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Essays for the Church (CPH 1992) Volume I Volume II Essays from 1857-1879 Essays from 1877-1886 |
* Confessional Subscription—Western District, 1858 p. 19-29 [CF p. 11-28] [EC3]
* Communion Fellowship—Western District, 1870 p. 202-228 [CF p. 145-192] [Also available from CTS-FW bookstore for $3.99]
* Sixteen Theses—English District, 1872 p. 229-243 [CF p. 193-216]
Justification — Western District, 1859 p. 30-63. [EC4]
Church and State—Western District 1862 p. 64-68 This essay was erroneously identified as Walther's but was actually delivered by District Pres. J. G. Schaller and so I have not included it. But Walther's essay was published separately as Die rechte Gestalt…. or The Proper Form of an Evangelical Lutheran Local Congregation Independent of the State. I am publishing a new English translation of this complete book, not an abridgement. [EC4a]
Calling a Pastor—Synod, 1863 p. 69-87 [EC5]
The True Visible Church:
Theses I—III, Synodical, 1866 p. 88-104 [EC6]
Theses III—VI, Western District, 1867 p. 104-125 [EC7]
Theses VI-X, Central District, 1867 p. 125-144 [EC8]
Theses XI—XIII,. Eastern District, 1867. p. 145-160 [EC9]
Theses XVII—XVIII A, Western District, 1868 p. 160-170 [EC10]
Thesis XVIII A-C, Central District, 1868 p. 170-178 [EC11]
Thesis XVIII C-D, Eastern District, 1868 p. 179-190 [EC12]
Thesis XVIII D, Adiaphora, Central District, 1871 p. 190-201 [EC13]
Conversion—Northern District, 1873 p. 244-263 [EC14]
Certainty of Salvation—Illinois District, 1879 p. 264-297 [EC15]
Immediately after the six [CPH] English volumes appeared [© 1981], the undersigned enlisted several men to complete translating the convention essays. All of them have now been completed after years of effort. Some of the early translators were Herbert Richter (four essays), Fred Kramer (three), Alex Guebert (with Theodore Tappert), Robert Smith, Lawrence White, and Jim Ware (one each), for a total of 11. (Reinhold Stallmann later also did one.) Unfortunately, some of the earlier translators were unable to continue. At that time the undersigned contacted his old friend, the Rev. Everette W. Meier, in a letter of 28 March 1985 and hesitantly asked:
“Are you interested in doing more translation work? For the Walther anniversaries (the 175th of birth in October 1986 and centennial of death in May 1987) I hope that we could translate as much as possible of the Walther literature which consists largely of convention essays.. . . If you are interested in translating some, please let me know. There still is extremely much to be done.”
Pastor Meier immediately jumped at the opportunity. Just at that time he suffered from ill health and retired from the active ministry. This presented a fortuitous opportunity to have Pastor Meier translate large segments of the Walther essays. In these two volumes he translated half of the essays.
It was our fervent hope that, even if all these translated essays could not be published immediately, at least the English version could be made available to those who were especially interested. Accordingly, over a number of years the undersigned accumulated these essays at Concordia Historical Institute until such a day when they could be published.
When Pastor Meier’s work was completed, Concordia Publishing House was persuaded that it could serve the church best by issuing the essays in print. Excellent support for publication came from several sources, such as Dr. Will Sohns, president of the Wyoming District; Dr. J. A. O. Preus, former president of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod; Dr. Karl L. Barth, president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis; and Dr. Ralph A. Bohlmann, current president of the Synod.