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Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics
A Dogmatics Resource Based Upon the Outline
and Thought Pattern of the Lutheran Confessions
About the Series . . .
"In the fall of 1984, Dr. Robert Preus, the president of Concordia
Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, presented his plans to some
of his colleagues for a series to be called Confessional Lutheran
Dogmatics. These volumes were to supplement and not replace Francis
Pieper’s Christian Dogmatics. They were to be directed to pastors,
seminary students, and all with an interest in confessional Lutheran
theology." From the Preface to Baptism, by David P. Scaer.
From the General Introduction by Robert D. Preus, General Editor,
1984-95:
"For some time now those of us in the Lutheran church who have
interested ourselves in the Lutheran Confessions, taught from them, and
conducted research in these great symbolic writings have recognized the
need for a dogmatics resource based upon the outline and thought pattern
of the Lutheran Confessions. Such a resource, heretofore available only
in Leonard Hutter's little Compendium Locorum Theologicorum, would
address theologians of our day with a truly confessional answer to the
theological issues we are facing in Christianity and in our Lutheran
Zion today. We were in no way interested in replacing as a textbook in
our Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod Francis Pieper's monumental
Christian Dogmatics, which has served students in our church body and
others for three generations. Such an endeavor would have been
unnecessary and unproductive. The authors of the various monographs in
this Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series come at their respective
subjects from somewhat different vantage points and backgrounds and
personal predilections as they practice dogmatics. It was decided,
therefore, to issue a series of dogmatics treatises on the primary
articles of faith usually taken up in traditional dogmatics since the
sixteenth century . . .
The volumes making up Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics are not a theology
of the Lutheran Confessions; they are rather a series in dogmatics. They
differ from other dogmatics books in that they are patterned strictly
after the theology of the Book of Concord as they address the issues of
today. They follow not only the theology of the Book of Concord, . . .
the authors of the present volumes follow the actual pattern of thought
(forma et quasi typus . . .) of the Lutheran Confessions. Such a
procedure is according to the principle of the Confessions themselves;
creeds and confessions are indeed a pattern and norm according to which
all other books and writings are to be accepted and judged. This fact
will account for the agreement in both doctrine and formulation that the
reader will observe within the present entire dogmatics series; the
authors bind themselves not only generally to the theology of the Book
of Concord, but to its content and terminology (rebus et phrasibus). . .
.
As a confessional Lutheran dogmatics, the present volume will
consciously and scrupulously draw its doctrine from Scripture. All the
Confessions, beginning with the creeds and concluding with the Formula
of Concord, claim to be and are direct explications of Sacred Scripture.
As such, their purpose is never to lead us away from Scripture, nor to
summarize the Scriptures in such a way as to make their further study
unnecessary. They are written to lead us into the Scriptures....
The Lutheran Confessions themselves never claim to be the final work on
the understanding and exegesis of the Scriptures; we recall Luther's
statement on oratio, meditatio, tentatio with its blasts against
theological know-it-alls and how often this statement of Luther's was
repeated by the post-Reformation theologians in their dogmatics works.
The Confessions always lead deeper into the Scriptures, especially as
new issues arise in new cultures and succeeding generations which must
be faced only with theology drawn from the Scriptures and patterned
after the Lutheran Confessions.
The volumes in this series are dedicated to Francis Pieper, a great
confessional Lutheran dogmatician of our church, in the hope and prayer
that they will help to achieve what he did so much to accomplish in his
day--namely, doctrinal unity and consensus in the doctrine of the Gospel
and all its articles among all Lutherans and a firm confessional
Lutheran identity so sorely needed in our day."
Outline of Volumes
To date (2007), five volumes have been published. All others have been
assigned to authors and are in various stages of development, with the
hope that the entire series will be completed within the next five to
seven years.
I. Prolegomena – Roland Ziegler
II. Scripture – Scott Murray
III. God the Holy Trinity – Adam Cooper
IV. Creation – Frederic W. Baue
V. Anthropology and Sin – Edward Kettner
VI. Christology by David P.
Scaer (113 pp., published 1989)
Biblical in its presentation, Christology describes the historic
Christological controversies as well as more recent debates concerning
the person of Jesus. Faithful to the historic and orthodox understanding
of the incarnation, the two natures in Christ, the atonement and the
resurrection, Scaer’s treatment is at the same time fresh and
persuasive.
VII. The Work of Christ and Justification – Rolf Preus
VIII. Law and Gospel and Pneumatology – David P. Scaer
IX. The Church and Her Fellowship, Ministry,
and Governance by Kurt Marquart (263 pp., published 1990)
This book not only rehearses the controversies of the past regarding
church and ministry, but addresses today’s issues as well. With a
completely biblical and confessional perspective, Marquart divides his
presentation into four parts: The Church, Church Fellowship, The
Ministry, and Church Governance. Marquart’s description of the Holy
Ministry provides a welcome corrective to current trends to redefine
this office according to secular business and marketing.
X. Life in Christ – John R. Stephenson
XI. Baptism by David P. Scaer
(236 pp., published 1999)
An orthodox yet fresh presentation on the sacrament of Baptism. Dr.
Scaer offers analysis both of the Roman Catholic and the Reformed views
of Baptism, compares current Lutheran worship forms with historic
Lutheran baptismal practice, and provides a thorough defense of infant
Baptism. Provides the reader with a strong defense against those who
would deny God’s work in this precious sacrament.
XII. The Lord’s Supper by
John R. Stephenson (xv + 294 pp., published 2003) NEW!
A comprehensive study of the Lord's Supper, drawing on scriptural and
confessional resources to address key issues in the ecumenical context
of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Stephenson draws richly
from the writings of Luther, the Lutheran Orthodox dogmaticians, and
modern confessional Lutheran theologians (especially Charles Porterfield
Krauth, C. F. W. Walther, Herman Sasse, and Tom G. A. Hardt) in a
treatment that is unabashedly Lutheran yet deals openly and forthrightly
with new perspectives.
XIII. Eschatology by John R.
Stephenson (176 pp., published 1993)
An excellent description of the biblical view of the end times as well
as an historical overview of the various millennial views that have
surfaced in the church over the last two thousand years. Dr.
Stephenson's Eschatology is a breath of fresh air as it expounds the
Christian view of the end times, a view which cannot be understood apart
from orthodox Christology and incarnation theology.
Published by The Luther Academy
St. Louis, Missouri
General Editor (1984-1995)
Robert David Preus
General Editor (1996-present)
John R. Stephenson
Assistant Editor
John A. Maxfield
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