Presented on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, this collection of essays honors the life and work of Dr. Timothy J. Wengert. Wengert, a pastor, a teacher of pastors, and a noted Reformation historian, brings to the work of scholarship a deep sense of its practical dimensions in the life of the church. Over the course of his career, Wengert's work and insights have been marked by the way in which they apply to and make different the lived life of the church, whether in preaching, worship, or theology. In these essays, Wengert's students, colleagues, and peers follow in their honoree's footsteps by highlighting the practical and pastoral implications of a rich tapestry of Reformation topics organized into three parts. In Part One, Luther and a diverse cast of colleagues are considered in light of their significance for today. In Part Two, the texts of the Reformation are examined, opening to Part Three, where the formation of faith through catechesis and the life of the church bring the book to a close.
Luka Ilic is a pastor in Balzheim, Germany, and former research associate at the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz. He is the author of Theologian of Sin and Grace: The Process of Radicalization in the Theology of Matthias Flacius Illyricus (2014), and coeditor of Matthias Flacius Illyricus: Biographical Contexts, Theological Impact, Historical Reception (2019). Martin J. Lohrmann is associate professor of Lutheran Confessions and Heritage at Wartburg Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses on history and missiology, Lutheran theology, and global Christianity. He is the author of Book of Harmony: Spirit and Service in the Lutheran Confessions (Fortress, 2016) and the translator of The Early Luther: Stages in a Reformation Reorientation by Berndt Hamm.
List of Contributors (Alphabetical, with Author Bios) Abbreviations Preface Luka Ili_ and Martin J. Lohrmann Introduction Paul Rorem, "Timothy J. Wengert's Scholarship for theChurch" Part 1: Luther, Melanchthon, and Reformation ColleaguesTheodor Dieter, "Martin Luther's Tractatus de indulgentiis: A Commentary on an Unknown Text" Irene Dingel, "Freedom and Responsibility: Luther's ReformationalThinking in his Treatises of 1520 and Their Significance for Today" Scott Hendrix, "Phillip Melanchthon (1497-1560) and Urbanus Rhegius(1489-1541)" Amy Nelson Burnett, "What the Fathers Thought: Melanchthon andOecolampadius on the Eucharist" Robert Kolb, "Joachim Moerlin, Architect of Concordist Theology" Hans Wiersma, "Albert Hardenberg, Melanchthon, and the 'OpenlyHostile' Preachers of Bremen: A Cautionary Tale." Part 2: Reading and Interpreting Texts in the Reformation Volker Leppin, "The Lectures on Judges: A Witness to Transitions in the Reformation Movement in Wittenberg" Erik Herrmann, "Luther, the Genitive, and the Gospel" Richard A. Muller, "Foreknowledge and the Divine Counsel in Calvin'sExegesis of Acts 2:23 and 4:48" Derek Cooper, "Sam, Sham, or Satan? Reformation Readings of 1 Samuel28" Ulrich Bubenheimer, "Chronology from World Creation up to Luther'sTime: An Unknown Single-Sheet Print by Melanchthon (1521) and aFragmentary Letter from Luther to Melanchthon (1540 or 1541)" Stefan Rhein, "Melanchthon's Historiae: A Study of Its Sources" Part 3: Forming the Faith Mickey L. Mattox, "Ever at Rest: Martin Luther's Sabbatarianism" Mark D. Tranvik, "Diluting Luther: Baptism in Sixteenth-CenturyCatechisms" Mary Jane Haemig, "Henry Melchior Muhlenberg's Catechetical Efforts inColonial America, 1742-1752" Martin J. Lohrmann, "Faith and Love in Luther's Small Catechism" Kirsi Stjerna, "Courage to Believe" Gordon Lathrop, "A Lutheran Visits La Sagrada Familia: FurtherReflections on the Marks of the Church" Bibliography of Timothy J. Wengert's Works, 1983-2020 Index
