We can admit that even academically-minded Lutherans can have wide gaps in the Lutheran theologians they’ve studied. We could probably demonstrate that pretty easily with a timeline. Luther’s time? Check. Walther’s time? Check. Other times? Well . . . not so much. Yet, thanks be to God that there have been faithful theologians and pastors in every age. (Right?!) And along the lines of learning about additional Lutheran theologians, I’m pleased to announce an “English-Speaking Appreciation of [the contemporary theologian] Oswald Bayer,” titled Promising Faith for a Ruptured Age.
My impression is that this is an English festschrift for a German academic and theologian. Rev. Dr. Oswald Bayer is a German Lutheran theologian. He isProfessor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.
If you aren’t familiar with him, this may be the book for you. 🙂 A ruptured age certainly sounds like an apt description for these days. And, from what I’ve gathered, there is a wide variety of topics addressed by names many of us are sure to recognize.
Here is a blurb from the description about essay contents:
The chapters in this Festschrift demonstrate the wide scope of Bayer’s interest: Martin Luther, Johann Georg Hamann, the doctrine of justification, ethics, hermeneutics, theological method, sacraments, and the theology of lament. These essays, written by scholars from North America and Australia who have been influenced by Bayer’s pioneering work, demonstrate the resources that his work has for not only Reformation studies and systematic theology but also for preaching, liturgical theology, pastoral care, and apologetics.
I wish there were a list of contributors. Gene Veith wrote one essay. I imagine John Kleinig another. Dr. John Pless and Dr. Roland Ziegler are both editors along with a Dr. Joshua Miller. Considering Veith, Pless, and Ziegler are involved, I’ll trust that the men who wrote these essays did so with discernment, whether or not we would agree with everything Bayer suggests.
I’ll look forward to seeing the book and happily commend it to you. 🙂