The Lutheran Confessions

History and Theology of The Book of Concord

Charles P. Arand, James A. Nestingen, and Robert Kolb

Fortress Press

Minneapolis

THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS

History and Theology of The Book of Concord

Copyright © 2012 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/contact.asp or write to Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arand, Charles P.

The Lutheran Confessions: history and theology of The Book of Concord / Charles P. Arand, James A. Nestingen, and Robert Kolb.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8006-2741-6 (alk. paper)

1. Konkordienbuch. 2. Lutheran Church—Creeds—History and criticism.

I. Nestingen, James Arne. II. Kolb, Robert, 1941-III. Title.

BX8068.A82 2012

238’.41—dc232011042067

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: The Book of Concord, a Confessing of the Faith

Part One. The Ecumenical Creeds

Chapter 1

A History of the Ancient Creedal Texts: Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian

Chapter 2

The Theological Contributions of the Ancient Creeds

Part Two. The Wittenberg Confessions, Luther’s and Melanchthon’s Confessions of the Faith

Chapter 3

Luther’s Small and Large Catechisms

Chapter 4

The Augsburg Confession

Chapter 5

The Apology of the Augsburg Confession

Chapter 6

The Smalcald Articles and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope

Part Three. The Formula of Concord

Chapter 7

Theological Tensions among Luther’s Followers before His Death

Chapter 8

The “Culture of Controversy”: The Smalcald War, the “Interims,” and the Adiaphoristic Controversy

Chapter 9

The Majoristic and “Antinomian” Controversies

Chapter 10

The Synergistic Controversies, the Controversy over Original Sin, and the Doctrine of Election in the Late Reformation

Chapter 11

The Osiandrian Controversy over the Righteousness That Avails before God

Chapter 12

The Controversies over the Lord’s Supper and Christology

Chapter 13

Efforts at Attaining Concord, 1552–1569

Chapter 14

Jakob Andreae’s Drive for Lutheran Unity and the Composition of the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord

Chapter 15

Reactions to the Formula of Concord in the 1580s

Postscript

Index of Scriptural Citations

Index of Names and Subjects

Preface

Twenty years ago Timothy J. Wengert, James A. Nestingen, and Robert Kolb embarked on what was planned as a three-volume project, embracing a new translation of the documents in the Book of Concord; a volume that provides texts of other documents from the sixteenth century that either served as sources for one or another of the Lutheran confessions or illuminate the context in which they arose; and a historical introduction to the development and content of these documents. Specific tasks were divided among the three and work ...

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About The Lutheran Confessions: History and Theology of the Book of Concord

From their formulation in the sixteenth century through the present day, every generation of Lutheran leadership has grappled with the centrality and importance of the Lutheran confessional writings. In this important new volume, Arand, Kolb, and Nestingen bring the fruit of an entire generation of scholarship to bear on these documents, making it an essential and up-to-date class text. The Lutheran Confessions places the documents solidly within their political, social, ecclesiastical, and theological contexts, relating them to the world in which they took place, and assists readers in understanding the issues at stake in the narratives, both in their own time and in ours.

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Table of Contents