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Original Sin In Arminian Theology And Its Antitheses, Harlan C. Wendler

Bachelor of Divinity

The study or this doctrine of original sin in Arminian theology and its antitheses shall be our theme, since it is beneficial for understanding the religious thinking of modern man.

Was Luther Needed?, William Dallmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

Where all the world, the great in Church and State, had failed for centuries, Luther succeeded almost instantly. How? Mr. Newman says: "He adopted a doctrine original, specious, fascinating, persuasive, powerful against Rome, and wonderfully adapted, as if prophetically, to the genius of the times which were to follow. He found Christians in bondage to their works and observances; he released them by his doctrine of faith." - Lect. Justif., p. 386. He became a cardinal.

Luther The Reformer, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther would say: I did not reform the Church. He said: "It was God's Word which, while I slept or made merry, accomplished this great thing." (XX: 20.) The gracious and almighty God accomplished this great thing. "What is now going on in the world is not my doing. It is not possible that a mere man should begin and carry forward such a movement. . . . Another man is at the wheel [Ein anderer Mann ist's, der das Raedlein treibt]."

The History Of The Missouri Synod During The Second Twenty-Five Years Of Its Existence 1872-1897, Roy Suelflow

Doctor of Theology Dissertation

In the year 1872 the Missouri Synod was 25 years old, and it was with mixed emotions in the hearts or its members that this milestone was reached. Most of the first leaders of the Synod were still alive and even active in the ministry at this time. When they looked back not only to the founding of the Synod in 1847 in Chicago but also to the emigration from Germany and settlement in this country, they saw that the Lord had been gracious to them, and that He had led them through numerous difficulties and over many obstacles to …

Keeping The Doctrine Pure, J, H. Fritz

Concordia Theological Monthly

In the year 1924 a book was published entitled Great Preachers As Seen by a Journalist. In closing the last chapter of the book the author said, ''I believe that the creeds within Protestantism are more shell-like and fragile than appears on the surface. Some of these ministers I have written about in this book were born in one creed and preach now in another. Ask me at the end of my work what conclusion stands out in my mind, and I must say, 'I have found plenty of signs that the Protestant Churches of America will one day be …

A Re-Examination Of The Lutheran Doctrine Of The Real Presence, P. E. Kretzmann

Concordia Theological Monthly

If one glances through the history of dogma, especially as offered in some of the larger compends, as well as in the more important encyclopedias of theology and religion, one is bound to notice the comprehensive discussions which are contained in these monographs and articles on the subject of the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist. It is clear that the enemies of the truth, and in particular the archenemy of Christ's Word and institutions, have singled out the doctrine pertaining to this Sacrament for an unusual measure of vicious attacks, until finally large denominations of Christendom have, in their official …

Objective Justification, E. W. Koehler

Concordia Theological Monthly

The doctrine of justification is rightly regarded to be the central doctrine of the Scriptures. All other teachings of the Bible either point to it, or they radiate from it. We can understand neither the work of Christ's redemption nor the work of the Spirit's sanctification if we do not understand the doctrine of justification. Luther calls it "diesen einigen und festen Felsen," and says: "In meinem Herzen herrscht allein dieser Artikel, naemlich der Glaube on Christum, aus welchem, durch welchen und zu welchem alle meine theologischen Gedanken fliessen und zurueckfliessen." (Luthers Vorrede zum Galaterbrief, St. Louis, IX: 9.) Let …

I Believe In The Resurrection Of The Body, W. F. Beck

Concordia Theological Monthly

The upper house of the Convocation of Canterbury, Church of England, has decided to delete the phrase "resurrection of the body" at cremation ceremonies. One bishop said that young people scientifically trained are "not so much indignant as amused at the phrase." Whenever they reach these words in the Apostles' Creed, they must experience a limp in the tongue.

The Marburg Colloquy Of 1529: A Textual Study, George John Beto

Concordia Theological Monthly

The primary sources on the Marburg Colloquy are comparatively numerous. While an official transcript of the proceedings was not kept, certain observers took notes and immediately after the conference supplemented these notes with the material they had retained in their memories. All of the sources are untranslated and are found in either German or Latin.

The Implications Of The Quia Subscription To The Lutheran Confessions, George Loose

Bachelor of Divinity

The purpose of this paper is to clarify what the implications of the quia subscription to the Lutheran Confessions are.

The History Of Scholasticism And Its Influence On The Church And Education Of The Middle Ages, Walter Huber

Bachelor of Divinity

This is to be a Bachelor of Divinity Thesis in the field of Church History. Immediately, however, it becomes evident that in the coverage of the above subject we cannot restrict ourselves within the bounds of Church History. It is impossible altogether to divorce Church History from general history. When one is taken and isolated from the other, both automatically suffer an infinite loss. Apart from the history of the world we cannot understand the history of the Church; and with the Church throughout all Christian ages playing so great, influential, and important role in the general history of mankind, …

Mariolatry In The Roman Catholic Church Since 1854, Lawrence Reilly

Bachelor of Divinity

The aim of the paper is very ably expressed by Dr. David S.Schaff, of Union Theological Seminary: “To the popular imagination in countries under Papal control Mary occupies virtually the same place of a goddess and the practical result would seem inevitably to be that through the gracious leniency associated with woman and motherhood, sinful habits will be condoned which Christ’s teachings forbid. The wonder is that appeals to another should be commended in view of Christ’s invitation, ‘Come to Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.'' We feel very definitely that …

Geography Of The Bible In Relation To Inspiration, Carl Eberhard

Concordia Theological Monthly

The connection between geography and the doctrine of inspiration, at least as far as this group is concerned, seems to be the sentence in the first paragraph of the Brief Statement of Missouri, which reads: "Since the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God, it goes without saying that they contain no errors or contradictions, but that they are in all their parts and words the infallible truth, also in those parts which treat of historical, geographical, and other secular matters, John 10: 35."

The Rise Of Liberal Theology In Congregationalism, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

The terms "Liberalism" and "Modernism" have been used interchangeably during the past few decades. Prior to 1910 the representatives of rationalistic theology in American Protestantism were known as "liberal theologians." The term "Modernism" was employed originally to denote the radical historico-critical method of two Roman Catholic scholars, Louis Duchesne and Alfred Loisy of the Paris University, who questioned virtually all of the ecclesiastical material on which the Papacy based its claim as well as the Biblical foundations. This movement was condemned by Pius X in 1907. It was quite natural that in the clash between the liberal and conservative theologians …

Fellowship With God, C. August Hardt

Concordia Theological Monthly

By way of introduction let me say a few words about the reasons for submitting a paper on Koinonia. It is well known that the word "fellowship" has been very much in the foreground in recent years, especially in connection with the efforts of Lutheran bodies to establish church fellowship. We, too, have had committees at work discussing doctrinal differences with a view to bringing about Scriptural unity as a basis of church and altar fellowship. Some in our midst have looked upon these negotiations with doubts and apprehensions; others, however, feel that we have not even gone far enough …

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"O ye theologians, what are you doing? Think ye that it is a trifling matter when the sublime Majesty forbids you to teach things that do not proceed from the mouth of the Lord and are something else than God's Word? It is not a thresher or herdsman who is here speaking" (Luther XIX: 821). When men prefer those things that originate in their own minds to those that proceed out of the mouth of the Lord, they are doing an evil thing. We shall discuss this matter under four heads.

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Satan has brought untold woe upon the Church by inducing the Pope to deny the right of private judgment and suppress the exercise of it. And Satan brings additional woe upon the Church by inducing men to turn the God-given right of private judgment into a license to sit in judgment on Holy Scripture, to criticize and discard it. That is our second proposition: There is an exercise of private judgment which God absolutely forbids and condemns.

Nathan Soederblom, Theodore Graebner

Concordia Theological Monthly

Lars Olof Jonathan (Nathan) Soederblom was born in the parish of Troenoe, Sweden, January 15, 1866, the son of Rector Joseph Soederblom and his wife. He received the degree of Candidate of Philosophy at the University of Uppsala in 1886 and the degree of Candidate of Theology in 1892. He was appointed pastor of the Swedish church in Paris in 1894 and also seamen's pastor at Dunkerque, Calais, and Boulogne. While in Paris, he pursued his studies and graduated from the Ecole des hautes etudes, in the section of the science of religion, in 1898, receiving the degree of Doctor …

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Ueber die Lehre zu erkennen and zu richten, kommt allen und jeden Christen zu, und zwar so, dass der verflucht ist, der solches Recht um ein Haerlein kraenkt" (Luther XIX:341). The matter of exercising private judgment is of supreme importance. (1) They commit a monstrous crime who keep God's people from dealing directly with God's Word and judging all doctrine on the basis of it. (2) Blessed is the community where the right of private judgment is recognized and practiced.

Justification In Article Iii Of The Formula Of Concord, John Meyer

Bachelor of Divinity

The doctrine of justification is the article by which the Church stands or falls. It is, therefore, almost impossible to overstress its importance or to understress the danger of error in this most fundamental of all teachings. And so studying an error in the doctrine of justification is profitable for understanding and appreciating the true doctrine of Scripture in other points as well.

The Doctrine Of The Atonement In New England Theology, Ralph Pomeroy

Bachelor of Divinity

Our major concern in this thesis is the doctrine of the atonement in New England theology. However, what has gone before is essential to a proper understanding, not only of Edwards' views with regard to the atonement, but also of the men whom he influenced. We shall take up now the study of the doctrine of the atonement according to Edwards. For a proper comprehension of the doctrine, we shall consider it both from the development as suggested by Fisher, and also from the excellent and thorough consideration of the doctrine by Franks.

The Right And Wrong Of Private Judgment, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

In his recent book Luther and His Work the Catholic writer Joseph Clayton says: "To this day Martin Luther is praised ... for bringing the gift of private judgment in faith and morals to all believers. On the other hand, among Catholics Luther is held in abhorrence as an apostate monk who drew countless souls into heresy and whole nations into schism; the evil of whose life has lived after him." According to Luther "No one, neither pope nor bishop, has any right to dictate to the individual Christian what he shall or shall not believe. . . The notion …

Ritschl's Theology, F. E. Mayer

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Ritschlianism is the most highly developed form, that theological empiricism has yet taken." This is the claim of the former dean of the Methodist Boston University School of Theology, Professor Knudson. The majority of liberal theologians hail Ritschl as their champion, because the empirical method is the formal principle, the principium cognoscenti, of American liberal theology. Three German theologians are largely responsible for the wide acceptance of the empirical method in modern theology: Schleiennacher, Ritschl, Troeltsch. Schleiermacher is the father of the modern empirical method in theology.

Schleiermacher, His Theology And Influence., John Theodore Mueller

Concordia Theological Monthly

The Editorial Committee of this periodical has planned a series of articles on leading theologians of modern times who in a preeminent way have influenced and molded theological thought. These essays are to supply the necessary background of the theology current in our time, are to be practical rather than scientific, and are to present the various theological systems in such a way that even the reader unacquainted with technical literature will gain a clear picture of their traits and significance. This objective imposes a limitation on the essayists compelling them to remain within a narrow scope; but this limitation …

Foreword, W. Arndt

Concordia Theological Monthly

Again a new year dawns. God be praised for the assurance we Christians have that in spite of wretchedness, fear, famine, war, and bloodshed reigning in the world it will be a year of grace for us. The Gospel, Holy Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and, in these heavenly gifts, Christ the Redeemer Himself will be in our midst; constantly the river will be flowing the streams wherof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

Luther was ready to give up his life ln the blessed cause of the reunion of Christendom. "I want you [M. Bucer] to believe me that I wish this dissension of ours settled, even though my life had to be sacrificed three times over on account of it, because I saw how necessary your fellowship is to us, how much harm the dissension has done and still does to the Gospel. ... May the Lord Jesus enlighten us and perfectly unite us-this is the burden of my prayer, the burden of my supplication, the burden of my sighs." (XVII:1975.) That …

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

"Interim hat den Schalk hinter ihm!" When the attempt was made to reconcile Lutheranism and Catholicism by means of the Augsburg Interim, the Lutheran laymen rose in their might and declared: "Selig ist der Mann, Der Gott vertrauen kann Und willgt nicht ins Interim, Denn es hat den Schalk hinter ihm!" "Of the Interim beware, For a knave is hiding there." (Hurst, History of the Christian Church, II, p. 217.) When Melanchthon and others offered the Church a modified form of this union document in the Leipzig Interim, 1548, the Lutherans at once detected the same knave hiding there. And …

The Anselmic View Of The Atonement, Thomas Coates

Concordia Theological Monthly

The doctrine of the atonement has always been one of the cardinal tenets of the Christian faith- a tenet of such central importance that with it the Christian religion can be said to stand or fall it was to effect the atonement for man's sin and to reconcile the creature and the Creator that the Son of God assumed the human nature. This has been the conviction of all those who have stood within the historic Christian tradition - from the days of the Apostles onward.

The study of the doctrine of the atonement, accordingly, represents one of the most …

The Reunion Of Christendom, Th. Engelder

Concordia Theological Monthly

A second catch phrase of the unionistic propaganda is "Unity In diversity," "Diversity within unity," "Einigkeit in Mannigfaltigkeit." It expresses the idea that the existence of the various denominations within the external church denominationalism is a blessing; the doctrinal differences do not divide the churches, but form one harmonious body of doctrine; and by practicing fellowship, pulpit fellowship, intercommunion, co-operation - interdenominationalism - the churches utilize the blessings connected with denominationalism.

The Doctrine Of The Holy Ghost According To St Paul, Edward Saleska

Bachelor of Divinity

The doctrine or the Holy Spirit is fundamental in Christian teaching. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is intimately bound up in the doctrine of the Trinity and is an all-important factor in the life of the Christian. It makes all the difference in the world as to what a man believes regarding the Holy Ghost and whether or not he has an intelligent understanding of what the Spirit is ready to do for him in his life.