Beauty and the Augsburg Confession

This is a special release day! Rev. Gaven Mize and Roberto Rojas, Jr., can now off you Beauty and the Augsburg Confession! ON SALE TODAY!

A snippet from the Introduction:

The beauty of the Augsburg Confession can be made even more so when fine art is employed to support its ideas. The work of Rev. Gaven Mize and Rev. Roberto Rojas does just that. More than simple “wine and cheese” pairings, the masterworks – from Grünewald to Michelangelo – have been chosen to help underscore Scripture and to give greater understanding to each article of the Confession. Here, as in the sanctuary, artwork does its best by pointing the viewer to Holy Scripture and by serving as a teaching tool. While the individual pieces might have originally had different purposes, in this book they are made slaves of Scripture and serve to enlighten the reader on what Lutherans confess.

Edward Riojas
LC-MS Artist, Art Theologian, and Art Historian

Beauty and the Augsburg Confession Review

These authors had an amazing idea: take each piece of the Augsburg Confession and pair it with artwork and an informative devotion, demonstrating the Confession’s basis and application. Ever thought the Augsburg Confession must be academic and beyond you? It’s not and this book very well proves it!

Introductory material offers you some of the history. Then you see the first painting chosen and you realize just how real and intimate the Augsburg Confession is. Real men worshiping a real God staked their life on this confession of faith—and real men continue to do so! Taking the time to go through this, article by article, is not only worthwhile, but devotional, relevant, theologically soothing, and actually beautiful.

Let’s clarify a little here. The Augsburg Confession summarizes basic Lutheran teachings, sometimes saying, essentially, we believe this but not that. Some “articles” are as short as a single paragraph. Many are two. A few are several pages. A few more are, using this book’s layout and font, four or five.

In other words, this might be a great way to read a little every day and give yourself some time to think things through. You might even go back to reread the instruction following in reflection.

I love the meat of this package: meat in the sense of real substance prepared for digestion. Who is God? Who is Jesus? What is justification, ministry and pastors, new obedience, etc? Read the answers and digest them alongside the pastoral offering following each picture and quotation. 

Like Bible references so you can check passages out for yourself? This is for you.

Here are the article topics:

Article 1: Of God 
Article 2: Of Sin 
Article 3: Of the Son of God 
Article 4: Of Justification 
Article 5: Of the Ministry 
Article 6: Of New Obedience 
Article 7: Of The Church 
Article 8: What the Church Is 
Article 9: Of Baptism 
Article 10: Of the Lord’s Supper 
Article 11: Of Confession 
Article 12: Of Repentance 
Article 13: Of the Use of Sacraments 
Article 14: Of Ecclesiastical Order 
Article 15: Of Ecclesiastical Uses 
Article 16: Of Civil Affairs 
Article 17: Of Christ’s Return to Judgment 
Article 18: Of Free Will 
Article 19: The Cause of Sin 
Article 20: Good Work 
Article 21: Worship of the Saints 
Article 21: The Worship of the Saints 
Article 22: Of Both Kinds in the Sacrament 
Article 23: Of the Marriage of Priests 
Article 24: Of the Mass 
Article 25: Of Confession 
Article 26: Of the Distinction of Meats 
Article 27: Of Monastic Vows
Article 28: Of Ecclesiastical Power 
Conclusion to the Augsburg Confession

And, as though this book weren’t a treasure enough, it looks like this will be a series! Beauty and the Augsburg Confession follows a 2017 release, also by Rev. Gaven Mize, Beauty and Catechesis, same premises, same format. (I reviewed that one here.)

It’s on sale TODAY so I’m blogging it even though I usually don’t post Sundays. Hardcover is still in the works.

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