Lutheran Carnival #32
Welcome! The day has finally come where the whole blogosphere can indulge themselves in the best-of-the-best, the creme-de-la-creme, the cat’s meow… that is, the best posts from the blogs of Confessional Lutherans. (This is of course determined by the post’s author and submitter… not general consensus. In my opinion, they typically coincide.)
It is worth mentioning that a “Confessional Lutheran” is one who says that what is found in the Book of Concord is a rightful exposition of God’s Word. The Book of Concord is in complete agreement with Scripture. The Confessional Lutherans confess in much the same was as most Christians confess the Apostle’s Creed. A creed is not found in scripture but is an exposition of the truth of Scripture in face of heresy.
There are many “Lutherans” who claim to be confessional yet find disagreement with some of the exposition within the Book of Concord (BoC). They say the BoC is not in complete agreement with Scripture in these points. They cannot be called Confessional Lutherans as they don’t confess the same.
Throughout the history of the Lutheran Church and especially in America, this distinction has proven particularly important. Most of the earliest Lutherans of the colonies saw no need to maintain any particular confession. They swayed to the breeze of Methodism and the Reformed both in theology and in practice. Only later did immigrants fleeing the heterodoxy of the Prussian Union settle in America, seeking a church with a true and steadfast confession of God’s Word.
The Missouri Synod, composed of Saxons, Hanoverians, and Franconians represented one such group. These immigrants did not seek to be corrupted by the whims and fancy of American Christendom but desired to remain steadfast in the truth faith. The best means to do so was to require complete subscription to not just the unaltered Augsburg Confession but to the entire Book of Concord without exception. For them, this subscription was paramount to being faithful to God’s Word.
What is frightening for today’s Confessional Lutherans is that this conflict has never been resolved. There continue to be in our midst a plethora of “lutherans” who refuse to commit to the Book of Concord quia, that is without exception. These folks sway to the breeze of the Metho-Penta-Bapti-Costal world acquiescing their theology and practice and in process losing their rightful confession. The conflicts that arise are a result of the fundamental difference. Witness the eventual explosion of Seminex, the “Worship Wars”, and the Benke-vs-McCain Edition disaster. Repeatedly we see these Christians caught up in desires for a united Christian church (a wishful fantasy). To compromise is to lose their true confession.
I’ve been reading Dr. Marquart’s “Anatomy of an Explosion” detailing his outsider take on the events, theology, and conflicts which led to the Seminex crisis. My desire to read at least one text on Seminex (I have Danker’s sitting here, too) was to fill in for the one hour of lecture we had in Dr. Rast’s “Lutheran Church in America” class this summer. Funny thing is, I feel like I read this book before. It truly is the same conflict has happened over and over again. It’s not much different than Melancthon’s lat wishy-washy modifications to Augsburg (to appease the Reformed.) It’s not much different than the the conflict in America the Henkel’s faced. It really isn’t much different than today’s ecumenical conflict.
In every case, we have those who confess Concordia (BoC) and those who speak mere assent with not dogmatic subscription. Mere assent is empty words with no action. Confessional Lutherans subscribe, confess, and practice. They don’t see the BoC as a book of hoops to jump through. Rather they believe that it is the true commentary of God’s Word. For them, to confess BoC is to confess Scripture.
Rev. McCain at Cyberbrethren gives us an excellent post “The Wisdom and Benefit of Retaining Traditional Lutheran Worship Practices” on this very topic. He quotes August Graebner demonstrating that adiaphora is a silly excuse for those who want to maintain subscription without the confession.
Dcs. Cardner at Quicunque vult… offers “Living Catechesis”, a wonderful exposition of the role of catechesis as dripping not with do’s and don’ts but with Baptism and Gospel.
Glen Piper at Territorial Bloggings struggles with Despair. Thankfully the cross of Christ brings him out of his funk.
Rev. K.R. Schaaf at Schaaf’s Kopf I thought had an terrific post on What’s in a name? The language of the church is fruitful for a true confession. Making up new language has the risk of confusing your church with the local auto body shop!
Pastor Klages at A Beggar At The Table continues his heresy hunt with an old-school Gnostic and libertine, Carpocrates. Wow! Never heard of this Carpocrates fellow. Thanks for the exposition.
Ryan offered two posts for your edification. His first from Sacred Meditations entitled On The Comfort of Prayer, he examined prayer, not from the usual perspective of what we should pray for and how God answers prayers, but from the point of view of the comfort prayer gives us as a reminder of Christ’s Sacrifice for us.
In his second post on What Did Jesus Do entitled Evangelismhe takes a look at the appropriate use of Evangelism, and explain why Evangelism is for Believers as much as it is for unbelievers.
Dan at Necessary Roughness gives us two tasty nuggets for your consumption. First, in Not Exactly True Confessions he tries out an online “confession” site operated by a network of churches near Edmond, OK. In Contemporary Worship in Newark He gives a review of a contemporary worship service that for one doesn’t leave out all traces of Christ or what he has done.
Der Bettler of Hoc est verum relates two seemingly unrelated incidents to the difficulty of proclaiming the Gospel to a cynical, postmodern country in his post Why Evangelism Is Hard.
Kletos of Amor et Labor takes umbrage to the claim that Christian counselors are “specialists in applied sanctification.” Thank you for this exposition. Our counseling classes at the Seminary are limited to practical concerns and such theological discussion is extremely useful.
Pastor Walter Snyder of Ask the Pastor responds to the perpetual dating and relationship question of How Far Is Too Far? His answer includes noting that if one is planning how far he can go before he sins, he’s probably already entering into sin.
Also at Ask the Pastor, the five year anniversary of the September Eleventh terrorist attacks and the first anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina give Pastor Snyder the opportunity to reexamine the question that Christians as well as non-Christians continually ask:
Why Suffering and Death?
The Aardvark at Aardvark Alley continues to promote and point out blogging highlights with A Golden Harvest. He also finds time to commemorate the lives of the faithful departed, including Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist.
Pr. Petersen at CyberStones had a great post of Pastoral tips which this seminarian greatly appreciated and took to heart in Petersen’s Tips for the Ministry.
In a different fashion, here are a barrage of inter-related posts discussing home-schooling and socialization which are submitted by the myself on the author’s behalf. Especially fascinating is Socialization in Mordor by Tim the Enchanter and Amish, Large Families, Homeschooling, and Hochmut by his blogging bud Caspar Heydenreich. Both are perspective changing and eye-opening views to the reality of children’s education. Both seemed to have been inspired by Dr. Veith’s post « Homeschooling and social development. Check them out!
Well done all! Thanks for graciously allowing me to host this XXXII edition of the Lutheran Carnival!
Related posts:
Christopher,
Thank you for your time in organizing the Carnival.
Great Job!
Excellent job, Christopher. Good introductory writing.