About This Issue

The Formula of Concord leads off its thorough treatment of the doctrine of election by calling it an “article of comfort.” In treating this locus in our doctrinal series, Steven D. Paulson and Jerome Klotz locate the comfort in the promising word of predestination. Paulson, LQ Associate Editor, teaches Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, 2481 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108; spaulson@luthersem.edu. A graduate of Luther Seminary, Jerome Klotz is pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Atonement, 360 Forest Hill Dr., Wilkesboro, NC 28697; dklotz001@luthersem.edu. See also the language of promise in an excerpt from Martin Luther’s Galatians sermon on New Year’s Day 1532 in the Notes below.

As 2017 gets nearer, we continue to benefit from close looks at previous centennials, in this case 1617. Today, there are “Luther” movies reflecting Hollywood personalities; then, there were multiple plays reflecting confessional anxieties. Michael J. Halvorson surveys a number of such dramatic works, including a forerunner (Luther Reborn, 1593) that got the playwright poisoned in a bit of real-life drama. Halvorson teaches history at Pacific Lutheran University, 12180 Park Avenue S., Tacoma, WA 98447; halvormj@plu.edu. See also the Comment below on current centennial activities in Germany by Hartmut Lehmann (hrw.lehmann@t-online.de), our frequent contributor regarding such anniversaries.

Extending her own coverage of Luther on prayer (LQ 23 2009), Mary Jane Haemig here shares a broader view of Luther’s pastoral approach to “Luther on Prayer as Authentic Communication,” originally a lecture at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota. “Words matter,” she writes. “Both God’s Word and our words. Luther can teach us a lively sense of God’s Word to us and our words in response.” Haemig, LQ Associate Editor and Book Review Editor, is Professor of Church History and Director of the Reformation Research Program at Luther Seminary, 2481 Como Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108; mhaemig@luthersem.edu.

Following the Comment on 2017 in Germany, and the excerpt of the Luther sermon, see also the Note on the move of Lutheran Quarterly Books to Fortress Press, complete with the next title. As usual, this issue concludes with another full array of book reviews, thanks to editors Mary Jane Haemig and Suzanne Hequet.