ST550 Lutheran Confessions

Lutheran (and other) church traditions at times claim to be distinctively confessional. But what could being “confessional” possibly mean, and how might it be worth understanding and defending? In this course, we will study the 16th-century confessional writings—not only the famous (like the Augsburg Confession) or the once-familiar (like the Catechisms) but also the lesser-known and perplexing (like the Formula of Concord)— of the Lutheran church as gathered in the Book of Concord, interpreting their theological content as public doctrine, evaluating their arguments in light of the Biblical gospel, and giving attention to their ecumenical and pastoral implications. We will seek to see more clearly how these texts might aid and abet a Christian faith that boldly confesses the truth and the love of God in the 21st-century.