What do we Lutherans believe, and how do our beliefs differ from other Protestant denominations? Many Lutherans do not know how to answer these questions. As generic Protestantism has infiltrated the Lutheran Church, many Lutherans have come to believe false concepts of faith. Some think that it makes no difference whether they are specifically Lutheran versus another Protestant denomination.

I. Change and Movements in American Lutheranism American Lutherans Yesterday and Today Mark Noll The Curious Case of the Missouri Synod Mary Todd The Lutheran Left: From Movement to Church Commitment Maria Erling Word Alone and the Future of Lutheran Denominationalism Mark Granquist The Evangelical Catholics: Seeking Tradition and Unity in a Pluralistic Church Richard Cimino Goliaths in Our Midst: Megachurches in the ELCA Scott Thumma and Jim Petersen Lutheran Charismatics Renewal or Schism? Robert Longman II. Trends and Issues in American Lutheranism Pastors in the Two Kingdoms: The Social Theology of Lutheran Clergy Jeff Walz, Steve Montreal, and Dan Hofrenning North American Lutheranism and the New Ethnics Mark Granquist Multiculturalism and the Dilution of Lutheran Identity Alvin J. Schmidt Integrity and Fragmentation: Can the Lutheran Center Hold? Robert Benne Loose Bonds, Emerging Commitments: The Lives and Faith of Lutheran Youth Eugene C. Roehlkepartain.

Lutheran tradition has in various ways influenced attitudes to work, the economy, the state, education, and health care. One reason that Lutheran theology has been interpreted in various ways is that it is always influenced by surrounding social andcultural contexts. In a society where the church has lost a great deal of its cultural impact and authority, and where there is a plurality of religious convictions, the question of Lutheran identity has never been more urgent. However, this question is also raised in the Global South where Lutheran churches need to find their identity in a relationship with several other religions. Here this relationship is developed from a minority perspective. Is it possible to develop a Lutheran political theology that gives adequate contributions to issues concerning social and economic justice? What is the role of women in church and society around the world? Is it possible to interpret Lutheran theology in such a way that it includes liberating perspectives? These are some of the questions and issues discussed in this book.

* Practical, insights for preaching, teaching and living the gospel * Includes questions for reflection and discussion

Embracing Your Lutheran Identity uncovers inspiring stories and characters from church history with whom you share an identity. Writing not as a scholar, pundit, or apologist, but as a teacher, Gene Edward Veith Jr. guides you through the Holy Spirit's work from the early church, through the Reformation, and into Lutheranism today through engaging accounts, modern parallels, and thought-provoking questions. Individually or as a group, come discover (or rediscover) the heritage from whence you came; persecutions, martyrdoms, villains, battles, heroes, lore, and all.

The first complete account in English of the American Lutheran controversy of 1849-1867Tension between a religion's heritage and its social context forms the everpresent question of group identity. In the United States, this question has been posed in a particular way for religious traditions as the tension between "Americanization"-being assimilated into social and cultural structures of the new world-and "confessional identity"-seeking to sustain and understand a religious heritage in light of a new context and its questions. Lutherans in the mid-nineteenth century provide one illustration of this social and theological tension.The first part shows how, in spite of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg's efforts, early Lutheranism adopted congregational polity, democratic structures, voluntary membership, and freer liturgical forms. Then the formation of the General Synod (1820) is traced and its chief spokespersons and their theological and practical innovations highlighted. Gustafson locates the movements toward confessional revival among Lutherans in Germany-many of whom emigrated to the United States in the 1830s-in reaction to unification with the Reformed. The final chapters chart the actual controversy (1849-1867) between the less confessional Lutherans of the General Synod and the recent, more confessional Lutheran immigrants."Gustafson shows that Lutherans today can learn a lesson from the nineteenth-century struggle for Lutheran identity. The confessional Lutheran part issued a 'call to faithfulness' at a time when major voices were inviting Lutherans to join the melting pot of American Protestantism. Lutherans still stand at a crossroads between Protestantism and Catholicism, caught in the struggle over their own identity and mission. Lutherans in Crisis sheds the light of our past on the path of our future. Without this light we would be completely in the dark."-Carl E. BraatenLutheran School of TheologyDavid A. Gustafson, who received his PhD from the Graduate School of Union Institute, served elca parishes in Wisconsin for most of his career. At the time of his death in 2001, he was teaching Church History at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

North American Lutherans view their confessional writings identifying B models that have characterized Lutheran interpretations of Scripture and the

This updated edition presents a thoughtful look at the role of the Lutheran Confessions among the various Lutheran church bodies in North America, including a new chapter on how the Confessions are interpreted and applied and a timeline of American Lutheranism.