Reformation 501: Walther as Theologian (new book) - Part 1

      One year ago true Lutherans were celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Luther's Reformation.  The blog series I published then was a defense of Luther's doctrine and its "identity" with the Word of God. But the writer of the essay came not from Luther's time, or from the Age of Orthodoxy, or the 21st century. Prof. Eduard Pardieck wrote the essay in the 20th century as a true member of "Walther's Church", the Missouri Synod from above.  I have gone back to that series on occasion to strengthen my Lutheran faith when I grow weary of our modern theologians of today.
      Now a year later, 501 years after Luther's Reformation, I have been informed of a project to take an earlier serial publication from my blog, "C.F.W. Walther as Theologian", and present it in a much more readable format. A reader who has benefited from this series has recognized the need for a compiled and formatted version suitable for printing and to be put into a book format.

      In 1992, J. A. O. Preus II, former President of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, wrote a Preface for Essays for the Church, the Concordia Historical Institute / Concordia Publishing House collaboration of "all the essays which Walther delivered to... conventions" translated into English.  In his preface Preus confessed (emphases mine):

"Sad to say, though I had the privilege of teaching theology and serving as president of the Missouri Synod, I never really felt that I knew much about Walther ... as a theologian on a broader basis, ... I did not know enough about Walther and was so poor in the language he used..."

President Preus was quite candid in his remarks and one wonders that he may have used better judgment in some of his weaker actions during the tumultuous period in LC—MS history had he given more attention to Walther, "the language he used" (German), and his theology.  Preus went on to express his elation over the 1992 appearance of these convention essays.  But perhaps he knew more than he realized when he published his 1971 book It Is Written.  I suspect that both Walther and Pieper would have commended him for this book. Concordia Publishing continues to offer this book, albeit only in a Kindle format for $10. 

But now although I had already published an online version of the English translation of Franz Pieper's series "C.F.W. Walther as Theologian", a new book is about to be presented that aids  J. A. O. Preus's great lament ... to know Walther as Theologian... better. --

It is planned to have this new work appear on this blog site ... look for it to appear on Reformation 501,

October 31, 2018.