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LOGIA is published quarterly (Epiphany, Eastertide, Holy Trinity, and Reformation).                                      

33:4 (Reformation 2024) — Homiletics Today - this is our current issue; purchase here.

Few topics could be more pertinent for Lutherans of any age than that of preaching. St. Paul says that faith comes through hearing, and Luther and our fathers knew this well. Preaching was at the heart of reform. God grabs us through the ears. Christ is the Word and comes with the words of his shepherds. The church is a mouth house and the vocation of pastor involves speaking for God where God has spoken. Preaching matters.

In this issue, Joshua Pfeiffer addresses the purpose of preaching. What is its proper end? What is the preacher aiming to do in the pulpit? In the process, Pfeiffer reviews examples of preaching and assesses the value of different approaches.

Eric Andrae reviews Bo Giertz’s view of the unity of the church and doctrinal unity. Giertz was one of the twentieth century’s most compelling confessional Lutheran preachers. Andrae argues that Giertz’s centering of theology in the message of the gospel led him to hold true unity in doctrine in higher and not lower regard. True unity for Giertz was in the Christ we proclaim, but that did not lead to a reductionistic approach to doctrine. In this, Andrae seeks to revise previous understandings of Giertz method and thinking.

Rick Serina investigates pastoral reform in fifteenth-century preaching. Through selected sermons, he traces key developments in proclamation that set the stage for future reform. What did preaching look like in the century before Luther? How did preachers see their task? Using the image of the Good Shepherd, Serina explain how some paradigmatic preachers treated this picture of Christ and his work for the lost. In so doing, we are better equipped to understand the Protestant reformers and their preaching in the light of that which preceded them.

Steve Zank gives us a helpful translation of Tilman Pfuch’s work on “Luther’s Confession Prayer.” Preaching is absolution. How does that fit with corporate, public confession in the church? Knowing the history of German confession prayers and Luther’s relationship with and to them helps us grasp how he and others saw the mission church and its message. Why was general confession not only permitted but seen as beneficial by many? How did it pertain to pastoral care? Did it assist or hinder it? How should preachers handle it today? These are worthwhile questions to consider, as relevant today as it was then.

Finally, we have included a LOGIA classic in this issue, “Using the Third Use” by Jonathan Lange. The third use has been the subject of much discussion and debate in the last decade, especially with respect to preaching. What is the place and role of the third use in proclamation? Who uses it and how? Lange treats such questions thoughtfully and pastorally.

We hope you enjoy this issue, whether you are a preacher or a hearer. As God has grabbed us by the ear in baptism, may he continue to hold us and guide us by the same. As our God continues to speak, may we all listen, and in so doing be richly blessed.

Wade Johnston, for the editors

34:1 (Epiphany 2025) — Dead Orthodoxy? - scheduled to be published in January 2025.

In a summer quarter class on Pietism, the seminary professor, in order to establish context, began with a presentation on the age of Lutheran Orthodoxy and referred to it as a golden age of Lutheranism. An astute student asked, “You referred to it as a golden age of Lutheranism, not the golden age of Lutheranism. Were there other golden ages of Lutheranism?” The professor’s answer is not germane to this issue of LOGIA. He did, however, say that the gold tarnished; after all, the class was about Pietism. But he categorically rejected the term “dead orthodoxy.”

The age of Lutheran Orthodoxy is often dated as beginning with the publication of the Book of Concord in 1580 and ending with the adulterating influence of Enlightenment principles in the mid-eighteenth century. The term “dead orthodoxy” arose as a critique of what some Lutherans saw as a movement that was overly rational and objective and that ignored the warmth and vibrancy of Christian experience. The articles in this issue of LOGIA demonstrate that this evaluation of Lutheran Orthodoxy is false.

The treasures and fullness of Lutheran Orthodoxy are, first and foremost, perhaps best expressed in preaching. After all, Luther said that the church should be a “mouth house.” A pastoral approach to preaching that drives Christ home (was Christum treibet) into the hearts of parishioners who have been caringly catechized, together with encouraging genuine piety motivated by the word of God taught in its truth and purity and the administration of the sacraments according to Christ’s institution, are the hallmark of Jesper Brochmand’s sermon.

Johann Gerhard is considered one of the premier Lutheran theologians of the Age of Orthodoxy. This period is at times referred to as the Age of Lutheran Scholasticism because of a perception that the doctrinal content of the treatises and books written by scholars of this period was divorced from any meaningful application to the individual Christian. In Benjamin Mayes’ examination of Gerhard’s eschatology, it becomes evident that a profound—and complex—struggle with the concepts of annihilation and renovation ultimately serves the purpose of assuring believers, “then we shall be forever with the Lord.” Especially significant is that Gerhard’s theology is entirely grounded in Christology: every exegetical endeavor must begin by asking, “What does this have to do with Christ and redemption?”

A consideration of the Age of Orthodoxy dare not overlook the role of polemics in dealing with doctrinal issues. Terms must be defined accurately, and positions that depart from the clear teaching of Scripture must be rejected. John Maxfield applies this approach to ongoing dialogues between representatives of various Lutheran bodies and the Roman Catholic Church.

Polarization is a term often used to describe American political life and moral positions today. Lutherans are confronted both by the question of when it is proper to disobey civil authorities as well as how best to obey civil authorities. In his study of the Magdeburg Confession, which had some influence on the Formula of Concord, Michael Lockwood draws attention to the Lutheran doctrine of the two kingdoms and the importance of God-given vocation as a biblical and confessional approach to dealing with these issues.

To answer the student’s question in the opening paragraph, it is probably best to ignore the idea of golden ages. The articles in this issue of LOGIA make it clear that orthodoxy lives on in the Lutheran church. In fact, there is no such thing as dead orthodoxy, since the love of God in Christ is the living heart of orthodoxy, and faithful Lutherans still focus on this central truth.

Paul Lehninger, for the editors

34:2 (Eastertide 2025) — The Atonement - scheduled to be published in April 2025.