05-4 Theology of the..

REVIEWS 55
dent revolution in Hamburg, Thielicke again showed his unbending
courage by opposing their radicalism and supporting his beleaguered
colleagues. The radical students countered with a demonstration
during a service in St. Michael Church in 1968. Aware of
what was coming, Thielicke and the church council made careful
preparations, and successfully foiled the demonstrators. When they
tried to disrupt the service and shouted blasphemies and obscenities,
the faithful congregation joined in singing chorales and the
protesters were drowned out by the sounds of the powerful organ.
An important battle had been won. This was a tribute to the
courage of Thielicke and those who backed him in the standoff.
Thielicke takes a very partisan position regarding the theological
controversies in the Missouri Synod. He calls J. A. O. Preus a
“super-Lutheran fanatic,” and tells that seminary professors were
driven from their positions. He refers by name to his former pupil
Edward Schroeder, saying that “on the basis of the education he
had received in Germany, Schroeder denied the doctrine of the
verbal or literal inspiration of Holy Scripture,” and was therefore
deposed from his chair at Concordia Seminary. He continues:
“After his dismissal, Schroeder opened his own seminary, the
‘Seminex’ (seminary in exile).” Others, however, “fell victim to this
‘super-Lutheran’ fanatic”[Preus] (366). In the accounts of other
writers, not Schroeder but Tietjen was the leader of Seminex.
Thielicke was a great man who moved easily among other great
men and experienced astonishing success in his profession. He
drops the names of many prominent people with whom he was
invited to visit, including Konrad Adenauer, Theodor Heuss, and
Jimmy Carter. These visits in turn opened the door to other important
scholars and world leaders. He includes important comments
on people such as Rudolf Herrmann, Julius Schniewind, Rudolf
Bultmann, Karl Jaspers, Theophil Wurm, Karl Heim, Ernst Fuchs,
Adolf Koeberle, Carl Goerdeler, Paul Tillich, and John W. Doberstein.
Because of the hundreds of significant names that Thielicke
mentions, the book should have been given an index of persons. In
this age of the computer, such an index could easily have been provided
and should still be added in future editions.
Although I have not seen the original German text, the translation
by David R. Law is fluent and appears to be well done.
There are some inaccuracies, however, that trouble the reader or
even make it hard to follow: although all state churches in Germany
were abolished in 1918, Landeskirche is translated as “state
church.” From the translator’s statement that Thielicke preached
in the “cathedral” of Stuttgart, it is impossible to tell which of the
big churches was the actual location; Stuttgart did not have an
historic cathedral, and Law seems to consider any big church to
be a cathedral. Was it the Stiftskirche Leonhardskirche
Spitalkirche Law also translates Pfarrer or Pastor as “priest,” a
usage unknown in Lutheran Germany (148), and the reader is
not always certain what actual position was involved. At the end,
he appends a list of Thielicke’s publications in English; since
Americans who read German would not want to buy this book
in both languages, it would be helpful if a German bibliography
were added, including at least the major books with their original
titles and dates of publication.
Lowell C. Green
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
BRIEFLY NOTED
Luther’s Family Devotions. Edited by George Link and Translated
by Joel Baseley. Dearborn, Michigan: Mark V Publications, 1996.
Hardcover. 688 pages.
■ Originally published in German in 1877 by George Link in St.
Louis, this devotional treasure has been rescued for a new generation
of Lutherans by Pastor Joel Baseley of Emmanuel Lutheran
Church in Dearborn, Michigan. Luther’s Family Devotions is structured
according to the historical Christian year. The daily readings
are drawn from the corpus of Luther’s works and are coordinated
with a scriptural text and hymn verse. In comparison with the wellknown
Day by Day We Magnify Thee, the readings in Luther’s Family
Devotions are about two to three times as long. The more Luther
the better! Luther’s Family Devotions also has the advantage of
fresh, clear translations that resonate to American ears. Scriptural
and topical indices enhance the usefulness of this splendid volume.
The American Evangelical theologian Mark Noll comments,
“For whatever reason, in the ineffable wisdom of God, the speech
of Martin Luther rang clear where others merely mumbled.”
Thanks to the efforts of Pastor Baseley, the speech of Martin
Luther is allowed to ring clear in Luther’s Family Devotions. In contrast
to the majority of contemporary devotional collections available
today, Luther’s Family Devotions provides substantial Luther
pericopes that are reflective of the realities of God’s work in Christ
and his delivery of that work in gospel preaching, baptism, absolution,
and the Lord’s Supper. You may order your copy of Luther’s
Family Devotions for $22.00 per copy. (See advertisement on page
70 for details.)
Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith: Essays in Honor of Aidan Kavanagh.
Edited by Nathan Mitchell and John F. Baldovin. Collegeville,
Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1996. Paper. 358 pages.
■ The Benedictine liturgical scholar Aidan Kavanagh has
enjoyed a long and distinguished career that has included posts at
Notre Dame, where he participated in the founding of the Center
for Pastoral Liturgy, and at the Yale Divinity School, where he
taught liturgics for over twenty years. In this festschrift, such wellknown
liturgical scholars as James White, Bryan Spinks, Paul
Bradshaw, Nathan Mitchell, Thomas Talley, Louis Weil, David
Power, and Kevin Seasoltz offer essays on a variety of liturgical
themes, both theological and historical. Lutherans especially will
be interested in Thomas Schattauer’s chapter, “The Reconstruction
of Rite: The Liturgical Legacy of Wilhelm Loehe.”
Living Water, Sealing Spirit: Readings on Christian Initiation.
Edited by Maxwell E. Johnson. Collegeville, Minnesota: The
Liturgical Press, 1995. Paper. 420 pages.
■ This volume contains twenty essays investigating various
aspects of baptism and confirmation. Among the more noteworthy
contributions are Bryan Spinks’s “Vivid Signs of the Gift of