Cyberbrethren Lutheran Blog Feed

Purity Solutions – No, I’m Not Making This Up

Paul T. McCain — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:18:05 PDT

Words fail, just go to this web site and read more about this.

Are You a Robot? Don’t Just Say the Creed, Live It

Paul T. McCain — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:22:39 PDT

This is a great video….

HT: Pastor Larry Peters

Daily Luther: Preaching Must Address Both Faith and Works

Paul T. McCain — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:43:56 PDT

“Wherever faith is not preached and is not given primary importance, wherever we do not begin by learning how we are united With Christ and become branches in Him, all the world concentrates only on its works. On the other hand, wherever faith alone is taught, this leads to false Christians, who boast of their faith, are baptized, and are counted among the Christians but give no evidence of fruit and strength. This makes it difficult to preach to people. No matter how one preaches, things go wrong; the people always hedge. If one does not preach on faith, nothing but hypocritical works result. But if one confines one’s preaching to faith, no works ensue. In brief, the outcome is either works Without faith or faith Without works. Therefore the sermon must address itself to those who accept and apprehend both faith and works; the others, who do not want to follow, remain behind. Just as the devil, who is the god and lord of the world, Will never become pious, so it Will never be possible to make the whole world pious. And no matter how much one says to the World, it grows defiant and does all the more in opposition. It takes this as a provocation to be even worse. Because these people refuse to hear and to believe, we let them go their way until they find and experience the truth, not only in eternity but also here in this temporal life.” (LW 24:249)

Inside the Reformation — Great Pictorial Overview of the Lutheran Reformation

Paul T. McCain — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:00:47 PDT

Inside the Reformation is a visual journey through the Reformation with concise text and richly designed pages. While not laid out as a traditional history book, it communicates the same information through pictures, illustrations, and short articles in a fun way. This book makes a great addition to school libraries, classrooms, and home libraries. Useful for all ages, from childhood through adult.

The People

Learn all about the people and everyday life during the time of the Reformation
You may have heard of Martin Luther, but who were the other people of the Reformation?
How did people live in the sixteenth century?
What did they do for fun?
What was school like?

The Ideas & Events
Learn about amazing inventions and ideas that helped shape the world as we know it today
How could Martin Luther’s writings change the history of the world?
What inventions helped make the Reformation possible?
What events changed the course of history?

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New Book: Faith and Act – The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation

Paul T. McCain — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:48:11 PDT

I’m pleased to announce that Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation has arrived and you may place your order for it.

The Reformation did not happen overnight, not with the singular act of posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, or even the presentation of the Augsburg Confession.Prof. Dr. Zeeden’s classic study of how medieval church practices continued and developed within Lutheran church orders offers readers a unique perspective on how faith influences the act of worship. Historians of liturgy and theology will discover insights and important continuity between the Lutheran churches of the sixteenth century and their forbearers of the late medieval period.

I do not use the phrase “raving about it” very often, but…this is one of those times when it is the best thing I can think to say about the endorsements we are receiving for a forthcoming book.

Coming in June, we will be publishing an outstanding English translation of Ernst Walter Zeeden’s study of how Lutherans in German reformed the customs and traditions of the Medieval Roman Mass. This book will contain surprises for all concerned.Check out this line up of endorsements. I’ll keep you posted when the book comes out. It’s title is: Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation.

Here are the endorsements we have received, so far:

Ernst Walter Zeeden was one of the most important Reformation historians of the twentieth century. Years before scholars began to weigh up the vitality of late-medieval religion or trace the broad outlines of the confessionalization process, Zeeden was shedding light on a religious culture that transcended the traditional late-medieval and early modern divide while thinking of new ways to comprehend the period as a whole, an approach that eventually led to his influential idea of the “formation of confessions.” Faith and Act was one of his earliest and most important works in this vein, a mix of exacting research and historiographical vision that may justly be viewed as one of the foundation texts of modern Reformation history.

—C. Scott Dixon, PhD
Queen’s University, Belfast

For 50 years Zeeden’s work has shaped historians’ knowledge of the confessionalizing of religious life and practice in Reformation-era Europe. Faith and Act provides a masterful account of the ritual system of the churches in Protestant Germany by means of a close analysis of the documents through which the Reformers both preserved and adapted elements of the Catholic tradition. Historians of liturgy and church discipline will welcome the re-appearance of Zeeden’s classic monograph, gracefully translated and with updated bibliographical references.

—Ralph Keen, PhD
Professor of History
Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation Chair in Catholic Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago

Kevin Walker’s translation of Faith and Act represents a necessary addition to contemporary scholarship on how liturgical practices shaped the lived religion of the Reformation churches. Zeeden’s original book was visionary in many ways; it anticipated both the scholarly discussion over confessionalization that has dominated the last generation of Reformation scholarship and the debate inspired by Gerald Strauss over the relative success or failure of the Reformation. Walker’s translation brings Zeeden’s original insights to light for an Anglophone audience, and his preface and notes update the scholarly apparatus to account for over fifty years of scholarship inspired by, and in dialogue with, Zeeden’s original. Walker’s additions never overshadow the text, however, and his explanation of ecclesiastical terminology in the preface provides a remarkably clear window into the diverse and potentially overwhelming world of organizational, disciplinary, and liturgical practices that characterized the nascent Lutheran churches. Taken as a whole, this new translation of Zeeden’s Faith and Act reveals a fluid religious culture in which secular and ecclesiastical leaders strove to synthesize traditional forms of worship with novel theological insights; this depiction adds depth and specificity to our knowledge of that process of synthesis, and delightfully unsettles easy generalizations about the transition from medieval to early modern Christianity.

—Phillip Haberkern, PhD
Assistant Professor of History
Boston University

Ernst Walter Zeeden’s Katholische Überlieferungen in den lutherischen Kirchenordnungen des 16.Jahrhunderts is one of the most important works of German research from the past half century concerning the history of the Reformation and its ramifications. For comparative historical research of confessions, which consequently became focused under the key concepts of “confessional formation” and “confessionalization,” this book represented a decisive breakthrough in terms of methodology and substance. Zeeden was able to show that the separation of the confessions in the everyday religious life of people in the Holy Roman Empire was a slow process that stretched over several generations. In doing so, he qualified firmly ingrained views of history of Protestant and Catholic historians (and theologians), who had presumed an early separation of the confessions: Some saw the “introduction of the Reformation” at the earliest possible fixed date (with the first evangelical sermon and celebration of the Lord’s Supper under both kinds), others in the successful defense of Catholicism and beginning of the Counter-Reformation, also preferably as early as the 1520s and 1530s (with territorial prohibition mandates). By way of contrast, Zeeden pointed to the numerous cases of interference and mixed forms in practice, in which the old Church and new faith coexisted in many German territories and cities. Closed confessional states among the territories of the Empire were for a considerable time more the exception than the rule. The dogmatic confessional definitions of doctrine (Augsburg Confession, Council of Trent, Heidelberg Catechism) were put into practice in worship, piety, and everyday life also very gradually at first and with numerous compromises. In conjunction with this, Zeeden also drew attention to the significance of cultural-historical phenomena (art, literature, popular customs). It is to be highly welcomed that now after half a century this groundbreaking study for research is being translated into English.

—Professor Dr. Anton Schindling
Fachbereich Geschichtswissenschaft
Seminar für Neuere Geschichte
Philosophische Fakultät
Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen

This book would be a helpful contribution to Lutheran theology and church life if it offered only an English translation of Zeeden’s classic study, which made clear the dense catholicity of earliest Lutheran church practice. Translator Kevin G. Walker offers here much more. In a highly informative preface, as well as dozens of new footnotes, he breathes new life into the work, making it much more useful and relevant for today. For everyone who really cares how the Lutheran Reformation came to life in a rich but varied liturgical practice, this book, now more than ever, is essential reading.

—Mickey Mattox, PhD
Associate Professor of Theology
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Theology
Marquette University

Kevin Walker has done us a service through his translation of Ernst Zeeden’s monumental study of the Lutheran church orders of the sixteenth century. These documents provide a unique insight into the Lutheran Reformation, both the successes it enjoyed as well as the perennial challenges and occasional failures. Anyone interested in the development of Lutheran liturgical practice, especially in light of medieval milieu from whence it came, will find Faith and Act to be an engaging resource.

—Paul Grime, PhD
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN

A gripping read awaits those who attend to Zeeden’s multi-faceted account of the nitty-gritty of classical Lutheran church life in its parish and public setting. As he shows how the first generations committed to the Augustana took care not to throw out the ‘catholic’ baby with the tainted ‘medieval’ water, a master historian of another confession poses searching questions to Lutherans of the present day. I commend Kevin Walker for toiling to make this significant study available to the reading public of the Anglosphere.

—John R Stephenson, PhD
Professor of Historical Theology
Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines, Ontario

This meticulous historical study examines the complexities of liturgical practices in sixteenth century Lutheranism as reflected in the church orders. Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation is an invaluable handbook providing detailed and documented data giving contemporary readers a glimpse into the way that liturgical texts and ceremonies were retained, modified, or rejected in various territories. Liturgical scholars as well as pastors will find this volume to be a useful guide to understanding the evangelical reception and appropriation of the catholic legacy of liturgical forms and practices in light of the immediate background of the medieval church.

—John T. Pless, MDiv
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions
Director of Field Education
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN

What a service Kevin G. Walker has done for the Lutheran Church in English speaking lands by providing this fine translation of Ernst Zeeden’s helpful monograph: Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation. Both the medieval practices and the details of the early Lutheran appropriation of them are not nearly as well known as they ought to be, and this volume goes a long way towards remedying that. I heartily recommend the book to any and all who love the Lutheran liturgy and seek to become better acquainted with its formative development in the time of the great Church Orders. It’s the next best thing to having a full set of Sehling gracing your shelf!

—William C. Weedon, STM
Director of Worship
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

Daily Luther: How Faith is Described in the Scriptures — Important to Read Carefully

Paul T. McCain — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:23:36 PDT

“We are also wont to distinguish faith after this manner, that faith is sometimes taken without the work, sometimes with the work. For as an artificer speaks diversely of the matter on which he works and likewise a gardener of the tree being barren (nuda) or fruitful; even so the Holy Ghost speaks diversely of faith in the Scriptures: sometimes of an absolute faith (de fide abstracta, vel absoluta), sometimes of a compound or, as a man would say, an incarnate faith (de fide concreta, composita, seu incarnata). Faith is regarded as it is in itself and without relation to other things when Scripture speaks of justification or of the justified in the absolute sense, as is seen in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians. But when Scripture speaks of rewards and works, then it speaks of faith as joined with other things, as it is seen, as it has become incarnate. We shall rehearse some examples of this faith, as Gal. 5:6: ‘Faith which worketh by love.’ … In these and similar passages where mention is made of doing, and works, the Scripture always speaks of works as done by faith …. All things which are attributed to works do properly belong to faith. For works must not be looked upon morally (moraliter), but theologically and according to faith.” (St. L. IX, 349 ff.)

An Interview with the Author of the Next Volume in the Concordia Commentary Series

Paul T. McCain — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:17:06 PDT

CPH is pleased to announce the twenty-second volume in the Concordia Commentary series, which will be released in June, 2012. The new commentary covers both of the biblical books of 2 Peter and Jude. The author, Dr. Curtis Giese, is a professor in the Theology Division of Concordia University Texas, located in Austin. We interviewed Dr. Giese about his new book.

What are some of the unique features of your commentary?
“The commentary discusses noteworthy aspects of these canonical books such as the usage of material from the extrabiblical books of 1 Enoch and the Assumption of Moses, the destruction of the present, corrupted world and introduction of the new creation, the condemnation of the rebellious angels, and the authorship of 2 Peter.”

How will your book impact the life of the church?
“2 Peter and Jude assure first-century Christians that the false teachers in their midst will not prevail but will suffer the dire judgment of evildoers long ago. Similarly, Christians today receive the comfort from these books that all who oppose the Church will ultimately receive divine judgment, and the Church will be vindicated.”

Who will most want to read your book?
“The Concordia Commentary series is intended for pastors, Bible translators, professors, and other teachers of sacred Scripture. Such scholars will want to have this particular volume in the series because it delves into two New Testament books that offer great riches of divine revelation.”

Why will they benefit from your book?
“This commentary contains a thorough study of the Greek text of 2 Peter and Jude, an overview of contemporary scholarship, and a theological exposition that deeply respects these two books as inspired Scripture.”

How did you come to be interested in these particular books of the Bible?
A portion of my Ph.D. studies at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, concerned Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period. Since Jude uses material from two extra-biblical texts of this genre, I immediately welcomed the opportunity to write a commentary on Jude. Additionally, my longtime admiration of the apostle Peter plus 2 Peter’s connection with Jude made me eager to write on this epistle as well.

What are your thoughts upon the publication of your book?
“I was truly enriched in the research and writing of this commentary. The imminent publication of this volume brings great excitement, knowing that over five years of labor are coming to fruition. I pray that the Word of God in 2 Peter and Jude, which this commentary seeks faithfully to expound, will edify the readers and bring them to a deeper understanding of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.”

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Paul T. McCain — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:47:07 PDT

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The Historicity of Adam and Eve

Paul T. McCain — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:20:02 PDT

When the Old Testament strikes a leak, the water soon flows in to the New Testament. — Norman Nagel (Australian Lutheran theologian).

Recently a Roman Catholic correspondent of this blog suggested that the recent public revisionism of Cardinal Pell on the historicity of Adam and Eve (see a recent post) could be justified in light of the approach of the Fathers of the Church this subject. In the back of this correspondent’s mind, I deduced, was the belief that the allegorical method of Biblical interpretation practiced by some of the Fathers who were associated with or influenced by the Alexandrian school of Biblical interpretation led them to espouse the view that Adam and Eve are not intended by the Biblical author to be taken literally but figuratively, as is proposed by Cardinal Pell and – let us not hesitate to admit it – very many modern theologians. This modern view has been adopted principally, it would seem, because it is thought that science has rendered a literal interpretation of the Biblical narrative obsolete; a figurative first human couple, then, is a way of preserving Christian doctrine from the corrosive acids of scientific discovery.

Whatever the we may think of the merits or otherwise of such an approach, my first thought in response to my correspondent was that anyone who thinks that a figurative view of Adam and Eve was widely held by the Fathers has not read deeply in their works and is probably only familiar with them through the secondary writings of their modern interpreters (who inevitably come to the Fathers with their own agendas). I cannot, off the top of my head, think of a single church Father who would have entertained the figurative view as his mature position (there may be such, I grant, but if so I think they would be the proverbial exceptions that prove the rule – I’m not claiming to be an authority, mind you, but I have at least read widely in the Father’s writings on the subject over the course of many years: let the evidence speak for itself is all I say!). Typical of the Fathers, I would contend, is the view expressed by Augustine in his City of God:

“…some allegorize all that concerns Paradise itself, where the first humans, the parents of the human race, are, according to the truth of holy Scripture, recorded to have been; and they understand all its trees and fruit-bearing plants as virtues and habits of life, …as if they had no existence in the external world, but were only so spoken of or related for the sake of spiritual meanings. As if there could not be a real terrestrial Paradise! …No one, then, denies that Paradise may signify the life of the blessed; its four rivers, the four virtues, prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; its trees, all useful knowledge; its fruits, the customs of the godly; its tree of life, wisdom herself, the mother of all good; and the tree of the knowledge of good …and evil, the experience of a broken commandment.. .These and similar allegorical interpretations may be suitably put upon Paradise without giving offence to any one,provided we believe the truth of the story as a faithful record of historical fact.”

Augustine, City of God, Book XIII.XXI [italics mine]

This excerpt is particularly useful for our purpose because Augustine, discussing allegorical interpretation as it was practiced by some of his contemporaries, explicitly states that the literal, historical sense remains foundational and is to be understood as setting forth historical fact. Augustine’s approach was to hold sway into the Middle Ages and be reiterated by Thomas Aquinas in his great synthesis of medieval theology, the Summa. I will post further patristic and medieval quotations on this subject in the weeks to come, but for now I am proposing that Augustine’s approach was typical of the Fathers and became normative for the medieval church and also for Roman Catholic movement which later came into being on the doctrinal basis established by the Council of Trent. This history of interpretation presents a particular problem for our modern-day Roman Catholic revisionists, including Card. Pell and my correspondent, as I shall also hope to show with reference to some official teachings of the Roman Catholic magisterium, the official teaching office of the RC church, which show that the RCC officially understands a historical Adam and Eve to the integrity of Christian doctrine (or used to; I hope the import of the Nagel quote will become clear as these posts proceed).

Why the focus on Roman Catholicism? Does not Luther have something to say on this subject? Yes, of course! Indeed, Luther’s theology of creation as expressed in his sermons and lectures on Genesis is probably the richest example of creation theology in the history of the church (it is understandable but regrettable nonetheless that Luther’s re-discovery of the scriptural doctrine of justification, his “Copernican revolution”, has all but eclipsed his creation theology outside the Lutheran Church). But the writings of a Luther or an Augustine, however helpful and enlightening we may find them to be, are themselves to be judged by Holy Scripture, which is the only infallible norm and judge of doctrine. Roman Catholicism, in contrast to this position of the Lutheran Reformation, makes the unique claim among the churches to be the sole divinely appointed, infallible interpreter and teacher of Holy Scripture for all humankind, and this claim is pointed to by Lutheran converts to Roman Catholicism as the solution for the doctrinal confusion they believe inevitably results from the practice of sola scriptura. This is a momentous claim which one must decide for or against! But, as I hope to show, not even Roman Catholic cardinals in practice take the Roman claim to be the infallible interpreter of scripture seriously in their heart of hearts – or, at least, so it would seem if Cardinal Pell serves as any kind of example!

HT: Pastor Henderson

Daily Luther: Forgiveness Occurs in Two Ways

Paul T. McCain — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:03:45 PDT

“How can Christ with these words [Matt. 6:14] base the forgiveness of sins on our work? He says: If you forgive your neighbor, you shall be forgiven. That certainly does not sound like basing forgiveness on faith. Answer: The forgiveness of sins, as I have often said, occurs in two ways: (1) through the Gospel and the Word of God, which is accepted inwardly in the heart, before God, by faith, and (2) externally through the works, of which St. Peter speaks (2 Pet. 1:10): ‘Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.’ He means that we should prove that we have faith and forgiveness of sins, that is, that we give evidence by works, so that one can tell the tree by the fruit, the fruits proving that it is a good, not a bad, tree. For where there is true faith, there good works surely also follow. In this wise a man is godly and righteous both externally and internally, both before God and before the people. For this is the result and fruit, whereby I become sure and make others sure that I really believe.” (St. L. VII:511.)