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~ Recommended Lutheran Books ~
Here are some Lutheran books that I've found very worthwhile. The first three are key to the understanding of Lutheran doctrine. The rest are just books that I've read and liked, but which have also contributed important things to my understanding of Luther and his doctrine:
The Book of Concord
| This contains the source documents of Lutheranism. Several very different works are included such as Luther's Small Catechism, a very basic outline of his teaching, and the Augsburg Confession, an official statement of Lutheran doctrine presented in 1530 to the Imperial Diet (assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Charles V. Despite the formal nature of most of the material, it is very readable and really does reward thoughtful study. Here is an excerpt, Article IV of the Augsburg Confession, the classic Lutheran definition of justification: |
| It is also taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness, as Paul says in Romans 3:21-26 and 4:5. |
The Bondage of the Will
| Martin Luther wrote this in reply to a work of Erasmus that defended the Roman Catholic teaching about the freedom of the will. Luther considered it, along with the Small Catechism, to be his best work.
Reading The Bondage of the Will four or five years ago was a sobering experience for me. Though at the time I believed in "free will", good Pentecostal Arminian that I was, and certainly wasn't contemplating any return to Lutheranism (I read it seeking only to gain a historical understanding of the issues at stake in the Reformation), I was deeply shaken by how convincingly Luther expounded the scriptures. Also, I was impressed by Luther's insights into what was really wrong with the Roman approach. It wasn't quite what I thought it was. I didn't want to think that Luther was right on this issue, but I saw that he probably was. |
The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by C.F.W. Walther
| This is a collection of thirty-nine Friday evening lectures given in the early days of the Missouri Synod's first seminary in St. Louis. Dr. Walther was one of the founders of the Missouri Synod and its first president. These lectures expound Walther's 25 theses concerning one of Luther's key teachings. Two examples of the Theses: |
| Thesis I: The doctrinal contents of the entire Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and the New Testament, are made up of two doctrines differing fundamentally from each other, viz., the Law and the Gospel.
Thesis XII: ...the Word of God is not rightly divided when the preacher represents contrition alongside of faith as a cause of the forgiveness of sin. |
This is my Body by Herman Sasse
| An extremely informative book, both historically and theologically, about the Lord's Supper. Its central subject is the Magdeburg Disputation between Luther and Zwingli where they debated their differences concering the Supper. This book includes one of the only complete transcripts of the Disputation in English, and also contains a good history of the teaching and practice of the Lord's Supper prior to that time and since. Hermann Sasse (1895-1976) was a Lutheran theologian who taught at universities in Germany and Australia. |
Here I Stand by Roland H. Bainton
| Published in 1950, this is known as the standard biography of Luther in English, and deservedly so. It is well-written, making Luther and his time come alive, and illuminates the doctrinal issues with just the right amount of detail for the non-theologian. |
The Foolishness of God by Siegbert W. Becker
| A study of Luther's easily misunderstood view of human reason. |
An Evaluation of Claims to the Charismatic Gifts by Douglas Judisch
| This book helped me finally put to bed some of the lingering questions I had about the charismatic gifts that I once thought were found in the Pentecostal church that the Lutheran church lacked. After reading it, I wrote up some notes that I reproduce here here. |
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