Comparison Of Editions Of Gerhard’S Loci
THE VALUE OF GERHARD’S THEOLOGICAL COMMONPLACES
C. F. W. Walther, a nineteenth-century scholar of Lutheran Orthodoxy, had high praise for Gerhard’s Theological Commonplaces.
Among the works that deal with this discipline in detail, one can ask which one is first and foremost just as little as one can ask which star outshines all the others. Just as in the latter question one can only speak of the sun, so in the former question one can only speak of Johann Gerhard’s Theological Commonplaces. … The proofs from Scripture are everywhere clear and exhaustive. The refutation of opponents is pervaded and pulses just as much with the spirit of love toward them as with the love of the truth; it seeks out the opponents in all their hiding places and always robs them of their last supports, so that no further contradiction seems possible. The application of the whole as well as of the particular is simple, illuminating, clearly arranged. Free from destructive fragmentation—at times an error of the later dogmaticians—the entire development of the doctrine flows along briskly with its linguistic, historical, and antithetical excursus like one great stream that describes pleasant bends in the river. Everything is all of a piece. Ethics here are not yet separated from dogmatics; the former appear here like grapes growing from a ripe vine. Biblical isagogics, hermeneutics, exegesis, history of dogmas, patristics, and polemics are added here not like a merely worthwhile appendage, but are organically woven into the whole like necessary beams, like adornments in this architectural marvel. The expression and style are so certain and thereby so simple and brisk; the development of topics, even with its exhaustive precision, goes forward without burdensome repetition so swiftly; even the most dry and subtle subjects are discussed with such exceptional freshness and facility; everything is handled with such holy seriousness; and the words are soaked with such devout meaning that the reader, being taken away by the speech of this precious man, does not know whether he has before him a work for the promotion of Christian erudition or a devotional book. One does not tire of it as long as he reads it and notes how light and warmth go forth from this speech of noble simplicity and true depth of spirit. In sum, in our opinion this work of dogmatics is, in content and form, the most glorious, most complete work in this field that has ever been achieved within Christendom, and until the Last Day it will probably remain the model for all who labor in this field.15
At Walther’s time, only those pastors and scholars who learned Latin were able to prove the truth of his words. God be praised that now a new generation of English-speaking readers can read Gerhard’s great work for themselves. Soli Deo Gloria.
Benjamin T. G. Mayes
Endnotes
1 Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz, “Gerhard, Johann,” in Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/g/gerhard_j.shtml. Accessed 3/31/2008.
2 Erdmann Rudolph Fischer, The Life of John Gerhard, trans. by Richard J. Dinda and Elmer Hohle (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2001), 3.1, pp. 26-27.
3 Fischer, Life, 3.4, pp. 29-32.
4 Fischer, Life, 3.11, p. 46; 4.1-3, pp. 51-54; 4.6, p. 58.
5 Johann Gerhard, Ordnung Wie es in deß Durchleuchtigen Hochgebornen Fürsten und Herrn Johann Casimiri Herzogen zu Sachsen, Gülich, Cleve und Berg, Landgraven in Thüringen, Marggraven zu Meissen, Graven zu der Marck und Ravenßburgk, herrn zu Ravenstein etc. Fürstenthumb und Landen, Orts Francken und Thüringen, in den Kirchen, mit Lehr, Ceremonien, Visitationen und was solchen mehr anhängig, Dann im Fürstlichen Consistorio, mit denen verbotenen gradibus in Ehesachen und sonsten, auch im Fürstlichen Gymnasio, so wol Land: und Paricular Schulen, gehalten werden solle (Coburg: Forckel, 1626). Although written in 1615, this church order was not published until 1626. Fischer, Life, 5.3, pp. 72-73.
6 Fischer, Life, 5.4, p. 79.
7 Johann Gerhard, On the Nature of Theology and Scripture, trans. by Richard J. Dinda, vol. 1 of Theological Commonplaces (St. Louis: Concordia, 2006), 9.
8 Johann Gerhard, Confessionis Catholicae, in qua Doctrina Catholica Et Evangelica, Quam Ecclesiae Augustanae Confessioni addictae profitentur, ex Romano-Catholicorum Scriptorum suffragiis confirmatur (Jena: Steinmann, 1634).
9 Johann Gerhard, Quinquaginta Meditationes Sacrae Ad Veram pietatem excitandam & interioris hominis profectum promovendum accommodatae (Jena: Lippoldt, 1606); Sacred Meditations, trans. C. W. Heisler (Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 1998).
10 Johann Gerhard, Exercitium Pietatis Quotidianum Quadripartitum (Coburg: Hauck, 1612); Meditations on Divine Mercy, trans. M. C. Harrison (St. Louis: Concordia, 2003).
11 Johann Gerhard, Harmoniae Evangelicae, A praestantissimo Theologo D. Martino Chemnitio Primum Inchoatae, & per D. Polycarpum Lyserum Continuatae, Libri Quinque (Frankfurt a. M.: Porß, 1622).
12 Biblia, Das ist: Die gantze H. Schrifft, Altes und Newes Testaments Teutsch/D. Martin Luthers: Auff gnädige Verordnung deß Durchleuchtigen/Hochgebornen Fürsten und Herrn/Herrn Ernsts/Hertzogen zu Sachsen/Jülich/Cleve und Berg/etc. Von etlichen reinen Theologen, dem eigentlichen Wort-Verstand nach erkläret (Nürnberg: Endter, 1641).
13 C. F. W. Walther, “Lutherisch-theologische Pfarrers-Bibliothek,” Lehre und Wehre 1 (1855), 342. The reader will find an explanation of the main Scholastic terms used in this volume in the glossary (pp. 489-91).
14 Gerhard’s library included eighteen different versions of the Bible in Latin. See Johann Anselm Steiger, et al., eds., Bibliotheca Gerhardina: Rekonstruktion der Gelehrten-und Leihbibliothek Johann Gerhards (1582-1637) und seines Sohnes Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668) (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2002), 1:41-42. Gerhard refers to many of these versions in the course of this volume.
15 C. F. W. Walther, “Lutherisch-theologische Pfarrers-Bibliothek,” Lehre und Wehre 1 (1855): 300-301.