Publisher’S Preface
PUBLISHER’S PREFACE
Following the two sixteenth-century Martins—Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz—no other Lutheran theologian has been as instrumental in shaping and forming Lutheran theology as Johann Gerhard. Just as Roman Catholicism has Thomas Aquinas, Lutheranism has Johann Gerhard. Both theologians wrote massive works of detailed doctrinal theology for their church bodies, works to which all other such efforts are compared.
According to Gerhard, theology is conversation, discussion, and discourse about God. This conversation is based on God’s self-revelation in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures. The subject of all theology is Jesus Christ. It is a divine gift that we know Christ and are led to take refuge in Him. In this sense, Gerhard considered theology to be not only an academic discipline or a matter of scientific study; rather, Gerhard followed Augustine, who said, “We believe in order to understand; we do not understand in order to believe” (De Trinitate 15.2).
Explaining carefully the truth and life of the crucified and risen Lord for pilgrims on the journey to eternity is Gerhard’s goal. Of course, some will choose to read Gerhard only for academic and scholarly purposes, and there is great value in such activity, but above all else it was Gerhard’s intention to provide a comprehensive presentation of the Christian faith precisely for the sake of confessing, defending, and extending the blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ. The glory and worship of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was the ultimate aim of Gerhard’s doctrinal work, and it is with this in mind that Gerhard is most clearly understood.
The massive reorientation of Christian theology in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in response to Pietism and Rationalism resulted in disregard and even disdain for the doctrinal theology of Gerhard and other Orthodox Lutheran theologians. This attitude remains among us today. Gerhard’s insistence that we can know and confess doctrine purely and that we must reject error runs contrary to the spirit of relativism and pluralism that engulfs much of modern Christianity. In stark contrast, Gerhard asserted that the Lutheran Reformation in the sixteenth century was necessary and vital. The Lutheranism that Gerhard endorsed remains an essential confessing and reforming movement for the sake of the true and saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the sake of genuine confession of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith.
This translation of Gerhard’s Loci Theologici (here titled Theological Commonplaces) was initiated in the 1960s by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Committee for Scholarly Research. The Rev. Dr. Richard Dinda, one of the translators who contributed much to the American Edition of Luther’s Works, was asked to undertake this formidable task. After several years of work, several of the more important Loci were published, but only in microfiche documents stored at the two LCMS seminary libraries.
Many church professionals and theological students continued to request that the translation be published for wider distribution, believing that the English-speaking Lutheran Church should have access to the most comprehensive presentation of Lutheran doctrine available. In the mid-1990s, the Rev. Dr. A. L. Barry, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and the vice presidents of the Synod formally requested that Concordia Publishing House publish the Theological Commonplaces. At this point, the Rev. Kenneth Wagener, Concordia Publishing House senior editor for academic and professional books, prepared a sample of the translation and circulated it to all members of LCMS seminary and university theology departments, inviting their observations and suggestions. In 2002, the Board of Directors of Concordia Publishing House acquired the English translation of Gerhard’s Loci Theologici from Rev. Dr. Dinda and work in earnest commenced on this project.
We acknowledge with thanks and appreciation Brandy Overton, who did much of the preliminary work of formatting and preparing the Dinda translation for publication. Läna Schurb has devoted tremendous effort to proofreading and copyediting. Dawn Weinstock has served the project well as its chief production editor. Most especially, we thank the Rev. Benjamin Mayes for his careful, scholarly, editorial work on this translation, through which this masterpiece of Lutheran theology, and a massive work of translation, is being offered to English-speaking readers in clear, lucid English, with a wealth of supporting documentation and bibliographic information.
The Rev. Paul T. McCain
Publisher and Executive Director, Editorial
Concordia Publishing House
Epiphanytide 2009