{"id":5347,"date":"2022-04-23T19:33:47","date_gmt":"2022-04-23T19:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lutheranquarterly.org\/?page_id=5347"},"modified":"2026-06-06T18:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T18:37:25","slug":"book-reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lutheranquarterly.org\/?page_id=5347","title":{"rendered":"Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"VDMA\"<\/figure>

LQ provides annual book reviews as a resource for you<\/h3>

Book Reviews are one of Lutheran Quarterly's greatest strengths. \n\n\nNew LQ book reviews are regularly added to this page. You can also find Book Reviews by year by hovering over the top menu Book Review item above and selecting the year you wish to view.\n\n A handful of previously featured reviews are \n available below.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSummer of Fire and Blood and Luther and the Peasants (Summer 2026)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

We have two book reviews by Amy Nelson Burnett in this volume:<\/p>\n

Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants\u2019 War<\/i>. By Lyndal Roper<\/b><\/p>\n

Luther and the Peasants. Religion, Ritual, and the Revolt of 1525.<\/i>\u00a0By Kenneth G. Appold<\/b><\/p>\n

Reviewed by Amy Nelson Burnett<\/b><\/p>\n

Read full review HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnited with Christ: Martin Luther and Christian Mysticism (Spring 2026)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Volker Leppin needs no introduction to readers of LQ. One of Germany\u2019s leading Reformation scholars who now teaches at Yale Divinity School, Leppin stands in the scholarly tradition of Heiko Oberman and Berndt Hamm with his commitment to situating the Reformation in its late-medieval theological context. He is cautious about positing radical breaks between the Reformation and late-medieval Christianity. Transformation, not rupture, is his most important interpretive category.<\/p>\n

Read the full review HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPromissio: The Reformational Turn in Luther's Theology (Winter 2025)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

One of the most important and illuminating works of modern Luther scholarship is now available in English, thanks to Fortress Press, Lutheran Quarterly Books, and Jeffrey Silcock, who has been
translating Bayer\u2019s writings for many years now with the author\u2019s active cooperation. This book, which combines Bayer\u2019s doctoral dissertation and Habilitation thesis, is his fundamental contribution to Luther research and the basis of his later work in systematic theology and ethics. This publication in English comes to us with a new preface and retrospective afterword by Bayer, as well as a translator\u2019s preface.<\/p>\n

Read the full review HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWyr gleuben all an eynen Gott.\u201d Das Nicaeno-Constantinopolitanum in seiner Bedeutung f\u00fcr Martin Luther und Philipp Melanchthon. By Jennifer Wasmuth. (Autumn 2025)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\u00a0<\/p>\n

by Robert Kolb<\/em><\/p>\n

Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon anchored their call for\u00a0reform in Holy Scripture and understood it as the Word of the Holy\u00a0Trinity, whose identity is summarized and confessed authoritatively in\u00a0the creeds of the ancient church. In his\u00a0Three Symbols or Creeds of the\u00a0Christian Church<\/i>\u00a0(1538), Luther treated the Apostles\u2019 Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the\u00a0Te Deum Laudamus<\/i>, printing the Nicene Creed\u00a0at the end with the brief comment, \u201cit is sung in the mass every\u00a0Sunday\u201d (Luther\u2019s Works<\/i>\u00a045:228). Wasmuth finds that the Apostles\u2019\u00a0Creed assumed great significance for Luther as a catechetical tool\u00a0and that the Athanasian Creed provided him with the terminology\u00a0that he used in explicating his doctrine of God and demonstrating his catholicity. In contrast, Luther seldom discussed the Nicene\u00a0Creed explicitly in sermons and theological treatises; however, Wasmuth shows that its terms and phrases supplied him with fundamental elements of his confession of faith. Even in the disputations of\u00a0his later years that touched on Trinitarian issues, his attention to the\u00a0Nicene Creed was largely reactive to others\u2019 use of it. Nonetheless,\u00a0it fed into his Trinitarian and Christological positions as a decisive\u00a0secondary authority.<\/p>\n


Read the entire review\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSola: Christ, Grace, Faith, and Scripture Alone in Martin Luther\u2019s Theology. By Volker Leppin (Summer 2025)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

by Guillermo Hansen<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cSi Lyra non lyrasset, Lutherus non saltasset.\u201d This sixteenth-century jingle, which humorously linked Martin Luther\u2019s \u201cdancing\u201d to the tunes played by Nicholas of Lyra\u2019s exegetical approach, could have been the title for this book. Leppin\u2019s main premise is\u00a0 that we should no longer starkly distinguish medieval and\u00a0 reformatory thinking in Luther for \u201cthere was no abrupt break\u00a0 with the Middle Ages but an incremental transition from the\u00a0 early medieval beginning to the late reformer, never losing all\u00a0 ties to his roots\u201d (187). Yet the title of the book is Sola, an\u00a0 allusion to the four \u201cexclusive particles\u201d that came to\u00a0 characterize the novelty of the Reformation: Solus Christus, Sola gratia, Sola fide, Sola Scriptura. In an irenic ecumenical spirit, Leppin\u2019s approach seeks to avoid sloganeering, seeing instead these concepts as entry points (\u201cshafts\u201d) that get us to the late medieval roots of Luther\u2019s early theology and thus\u00a0 to a more ecumenical, Catholic-friendly Luther.<\/p>\n

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Read the full review\u00a0HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSinging Church History: Introducing the Christian Story through Hymn Texts by Paul Rorem (Spring 2025)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

When I taught church history courses for Fuller Seminary, I always included a segment in each class session called \u201cVoices from the Heart.\u201d It was a brief devotional exercise that asked students to sing\u00a0
a hymn, reflect on a reading, and join in a prayer drawn from whatever period we might be discussing that day. Students consistently expressed appreciation for this aspect of the course.<\/p>\n

In his preface to Singing Church History, Paul Rorem admits that he often did something similar by asking students to sing a hymn in the middle of a class\u2014partly to rouse drowsy students, but for a pedagogical purpose as well. He understands that while we often cite the adage lex orandi, lex credendi, it is equally true that the law of song is the law of belief. This book shares that insight beyond the seminary classroom.<\/p>\n

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Read the full review HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEcumenical Dogmatics: Basic Features by Edmund Schlink (Winter 2024)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Accordion Content<\/p>\n

Book Review Clarification<\/em><\/p>\n

My review [LQ 38 (2024): 451\u201353] of the American Edition of Edmund Schlink\u2019s\u00a0Ecumenical Dogmatics<\/em>, which was edited and translated by Matthew Becker, did not clearly identify the improvements that Becker made in his edition over the German original or its recent republication. The American Edition makes Schlink\u2019s references into footnotes, includes additional citations that were not included in the German edition, provides a complete bibliography, and adds more than 500 editorial notes that provide background information and cross-references to Schlink\u2019s many publications. These editorial decisions make the American Edition more accessible and easier to use than the German edition, whose references occur in the body of the text and are not uniform.<\/p>\n

Gregory Walter<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edmund Schlink (1903\u201384) published his Ecumenical Dogmatics in German in 1983, only a year before his death. Although much of\u00a0Schlink\u2019s work was translated into English in his own lifetime, the\u00a0Dogmatics was not. English readers now have the work, not only a\u00a0remarkable contribution to theology on its own, but also Schlink\u2019s\u00a0integration of nearly all of his work into a singular theological vision.\u00a0For the anniversary of his birth in 2003, a group of German\u00a0 scholars and students of Schlink collected his works in a German edition,\u00a0comprising five volumes. The publisher also commissioned Matthew\u00a0Becker to edit\u00a0 and translate the whole series into an English edition,\u00a0of which two volumes have already appeared. Theologians and historians of Lutheran theology and\u00a0 ecumenism will benefit from this\u00a0translation.<\/p>\n

Read the full review here.<\/b><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Luther For Everyone: Who He Was & Why He Still Matters by Hans Schwarz (Autumn 2024)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Hans Schwarz concludes his presentation of Martin Luther, originally commissioned by the Roman Catholic publisher Sch\u00f6ningh specifically as a book for non-Lutherans, with this description: Luther \u201cwas a Christian who stood in the tradition of Paul and Augustine, and in this tradition made the loving care of God, who is the Creator of the whole universe, to us humans shine anew. . . . [Luther]
belongs first of all to us Christians and also to all those who are still inspired by his understanding of life being lived in service to others\u201d (210).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the full article HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDas J\u00fcngste Gericht in den Konfessionen und Medien der Fr\u00fchen Neuzeit (Summer 2024)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Although the locus \u201ceschatology\u201d had often been a slighted doctrine in public theology until the twentieth century, God\u2019s final judgment of humankind has usually played an important role in popular piety, certainly in part because of its final consequences for every human being. The Last Day, as the conclusion of the human narrative in this frame of existence, lends itself to depiction by graphic artists, composers and hymn writers, poets, and (rarely) playwrights.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the full review\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Saved and the Damned: A History of the Reformation by Thomas Kaufman (Spring 2024)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

This monograph is the translation of Thomas Kaufmann\u2019s Erl\u00f6ste und Verdammte: Eine Geschichte der Reformation, first published in German in 2017. It represents the effort of this leading historian to\u00a0 provide an accessible overview of the Reformation and its his\u0002torical\u00a0 impact on its five-hundredth anniversary. Not designed to break new\u00a0 ground, the book offers a succinct, yet summative and insightful\u00a0 picture and appraisal of the Reformation in the context of Western\u00a0 and global history. The key question the volume raises for this\u00a0 reviewer is how Kaufmann presents the Reformation and what he\u00a0 makes of it as an historical event five hundred years on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read full article HERE.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWomen Reformers of Early Modern Europe: Profiles, Texts, and Contexts (Winter 2023)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Edited by Kirsi I. Stjerna. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022. xxviii 395 pp.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Martin J. Lohrmann, Wartburg Theological Seminary Dubuque, Iowa<\/p>\n

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This wonderful and important collection shares the stories and writings of many women who worked to reform European Christianity in the early modern era. The majority of the thirty-three articles focus on a single woman or community each, describing their subjects\u2019 respective historical contexts and enduring significance. The primary source material that concludes many entries further enriches contemporary understandings of Reformation-era values and perspectives.<\/p>\n

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The book\u2019s organization is clear and easy to follow. After a general introduction by editor Kirsi Stjerna, the text begins with studies of women who were either published writers or who worked in publishing in the early Reformation, including Katharina Sch\u00fctz Zell and Argula von Grumbach. ections on female leaders in different parts of Europe follow. These include political figures like Dorothea Susanna of the Palatinate, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and Marguerite of Navarre, along with local leaders like Katharina von Bora, Anne Askew, and women who influenced the Reformed and Anabaptist movements.<\/p>\n

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Read the full article HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTeaching Reformation: Essays in Honor of Timothy J. Wengert (Autumn 23)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Edited by Luka Ilic\u00b4 and Martin J. Lohrmann. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2021. 268 + xx pp.<\/p>\n

Featuring studies of historical figures and texts and contributions that address the life\u00a0 \u00a0of the church and the proclamation of the gospel today, this is a fitting celebration of\u00a0 the work of Timothy J. Wengert. Wengert\u2019s career as professor, pastor, and servant of\u00a0 the church has been so productive that to attempt to summarize his contributions here\u00a0 would leave no room for discussion of the book. Happily, Paul Rorem provides an\u00a0 introduction to Wengert\u2019s career (1\u20132), as well as a bibliography of Wengert\u2019s scholarly\u00a0 contributions (253\u201362) that will benefit scholars, teachers, and students. In\u00a0 between, the reader is treated to a collection that, like Dr. Wengert, speaks to both\u00a0 academy and church.<\/p>\n

Teaching Reformation<\/em> has three parts. Part 1 focuses on\u00a0 \u201cLuther, Melanchthon, and Reformation Colleagues.\u201d Here, some studies (for example,\u00a0 Theodor Dieter\u2019s study of Luther\u2019s Tractatus de indulgentiis<\/em>) will appeal to\u00a0 specialist scholars, while others (especially Scott Hen\u0002drix\u2019s introduction to Philip\u00a0 Melanchthon and Urbanus Rhegius) are written for a broader audience. Irene Dingel\u00a0 situates Luther\u2019s Freedom of a Christian<\/em> in its historical context, while suggesting the productivity of bringing Luther\u00a0 into dialogue with discussions of freedom and\u00a0 responsibility today. Contributions by Amy Nelson Burnett, Robert Kolb, and Hans\u00a0 Wiersma remind scholars how much remains to be learned by attending to the\u00a0 colleagues and suc\u0002cessors of more famous reformers. Burnett distinguishes Oecolam-padius\u2019 use of the church fathers in the eucharistic controversy from Melanchthon\u2019s, showing that neither reformer engaged in a \u201cdis\u0002passionate study\u201d;\u00a0 rather, they employed rhetoric to claim that the fathers supported their view. Burnett\u00a0 calls for more study of Oecolam-padius\u2019 significant influence \u201con all participants\u201d in the\u00a0 \u201cnegotiations for eucharistic concord\u201d of the 1530s (55\u201356). Kolb\u2019s essay reveals the \u201ccritical role\u201d of Joachim M\u00f6rlin \u201cin determining the agenda addressed in the\u00a0 Formula of Concord<\/em> and laying the groundwork for the solutions it proposed\u201d (57).\u00a0 Wiersma attends to the role of interpersonal relations in the clash between Albert van\u00a0 Hardenberg and his opponents in Bremen; Hardenberg lost his post after fourteen\u00a0 years, but his Gnesio-Lutheran opponents were soon outmaneuvered by the\u00a0 new mayor. Wiersma draws a lesson for contemporary Luther\u0002ans about the need for\u00a0 \u201clove and charity\u201d amid debate, while also highlighting the role of contingent\u00a0 relationships and events in historical developments often treated as inexorable.<\/p>\n

Part\u00a0 2, \u201cReading and Interpreting Texts in the Reformation\u201d opens with Volker Leppin\u2019s\u00a0 judicious evaluation of the lectures on Judges that Georg Buchwald attributed to\u00a0 Luther in 1884. Leppin deems the text \u201ca compilation and combination of Augustinian reform ideas and Luther\u2019s theological novelties, showing how people involved in the\u00a0 process slowly adopted something that, in retrospect, we call a kind of Reformation\u00a0 theology\u201d (103). Erik H. Hermann analyzes how the exegetical tradition and Luther\u00a0 dealt with three genitive phrases from scripture\u2014plenitudo temporis, lex peccati, and opera legis<\/em>. According to Hermann, \u201cthe ambiguity and versatility of the genitive\u00a0 construct . . . served as catalyst for Luther\u2019s theological reflection\u201d (104\u20135). Richard A.\u00a0 Muller\u2019s study of Calvin\u2019s interpretation of Acts 2:23 and 4:28 yields significant insight into the development and intricacies of the reformer\u2019s understanding of providence; Muller also cautions against relying too exclusively on the Institutes<\/em> to understand Calvin\u2019s perspectives. Ulrich Bubenheimer\u2019s historical detective work reveals Melanchthon to be the compiler of a single-sheet chronology of world history that was\u00a0 published in 1521 and that survives only because Johannes Lang pasted a copy into\u00a0 his Latin Bible. Taken from Pseudo-Philo, the single sheet reveals how early Melanchthon and the Wittenbergers were preoccupied with \u201creligiously motivated\u00a0 historical research\u201d (167). Contributions by Derek Cooper and Stefan Rhein consider\u00a0 Reformation readings of 1 Samuel 28 and the themes and sources of Melanchthon\u2019s\u00a0 Historiae<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Part 3, \u201cForming the Faith,\u201d begins with several textual studies that point\u00a0 toward large areas needing further exploration: Mickey Mattox explores Luther\u2019s idea\u00a0 of God as simul requiescens et operans<\/em>. Mark Tranvik examines how Luther\u2019s teachings on baptism were reflected in several significant Lutheran catechisms of the\u00a0 sixteenth century. Mary Jane Haemig offers a fascinating reconstruction of Henry\u00a0 Melchior M\u00fchlenberg\u2019s catechetical efforts in colonial Amer\u0002ica between 1742 and 1752 through a careful study of his corre\u0002spondence. Tranvik\u2019s chapter especially\u00a0 keeps the church audience in view; he concludes that \u201cmany in Luther\u2019s circle\u00a0 unwittingly diluted baptism and turned it into a mere \u2018sign\u2019 that provides information about our status before God,\u201d thus losing the gospel \u201cframework\u201d of \u201cdeath and\u00a0 resurrection\u201d and opening the door to \u201ca legal scheme to enter into the way we think\u00a0 about our relationship with God\u201d (211). Martin Lohrmann is also concerned to keep\u00a0 legalism at bay, propos\u0002ing that a dialectic of \u201cfaith and love\u201d can be used to read Luther\u2019s Small Catechism. Kirsi Stjerna, meanwhile, finds in the \u201ctwin con\u0002cepts of\u00a0 freedom and service\u201d a \u201cLutheran offering\u201d for the present moment. She encourages\u00a0 \u201cthe theologically rooted willingness to promote change when the gospel principles of\u00a0 justice, mercy, and freedom are compromised or at risk\u201d (242). Finally, Gordon\u00a0 Lathrop recalls how Wengert once found the marks of the church at a Roman\u00a0 Catholic Easter vigil and reflects on his own discovery of these marks in the\u00a0 architecture of La Sagrada Fam\u00edlia.<\/p>\n

This volume has something to offer professional\u00a0 historians and church and lay leaders alike. Perhaps the general reader will take the\u00a0 invitation to wander into the specialist\u2019s territory and vice versa\u2014 which would be a\u00a0 fitting tribute to Timothy Wengert.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

UNITED LUTHERAN SEMINARY\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Vincent Evener<\/p>\n

GETTYSBURG AND PHILADELPHIS, PENNSYLVANIA<\/p>\n



<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnd There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (Summer 23)<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

By Jon Meacham. New York: Random House, 2022. 676 pp.<\/p>\n

Do we need another book on Abraham Lincoln? Among the multitude of others, what makes And There Was Light stand out is Jon Meacham\u2019s remarkable effort to let America\u2019s sixteenth President provide an illuminating perspective on a nation that is currently as deeply divided and struggling to survive as a democracy as it was before and during the Civil War. As helpful as this book may be for any American citizen to read, I am motivated to review it for this church-related journal because I believe the historical insights this noted author provides are potentially useful to Lutheran clergy and other ecclesiastical leaders seeking to navigate these same troubled waters and to address the socio-political divisions that continue to wash into their congregations and church bodies.<\/p>\n

Aptly subtitled \u201cAbraham Lincoln and the American Struggle,\u201d Meacham\u2019s book covers most of the bases one would expect to find in a comprehensive biography, including Lincoln\u2019s family of origin, his hardscrabble upbringing, his first love Ann Rutledge, his turbulent marriage to Mary Todd and the loss of two of their progeny, his elections to office, as well as his anguished presidency and subsequent assassination. But in most every chapter on Lincoln\u2019s life, Meacham chooses to give us a measure of insight into the role religion played as the Illinois rail splitter sought to deal with the towering and divisive problem of slavery.<\/p>\n

At work in Lincoln\u2019s mind, in Meacham\u2019s estimation, were history, reason, and faith. For him, the Constitution, which viewed slaves as the property of their owners, took a back seat in America\u2019s history to the Declaration of Independence, which unequivocally stated that \u201call men are created equal.\u201d In contrast to historians who have stated that Lincoln\u2019s opposition to slavery evolved, Meacham provides ample evidence to substantiate the\u00a0 resident\u2019s later BOOK REVIEWS 189 conscience-grounded claim that it was always in his nature to believe that \u201cif slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Meacham sees it, what evolved was Lincoln\u2019s continuous search for a reasonable political solution to the problem. While African colonization of slaves piqued his interest, this proposal quickly proved to be less than feasible. Recognizing that various legislative compromises would only extend the Southern slave empire, he felt compelled to oppose them. The political necessity of gaining the support of Whites in order to outlaw slavery prompted his willingness to concede that Blacks were an inferior breed. The \u201cpopular sovereignty\u201d solution advocated by Stephen Douglas in his campaigns for office only seemed to fan the flames of self-interest and secession. What Meacham in fact demonstrates is that as Lincoln\u2019s reliance on reason waned and as \u201cwar came,\u201d his faith in God took on a much greater role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Meacham, Lincoln\u2019s \u201ccreed was of his own making\u2014and it was always evolving with enormous consequences for the nation he led and for the nation he left behind\u201d (xxxv). His piety included regular reading of the King James Bible and, at his most critical hours, getting on his knees to pray to God. At the same time, his reading of Thomas Paine\u2019s Age of Reason (\u201cmy own mind is my own church\u201d) made him a \u201cdoubting Thomas\u201d among believers, and for this reason, he never became the member of a Christian congregation. Lincoln found some of the Evangelical Protestant beliefs featured by the Second Great Awakening, such as the divinity of Jesus, too difficult to embrace. Instead, he favored the brand of theology set forth by the New England ranscendentalists. Theodore Parker in particular helped him focus on Nature\u2019s God and to believe that the universe was inherently moral, and that its history arced in the direction of justice.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Meacham reveals elements of Lincoln\u2019s religion that coincide with those of\u00a0 the Christian faith. For one thing, he recognized the pervasiveness of human depravity. Persistent awareness of his own shortcomings prevented any consideration of himself as\u00a0 a \u201cgreat man\u201d in the shaping of America\u2019s destiny. During his single term in Congress (1847\u201349), moreover, he recognized the simul of 190 LUTHERAN QUARTERLY good and evil and told the House, \u201cThere are few things wholly evil, or wholly good. Almost everything, especially governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so\u00a0 that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded\u201d\u00a0 (112). Influential as well was the theological conundrum that the tragic deaths of Lincoln\u2019s\u00a0 two sons, Eddie and Willie, created for him. Here, Meacham highlights the role of Phineas Gurley, the pastor of Washington\u2019s New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where he\u00a0 ttended services as president with his family. It was Gurley\u2019s care and counsel that enabled him to accept \u201ctragedy in the hope that pain was but a prelude to light and peace\u201d (261). According to Meacham, this experience contributed to Lincoln\u2019s framing of\u00a0 the Civil War as a divine drama engulfing the nation he was elected to serve, one in which \u201c[t]he darkness of Good Friday was but . . . a miserable and bloody gateway . . . to\u00a0 he light of Easter and of resurrection\u201d (368).<\/p>\n

In Meacham\u2019s careful exegesis of Lincoln\u2019s iconic Second Inaugural Address one finds\u00a0 several takeaways for today\u2019s churches, often as deeply divided as our society on key\u00a0 ocial issues. The first is to consistently refrain, as did Lincoln, from identifying God with one\u2019s own position or cause. \u201cMen are not flattered,\u201d he argued elsewhere, \u201cby being\u00a0 hown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To\u00a0 eny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world\u201d (364).\u00a0 ven as Lincoln dared to speculate that the high cost of lives for both North and South in\u00a0 he war might be a form of expiation for \u201cevery drop of blood drawn from the lash\u201d used on\u00a0 he enslaved, he insisted that only \u201cthe judgments of the Lord\u201d could be regarded as\u00a0 true and righteous altogether\u201d (368).<\/p>\n

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, to assert in times of crisis that \u201cGod is in charge\u201d is not a warrant for Stoic passivity. On the contrary, what comes with such faith in God is a call to action. Here Meacham takes a deep dive into Psalm 19, from which Lincoln borrowed his reference to the \u201cjudgments of the Lord,\u201d and argues that in this\u00a0 context, it points as much to the love as to the majesty of God. With his well-known final words of the Second Inaugural Address about showing \u201cmalice toward none\u201d and\u00a0 exercising \u201ccharity for all\u201d in an effort to \u201cbind up the nation\u2019s wounds,\u201d or so BOOK\u00a0 REVIEWS 191 LUTHERAN QUARTERLY Volume 37 (2023): 191\u2013193 \u00a9 2023 Johns\u00a0 Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc. Meacham concludes, \u201c[t]he\u00a0 president was summoning the nation to see itself as a player in a divinely charged\u2014and\u00a0 ultimately merciful and just\u2014creation\u201d (369). Acts of this type may still be the best hope\u00a0 of healing and reunion among us in the church as well as the land in which find ourselves today.<\/p>\n

Annapolis, Maryland Jon Diefenthaler<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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