Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Abraham Calov

"Atonement by vicarious satisfaction is at the center of all Christian doctrine. It is the foundation of the forgiveness of sins, justification, and faith.... Therefore it is the principal target of attack. It is a unique object of derision. It arouses the fiercest resentment and opposition, a concert of hostile criticism....

That so few contemporary pastors can read material like Calov on the atonement in Latin and German is one of the factors cutting off today’s Lutherans from their Lutheran spiritual inheritance. The contributors to this volume raise awareness of the importance of delivering this inheritance into English. To produce a translation worthy of Calov and the matters at stake, we engaged esteemed and prolific translator Matthew Carver.... The church is fortunate that it has a theologian living today, Jack D. Kilcrease, that we could engage to produce the commentary paired here with Carver’s translation of Calov that can rank with the commentary on Quenstedt by [Robert] Preus."

Published:
Publisher: Synoptic Text Publishing (https://synoptictext.com/publishing/)
Translators:
Matthew Carver

Genres:
theology

Tags:
Atonement, Historical Theology, Systematic Theology

Excerpt:

Sample from Amazon.com

Translation by Matthew Carver

Commentary by Jack D. Kilcrease

Biographical Introduction by Timothy R. Schmeling

Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Baier-Walther

"C. F. W. Walther selected Johann Wilhelm Baier's Compendium Theologiae Positivae as the basis for the first dogmatics used to prepares pastors for the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.  Walther edited Baier's Compendium and annotated it with excerpts from Luther and orthodox Lutheran theologians.  Baier-Walther's "On the office of Christ" (Vol. III, Cap. II. Sectio III, De officio Christi) is both an antidote to errors about atonement in Lutheran circles and evidence of the doctrine of the synod....  It is time to remember Baier's and Walther's presentation of the atonement. We present here the first published translation of the Baier-Walther atonement material into English translated by Theodore E. Mayes....  [Jack D.] Kilcrease says in the foreword that Baier's treatment demonstrates the centrality of the gospel for the Lutheran Scholastics. 'Without Christ as the god-man who fulfilled the law on behalf of sinful humanity, the unconditional promise of the gospel would make little sense and justification by faith would be an incoherent doctrine.'"

Published:
Publisher: Synoptic Text Publishing (https://synoptictext.com/publishing/)
Editors:
C. F. W. Walther

Translators:
Theodore E. Mayes

Genres:
theology

Tags:
Atonement, Historical Theology, Systematic Theology

 

Edited and annotated by C. F. W. Walther

Translation by Theodore E. Mayes

Foreword by Jack D. Kilcrease

Biographical Introductions to Baier and Walther by Timothy R. Schmeling and Martin Noland

 

Common Places in Christian Theology

A Curated Collection of Essays from Lutheran Quarterly

"Common Places in Christian Theology invites readers to discover the rich and complex world of Christian theology. Sponsored by the journal Lutheran Quarterly and written by some of the finest contemporary Lutheran theologians, this collection of essays helps Christian teachers understand and explain the grammar and inner logic of faith.

Exploring everything from scriptural authority to salvation and justification and the last things, these writers provide a unique and compelling introduction to Lutheran theology. As you receive the essentials of each topic, you will also consider contemporary concerns, whether in theology, or from the natural sciences, social sciences, political theories, or hermeneutics.

Whether you are a seasoned preacher looking to sharpen your understanding of faith or a curious Christian seeking to better articulate your relationship with God, Common Places in Christian Theology will challenge and inspire you to think through your faith and share it with others."

Contributed chapter: "Thomas Aquinas and Martin Chemnitz on the Hypostatic Union"

Published:
Publisher: 1517 Publishing (https://shop.1517.org/)
Editors:
Mark Mattes

Genres:
theology

Tags:
Historical Theology, Systematic Theology

Reviews:Volker Leppin, Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor for Historical Theology, Yale Divinity School wrote:

“It is time to rethink Lutheran theology, and this book is an excellent guide on this journey. Shaped by Melanchthon’s masterpiece ‘Common places’, it faces contemporary challenges of theology & society. Contributions by outstanding authors form a treasury of theological insight for dogmatics, preaching and teaching.”

Risto Saarinen, Professor of Ecumenics, University of Helsinki wrote:

“The ancient concept of commonplaces means both ‘a core issue’ and ‘what speaker and hearer have in common’. Following the Reformation models, the present volume also covers both meanings. Its chapters investigate, articulate and explain Lutheran theology in a manner that allows a communicative exchange of the core issues of Christian faith.”

Douglas A. Sweeney, Dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University wrote:

“This stellar collection offers up-to-date presentations of most major doctrines by learned, traditional, engaging Lutheran scholars. It deserves careful study by everyone who serves as a teacher of the church and by those who want to know what the Lutherans are saying these days about the main themes conveyed in the Scriptures.”


Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt

"Johannes Quenstedt's De Officio Christi is an antidote to error about atonement in Lutheran circles. Lutheran Orthodoxy teaches that an indispensable part of atonement is vicarious satisfaction. Adversaries [today] deny vicarious satisfaction. Their errors existed already in Quenstedt's time.... It is time again to amplify Quensteadt's presentation of the atonement. Besides republishing [Robert] Preus' commentary on Quenstedt's De Officio Christi (Sec. 1. Th. 14 to 44), we have commissioned the first translation of it in English."

Contributed the biographical introduction

Published:
Publisher: Synoptic Text Publishing (https://synoptictext.com/publishing/)
Translators:
Matthew Carver

Genres:
theology

Tags:
Atonement, Christology, Historical Theology, Justification

Reviews:Rev. Dennis E. McFadden on Amazon wrote:

The meaning of “atonement” has been a topic of much debate in recent decades. A large number of theologians have dismissed the Reformation view as misguided and even barbaric. This book adds the voice of a Lutheran luminary from the period following the Reformation, Johannes Quenstedt, offering a contradictory view. The slender volume includes relevant sections from his greatest theological work, “Systema,” coupled with a commentary on it by the late Robert Preus, a forward by Burnell F. Eckardt, Jr. and a biographical essay by Jack D. Kilcrease....

Quenstedt’s sections consist of an exegesis of practically every verse in the Bible related to the vicarious substitution of Jesus Christ for us, arranged under an outline structure. With the skills of an exegete and a theologian, he explains the importance of vicarious substitution: "If God were able to condone man’s crime without satisfaction and His infinite righteousness could be preserved, the great cost of the only Son would not have been needed."

Mariah Kasten on Amazon wrote:

This volume has very good material from the contributors in addition to the excellent translation of Quenstedt. It is sad that we don't have more of his material in English yet. This volume is a gem. A better book cannot be bought at this price.

Connor Longaphie on Goodreads wrote:

How people enjoy scholastic theology... i just don't know


 

Translation by Matthew Carver

Comments by Robert D. Preus

Foreword by Burnell F. Eckardt, Jr.

Biographical Introduction by Jack D. Kilcrease

 

Athens and Wittenberg

Poetry, Philosophy, and Luther's Legacy

"Scholarship has tended to assume that Luther was uninterested in the Greek and Latin classics, given his promotion of the German vernacular and his polemic against the reliance upon Aristotle in theology. But as Athens and Wittenberg demonstrates, Luther was shaped by the classical education he had received and integrated it into his writings. He could quote Epicurean poetry to non-Epicurean ends; he could employ Aristotelian logic to prove the limits of philosophy's role in theology. This volume explores how Luther and early Protestantism, especially Lutheranism, continued to draw from the classics in their quest to reform the church. In particular, it examines how early Protestantism made use of the philosophy and poetry from classical antiquity."

Contributed chapter 15, "An Intended Reformulation: Of Brad Gregory, Duns Scotus, and Early Modern Metaphysics," pp. 210-233

Published:
Publisher: Brill (https://brill.com/)
Editors:
Carl P. E. Springer, James A. Kellerman, R. Alden Smith

Genres:
Philosophy, theology

Tags:
Philosophy, reformation

Excerpt:

"It will be our central contention that ... a great body of evidence demonstrates that whatever disagreements the Magisterial Reformers and their heirs had with the late medieval Western church, their metaphysical views largely stood in continuity with medieval models, most particularly those found in Thomism. This Protestant appropriation of medieval models relates to two areas: the acceptance of the analogy of being and the use of Aristotelianism as an ancillary philosophy" (210).

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