Project MUSE®: Lutheran Quarterly - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Lutheran Quarterly.daily12026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 30 (2016) through current issueLatest Articles: Lutheran QuarterlyTWOProject MUSE®Lutheran Quarterly2470-56160024-7499Latest articles in Lutheran Quarterly. Feed provided by Project MUSE®About This Issue
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983993
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Years before Luther's fateful impasse with Zwingli at Marburg in 1529, he locked horns with Andreas Karlstadt over a similar question. Does God really use material means, namely, eating bread and drinking wine, to convey the blessing of communion with Christ? Tübingen student and pastoral candidate Johannes Schimohr here examines their exegetical debate over I Corinthians 10 in particular; johannes.schimohr@ptsem.edu. Luther had much more to say about election and predestination than he wrote in The Bondage of the Will (1525). LQ yeoman Robert Kolb surveys the landscape from before and after the treatise, through Luther's letters, pastoral contexts, and table talk, all the way to the subsequent Formula of Concord
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallAbout This Issue2026-02-26text/htmlen-USAbout This Issue2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®47092026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Communion Contested; Luther and Karlstadt on 1 Corinthians 10
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983994
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While the conflict between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli regarding the Lord's Supper has been widely studied, the preceding disagreement between Luther and Andreas Karlstadt von Bodenstein has not received as much scholarly attention. Nevertheless, some of the same issues were contested. Between 1524 and 1525, Karlstadt published several pamphlets in which he challenged Luther's interpretation of the sacrament. Amy Nelson Burnett has emphasized the strict opposition of external and internal elements of the Lord's Supper in Karlstadt's theology, as well as his emphasis on spiritual communion with the body of Christ.1 In response, Luther shifted his emphasis from receiving the Lord's Supper in faith, as expressed
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallCommunion Contested; Luther and Karlstadt on 1 Corinthians 102026-02-26text/htmlen-USCommunion Contested; Luther and Karlstadt on 1 Corinthians 102026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®1179042026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Luther's Legacy on Predestination in the Context of On Bound Choice
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983995
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In the last week of the year 1525 Martin Luther published his long-awaited response to the Diatribe of Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch scholar's attempt to separate himself from association with the Wittenberg reform. Five hundred years ago a wave of appreciation and approval for the Wittenberg Reformer's declaration of sinners' total dependence on God for reconciliation with their Creator in De servo arbitrio broke out. Two decades later John Calvin claimed that he had depended heavily on Luther's De servo arbitrio in formulating his own views on predestination and the bondage of the will.1 However, enthusiasm for the work diminished rapidly among Luther's own students and closest followers. Their reluctance to cite
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallLuther's Legacy on Predestination in the Context of On Bound Choice2026-02-26text/htmlen-USLuther's Legacy on Predestination in the Context of On Bound Choice2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®982872026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26The Dispute over Images between Calvinism and Lutheranism
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983996
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"What does God desire in the Second Commandment?" So reads the ninety-sixth question of the Heidelberg Catechism. The answer follows: "That we should not falsely depict (verbilden) God in any way, nor worship him in any way other than what he has commanded in his word."1 In addition to the numbering of the Decalogue's commandments, with the prohibition of images as the second commandment, the handling of images in general became one of the features distinguishing Calvinism and Lutheranism. Martin Luther considered the prohibition of graven images to be classified under Jewish ceremonial laws2 and thus included in the First Commandment (against having or worshipping other gods). But the Heidelberg Catechism
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallThe Dispute over Images between Calvinism and Lutheranism2026-02-26text/htmlen-USThe Dispute over Images between Calvinism and Lutheranism2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®825682026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Old Lady Against the Current
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983997
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The tides of the Enlightenment have reportedly receded during my lifetime, but they had two effects that my generation in the church has grappled with all our lives. First is the historical critical method of studying the Bible and second, the birth control pill, the first medicine, I think, to stop a natural process, rather than heal a disease. The consequences of the pill have remade the world and the church in which I grew up and we are still reeling. It launched the feminist movement from which I benefited but from which I now demur given where it has ended up. As I look back over my life, I think of the old Norse fairy tale, Kjærringa mot strømmen/Old Lady Against the Current.My generation is the last who will
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallOld Lady Against the Current2026-02-26text/htmlen-USOld Lady Against the Current2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®236912026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Theologians' Correspondence in the Late Reformation: A New Resource for Research
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983998
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Theologenbriefwechsel im Südwesten des Reichs in der Frühen Neuzeit (1550–1620) [Theologians' Correspondence in the Southwest of the Empire in the Early Modern Period (1550–1620)], ed. Christoph Strohm. Quellen und Forschungen zur Reformationsgeschichte (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2020–); on-line: https://thbw.hadw-bw.de/The correspondence of the reformers has long been an essential primary source for theologians, historians, and biographers. Their letters give insight on theological topics and details of personal life, but they do much more than that. They also illustrate the spread of news and information, rumor and gossip, and they contain a wealth of information about political, scientific, and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallTheologians' Correspondence in the Late Reformation: A New Resource for Research2026-02-26text/htmlen-USTheologians' Correspondence in the Late Reformation: A New Resource for Research2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®441442026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Martin Luther's On the Papacy (1545) from Justus Jonas, Jr. to New Hanover, Pennsylvania
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/983999
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As with any famous personage, items connected to Martin Luther have over the centuries been lost, misplaced, destroyed in war, or otherwise disappeared.1 On occasion, an interesting piece of his work turns up again. Such is the case with a book now owned by New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and going on permanent loan to the Kessler Collection at Pitt Theology Library, Emory University. In 2024, the pastor of New Hanover, the Rev. Scott Staub, contacted Timothy J. Wengert in hopes of finding out more about the book in connection with the congregation's 325th anniversary.The congregation traces its roots back long before Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, whom they, along with
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallMartin Luther's On the Papacy (1545) from Justus Jonas, Jr. to New Hanover, Pennsylvania2026-02-26text/htmlen-USMartin Luther's On the Papacy (1545) from Justus Jonas, Jr. to New Hanover, Pennsylvania2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®456632026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Notes
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984000
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For 95 issues, almost 24 years, and approximately 1,600 reviews, Mary Jane Haemig has been Lutheran Quarterly's stalwart Book Review Editor. Since 2003, she has chosen titles, contacted publishers, invited reviewers old and new, edited the reviews, and patrolled the page proofs for every issue, all with dependable excellence. The LQ Directors often singled out the Book Review section for accolades at their annual meetings. She has even mentored her successor, Martin Lohrmann of Wartburg Seminary who will move from Associate Book Review Editor to take charge of this essential portfolio as of April 1, 2026. Haemig herself will continue as Associate Editor of LQ and LQ Books (Fortress). Authors, publishers, scholars
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallNotes2026-02-26text/htmlen-USNotes2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®72622026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26United with Christ: Martin Luther and Christian Mysticism by Volker Leppin (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984001
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Volker Leppin needs no introduction to readers of LQ. One of Germany's 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 (134).This book is informed by Leppin's Reformation-as-transformation thesis. Its central argument is that "we cannot understand Luther without mysticism" (11). The book explores the myriad ways that Luther was influenced by certain strands of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallUnited with Christ: Martin Luther and Christian Mysticism by Volker Leppin (review)2026-02-26text/htmlen-USUnited with Christ: Martin Luther and Christian Mysticism by Volker Leppin (review)2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®67562026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Disputations I by Martin Luther (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984002
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A companion to volume 73, this book assembles thirty-eight disputations or colloquies which Luther or his colleagues held. Luther's disputations reveal him to be a high-level academic who is ready to use logic and dialectic to advance the gospel and clarify doctrine. These disputations cover a range of issues which Luther faced including his appreciation for logic despite his misgivings with Aristotle, his challenge to Biel's supposition that "first grace" can be earned, his reconception of the gospel as neither a directive nor a description but instead a promise, his dismissal of the superiority of monastic life over secular engagement, and his advocacy for the distinction between law and gospel.While Luther's
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallDisputations I by Martin Luther (review)2026-02-26text/htmlen-USDisputations I by Martin Luther (review)2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®66452026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Life under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus by Wade Johnston (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984003
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As Lutheran Quarterly readers mourn Oliver Olson's passing, it is fitting that a new book on Matthias Flacius (1520–1575) aims to continue part of Olson's legacy. Wade Johnston pays tribute to the biographies by Wilhelm Preger, Oliver Olson, and Luka Ilić –trast to their authoritative work, this Wisconsin Lutheran College professor states that his modest purpose is threefold. First, Johnston wrote his study for his own personal development. Second, he wants the gifted Croatian's impact on hermeneutics, church history, systematics, and church and state relations to be better understood. Third, the parish pastor in him hopes a popular and inexpensive biography will get more pastors and laity interested in the Gnesio
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallLife under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus by Wade Johnston (review)2026-02-26text/htmlen-USLife under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus by Wade Johnston (review)2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®60702026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26Johann Agricola aus Eisleben (ca. 1494–1566): Vom Freund zum Gegner der Wittenberger Reformatoren ed. by Irene Dingel and Armin Kohnle (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984004
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As a student of Martin Luther who became an influential colleague, Johann Agricola helped shape the early Reformation in and around Wittenberg. Indeed, Agricola's first modern biographer, Gustav Kawerau, contended that Agricola may even have accompanied Luther across Wittenberg to post the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Nevertheless, Agricola is remembered in Lutheran history almost exclusively for his subsequent falling out with Luther and Melanchthon due to his different understanding of law and gospel. Where Luther and Melanchthon believed that the law was a mirror provided by God to show people their sins and thus produce repentance, Agricola believed that the law played no role in a person's salvation and that
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallJohann Agricola aus Eisleben (ca. 1494–1566): Vom Freund zum Gegner der Wittenberger Reformatoren ed. by Irene Dingel and Armin Kohnle (review)2026-02-26text/htmlen-USJohann Agricola aus Eisleben (ca. 1494–1566): Vom Freund zum Gegner der Wittenberger Reformatoren ed. by Irene Dingel and Armin Kohnle (review)2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®60892026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26A Dream Eclipsed: The Fractured Quest for Greater Lutheran Unity by Lowell Almen (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/984005
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This is a memoir by Lowell Almen, for twenty years the Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA). Among other elements it contains his observations of the processes that brought the ELCA together and those developments that eventually led a significant portion of the ELCA to break away and form two new Lutheran denominations, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) and the North America Lutheran Church (NALC); hence the subtitle:"The Fractured Quest." As with all such memoirs, it is a very important historical document from someone who was deeply involved in the formation and development of the ELCA. Yet, historians know that reading such a document often provides only one view of the history
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-11T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/691/image/coversmallA Dream Eclipsed: The Fractured Quest for Greater Lutheran Unity by Lowell Almen (review)2026-02-26text/htmlen-USA Dream Eclipsed: The Fractured Quest for Greater Lutheran Unity by Lowell Almen (review)2026-02-262026TWOProject MUSE®68792026-05-11T00:00:00-05:002026-02-26