the restrictions that John Calvin and others in the Reformed communion placed on the role of music in the church. Unlike the Lutheran reformers, who drew on a wide range…
Read full reviewNo one is startled to discover that the world of one’s youth differs markedly from the present. Yet the velocity and character of change in the past few years—driven by the sudden integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into nearly every…
Read full reviewBernard Bull’s Faithful and Flourishing is the product of a pious Lutheran educator who has spent decades in the trenches. Bull’s thesis is clear: faithful and flourishing Christian schools will be focused on their mission, intentional in execution, and focused…
Read full reviewThis work is a compilation of three works of the Lutheran systematician Francis Pieper (1852–1931) on the atonement of Christ: 1) Pieper’s lecture notes on the pertinent section of Johann Wilhelm Baier’s (1647–1695) Compendium Theologiae Positivae, which Pieper himself had…
Read full reviewFor Christians suffering inexpressible anguish over problems or disasters in life which seem insurmountable and perplexing, the opening word of this inspired book (which also serves as the book’s title in Hebrew) vividly expresses their desperate cry: אֵיכָ֣ה, ‘eykah, “how…
Read full reviewIn the face of the plague’s extreme suffering, Philipp Nicolai provides a beacon of hope in this small and quick resource for clergy and laity alike. The Joy of Eternal Life was written by the great Lutheran hymn writer for…
Read full reviewThere are many reasons for the proliferation of Luther’s theology in 16th-century Europe. Certainly his own writings, translations, and liturgical reforms played a significant role in this phenomenon. No less significant, however, was Luther’s advocacy for hymnal production. Beginning with…
Read full review40 Questions about the Atonement is one of many works within the 40 Questions series published by Kregel Academic. As such, the goal of the work (like others in the series) is to provide a succinct introduction to the given…
Read full reviewAmong the many issues historically separating Protestantism from Roman Catholicism is the doctrine of sola Scriptura. While much ink was spilled on this topic in the sixteenth century, few works were as impactful as the Anglican divine William Whitaker’s (1548–1595)…
Read full reviewThis book is a collection of essays divided into three sections that pick up the major themes of Dr. Pfeiffer’s life and work: Pastor and Parish, Word and Church, and Cross-Cultural Mission. Its strength lies in the very nature of…
Read full reviewThis book is a lengthy overview of the Reformation period, starting with medieval monasticism in the fifth century and ending with the Council of Trent in 1563. The pre-Reformation material follows the trend in recent Reformation textbooks that provide the…
Read full reviewConsolation in the name of Jesus—that’s what Valerius Herberger delivers in Part Seven of his meditations on Scripture. Much like Augustine’s Confessions, this devotional commentary teaches and exhorts, convicts and comforts the Christian through a running prayer to the Father,…
Read full reviewMusic to glorify God for all his works is a wonder both to hear and to perform. Music set to solid hymn texts takes that artistry to a higher level. Without faithful and well-crafted hymn texts such height is unattainable.…
Read full reviewDivorce and remarriage are perennial problems for Christians. People know that divorce is wrong, but they do it anyway. Every generation brings forth books and articles dealing with whether and when divorce and remarriage are permitted according to Scripture. Throughout…
Read full reviewThere are many books out there that try to present a Grand Unified Theory of Everything. Something about books that have a sweep of history to them is inherently appealing. It tries to make sense of the senseless. This is…
Read full reviewThis tome is an extensive defense of the deity of Jesus Christ as presented in the Scriptures. The authors previously collaborated in 2007 to write Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel).…
Read full reviewIn recent years, T. R. Halvorson has been tirelessly working to support the doctrine of the vicarious satisfaction. Scholars who deny it—Gerhard Forde, Steven Paulson, and others—have been making inroads among confessional Lutherans in places we would least expect them.…
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Dr. John Stephenson describes The Venerable and Adorable Eucharist by Tom G.A. Hardt as an “intellectual marathon” (xiv). His description is apt. While any survey of historical theology risks antiquarianism and generalization, Hardt does not take the challenge lying down.…
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In a previous book review, I have given an overview of the Gerhard dogmatics published so far in English from 2002 to 2020 by the editors and staff at Concordia Publishing House. The topics in the present volume are from…
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Richard B. Hays, a favorite mainstream New Testament scholar among conservative-leaning biblical students, including the undersigned, now argues that members of the LGBTQ community can find a place in the church alongside those who oppose their way of life. There…
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Repetition is essential for depth. Without returning to once-learned things, we may never truly know them. Liturgical churches may take this for granted and, like Esau, spurn their birthright, but Lexham Press’s Christian Essential series is a beautifully designed set…
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I am the God who saves them all! So do not fear to heed my call; I am at work in what you do: My wounded hand serves them through you. This is the final stanza of the hymn “‘I…
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Two tantalizing verses toward the end of Romans raise many questions about the role of women in the early congregations. There Paul commends “our sister Phoebe, a servant [Greek: diakonon] of the church at Cenchreae,” and urges the congregation to…
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The Bible is replete with striking visual images: the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah and the great fish, five loaves of bread and two fishes. As author Edward Riojas states in the introduction, “When Jesus Christ taught, He often…
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Myths about the church in China abound. Many think Christianity there is a recent phenomenon, influenced mainly by Neo-Evangelicals and Pentecostals, with a tenuous history reaching back to Protestant missions in the nineteenth century. Others might remember the work of…
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At the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, an exhibition by Missouri Synod schools was given a gold award. The synod’s chief theological organ, Lehre und Wehre, boasted of the endorsement, thumbing its nose at secular critics and citing the…
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Whenever any new book is published, it can be beneficial to question why another volume on the given topic is needed. Works abound on church-music history and performance practice. However, very few books in this discipline focus on congregational singing.…
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Over the past fifteen years, Reed Lessing has served the church well with numerous books, especially volumes in the Concordia Commentary series, whose primary readership has been pastors and seminarians. Lessing’s latest work, Deliver Us, is cut from a different…
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Bruce G. Schuchard retells the Gospel of John as a modern evangelist weaving his insightful comments into the Gospel’s narrative warp. Exegetical gems further enrich the Gospel’s rich tapestry. The Word is the central focus and dominant theme of the…
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When acculturation has become a byword in how a church looks to the future, it can be overlooked that pastors in the then-German-speaking Missouri Synod (then Die Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio und an-dern Staaten) gave attention to preaching…
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In his published and easy-to-read seminary PhD dissertation, lifelong and now retired Navy chaplain, CTS alumnus Captain Mark J. Schreiber brings together the experiences of wounded veterans from the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Iraq Wars. Christians who serve in…
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Hermann Sasse lamented in 1948 that world Lutheranism needed confessional renewal, in which the pastors and people committed themselves to serious study and application of the Lutheran Confessions, beginning with Luther’s Large Catechism.[1] The same is true today in The…
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“The man who considers something to be necessary which appears to others to be of little help, or even to be pernicious, does not hesitate to repeat the necessary teaching and is ready to make clear its necessity by summing…
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Are the “worship wars” of the 1980s and 1990s over, or have they gone underground? Regardless of how you answer that question, the publication of LSB: Companion to the Services marks a turning point in the worship history of the…
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Theological anthropology is the church’s battleground of our time. A disordered view of the body is at the root of many of our problems today. Transgender ideology, genetic engineering, abortion, and feminist philosophy are all depictions of distorted anthropology. Bioethics…
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La iglesia cristiana es litúrgica. So begins the much-needed and greatly awaited Himnario Luterano (HL). The liturgical church lives by the word of God—receiving his gifts and saying back to him what he first says to us. Psalms, hymns, and…
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Gerald Bray, the editor of multiple volumes in the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, is eminently qualified to write an introduction to patristic hermeneutics. Bray’s pedigree aside, Lutheran interest in this book is piqued by his observation that we owe the…
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Many have recognized that the Psalms in all their rugged beauty are more relevant than ever. But the wisdom literature seems to lag behind in popularity. The Sermon on the Mount is too often treated as a kind of unattainable…
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It is of course no secret that our knowledge of so-called “Second Temple Judaism” has exploded in the last century. Not only the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls but also increased attention to other contemporary documents has increased our…
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The book’s idyllic title seems undermined by its jarring subtitle. What is it that makes for a wonderful life, a life well lived? What do we prize? Many would list health and happiness, a good home with parents who care,…
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The confessional church’s relationship with the academy is increasingly tenuous. Attend the convention of the Society of Biblical Literature, and you will have to look long and hard for sessions that bear the mark of true Christianity. Identity politics is…
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Sometime during his late twenties, Martin Luther traveled to Rome as a pilgrim from Germany and, after spending some four weeks there, returned home (1). Specific details as to what year the trip happened, which route he followed there and…
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This commentary is the third installment in the translation project of the monumental Kommentar of Strack-Billerbeck, edited by Jacob Cerone. The original project, developed by German scholars Hermann Strack and Rev. Paul Billerbeck, was published almost a century ago (1922–1928).…
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Pastors who care for souls are in constant need of refining their craft. That craft is more specific than “continuing education.” Surely, pastors need to grow in their knowledge of God’s word and sound doctrine, just as surely as they…
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This is a textbook that leads the student who already knows a language like Greek to reading twentieth-century academic German theology. The author is an adjunct professor at Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas). The preface and “How to Get the…
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For a faithless generation, the word faith has become part of the general vocabulary. Even those who have very little use for God can say “I am praying for you” and “keep the faith” with perhaps no more meaning than…
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Established to bring the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) into the American religious mainstream, the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (ALPB) fosters views that are more common in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) than in the LCMS. Irreconcilable are the…
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In this thorough and instructive monograph, Armin Wenz examines and analyzes the works of Salomon Glassius and demonstrates his enduring contributions to the field of biblical hermeneutics. The book is the fruit of Wenz’s decade-long research project under Johann Anselm…
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Three generations of Missouri Synod pastors and theologians have been shaped in their understanding of the Reformation controversy over the Lord’s Supper by the now-classic study This Is My Body: Luther’s Contention for the Real Presence in the Sacrament of…
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These are histories, not a history. The scope of this volume of essays by various Southern Baptist professors of evangelism is the entirety of America’s history, not Canada’s or Mexico’s, so titles can be misleading. Why would a Lutheran read…
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Challenging both notions of a naturally unified self and of a dichotomist anthropology pitting interiority against exteriority, Clements argues for a personal “self” as the disciplined integration of several “sites” of human consciousness and experience: the mind, affections, body, and…
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John M. G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University, England, presents this volume as both a compendium of and a further elaboration of his earlier work, Paul and the Gift (2015). He focuses not simply on the Greek…
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In this work, Pastor Lincoln Winter offers both a history and an analysis of catechesis in the Lutheran Church and, to a lesser extent, a history and analysis of confirmation. He emphasizes that even though the term confirmation has often…
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One of the most unexpectedly delightful courses I took in graduate school in the early 1980s was titled Anthropology of Ritual Behavior. It was part of the liturgy curriculum, taught by an esteemed liturgiologist who opened our minds to how…
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The “new series” of Luther’s Works—which, when complete, will have added another twenty volumes to the original fifty-five of the now classic American Edition—continues to be a great boon to students of Luther, both academic and pastoral. Volume 56, the…
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“I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.” Our grandparents would have no idea what such words could mean. Even a generation ago, it would have been thought the height of lunacy, a mental disorder, or a cry for…
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The social landscape is shifting in ways that many could not have imagined, and it is happening at record speed. Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage, opened up the floodgates. What was previously a cultural…
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The year 2020 cast a long shadow not just over the world, but also over the church and the lives of many Christians. Faith in Jesus Christ is called for and needs to be strengthened. This short book aims at…
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Samantha Miller’s work is a commendable piece of scholarship examining a facet of Christianity often overlooked. In Chrysostom’s Devil, Miller examines Christian demonology through the lens of St. John Chrysostom, drawing upon an extensive list of his writings to apply…
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One of the (many) wonderful things about John Chrysostom’s preaching is its inherent accessibility. The “mouth of gold” was so named for his preaching ability, and if you find yourself reading Chrysostom chances are you’re reading a sermon. He avoids…
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As the subtitle indicates, Apologetics at the Cross is intended as an introduction to apologetics. The book integrates a variety of disciplines and seeks to provide “a biblical, historical, philosophical, theological, and practical vision for offering an appeal for Christianity…
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“Inconceivable!” blurted Vizzini. Puzzled, Inigo replied, “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.” This brief dialogue from The Princess Bride parodies the vexing problem that for the past forty years has prevented…
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Attempting to write a brief commentary on Isaiah is a very challenging task. The author provides many familiar understandings of the Book of Isaiah and as such breaks no new ground. He also presents a helpful summary of the arguments…
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In his work, Gavin Ortlund makes the case for the use of theological retrieval, the reading and implementing of patristic and medieval theology from various fathers of the church, among evangelical Christians. He appears to have in mind specifically modern…
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Many of us can name a seminary professor whose impact on our ministry is truly enduring. For example, the Sunday of the week I began writing this review, the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, I heard a friend preaching on Luke…
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This reworked and expanded edition of a popular textbook is worth your attention but not your approbation. Any Bible student of any level of expertise can profit from the accumulated geographic, cultural, and historical knowledge between this book’s covers. How…
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Perceptive readers of the canonical Gospels have long recognized that Jesus can be cuttingly funny—or at least ironic—at times, but upon which particular image of Jesus does the humor depend? Jesus as an eschatological figure? A prophet for the peasants?…
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Apostolic Agenda: The Epistles of the Holy Apostle Paul to Titus and Philemon is the first full work of the Lutheran casuist Friedrich Balduin (AD 1575–1627) to be translated into English by two Lutheran pastors at home in the Latin…
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There are really two distinct parts to this collection of essays. The first part considers the church from the standpoint of doctrinal, exegetical, historical, and practical perspectives. The second part, headed “Section IV,” offers essays by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and…
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Nicola Gardini is a professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at the University of Oxford and no mean Latinist. He got started in Latin in middle school in 1977 (the very year it was deleted from the required curriculum) and…
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Beginning with the end in mind, or beginning at the end. There are certainly plenty of situations where that is a good approach. Eugene Boring believes that it is a good approach to the writings of John, and even all…
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In response to a request to write a review—“with a special focus on the Greek”—on the second volume of Voelz’s commentary on Mark,[1] I read the introduction of the first volume with its exhaustive emphasis on grammar and linguistic features.…
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With the publication of Robert Kolb’s Nikolaus von Amsdorf: Champion of Martin Luther’s Reformation, Concordia Publishing House adds yet another significant biography to its impressive collection on Reformation figures. Amsdorf, who was a member of Dr. Martin Luther’s inner circle…
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The past two decades have seen a renewal of traditional Christian teaching on the attributes of God. The Lord Is One: Reclaiming Divine Simplicity is part of that renewal. It seeks to argue for the cogency and necessity of the…
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Social reconciliation has become a focus of modern Roman Catholic theology, especially with the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and now Francis. This is part of the “horizontal” aspect of reconciliation that begins with the vertical—the reconciliation of…
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Historians love anniversaries—at least I do. Not only do they elicit opportunities for speaking and preaching, but they also produce scholarship. And the book at hand represents scholarship of the highest quality, occasioned by the five-hundredth anniversary of the Leipzig…
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Marquart began defending confessional Lutheran theology in his St. Louis seminary student days in 1954. Until his death in 2006, he was one of the most notable figures in the theological life of the LCMS. Well known is his Anatomy…
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The phrase “theology of the cross” came into prominence through Gerhard Forde’s contribution to the 1984 Braaten-Jenson Christian Dogmatics with his redefinition that the “atonement occurs when God succeeds in getting through to us who live under wrath and law.…
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The publication of On Good Works is the thirteenth in the current series from CPH, a series that continues to exemplify high-quality translations, editorial helps, and physical products. In addition, this volume is of particular interest because of its extensive…
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Gerhard Forde’s writings are found on the shelves of some LCMS pastors. Critiquing Forde’s doctrines of the law and the atonement is Jack Kilcrease, a member of the synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Customarily when Lutherans speak of…
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If Jesus is a prophet, a priest, and a king, which of those offices is most important? This second in a planned trilogy of books expands on Perrin’s 2010 Jesus the Temple in centering the identity of Jesus on his…
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Recent academic scholarship on the Gospel of John has been hesitant, even resistant, to the idea that this Gospel has an ethic, that is, that this Gospel gives an account of a way or manner of life that is true…
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This book was written primarily for recent seminary graduates who need to help their congregations understand the primary role of the pastor as the preacher of the word. Frank Honeycutt, a retired ELCA pastor with more than thirty years’ experience…
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This engaging work is a necessary read for any member of the body of Christ. It is a deep well of living water for both clergy and laity alike. Writing from a pastor’s heart, Senkbeil plumbs the depths and living…
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Throughout his significant academic career, Willem VanGemeren exemplified an approach to Old Testament exegesis that constantly sought to read texts within their broader canonical context. As both a prolific writer and teacher, VanGemeren left an important legacy for the broader…
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This volume is the sixth in a series titled Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics. It consists of 12 essays from the January 2018 Los Angeles Theology Conference organized by Fuller Theological Seminary and published by Zondervan Academic. While this is a…
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As the title of this book alludes, it covers the doctrine of justification from the perspectives of the four-fold division of theology. There are twenty-six chapters by twenty-six authors. All but one has an earned doctorate and the exception is…
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An introduction in the first volume of Confessing the Gospel explains how this two-volume dogmatics will follow the building-block approach, a method resembling how encyclopedias are arranged according to topics and then further divided into sub-topics each with a different…
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In Brad Pribbenow’s own words, “the focus of this book is on the Christological interpretation of the Psalms as formed and practiced by Dietrich Bonhoeffer” (181); and yet, it is so much more. Pribbenow’s work begins with a broad historical…
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As the reader will note, there is no shortage of published material regarding the “kingdom of God.” One can easily find piles of books on the topic with each author highlighting a particular aspect of the kingdom of God using…
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The preacher who uses the three year series will have ample opportunity to preach from Romans during Series A. It is during the Series A cycle that Romans occurs the most frequently in the pericopes. Those who use the one…
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Ours is a ritual-eat-ritual-world and it is not always clear who we can trust to shape our habits and lives. Human Rites, by Dru Johnson, is a common-sense argument about why thinking about ritual is important. As far as it…
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Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary, is no stranger to the field of ethics, having written books previously on political theology and economic ethics. Christian Ethics, however, is his first comprehensive offering in the…
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In this second volume, Dr. Saunders treats the topics from how to approach one you may think has a mental illness who is not being treated, through the areas of how and when to make referrals. The first volume covered…
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Today Franzmann is more likely to be known to Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastors and congregations for his six hymns in the Lutheran Service Book. His “Thy Strong Word” has found its way into other hymnals and his translation of…
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For the last century or so, Christians have engaged in a debate concerning the proper response to various scientific theories about the origins of the universe and the nature of life itself. One point of ongoing contention is the length…
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This thick volume presents in English six biographies of Martin Luther from the sixteenth century, of varying length and disparate genres, and a brief preface authored by Luther himself for a catalog of his writings up to that time, published…
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Did you know that there was a reformation before the Reformation? Well, there was and it was characterized by sharp criticism of corrupt clergy, efforts at returning the monastic orders to the ideal of their founders, new forms of lay…
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Memoirs differ from autobiographies in that the former tends to focus less on the self and more on other persons. Readers looking for something like Augustine’s Confessions (i.e., an introspective account) will have to look elsewhere. Scaer’s memoirs are, to…
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The Lutheran concept of theology as a “practical habit” has been extremely important from the age of Lutheran Orthodoxy up to the present. In Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) and the Conceptualization of Theologia at the Threshold of the “Age of Orthodoxy,”…
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Hans Boersma, best known for his advocacy of Christian Platonism as the necessary fundament for a Christian ontology, has in Seeing God given us a tour de force on the topic of the beatific vision as the telos of human…
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Few men have had as much influence on the theology of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as Kurt Marquart. It is difficult for those who knew him to comprehend that so many years have passed since his passing in September, 2006.…
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At a time when transhumanist philosophy is challenging human definitions, when secularists declare that men and women are nothing more than material composites, and when society celebrates bodily confusion, it is imperative for the church to reflect deeply on the…
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This book is a series of ten essays resulting from a conference of Lutheran and Reformed theologians held in Birmingham, Alabama, July 2016. On the Lutheran side are names familiar to the readers of CTQ: Piotr Malysz, Charles Arand, Steven…
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A couple caveats are in order regarding this book. First, it is organized as a collection of seven essays with topics directly or indirectly related to the life, work, and influence of the great Lutheran kantor, Johann Sebastian Bach. The…
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Anthony Esolen speaks truth when he laments that modern Christians “are starved for beauty.”[1] David Covington concurs, and in his work A Redemptive Theology of Art seeks to offer his proposed solution to the current drought. He seeks to address…
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Commemorating the 2017 Reformation anniversary, Marquette University invited Johannes Zachhuber of Oxford to speak on Martin Luther for its annual Père Marquette lecture. Zachhuber, a Lutheran, noted the invitation to speak on Luther at a Jesuit university as a sign…
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Robert Kolb is the American master of all things Lutheran in the 16th century, the unofficial “dean” of Luther studies. In this volume he sets forth a comprehensive look at the biblical exegesis of Luther, his Wittenberg colleagues, and their…
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Torah, the Law of Moses, expresses the will of God. Wisdom guides the believer in how to live it. The two are intimately connected. That understanding undergirds Bartholomew and O’Dowd’s thesis. Wisdom and Torah go hand in hand. The focus…
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Significant contributions have been made in recent decades to the relationship between theology and the topic of beauty (theological aesthetics). Jonathan King’s The Beauty of the Lord: Theology as Aesthetics continues this rich field of study. However, what is of…
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In a relatively short book, Kenneth Kremer articulates some of the problems with secular culture, gives a succinct definition of godly character, and explains how such character exists. Kremer defines character as identity plus performance (in that order) and repeats…
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Kibbe, in From Topic to Thesis: A Guide to Theological Research, offers a rare combination of clarity, accessibility, and methodological insight to help the intermediate researcher in theology. His guidance is helpful not only for those in formal study, but…
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With Faith That Sees Through The Culture, Espinosa has supplied the church with an excellent resource for use in group study. The book is designed to be taught and discussed with other people rather than just read and contemplated by…
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This study of the collection orchestrated by the apostle Paul for the Christians in Jerusalem is essentially a paper which President Matthew Harrison wrote about a decade earlier for a PhD course at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. The work is…
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This fine study evaluates Luther’s theological development and his early advocacy of reform in the critical years of 1518–1520 through analysis of twenty-five pastoral writings written in the wake of the Ninety-Five Theses and in the midst of the controversy…
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People read historical fiction to better understand history, humanity, and the influence of ideas. Within this context, A Flame in the Dark is an asset and accomplishment. A Flame in the Dark follows a fictional Wittenberg student, his sister, and…
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Thank, Praise, Serve, and Obey is a welcomed primer on faithful, biblical piety in a world immersed in isolated spirituality. “This is a book on piety and specifically posits that piety as a good thing” (VII). As our western culture…
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In Our Way Home, Daniel E. Paavola indeed takes the reader on a journey through the Lord’s Prayer, petition by petition. He makes abundant use of storytelling and picture language which is both engaging and, at times, what one might term…
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I am glad that Concordia Publishing House has decided to translate and publish this work. The original German edition is difficult to access and, of course, takes more time and effort to read than does the English. This is just…
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Matt Walsh, conservative and columnist for TheBlaze, here offers his debut book excoriating the politically correct/ liberal/ progressive/ secularist/ relativist positions on critical social issues of our day. Humorously satirical yet earnest, he exposes the sheer inconsistency and insanity of…
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In Psalms of the Faithful, German explores Luther’s approach and reading of various Psalms with an eye for the final form and canonical context, as opposed to a focus simply upon the historical development and isagogical statistics. This approach is…
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Maier’s treatment of 1 Kings 1–11 is part of the ongoing Concordia Commentary series. As such, it continues the series’ great strength in giving attention to the original text via textual notes followed by commentary. Pastors will be greatly served…
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Dr. MacKenzie has given the Church of the Reformation a great gift with his recent work, The Reformation. The 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-Five Theses had no shortage of commemorative publications, but this history stands head…
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Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) was called to be a pastor and church superintendent in 1606, and in 1607 he began to preside at monthly disputations in Coburg with pastors and teachers of his district on the common topics (loci communes) of…
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Christian Smith, the Notre Dame sociologist who gave us the term “moral therapeutic deism,” has written a groundbreaking contribution to the sociology of religion, setting the parameters of the field in a more rigorous and less reductionistic way. Contrary to…
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It is perhaps an indictment of my own unfamiliarity with current Evangelical theology that I did not realize that the doctrine of eternal generation was in need of retrieval. The doctrine has, in fact, been challenged not only by liberal…
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Our world is increasingly hostile not only to Christianity but to any notion of transcendence whatsoever. In such a climate, we are constantly tempted to pursue unity by glossing over precise definitions and dogmatic framework. Joint statements are easier to…
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Jarrett Carty has previously published an anthology of Luther’s political writings titled Divine Kingdom, Holy Order: The Political Writings of Martin Luther (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2012). He announces in his front matter (xiii) that the present book, God…
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If Rip Van Winkle were to wake up today from a twenty year sleep he would find the world unrecognizable. The technological advances boggle the mind. Our phones seem smarter than we are. But such changes pale in comparison to…
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Sooner or later any church has its para-ecclesiastical groups address concerns not addressed through the established channels. The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (ALPB) was founded when the mostly German speaking Missouri Synod was breaking into the twentieth century. At its…
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The canonical context of the NT makes sense of even the most basic teachings of the NT, such as Peter’s confession (Mt 16:16) and the drum beat of “in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15). Never mind the more…
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This book is the fifth in a series of proceedings from the Los Angeles Theology Conference (LATC). Lutheran pastors and Lutheran theologians who wonder “What are the Evangelical and Reformed theologians doing these days?” could find that question answered by…
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O’Dowd’s commentary on Proverbs meets its goal “of expositing the Old Testament in its original setting and also from a New Testament perspective” (14). Each chapter has three parts: “Listen to the Story” (presenting the NIV 2011 text and connections…
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A number of years ago, John Nordling, a trained classicist and New Testament exegete, had a dream. Nordling’s academic career has been devoted to reinvigorating the study of the classics within Lutheran circles. Long an advocate for the study of…
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Discovering Romans is the third volume to appear in the Discovering Biblical Texts: Content, Interpretation, Reception series providing “comprehensive, up-to-date and student-friendly introductions to the books of the Bible.” The book’s twenty five chapters are divided between introduction (chapters 1–6,…
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In this commentary, James R. Edwards (the Bruner-Welch Professor of Theology at Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington) challenges the traditional view that Luke is the Gospel for the Greeks, citing “repeated reliance on Hebraisms in its construction” (10). For Edwards, “the…
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Many have described the rise of Christianity and the factors that made possible its relatively rapid and widespread growth. But Hurtado’s work, based on a series of lectures offered at Marquette University, moves from the macro to the micro level,…
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In this volume, Mark Granquist, professor of Church History at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, aims to tell the story of Lutherans in America from the ground up. While he admits he must detail the narrative of “denominational structures,…
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Lutheran theologian Hans Schwarz once commented that one difficulty in dealing with theological anthropology is that the subject can cover an unwieldy number of themes. In Christological Anthropology in Historical Perspective, Marc Cortez tries to narrow the field by focusing…
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In The Way of Concord, Robert Kolb navigates through the political and ecclesial history that lies behind the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He spares no detail as to the occasions, conflicts, persons involved, etc., of each document contained…
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John Warwick Montgomery has provided a service in translating this theological apologetic from the end of the seventeenth century in Paris. The author, H. G. Masius, was a Danish Lutheran theologian who was appointed chaplain to the Danish embassy in…
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Kenneth Hagen (1936–2014) was a prolific scholar of Luther’s thought who combined vigorous study of Luther’s writings and other primary texts in their original languages with clear analysis (frequently very critical of modern scholarship and its assumptions) and a creative…
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Emil Brunner (1889–1966) was a Swiss theologian whose contributions are read in the light of and are overshadowed by his more famous contemporary, Karl Barth (1886–1968). In this book, the ever prolific historical theologian, Alister McGrath seeks to gain a…
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We know the times are changing. Too many of our own people no longer know even the basics of the biblical story. The public schools are increasingly hostile to the Christian faith. Christianity is not only marginalized, but under attack.…
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This collection of eleven essays by Old Testament scholars focuses on Old Testament wisdom books and wisdom concepts drawn from them. An introductory essay provides an overview of the current status of the field. Part Two reviews current issues in…
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This is a book about divine providence and the Christian life formed under the word of God. The image on the cover—The Ancient of Days by William Blake—beautifully illustrates what Radner does with his words: setting all things within the…
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In 1545, Charles V requested a report on the Reformation. This is the first English translation of the response written by Philipp Melanchthon, which is essentially both a commentary on the Augsburg Confession and a description of how the Reformation…
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This book is an anthology of fifteen essays written by fifteen different authors, all of which strive to address contemporary legal issues as the book title would suggest. However, with few exceptions they primarily address sociological issues in the United…
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Gustaf Wingren (1910–2000) was surely one of the best known, most creative and influential theologians in twentieth century Sweden. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for his 1942 book, Luther on Vocation and The Living Word published in…
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Andrew Steinmann has written a commentary of 1 Samuel for the Concordia Commentary Series that is rich in grammatical notes, well informed by his own previous exegetical work and study of biblical chronology, and faithful to the Lutheran confessions. A…
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Matthew Rueger has provided the Missouri Synod with a solidly Lutheran resource for the parish. With a doctorate in his subject matter, he is thoroughly conversant with the scholarly literature. He brings to the table the practical knowledge of a…
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Reformation 500 is a collection of essays devoted to demonstrating that the Reformation is not merely a historical phenomenon, but a continuing influence shaping the Lutheran church even in the present day. Produced by the Wisconsin Synod, it is primarily…
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The impetus for the writing of this book seems to have been a desire to demonstrate that congregational singing in Wittenberg was not an afterthought of the Reformation, notwithstanding the claims of other scholars to the contrary. Those claims are…
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This excellent book is a real treat for all lovers of Lutheran orthodoxy. The average Lutheran pastor has had little in the way of resources about this topic prior to this publication. Now he can find everything he might want…
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The last time Northwestern Publishing House produced a practical volume on pastoral ministry was back in 1974 with the familiar The Shepherd Under Christ written by John Schuetze’s father Armin and fellow Wisconsin Seminary professor Irwin Habeck. This new volume,…
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Contemporary studies of patristic theology focus on the intellectual contributions of ancient theologians. Lost in this emphasis on intellectual proficiency is the practical dimension of pastoral care and spiritual life. The biography of Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome from…
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This book is an intriguing read for anyone who enjoys exegetical theology, especially the field of hermeneutics. Theological Interpretation is offered as the most ancient of hermeneutics, and the contributions to this book hold theological interpretation as the best way…
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Pastors often wonder what to do when a church member appears to have a mental illness or a mental health problem. Saunders, a Christian professor of psychology, helps church workers identify and understand mental illness. Saunders notes that “about one…
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“We worship the Christ of faith, not the Jesus of history.” “The Gospel accounts, written years after the fact, are not reliable historical sources.” “The gospel stories are the result of a kind of Telephone game, in which a story,…
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In a contemporary setting in which the very meaning of “law” varies widely, even among theologians, whether as the natural law, the eternal divine law, God’s condemning legislation, works of love, or even human edicts, this new publication in English…
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Poetically passionate and potently provocative, Garcia and Nunes repeal the disingenuous, disintegrated, and disembodied stereotypical status quo that justifies poisonous Protestant passivity. They peel open the Scriptures, the Concordia, and Luther himself to position a prayerful people for experiencing and…
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According to Dr. Daniel Block, the author of the Obadiah commentary and the general editor of this commentary series, the goal of this series is “to help readers of the Scriptures hear the messages that the human and divine authors…
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“Studies” means that the seven chapters contained here do not present another full commentary on the letter, but supplement preexisting scholarship. Betz supposes that Philippians is the “most difficult” of Paul’s letters to interpret (v), and most chapters shed light…
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Jones’ approach to biblical ethics is oriented around the divine law. In Jones’ introductory chapter, he addresses distinctives of biblical ethics, including the depravity of fallen man, morality as a fruit of justification, and the significance of assigning moral praise…
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Charles Irons’ book is another one of many resources available to help guide both clergy and layperson alike as they read the Greek New Testament. His book is not intended to replace existing books, but to supplement these tools by…
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This book presents what facts we have about the life of a Lutheran pastor who became a Nazi spy. Born in Germany in 1884, Carl Krepper studied at the Ebenezer Seminary, also known as the Kropp Seminary, in order to…
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