Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt

Book Cover: Atonement in Lutheran Orthodoxy: Johannes Quenstedt
Editions:Paperback: $ 4.54
ISBN: 979-8374114461
Pages: 156
Kindle: $ 0.99
ISBN: B0BWDLLRBX
Pages: 214

"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

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Publisher: Synoptic Text Publishing
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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

Book Cover: Athens and Wittenberg
Part of the Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions series:
  • Athens and Wittenberg
Editions:Hardcover: $ 149.00
ISBN: 9004206701
Pages: 324

"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

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Publisher: Brill
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"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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Justification by the Word: Restoring Sola Fide

Book Cover: Justification by the Word: Restoring Sola Fide
Editions:Hardcover: $ 39.99
ISBN: 9781683596035
Pages: 456
Logos Digital: $ 35.99
ISBN: 9781683596035
Pages: 456
Kindle: $ 19.99
ISBN: B0B852RDMR
Pages: 675

God’s Word creates what he commands

In Justification by the Word, Jack D. Kilcrease reintroduces Martin Luther’s key doctrine. Though a linchpin of the Reformation, Luther’s view of justification is often misunderstood. For Luther, justification is an expression of God’s creative Word. To understand Luther on justification, one must grasp his doctrine of the Word. The same God who declared “let there be light”—and it was so—also declares “your sins are forgiven.” Justification is an objective reality. It is achieved in Christ’s resurrection and received through an encounter with the risen Christ in Word and sacrament. Justification turns us outward, away from our own unsteady feelings and limited understanding, to look to Christ. And the church must preach justification, lest we so easily forfeit the joy of the gospel. Justification by the Word inspires readers to reencounter the radical doctrine of justification by faith alone.

Excerpt:

According to [Phillip] Cary, this unreflective faith is possible for Luther because of his belief in the sacramentality of the word.1 Here Cary echoes the work of the German Luther scholar Oswald Bayer, who claims that it was in fact the sacramentality of the word, and not justification by faith, that was central to the so-called Reformation breakthrough.2 The word of justification is objectified in both in preaching and the sacraments in such a way as to shift the focus from authentic appropriation of God’s grace to the question of the surety of God’s promise. Since the risen Jesus is genuinely present in the means of grace, he is capable of mediating a direct assurance of his justifying grace for sinners who look for him there. The tendency of believers to reflect upon and worry about the authenticity of their faith is seen by Luther as a sinful resistance to Jesus’s promise that they have already been accepted.

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Therefore, instead of “justification through faith” it might be appropriate to characterize Luther’s position as “justification by the word.”

In this book, we will endeavor to show that, although it has been neglected and misunderstood by Protestants and Catholics alike, Luther’s “justification by the word” is a better model for understanding salvation in Christ. It will be argued that this is not only the case because it is more faithful to the teachings of the Scriptures, but also because it is the only doctrine of salvation that fully succeeds in de-centering the self and overcoming the self-incurvature of sin (incurvatus in se)As Luther himself observes in his Galatians commentary of 1531: “This is the reason why our theology is certain, it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person, or works but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.”3


[1] Phillip Cary, “Why Luther is Not Quite Protestant: The Logic of Faith in a Sacramental Promise,” Pro Ecclesia 14, no. 4 (2005): 447–486. Also see similar argument in Phillip Cary, The Meaning of Protestant Theology: Luther, Augustine, and the Gospel That Gives Us Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019), 258–62.

[2] Oswald Bayer, Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation, trans. Thomas Trapp (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 52–53; and Bayer, Promissio: Geschichte der reformatorischen Wende in Luthers Theologie (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971), 240–41.

[3] LW 26:38

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Reviews:Harold L. Senkbeil, executive director emeritus of DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and the author of numerous books, including award-winning The Care of Souls, Christ and Calamity, and Dying to Live wrote:

Jack Kilcrease has undertaken a staggering task: a comprehensive summary of what the Bible teaches and what the church in all her manifestations has historically confessed regarding the central article of the Christian faith: Justification. Lest you think a weighty tome (nearly 400 pages) on a complex topic meticulously researched and copiously documented can be safely ignored, I urge you to think again. The book is a tour de force in that it manages to trace the theme of justification in Scripture from the creation to the eschaton, giving fair consideration to each contrasting (and conflicting) view of justification that has arisen throughout church history. One consistent thread ties the whole magnum opus together: the power and efficacy of the Word of God. The Reformation was not about a doctrinal debate, but a crisis in pastoral care. Kilcrease argues convincingly that Luther’s revolutionary teaching on justification was not merely a correction of medieval Catholic excesses, but a rediscovery of the ground of all Christian teaching and ministry: the sacramentality of the Word. Put simply, the Word of God does not merely teach or describe, it creates. If you believe—as I do—that the true care of souls is a ministry of the Word of God and that justification is the ground of consolation and comfort for wounded consciences, this is the book for you. If not, you will still be greatly encouraged by a book so richly drenched in gospel promises.

Phillip Cary, Scholar-in-Residence, Templeton Honors College, Eastern University wrote:

Luther has often been made into a hero of modern subjectivity, as if it's all about having faith. Jack Kilcrease corrects the record: it's all about the gracious Word of God, which gives us faith in the heart and every other good gift in Christ. For the Gospel word has the same effect as a sacrament: it gives what it signifies. Kilcrease's book pushes us in the direction of this word-centered path, which is the great gift of Lutheran theology to the larger Christian tradition.

John W. Kleinig, retired lecturer at Australian Lutheran College and the author of numerous books, including Grace upon Grace: Spirituality for Today and commentaries on Hebrews and Leviticus wrote:

Given its relevance, it is therefore rather strange that the teaching of justification has recently been downplayed and sidelined in Christian theology and ethics. Commendably, Jack Kilcrease attempts to rectify that deficit in a wide ranging, systematic, ecumenical study from a Lutheran perspective for pastors and teachers to engage with people in their quest for personal validation and acceptance. He argues that justification is forensic, proleptic, Christological, Trinitarian, and verbal. It is forensic in that it is the gracious acquittal of guilty people by God in his court of justice. It is proleptic in that their present acquittal anticipates their pardon in God’s final judgment and so secures their eternal salvation. It is Christological because that verdict is based on the death of Jesus for their sins and his resurrection for their justification. It is Trinitarian because their acceptance by God the Father is received as a gift through the faith in his Son that is produced by the Holy Spirit. It is verbal because they are justified by God’s efficacious, sacramental word that not only declares them righteous but also makes them righteous. Through God’s word the pardon that Christ won for them is delivered to them and received as they put their trust in his word rather than in anything they do or feel or are.

Mark C. Mattes, professor of theology and philosophy, Grand View University; author of Martin Luther’s Theology of Beauty wrote:

Too many Christians wring their hands over whether their faith is authentic and thus saving. Instead of looking to Christ alone, as Scripture teaches, they seek instead to assess the genuineness of their feelings or the extent to which their behaviors are changed. Jack Kilcrease tackles this pastoral problem head-on through a sweeping survey of Scripture, early Christian thinkers and medieval theologians, and the thought of Martin Luther along with his disciples and detractors. The upshot: views of justification which fail to honor the truth that God’s word not only describes reality but also conveys reality and gives Jesus Christ for faith to grasp, fall short of a scriptural view of the doctrine of justification. Kilcrease’s affirmation of the sacramentality of the word is a perspective that contemporary Christians need to hear.



Finalist for Christianity Today's 2023 Book Awards in Academic Theology

Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: Holy Scripture

Book Cover: Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: Holy Scripture
Part of the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series:
  • Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics: Holy Scripture
Editions:Hardcover - First Edition: $ 39.99
ISBN: 9781935035251
Pages: 300
Kindle: $ 9.99
ISBN: B08HSRWJ95
Pages: 348

Holy Scripture, volume 2 of the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series, seeks to explicate and defend the truthfulness of the Bible as well as its Christocentricity in response to the challenges of contemporary theology. This study appropriates the theological resources of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions in order to counteract the destructive theological trends found in contemporary Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and theological Liberalism. By explicating and defending the scriptural principle of the Lutheran Reformation, this volume will equip readers to confess clearly both the unity of Scripture in Christ and the truthfulness of all that God has spoken in His historic revelation.

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Publisher: Luther Academy
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Excerpt:

Both freedom from the Law before God and freedom for the Law before
humanity are guaranteed by the absolute truthfulness of the Scripture in its
presentation of the history of salvation as well as the Law and promise attached to that history. As a result, the opinio legis’s aporia between submission and autonomy is overcome by a free and joyful submission to the works of the Law in a believing life proleptically secured by the eschatological promise of the Gospel. This free submission also grants the ability to confess everything the Scriptures teach as inerrant and true. Contrary to the claims of the Enlightenment, the assertion that Scripture is absolutely truthful and must be trusted is not a form of epistemic oppression but a grant of freedom.

Reviews:Mark Mattes, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Grand View University on Lutheran Quarterly wrote:

"While indisputably conservative, Kilcrease's work is creative and not slavishly repristinating. This dogmatic locus is challenging for conservatives because disagreement over the nature of scriptural inspiration contributed to schism in the Missouri Synod almost a half century ago. While Missouri has world-renowned historians, the stature of its theologians is not as noteworthy. With this text, Missouri Synod theologian Kilcrease raises the bar for theology amongst conservative Lutherans" (LQ 36, no. 1, Spring 2022, p. 102).

John W. Hoyum, pastor of Denny Park Lutheran Church in Seattle and PhD student in systematic theology at the University of Aberdeen on Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology wrote:

"Holy Scripture is a commendable contribution to the recent, renewed interest in the theology of classic Protestantism. Most helpfully, it is not a reactionary presentation of a rarefied version of the Lutheran doctrine of scripture, but ably presents the historic Lutheran position in conversation with the many objections that have accumulated since the Reformation, and especially the Enlightenment. In this, Kilcrease has also rendered a great service by texturing his presentation with attention to the underlying theological basis of a historically Lutheran view of the bible and its authority. Pastors, students, and scholars will profit from engaging with this book’s many substantial insights."

Rev. Rodney Zwonitzer on Amazon wrote:

"Particularly impressive and useful is the author's presentation of philosophy and church history to show the doctrinal range of confessions concerning this dogma.... Many will want to read, ponder and re-read this fine volume as this reviewer will. It is well worth the purchase and addition to one's library to refer to often."


How to Understand the Sacred Scriptures

From the Clavis Scripturæ Sacræ

Book Cover: How to Understand the Sacred Scriptures
Editions:Paperback: $ 12.82
ISBN: 0982158629
Pages: 120

The Lutheran Reformation sprang from the Scriptures and drew its doctrine from the Scriptures. But many who read the Scriptures came away from them with different interpretations. What was the right interpretation? Luther had toppled the papacy, but would each Christian with a Bible in essence become his or her own pope, interpreting Scripture in his or her own way, with each interpretation real for the interpreter, even if for no one else? This is a question as pertinent today as in Flacius' time. How can we truly understand the Sacred Scriptures? Thankfully, the Scriptures themselves provide the answer. In this pioneering work of biblical hermeneutics, Flacius provides the reader with a reliable way to know, not what the Scriptures mean for him or her, but what the Scriptures actually and objectively mean, as Scripture interprets itself.

Contributed essay titled: "The Life and Theological Contribution of Matthias Flacius Illyricus."

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Publisher: Magdeburg Press
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Reviews:Philippe Deblois, Vice President at Dynatrace on Good Reads wrote:

"This is a fantastic book for learning the proper way to read and understand Scripture. The introduction by Dr. Kilcrease is an excellent introduction to Flacius and the material presented. A must read for students of the Word."