BOOK OF CONCORD

'The Book of Concord' or 'Concordia' (1580) is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century. It has been categorized as a "body of doctrine" or ''corpus doctrinæ''^[1] compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz. It was published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, fifty years to the day after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. The authoritative Latin edition was published in 1584 in Leipzig. Its untranslated title Concordia, Latin for "an agreeing together, union, harmony," literally, "with one heart," denotes the character of Christian statements of faith as setting forth what is believed, taught, and confessed by the confessors with one heart and voice. This follows St. Paul's directive: "that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Cor. 1:10)(NKJV). Lutherans believe that the creeds and confessions that constitute the Book of Concord are not the private writings of their various authors:^[2]

Inasmuch, however, as they are in complete agreement with Holy Scripture, and in this respect differ from all other particular symbols i.e., denominational creeds and credal statements, the Lutheran confessions are truly ecumenical and catholic in character. They contain the truths believed universally by true Christians everywhere, explicitly by all consistent Christians, implicitly even by inconsistent and erring Christians. Christian truth, being one and the same the world over is none other than that which is found in the Lutheran confessions.^[3]

The documents of The Book of Concord are also known as the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church.
The Book of Concord begins with the "Three Ecumenical Creeds," the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed, statements of Christian faith that were formulated before the East-West Schism of 1054. However, the Nicene Creed is the western version containing the filioque. The other documents come from the earliest years of the Lutheran Reformation (1529–77). They are the Augsburg Confession, the Apology [Defense of the Augsburg Confession]], both written chiefly by Philipp Melanchthon, then the Small and Large Catechism by Martin Luther, his Smalcald Articles, and Melanchthon's Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. The final documents, the two sections of the Formula of Concord, were written shortly before The Book of Concord was published and were intended for the same purpose as that of the The Book of Concord itself: to unify the growing Lutheran movement. The preface of The Book of Concord was considered to be the preface of the Formula of Concord as well.
To this day The Book of Concord is doctrinally normative among traditional and conservative Lutheran churches, which require their pastors and other rostered church workers to pledge themselves unconditionally to The Book of Concord.^[4] They often identify themselves as "confessional Lutherans." They consider the Book of Concord the ''norma normata'' (Latin, "the normed norm") in relation to the Bible, which they consider the ''norma normans'' (Latin, "the norming norm"), i.e. the only source of Christian doctrine (God's authoritative word). In this view the Book of Concord, on the topics that it addresses, is what the church authoritatively understands God's authoritative word to say. Other Lutheran churches regard the Book of Concord as an important witness to the historical teachings of the Lutheran Church, and, although not necessarily doctrinally binding, an important guide.

Contents

Constituent documents

Printed Editions

Online texts

footnotes

Bibliography

External links

Constituent documents

★ The Three Ecumenical Creeds

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★ The Apostles' Creed

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★ The Nicene Creed

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★ The Athanasian Creed

★ The Augsburg Confession of 1530

★ The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531)

★ The Smalcald Articles of Martin Luther (1537)

★ Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537)

★ The Small Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)

★
★ Luther's Marriage Booklet (1529) and Baptism Booklet (1526) were included as part of the Small Catechism in some 1580 editions of the German Book of Concord .

★ The Large Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)

★ Epitome of the Formula of Concord (1577)

★ The Solid or Thorough Declaration of the Formula of Concord (1577).

Printed Editions

★ Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch=lutherischen Kirche. Herausgegeben in Gedenkjahr der Augsburgischen Konfession 1930. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1976. ISBN 3-525-52101-4.

★ Bente, F., translator and editor. Concordia Triglotta. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.

★ Kolb, Robert and Timothy J. Wengert, translators and editors. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8006-2740-7.

★ McCain, Paul T., general editor. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions — A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Second edition, 2006. ISBN 0-7586-1343-1.

★ Tappert, Theodore G., translator and editor. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8006-0825-9.

Online texts

★ The Book of Concord, Triglot edition, in PDF and HTML, other useful resources as well.

★ Henkel Book of Concord 1851 edition

★ Henkel Book of Concord 1854 edition

★ Jacob's Book of Concord

footnotes

1. "The authors of the Formula of Concord responded to objections from followers of Melanchthon who treasured the ''Corpus doctrinae Philippicum'', and therefore they did not use the term ''corpus doctrinae'' when they prepared the Formula for publication with the ancient creeds of the church, the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, and Luther’s Smalcald Articles and Catechisms after the completion of the Formula in 1577" . See also the German Wikipedia article [1]: "In diesem Sinne kann es auch als Kanon oder Corpus doctrinae der lutherischen Kirche bezeichnet werden": "In this sense it can also be described as the ''canon'' or ''corpus doctrinæ'' of the Lutheran Church."
2. Bente, Historical Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House: 1921), pp. 3, 23, 24, 46, 247; Edmund Schlink, Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, Paul F. Koehneke and Herbert J. A. Bouman, trans., (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961; reprint, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004), xvii–xviii.
3. ''ibid''., p. 3 words in square brackets added for clarity.
4. C. F. W. Walther, ''Why Should Our Pastors, Teachers and Professors Subscribe Unconditionally to the Symbolical Writings of Our Church''

Bibliography

★ Bente, Friedrich. Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord (1921). New reprint edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 0-570-03262-8.

★ Fagerberg, Holsten. A New Look at the Lutheran Confessions (1529–1537). Translated by Gene Lund. Paperback Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988. ISBN 0-570-04499-5.

★ Forell, George W. The Augsburg Confession: A Contemporary Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1968. LOC 68-25798.

★ Grane, Lief. The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary. Translated by John H. Rasmussen. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986. ISBN 0-8066-2252-0.

★ Kolb, Robert and James A. Nestingen, eds. Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8006-3290-7.

★ Preus, Jacob A.O. The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.

★ Preus, Robert D. and Wilbert H. Rosin, eds. A Contemporary Look at the Formula of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978. ISBN 0-570-03271-7.

★ Preus, Robert D. Getting Into the Theology of Concord. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.

★ Preus, Robert D. Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism: Volume I. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972. ISBN 0-570-04545-2.

★ Reu, Johann Michael. The Augsburg Confession. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995.

★ Schlink, Edmund. Theology of the Lutheran Confessions. Translated by P. Koehneke and H. Bouman. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961. Reprint, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.

★ Schmauk, Theodore. The Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. Translated by C. Theodore Benze. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Reprint 2005.

★ Wengert, Timothy J. A Formula for Parish Practice: Using the Formula of Concord in Congregations. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-8028-3026-9.

External links

★ Article on Lutheran Confessions in the ''Christian Cyclopedia''

★ Scholarly articles on the Lutheran Confessions from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library