Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith

by Martin E. Marty

Book Overview

Lutherans often have questions about Lutheran theology and beliefs that are basic to the Christian faith itself. Featuring a unique question-and-answer format, Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers is an accessible and concise treatment that provides the most frequently asked questions on important topics and brief but complete answers from a distinguished Lutheran historian and theologian. Contents include questions and answers about: Lutheran History...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806653507
• ISBN13: 9780806653501
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Augsburg Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent, Quick Read

Martin E. Marty has written a little book that is clearly applicable to all flavors of Lutheran teaching and practice. Marty provides enough detail to satisfy while keeping the answers short enough to be useful. He covers important points I had not thought of and filled many gaps in my understandings. An excellent resource for Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike. It can be read in just a few hours and discussed for many days. Highly recommend it for anyone interested in understanding the Lutheran perspective and practice.

Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith

Martin Marty writes a thorough, thought provoking and exciting essay on Lutheran theology. He includes many Bible references, quotations from Luther's Small Catechism and interesting notes on everyday life. This is written in a simple and plain language that anyone can understand. Recommended for those who want to think in detail about Christian theology or as a guide for group study.

Great Book in a Small Package

Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith This book covers A-Z when exploring the Lutheran Faith through the eyes of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Very easy to read and understand, this book answers most questions and then some anyone would ask about how this church believes. Of course, not everyone is going to believe everything exactly the same, but if your beliefs match well, the ELCA might be for you. Dr. Marty adds quite a bit of humor along the way so that the reading is fun too. Hope everyone enjoys it, like I did.

Lutheranism Lite. Not bad if you have no interest in serious study

`On Being Lutheran, Reflections on Church, Theology, and Faith' by the late Timothy F. Lull, former professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and `Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers, Exploring Christian Faith' by the popularly known writer and Lutheran professor of religious history are both written for the Lutheran laity. And, while they both strongly reinforce what I've always seen as the most attractive aspects of the Lutheran faith, they approach it in very different ways. The heart of Lutheranism, in my mind, is a critical appreciation of the 66 canonical books of the Protestant Bible, holding a reading of these as the fountainhead of all our beliefs regarding God, Jesus, and all the theology which has grown up under the Christian name over the last 2000 years. The important word here is `critical'. Luther lead the way in highlighting the fact that some canonical books, such as Paul's epistles to the Romans and Galatians, the Gospel of John, Isaiah, and the Book of Psalms were more important than, for example, the epistle of James and the book of Revelations. Both authors reinforce this, without going into a lot of detail regarding Luther's actual writings or in taking up issues with Biblical interpretation. This, they leave to the thousands of scholarly books on Biblical exegesis. Professor Lull's primary emphasis is on the very practical issues of the confession(s) recognized by the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In fact, the book is a compilation of articles Professor Lull wrote for `The Lutheran' magazine shortly after the merger of the several Lutheran organizations, thereby creating the ELCA, the fifth largest organized denomination in the country. Thus, each of the good doctor's short chapters in the first part of the book is an explanation of articles in the ELCA confession of faith. And, of course, `confessions' are a big thing for Lutherans, as the founding doctrine of what would become the Lutheran church at the dawn of the Reformation is the `Augsburg Confession', written by Philip Melanchthon, a theologian and close associate and colleague of Luther's at Wittenberg. This is the keystone of `The Book of Concord', the ultimate authority, short of the scriptures themselves, of Lutheran orthodoxy. As such, the little book takes on something of a legalistic tone, and one finds oneself spending more time reading about church organization and promise than about theology. But then, that's really the title of the book. It deals with what one signs up to when they get their Lutheran confirmation in an ELCA church. So, if you are really interested in the underpinnings of ELCA doctrines and policies, this is the book for you. Professor Marty's many `question and answer' style chapters are far closer to the gospel sources than they are to LUTHERAN issues, although the text certainly reads the Bible with Martin Luther looking over his shoulder. Therefore, Marty's book is far more