Report on Lutheran Quarterly Book Reviews January 1, 2026
Dr. Mary Jane Haemig, Book Review Editor

72 reviews were published in the four issues of volume 39. A comparison with past years is useful:38/1 – 38/4 75 reviews
37/1 – 37/4 87
36/1 – 36/4 101
35/1 – 35/4 83
34/1 – 34/4 66

As of December 31, 2025, 33 additional reviews had been edited, and awaited publication. Some of these may have been published by the time you read this report. As of December 31, 2025, 32 reviews had been assigned and not yet submitted.

I appreciate staff, council, and board willingness to review books. I also appreciate suggestions of books and reviewers. While continuing our focus on Lutheran history and theology we also seek books that are relevant to, but not obviously a part of those emphases. We look for a variety of reviewers from different Lutheran groups, institutions, countries, and perspectives as well as reviewers outside the Lutheran orbit.

It is now over 22 years since I began my work as book review editor in the Fall of 2003. I have enjoyed this work greatly and value the contributions of the many reviewers with whom I have interacted. I am particularly grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from Editor Paul Rorem over the years. Over the course of 2026, the position of book review editor will pass to Martin Lohrmann. I look forward to seeing and appreciating his work as the new book review editor.

Reviews published in 2025 39/1 – 39/4 (Total: 72)
Amy Lindeman Allen, The Gifts They Bring (Samantha Gilmore) 39/1
Lowell Almen and Denis Madden, Faithful Teaching : Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue XII (Winston Persaud) 39/1
Victor Lee Austin, ed., Mixed Blessings: The Theologians Who Shaped Us (Mark Mattes) 39/3
Oswald Bayer, Promissio: The Reformational Turn in Luther’s Theology (Philip Cary) 39/4
Andreas Bergman, The Certainty of Salvation in the  heology of Martin Chemnitz. (Mark Mattes) 39/4
James Brauer, Music: God’s Mysterious Gift (Larry Rast) 39/2
Ulrich Bubenheimer, ed. by Thomas Kaufmann and Alejandro Zorzin, Wittenberg 1517-1522 (Anna Marie Johnson) 39/1
Kent Burreson and Beth Hoeltke, Lay Me in God’s Good Earth: A Christian Approach to Death and Burial (David Drebes) 39/2
W. Gordon Campbell, ed., Martin Luther’s Bible: Perspectives on a Rich Legacy (Gordon Jensen) 39/1
Maria Crăciun, et al., eds., Prayer Books and Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Mary Jane Haemig) 39/1
Richard Cross, Early Scholastic Christology: 1050 – 1250 (Mark Mattes) 39/3
Andrew D. DeCort, Bonhoeffer’s New Beginning: Ethics after Devastation (Mark Brocker) 39/3
Samuel Yonas Deressa and Mary Sue Dreier, eds., Forming Leaders for the Public Church: Vocation in Twenty-First Century Societies (David Lumpp) 39/2
Robert J. Dobie, The Fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien (Timothy Leitzke) 39/2
Tim Niklas-Ehlers, Melanchthons religionspolitisches Agieren zwischen Interim und Passauer Vertrag (1550-1552) (Timothy Wengert) 39/3
Roger Eigenfeld, Paul Harrington and Duane Paetznick, Behind the Pulpit: Three Seasoned Lutheran Pastors Share Their Megachurch Stories (Mark Mattes) 39/4
Daniel Esparza, Forgiving Philosophy: Augustine, Kierkegaard and Arendt on the Question of Forgiveness (David Coe) 39/4
Gunther Frank, et al., eds., Totus Noster: Augustinus zwischen den Konfessionen (Erik Herrmann) 39/1
Emily Fisher Gray, Wrestling with the Reformation in Augsburg 1530 (Mark Tranvik) 39/1
Paul Graff, A History of the Dissolution of the Ancient Liturgical Forms in the Lutheran Church of Germany (Daniel Grimminger) 39/4
Gracia Grindal, Mindekirken-Against the Current (Philip Nesvig) 39/1
Gracia Grindal, What a Fellowship: Remembering Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church (Christopher Richmann) 39/4
N.F.S. Grundtvig, ed. by Niehls Lyhne Jensen, A Grundtvig Anthology: Selections from the writings of N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) (Kristofer Phan Coffman) 39/4
Patrick Hayden-Roy, The Luther Myth: The Image of Martin Luther from Religious Reformer to Völkisch Icon (Robert Kolb) 39/4
Matthew Heckel, His Spear Through My Side into Luther. Calvin’s Relationship to Luther’s Doctrine of the Will (Mark Mattes) 39/3
Margarethe Hopf, Ein Osservatore Romano für die evangelische Kirche in Deutschland: Der Konzilsbeobachter Edmund Schlink im Spannungsfeld der Interessen (Matthew Becker) 39/3
Theodore Hopkins and Robert Kolb, The Christian Faith: A Lutheran Exposition (2nd ed.) (Mark Mattes) 39/2
Carl S. Hughes, Clouds of the Cross in Luther and Kierkegaard: Revelation as Unknowing (Peder Jothen) 39/3
Hans Joachim Iwand, Luther’s Theology: A Translation of Hans Joachim Iwand’s Posthumous Works (Jack Kilcrease) 39/3
Thomas Jacobson, Pain in the Belly: The Haugean Witness in American Lutheranism (Maria Erling) 39/1
Brach Jennings, Transfiguring a Theologia Crucis through James Cone (Aaron Klink) 39/2
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, I Believe. Help My Unbelief!: Christian Beliefs for a Religiously Pluralistic and Secular World (Mark Mattes) 39/2
Ralph Keen, Elizabeth Palmer, and Daniel Owings, Reading Certainty: Exegesis and Epistemology on the Threshold of Modernity, Essays Honoring the Scholarship of Susan E. Schreiner (Martin Lohrmann) 39/1
James A. Kellerman et al., eds., Athens and Wittenberg: Poetry, Philosophy and Luther’s Legacy (Benjamin Mayes) 39/1
Matthew D. Kirkpatrick, Bonhoeffer for the Church: An Introduction (Mark Brocker) 39/1
Armin Kohnle, Kurfürst Friedrich der Weise von Sachsen (1463-1525) (Robert Kolb) 39/1
Robert Kolb, Face to Face: Martin Luther’s View of Reality (Andreas Stegmann) 39/4
James G. Kroemer, A Crusade against the Turks as a Means of Reforming the Church: Two Camaldolese Hermits’ Advice for Pope Leo X (Paul Strauss) 39/4
Robin Leaver, ed., A New Song We Now Begin: Celebrating the Half Millennium of Lutheran Hymnals 1524-2024 (Steven Wente) 39/4
Robert L. Lee, From Freedom to Life: A History of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations (Thomas Jacobson) 39/2
Volker Leppin, Sola: Christ, Grace, Faith, and Scripture Alone in Martin Luther’s Theology (Guillermo Hansen) 39/2
Johannes Ljungberg and Erik Sidenvall, Religious Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century Nordic Countries: Reason and Orthodoxy (Derek Nelson) 39/3
Birgit Luscher, Ludwig Wurster und die Nuernberger Augustiner zur Reformationszeit (Robert Christman) 39/4
John Maxfield, Becoming Lutheran: The Community of Brunswick from Evangelical Reform to Lutheran Culture (Timothy Schmeling) 39/2
Alistair McGrath, The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development, and Function (Mark Mattes) 39/1
Gilbert Meilaender, Christian Ethics: A Short Companion (William Fredstrom) 39/1 
Sini Mikkola, Body and Gender in Martin Luther’s Anthropology (1520-1530) (Kirsi Stjerna) 39/3
Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Follow your Bliss and Other Lies about Calling (Mark Tranvik) 39/4
Derek Nelson, et al., eds., Bodies Inhabiting the World: Scandinavian Creation Theology and the Question of Home (Craig Nessan) 39/2
Gunnar Nerheim, Norsemen deep in the Heart of Texas: Norwegian Immigrants, 1845-1900 (DeAne Lagerquist) 39/3
Thomas O’Meara, Toward a Cosmic Theology (Ben Wintress) 39/4
Christian Preus, ed., The Magdeburg Confession (John Maxfield) 39/4
Melinda Quivik, Worship at a Crossroads: Racism and Segregated Sundays (Jan Schnell) 39/4
Paul Rorem, Singing Church History: Introducing the Christian Story through Hymn Texts (Richard Johnson) 39/1
Johannes Schilling, ed., Briefkultur der Reformationszeit (Amy Nelson Burnett) 39/1
Derek L. Stauff, Lutheran Music and the Thirty Years War: Confession, Politics, Devotion (Paul Westermeyer) 39/4
Andreas Stegmann, Der Text des Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses: Zu Text- und Rezeptionsgeschichte (Martin Lohrmann) 39/4
Bodil Stenseth, Muus vs. Muus: The Scandal that Shook Norwegian America (Mark Granquist) 39/2
John Strommen, GPS: Finding Direction on your Faith and Life Journey: How Luther’s Theology Connects Faith to Life (Russ Lackey) 39/1
Chris Suehr, Lost Lutherans: Perspectives on American Religious Decline (Richard Johnson) 39/4
Manfred Svensson, The Aristotelian Tradition in Early Modern Protestantism (Carl Springer) 39/1
James Thomas, A Rumor of Black Lutherans: The Formation of Black Leadership in Early American Lutheranism (Maria Erling) 39/4
Olli-Pekka Vainio, Luther Under Scrutiny (Mark Mattes) 39/3
Gene Veith, Embracing your Lutheran Identity (Suzanne Hequet) 39/4 
Jennifer Wasmuth, “Wyr gleuben all an eynen Gott”: Das NiceanoConstantinopolitanum in seiner Bedeutung fuer Martin Luther und Philipp Melanchthon (Robert Kolb) 39/3
Roisin Watson, The Beauty of Belief: Decorating the Württemberg Church during the Reformation (Aaron Klink) 39/4
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Women and the Reformations: A Global History (Vincent Evener) 39/4
Sarah Wilson, Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration (Russ Lackey) 39/3 
Norman Wirzba, Agrarian Spirit: Cultivating Faith, Community, and the Land (William Fredstrom) 39/1
Jennifer Wojciechowski, Women and the Christian Story (Mary Anderson) 39/1
Pa Yaw, Martin Luther’s Theology of Two Kingdoms in Buddhist and Christian Communities (Eric Trozzo) 39/4
Benjamin Ziemann, Hitler’s Personal Prisoner: The Life of Martin Niemoeller (Beth Griech-Polelle) 39/4