Book of Concord

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Title Page from 1580 German Edition of the Book of Concord
Title Page from 1580 German Edition of the Book of Concord

The Book of Concord or Concordia (1580) is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century. They are also known as the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.[1]

Contents

Corpus Doctrinae

The Book of Concord has been categorized as a "body of doctrine" or corpus doctrinæ since it was intended to supplant the other German territorial copora doctrinæ like the Corpus doctrinæ Philippicum or Misnicum.[2] It was compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz at the behest of their rulers, who desired an end to the religious controversies in their territories that arose among Lutherans after the death of Martin Luther in 1546.[3] The list of writings predating the Formula of Concord that would be included in the Book of Concord are listed and described in the "Rule and Norm" section of the Formula.[4]
The Book of Concord was published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. The authoritative Latin edition was published in 1584 in Leipzig.
Following the preface written by Andreae and Chemnitz (1578-80)[5] the "Three Ecumenical Creeds" were placed at the beginning in order to show the identity of Lutheran teaching with that of the ancient Christian church.[6] These creeds were the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed, which were formulated before the East-West Schism of 1054, but the Nicene Creed is the western version containing the filioque.
The other documents come from the earliest years of the Lutheran Reformation (1529–77). They are the Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, both written chiefly by Philipp Melanchthon, then the Small and Large Catechism by Martin Luther, his Smalcald Articles, and Melanchthon's Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. The final documents, the two parts of the Formula of Concord, were written shortly before The Book of Concord was published and were intended for the same purpose as that of the The Book of Concord itself: to unify the growing Lutheran movement. The preface of The Book of Concord was considered to be the preface of the Formula of Concord as well.

The Augsburg Confession has singular importance

as the unanimous consensus and exposition of our Christian faith, particularly against the false worship, idolatry, and superstition of the papacy and against other sects, and as the symbol of our time, the first and unaltered Augsburg Confession, which was delivered to Emperor Charles V at Augsburg during the great Diet in the year 1530 ...[7]

The Apoloogy, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, and the Formula of Concord explain, defend, or serve as addenda to The Augsburg Confession.[8]

Constituent documents

Context in Christendom

The simple Latin title of the Book of Concord, Concordia, (Latin for "an agreeing together"[10]) is fitting for the character of its contents: Christian statements of faith setting forth what is believed, taught, and confessed by the confessors "with one heart and voice." This follows St. Paul's directive: "that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Cor. 1:10)(NKJV). Lutherans believe that the creeds and confessions that constitute the Book of Concord are not the private writings of their various authors:[11]

Inasmuch, however, as they are in complete agreement with Holy Scripture, and in this respect differ from all other particular symbols i.e., denominational creeds and credal statements, the Lutheran confessions are truly ecumenical and catholic in character. They contain the truths believed universally by true Christians everywhere, explicitly by all consistent Christians, implicitly even by inconsistent and erring Christians. Christian truth, being one and the same the world over is none other than that which is found in the Lutheran confessions.[12]

Contemporary subscription

To this day The Book of Concord is doctrinally normative among traditional and conservative Lutheran churches, which require their pastors and other rostered church workers to pledge themselves unconditionally to The Book of Concord.[13] They often identify themselves as "confessional Lutherans." They consider the Book of Concord the norma normata (Latin, "the normed norm") in relation to the Bible, which they consider the norma normans (Latin, "the norming norm"), i.e. the only source of Christian doctrine (God's authoritative word). In this view the Book of Concord, on the topics that it addresses, is what the church authoritatively understands God's authoritative word to say. This is also called a "quia" (because) subscription to the Lutheran confessions, i.e. one subscribes because the Book of Concord is a faithful exposition of the Scriptures. It implies that the subscriber has examined the Lutheran confessions in the light of the Scriptures in order to arrive at this position, which in the subscriber's view does not require the disclaimer implied in a "quatenus" (insofar as) subscription. One who subscribes the Lutheran confessions quatenus, insofar as they are a faithful exposition of the Scriptures, believes that there might be contradictions of the Scriptures in them. In some cases this is the manner of subscription of some other Lutheran churches, which regard the Book of Concord as an important witness and guide to the historical teachings of the Lutheran Church although not necessarily doctrinally binding. The largest Lutheran church to subscribe unconditionally to the Book of Concord is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland with 4.6 million members.[14][15]

Contemporary printed editions

The second edition of Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord
The second edition of Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord
2000 Kolb-Wengert edition of The Book of Concord[2]
2000 Kolb-Wengert edition of The Book of Concord[2]
  • Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch=lutherischen Kirche. Herausgegeben in Gedenkjahr der Augsburgischen Konfession 1930. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1976. ISBN 3-525-52101-4.
  • The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8006-0825-9.
  • The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8006-2740-7.
  • Concordia Triglotta. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.
  • Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions — A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Second edition, 2006. ISBN 0-7586-1343-1.

Online texts

Footnotes

  1. ^ F. Bente, ed. and trans., Concordia Triglotta, (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), p. i
  2. ^ F. Bente writes in his Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, §1: "Book of Concord, or Concordia, is the title of the Lutheran corpus doctrinae, i.e., of the symbols recognized and published under that name by the Lutheran Church" (F. Bente, ed. and trans., Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 3). The German Wikipedia article [1] states: "In diesem Sinne kann es auch als Kanon oder Corpus doctrinae der lutherischen Kirche bezeichnet werden": "In this sense it can also be described as the canon or corpus doctrinæ of the Lutheran Church." The Kolb-Wengert edition of the Book of Concord states: "The authors of the Formula of Concord responded to objections from followers of Melanchthon who treasured the Corpus doctrinae Philippicum, and therefore they did not use the term corpus doctrinae when they prepared the Formula for publication with the ancient creeds of the church, the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, and Luther’s Smalcald Articles and Catechisms after the completion of the Formula in 1577" (Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds. and trans., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000, p. 2).
  3. ^ Robert Kolb et al., The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 481-485.
  4. ^ Theodore G. Tappert, trans and ed. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 503-506; Kolb, op cit., 526-529
  5. ^ Tappert, op. cit., 3, note 1
  6. ^ ibidem, 17; Kolb, op. cit., 19.
  7. ^ Tappert, op. cit., 465.
  8. ^ ibidem, 8, note 9; 97-98; 287ff.; 319; 465; 504-505.
  9. ^ See the The Book of Concord, edited by Kolb and Wengert (2000) and the second edition of Concordia: The Lutheran Confesions (2006).
  10. ^ Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), 402 sub loco.
  11. ^ F. Bente, Historical Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House: 1921, pp. 3, 23, 24, 46, 247; Edmund Schlink, Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, Paul F. Koehneke and Herbert J. A. Bouman, trans., (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961; reprint, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004), xvii–xviii.
  12. ^ ibid., p. 3 words in square brackets added for clarity.
  13. ^ C. F. W. Walther, Why Should Our Pastors, Teachers and Professors Subscribe Unconditionally to the Symbolical Writings of Our Church
  14. ^ Kirkkolaki (1054/1993). 1:1–2 §. Retrieved 10-11-2007. {fi}}
  15. ^ Kirkkojärjestys (1055/1993). 1:1 §. Retrieved 10-11-2007. {fi}}

Bibliography

  • Bente, Friedrich. Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord (1921). New reprint edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 0-570-03262-8.
  • Fagerberg, Holsten. A New Look at the Lutheran Confessions (1529–1537). Translated by Gene Lund. Paperback Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988. ISBN 0-570-04499-5.
  • Forell, George W. The Augsburg Confession: A Contemporary Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1968. LOC 68-25798.
  • Grane, Lief. The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary. Translated by John H. Rasmussen. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986. ISBN 0-8066-2252-0.
  • Kolb, Robert and James A. Nestingen, eds. Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8006-3290-7.
  • Preus, Jacob A.O. The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
  • Preus, Robert D. and Wilbert H. Rosin, eds. A Contemporary Look at the Formula of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978. ISBN 0-570-03271-7.
  • Preus, Robert D. Getting Into the Theology of Concord. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
  • Preus, Robert D. Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism: Volume I. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972. ISBN 0-570-04545-2.
  • Reu, Johann Michael. The Augsburg Confession. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995.
  • Schlink, Edmund. Theology of the Lutheran Confessions. Translated by P. Koehneke and H. Bouman. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961. Reprint, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
  • Schmauk, Theodore. The Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. Translated by C. Theodore Benze. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Reprint 2005.
  • Wengert, Timothy J. A Formula for Parish Practice: Using the Formula of Concord in Congregations. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-8028-3026-9.
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The Lutheran Confessions - Documents of the Book of Concord

External links

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