Systematics

Burnt-out believers and spiritual secularists have given up any hope that an engaging and meaningful spirituality can be found in a single Christian denomination. So rather than attending worship at a local church, they attend to their spiritual needs elsewhere. Instead of being fed by a single denomination, they feast upon a smorgasbord of spiritual beliefs. And while these disaffected believers have not rejected the existence of God or the need for meaningful spirituality, they have strongly rejected whatever it is they think the church today has to offer.

Description: ""The Church, who is she?"" asks Bo Giertz in this book, which, he adds, ""is first of all for those who have some notion of the life which is present within the church walls and also have some desire to understand that life better and know more about it."" If you're among the tens of thousands who've read Giertz's bestselling novel The Hammer of God about ordinary people in their relation to the Church and her message, then you know his ability to engage you in the dramatic events of everyday life. Giertz shows the same engaging ability, when he in Christ's Church takes you on a walk from her biblical roots toward her glorious future. Endorsements: ""Christ's Church demonstrates the resilient vigor of Bo Giertz's literary work. First published under the dark clouds of an erupting world war in 1939, Christ's Church has not lost its power to convict and comfort. If anything the vitality of Giertz's book is even more potent in our day of pluralism, doctrinal indifference, and inbred suspicion of all religious institutions. Confident of the church's oneness in Christ, built secure on the foundation of the apostolic Word, Giertz sees the church as a living legacy of God's faithfulness. This is a book that speaks with clarity and conviction to seasoned Christians at home in the Father's house as well as to those who stand outside but peep in the window, seeking a glimpse of life lived in God's family"" --John T. Pless Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana ""One of the most insightful thinkers in the rich tradition of Swedish theology, Bo Giertz drew deeply from the biblical roots of the church's understanding of itself out of the midst of his daily routine as parish pastor. Anchored in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Bo Giertz's succinct but penetrating synthesis of biblical teaching on God's people assembled by the Holy Spirit rings true around the world seventy years after its composition. Giertz aids readers to embrace the catholic practice of the church and to bring the Gospel to those around us at the beginning of the twenty-first century."" --Robert A. Kolb Missions Professor of Systematic Theology, Emeritus Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri-- About the Contributor(s): Bo Giertz (1905-1998), Bishop of Gothenburg in the Lutheran Church of Sweden, was voted the most influential Swedish church leader during the 1900s. He penned no less than thirty books. Christ's Church was his first, written at the age of thirty-three.

A modern dogmatics text, Confessing the Gospel: A Lutheran Approach to Systematic Theology presents readers with contemporary discussions of pressing issues and current challenges in the last several decades of the Church's life.

The 18 essays in this volume offer a cross-section of Preus's research and commentary on the doctrine of justification and on the Lutheran Confessions and their application in the life of the church today. Also included in this volume are 4 reflections on the life and ministry of Robert Preus provided by David P. Scaer, John Stephenson, Kurt Marquart and Daniel Preus.

Preface and introduction written by Klemet I. Preus, Robert's son.

Post-Enlightenment theology has frequently rejected the historic Christian doctrine of substitutionary atonement. For theologians standing in the tradition of the Lutheran Confessions, rejection of substitutionary atonement is particularly problematic because it endangers the unconditional nature of the justification through faith. If one rejects vicarious satisfaction, then the only alternative is to make redemption dependent on what sinners do for themselves. In this study, Jack Kilcrease argues for substitutionary atonement within the perspective of what he calls the ""Confessional Lutheran Paradigm."" The author also critiques a wide variety of modern Lutheran theologians' understandings of atonement: Werner Elert, Gustaf Aulen, Gustaf Wingren, Robert Jenson, Eberhard Jungel, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Gerhard Forde. As Kilcrease demonstrates, although these authors often give many fine theological insights, their distortion or misrepresentation of the doctrine of atonement carriers over to a problematic understanding of law, gospel, and justification through faith. ""Jack D. Kilcrease lays out the Lutheran teaching of the atonement beginning with the Reformer and discusses how his views on Christ's death have been adjusted by leading theologians, most recently Gerhard Forde. Those aware of the current controversy will want to give careful attention to Kilcrease's The Doctrine of Atonement. Hardly a peripheral issue, this is a 'must' read, especially for those who are new to the issue."" --David P. Scaer, Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN ""Kilcrease offers a helpful survey, succinct yet insightful, of historic Lutheran positions on the atonement as well as a walk through later revisions and challenges. Accessibly written, this is a good introduction for the uninitiated as well as a springboard for further study for those well-versed in theology."" --Wade Johnston, Assistant Professor of Theology, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, WI Jack D. Kilcrease is Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Institute of Lutheran Theology in Brookings, South Dakota. His articles have appeared in the academic journals: Logia, Lutheran Quarterly, Pro Ecclesia, Theofilos, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Concordia Theological Quarterly, and Testamentum Imperium. He is also the author of the books: The Self-Donation of God: A Contemporary Lutheran approach to Christ and His Benefits (2013), Martin Luther in His Own Words (2016), and Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Holy Scripture (forthcoming).

Many factors contributed to the Protestant Reformation, but one of the most significant was the debate over the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In fact, Martin Luther argued that justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. This comprehensive volume of 26 essays from a host of scholars explores the doctrine of justification from the lenses of history, the Bible, theology, and pastoral practice--revealing the enduring significance of this pillar of Protestant theology.

The Christian does not live in a vacuum, says the author, but in a world of government, politics, labor, and marriage. Hence, Christian ethics cannot exist in a vacuum; what the Christian needs, claims Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is concrete instruction in a concrete situation. Although the author died before completing his work, this book is recognized as a major contribution to Christian ethics.

The root and ground of Christian ethics, the author says, is the reality of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. This reality is not manifest in the Church as distinct from the secular world; such a juxtaposition of two separate spheres, Bonhoeffer insists, is a denial of God's having reconciled the whole world to himself in Christ. On the contrary, God's commandment is to be found and known in the Church, the family, labor, and government. His commandment permits man to live as man before God, in a world God made, with responsibility for the institutions of that world.

- Continues the tradition establshed by J. H. C. Fritz and C. F. W. Walther of fine works on practical ministry
- Shows pastors how to carry out ministry on the basis of confessionally Lutheran theological principles
- Stories and personal experience lend immediacy to the discussion
- Unique in its presentation and content