A theologian reads old theology books. The most important of all is the Christian Book of Concord. This is a collection of ten different documents gathered up in 1580 and published as the official Lutheran teaching.
It’s the best, and the best place to start when it’s time to crack open the old theologians.
- You can find the entire Book of Concord online here: www.bookofconcord.org. It’s a great website.
- You can also find a number of English editions available for purchase. Perhaps the most accessible is the McCain Edition, available in different formats from Concordia Publishing House here: https://www.cph.org/c-2918-concordia-the-lutheran-confessions.aspx.
Here’s a story:
A few years ago a professor from a Nigerian Lutheran Seminary visited Colorado and stopped in to meet Pastor Jared Melius. “What do you need?” Jared asked.
“Theology books,” was the answer.
“In English?”
“Yes. We teach in English.”
“Do you have the Book of Concord?”
“One copy in the library. We all share.”
That got Pr. Melius and I working on a project to prepare a free, public-domain, print-ready version of the Book of Concord that could be printed anywhere in the world.
It’s done.
You can download the PDF here:
If you want to order a print copy, I made it available through Lulu (for $15.80, see what I did there). You can access that here: Lulu Book of Concord.
Now, it turns out, it’s more expensive to print things locally in Nigeria than it is to print in the US and ship. So were are exploring other options.
But, whoever wants it, and for whoever can use it, here is a print-ready PDF and cover:
Enjoy! Pr. Bryan Wolfmueller
