An introductory biography on the late-$$$ writer Martin Chemnitz.

In 2000 the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began a relationship of full communion based on the document "Called to Common Mission." This momentous agreement, bringing together the reformed and catholic traditions, came after years of discussion and some resistance. As the possibilities for living and working together evolve across all levels of these two churches' lives, there will inevitably arise many questions about the details--from shared worship and mission initiatives to interchangeability in deploying clergy. Discovering Common Mission is a collection of essays that address the issues. Contributors: Martin E. Marty J. Robert Wright Mark Dyer Jon S. Enslin Reginald H. Fuller George H. Tavard Robert H. Busch Parish study groups, congregations exploring new relationships with their Lutheran or Episcopal neighbors, and seminarians will find these essays helpful in understanding the issues of this ongoing relationship.

What is ministry? And how are we to understand the distinctive ecclesiastical office known as ordained ministry? With clarity and insight, this book takes the discussion behind the current impasse between functional and ontological definitions. The contributors provide a distinctively American and ecumenical proposal that is consistent with the confession of justification by faith alone.

The truth claims of Christianity appear compromised by the division of Christ’s followers into different denominations. What keeps Christians separated, retreating to their corners labeled Catholic, Orthodox, and various types of Protestant? Elizabeth Smith Woodard accounts for Christian disunity in terms of ecclesiology, episcopacy, and apostolicity: in brief, Who are we? Who is in charge? And are we who we say we are? Woodard argues that the controversial issues dividing Christians today stem from these questions of authority and identity. What would it look like, Woodard asks, if Christians did not insist on making “others” more “like us,” but instead worked toward all of “us” becoming more and more like Christ? She answers that growing in such cruciformity should serve as the basis for unity. Using recent unity-achieving Anglican-Lutheran discussions as a case study, she examines the crucial intersection of ecclesiology, episcopacy, and apostolicity to argue that Christians’ growth in Christ’s mission necessarily entails growing in unity and cruciformity.

This unique collection of excerpts from Lutheran historical documents--many translated here for the first time--presents readers with a full picture of how the Lutheran movement developed in its thought and practice. Covering not only theology but also church life, popular piety, and influential historical events, the primary documents include theological treatises, confessional statements, liturgical texts, devotional writings, hymns, letters and diaries, satirical polemics, political documents, woodcuts, and pamphlet literature. This first volume covers the chronological period from Luther‘s first calls for reform to the development of Lutheran Orthodoxy and Pietism during the seventeenth century. The judiciously selected and carefully translated texts as well as the contextualizing information provided in each chapter‘s introductory essay acquaint readers with the turbulence and fervor of this revolutionary Christian movement, its struggles for survival and consolidation, and its further evolution up to the dawn of the Enlightenment.