The German edition of Commentary on Luther's Catechisms has long been the gold standard of research on the catechetical texts of the great reformer. This translation makes the wealth of research available in English for both the researcher and the catechist. Separate volumes will address the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacraments, and Confession, with the Table of Duties, Prayers, and the Marriage and Baptismal Booklets.

The first volume is now available: on the Ten Commandments.

Here is a nice sample from the book including the Table of Contents and some of the introductory material: Download Catchismsampler

Here is what Luther scholars are saying about Peters' work:

"One of the most insightful interpreters of Luther and the
theological tradition of the Lutheran Church in the latter half of the
twentieth century, Peters places Luther's texts before readers in the
context of the reformer's own time and of the catechetical tradition
that he inherited, put to use, and transformed. Accessible to a broad
audience, this volume will significantly enrich the teaching of all who
use it to deepen their understanding of two of the most precious gems
from Luther's pen: the Small and Large Catechism."

Robert Kolb
Missions Professor of
Systematic Theology and Director of the Institute for Mission Studies
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Missouri

"This definitive and comprehensive study of Luther's catechetical
writings places Luther's Catechisms in the full context of his broader
theology and writings, as well as within the history of Christian
catechesis and theology. It is an essential handbook for students of
Luther and the Reformation and a valuable resource for those entrusted
today with the ministry of catechesis according to these most durable
products of Luther's pastoral heart and pen."

Christopher Boyd Brown
Assistant professor of Church History Boston University

Since the time they were written, Luther's Catechisms have played an essential role in teaching the Holy Scriptures and offering to all those using them a wonderful summary of the "essentials" of Christianity. To this day, the Small Catechism remains the most widely used resource for teaching the Christian faith, both to young people and adults. The stories I continue to hear from pastors and laypeople, from Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike continue to affirm what the Book of Concord said about Luther's Catechisms nearly 450 years ago:

I found this today on Pastor Asburry's blog site. I don't think I've ever done one of these, but I can't resist this one. And, if you are reading this right now, YOU are tagged. Bibliophiles unite! Enjoy.

Book Confessions Meme

1. To mark your page you: use a bookmark, bend the page corner, leave the book open face down?
Depends on the book. I'll bend a page corner on fiction. Non-fiction? Bookmark only! Usually a business card. God created business cards to be the perfect bookmark.

2. Do you lend your books?
Yes, but I'm always very nervous about it.

3. You find an interesting passage: you write in your book or NO WRITING IN BOOKS!
I write all over books, using every method: highlighting, underlining, marginal notes, running notes on end pages, or inside cover four.

4. Dust jackets – leave it on or take it off.
I very, very stupidly used to throw away dust jackets. Then after seeing what happens to a book left in any degree of sunlight for several years, I now never throw away a dustjacket.

5. Hard cover, paperback, skip it and get the audio book?
Hard cover, always, of course, unless only paperback is available. I have also slowly upgraded all my paper cover theological books to hardback, whenever possible.

6. Do you shelve your books by subject, author, or size and color of the book spines?
Subjects/topics, until I run out of shelf space and then they go wherever there is room. My theological library is far more organized than my library at home.

7. Buy it or borrow it from the library later?
Buy. Buy. Buy. Amazon's one-click buying option has been a great source of conversation between my wife and me.

8. Do you put your name on your books – scribble your name in the cover, fancy bookplate, or stamp?
I have a book stamp I like to use, when I remember to use it, one of those "embosser" type things. I always write my name and the date I acquired the book, and the price, on the first page or so of the book.

9. Most of the books you own are rare and out of print books or recent publications?
Many have gone out of print!

10. Page edges – deckled or straight?
Deckled irritates me. Somebody was too lazy to trim the page edge!

11. How many books do you read at one time?
With the "Kindle" the number of books being read "at the same time" has soared to absurd proportions. I probably have ten going at once at any given time.

12. Be honest, ever tear a page from a book?
What? Never. Ever. Not even my cheapo paperbacks.

As
a service to the Church, CPH is now offering a free downloadable study
on embryonic stem cell research issues. This has become, again, a very
hot topic in light of President Obama’s reversal of the previous
administration’s ban on using our tax dollars to help fund embryonic
stem cell research.

Fasting is an ancient Christian discipline that has always been used as part and parcel of a life of prayer and meditation on God's Word. Where it went wrong, and goes wrong, is when fasts are proscribed, commanded, ordered by the Church, where the Church makes "regulations" and, even worse, when fasting is said to provide some kind of grace and merit for the folks fasting. So, that's the "bad news" about fasting.

Lutherans have done a very fine job pointing out the dangers, errors and problems with community fasting, and any view of fasting that would imply that we merit some special favor or grace from God by fasting. And such dangers abound, every bit as much as anyone who prays, thinking that by praying, they are winning points with God, or if somebody thinks that if they follow a daily pattern of prayer they are somehow "more spiritual" or "better" or that they somehow are making themselves more pleasing to God.

Yes, Lutherans have done, and do, a very job of warning against all the ways we can take a wrong turn in our lives of personal prayer and devotion to our Lord.

Have Lutherans however forgotten that fasting, in itself, is not harmful, wrong, bad or otherwise? Have we forgotten that there is a long history of fasting being used amongst Lutherans? I think we may have.

Our Lord Christ assumes His disciples fast. He says to us, "When you pray…." and "When you fast…." not: "If you pray…." or "If you fast…." So, then why do Christians fast? What is the value of fasting?

The Augsburg Confession puts matters nicely, in very proper and good balance, in Article 26 where we read:

Here again we recognize that Lutheranism is wonderfully free from legalistic throwing out of the baby with the bathwater and it heartily embraces all that is good in the Church's history and probably frustrates the living daylights out of both Protestants and Roman/Eastern Christians as well. Why? We praise and extol the virtues of the good aspects of the life of prayer and fasting, we condemn any attempt to make laws, regulations and rules about it.

It is however true that when it comes to fasting a certain "Romaphobia" has taken hold and we are often more quick to speak negatively about fasting and slow to speak of its value and benefits.

For instance, a Baptist blogger I'm aware of set out recently to find fault with fasting and got himself quite exercised over it, to the point he tried to assert that fasting is an Old Testament thing. Huh? Wrong. He corrected himself finally, but it was sad to see that he was quick to reject and condemn fasting's errors, finally only paying faint lip service to it, but then went on to praise a book on spiritual discipline. What spiritual discipline? Journalling. Go figure.

My point, made recently to a good friend with whom I've been having a vigorous conversation about this, is that even as we must continue very clearly to reject and condemn anything that would give the impression fasting is a "requirement" for a "good Christian" and even as we make clear that the Church has no ability from her Lord to make commands about fasting, we should also take time to make clear that fasting is a good practice and one that is to be urged and encouraged as part of our prayer life.

How have Lutherans fasted historically and today? Many Lutherans have adopted a long-honored practice of consuming no food or drink until they partake of the Lord's Supper, on Sunday. They let the pang of hunger remind them of the deprivations of their Lord and when their stomach reminds them they are hungry, they call to mind our Lord's words, "Man does not live by bread alone, but from every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." They look forward in anticipation of breaking their fast on Sunday morning with their Lord's body and blood given them under the bread and wine. They appreciate the chance to think on our Lord's words about the fact that He is the bread of life.

During Lent it has been the common practice among Lutherans to fast in some way, or another. Perhaps they choose to reduce their food intake and go with smaller meals, perhaps they choose not to eat certain foods on certain days. It is all a matter of personal freedom or choice, not by way of Law.

What is the value of fasting as part our lives of prayer and devotion? Again, when we deprive our bodies of as much food as they are used to [and for most of us chubby/happy Americans that is *way* more food than we need], the pang of hunger sharpens the mind and we can use that experience to think and meditate on God's Word and Christ's sacrifice for us.

It's not "rocket science" but it is beneficial, in this sense. So, even as we rightly reject, condemn and warn about the errors associated with wrong views and uses of fasting, let's also remember that we Lutherans do understand the value of fasting as part of our lives of prayer and meditation on God's Word.

I suspect, and of course I may be dead wrong, that folks who express the greatest discomfort about fasting among us, are those who have never really experienced fasting in a way that is praised and extolled in our Lutheran Confessions. Or perhaps they have been "burned" by false views and teachings about fasting and relect those negative experiences. Perhaps, for them, fasting is not appropriate, since it may only raise doubt, and whatever proceeds from doubt, is sin. So, for them, fasting may not be appropriate.

But, let's not be shy about what we do believe, teach and confess about fasting and other spiritual exercises and disciplines:

"We do not condemn fasting in itself" and "Every Christian ought to train and
subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and
labors."

Why?

Many thanks for your enthusiastic
support for The Lutheran Study Bible. It is encouraging to hear from so
many folks who are fired-up over this forthcoming Bible. Here is an update of where we are on the Bible and its promotion. Please spread the word to your friends.

Bible production is humming along. Some finishing touches, final checks, adding all cross-reference page numbers, final proofing, etc. and we will be sending it off to the printer in a few months for printing. All is on schedule and on track for an October 31 release date. What a wonderful way to celebrate Reformation Day this year!

I
finished reviewing the "sampler" coming out in a couple months at work
last week. Many of you have asked if we are going to have something
that can be downloaded and shared. The answer is "yes, indeed."

The
sampler contains the story and background of The Lutheran Study Bible,
a great comparison chart, that we've tweaked some more to make it look
great in black/white, then a nice selection of samples from Genesis,
from the Psalms, from John and from Romans.

So, folks will see
the creation account, Psalm 23 and a few others, the beginning of John,
up to and including John 3:16, and pages from the intro to Romans, and
the first chapter of Romans, etc.

We will be sending the
sampler out in a kit to all Lutheran congregations in North America,
and will have copies available at LCMS District Conventions in June. We
are also formatting it for the purpose of folks downloading it and
printing it out, in black/white. That PDF file will go up as soon as we
finish work on the sampler. I'll let you know when it is available.

Then
we have all the contributors in the back, more information about where
to order the Bible, and news about a companion every book and chapter
Bible study we are releasing to go along with the Bible.

We are
also working on a series of short videos on "getting to know" and "how
to use" your new Lutheran Study Bible, which are going to be great.
More podcasts are coming, interviews with editors and contributors,
etc. etc. etc.

So, stay tuned and would you do me a favor? Would
you continue to share all this news with your friends on Facebook and
elsewhere on the Internet? Be sure to put up a TLSB widget on your
blog/Facebook page/home page.

Grab one over at the new CPH widget page. And, if you are not already on the TLSB Facbook page, please consider joining it. You can do that at the widget page. 

I've had the new Kindle2 for a couple weeks now and wanted to try it out before saying anything. OK, so, I've tried it out. Here is my short reaction: everything I could not stand [hated] about Kindle 1 has been addressed and fixed in Kindle 2. Kindle 1 was a design disaster. Kindle 2 gets it right. Kindle 2 gets it so right you say to yourself, "What was Amazon thinking when they did Kindle 1?" And for those smugly thinking to themselves, "Glad I waited and did not buy Kindle 1." Yup, you were right!

Here is a picture of Kindle 1:

Here is a picture of Kindle 2:

Kindle 1 buttons were terrible. They were huge, they "clicked" because they were engaged to "click" by pressing the outside edge, down. The Kindle 2 uses much smaller buttons and you can only click them if you mean to, by clicking down on the inside edge. Thanks to Ryan Markel for explaining why it is that I like the new Kindle 2 buttons so much! Has something to do with toggle/pivot direction.

Kindle 1 felt like a cheap piece of junk. Kindle 2 feels like you have yourself a substantial device in your hands. I know this is entirely a perception thing, but …it is a huge satisfying difference.

Kindle 1 was like holding a weird block-like/brick-like thing in your hands, and you could never find a comfortable position to hold it without fear that you would press a button and either advance a page, go back a page, or worse yet, kick yourself out of what you were reading. Kindle 2 is easy to hold and use without fear of pressing a button.

Kindle 1 was thick and bulky. Kindle 2 is sleek and trim.

Kindle 1's keyboard was just plain weirdly spaced out. Kindle 1 designers obviously thought, "Let's make all the buttons on this thing as large as possible." Kindle 2 designers said, "Wow, that was a mistake. Let's make the buttons smaller so readers can use them more easily."

Kindle 1 used a goofy track wheel kind of thing and a weird "silver" progress bar system on the side. So, you had to scroll and click. Kindle 2 completely changed the interface to a little "joystick" which I did not think I'd like at first, but it is a breeze to use and gives you more functionality, more quickly. Big improvement, and no more goofy silvery stuff on the progress bar. No progress bar.

Kindle 1 did not come with a USB cable, but did come with an external charger thing. Kindle 2 comes with a USB cable and charger put together in a nice combination. You pop the electrical plug off and, voila, you have the Kindle-to-computer USB port, pop the electrical plug back on and you can power it up from any wall socket, and there is only cable. The other end of the USB cable is a small connection, so you can't use the more standard USB cables that you use with most other cameras, and digital device.

Kindle 1's design was just plain weird. It was kind of a rectangle from the front but a kind of wedge from the side. It was Picasso-esque in design and feel. The Kindle 2 reminds me of something Apple computer would do, design, present, package, and document. 'nuff said.

Kindle 1 had its on/off and wireless buttons on the back of the device. Which would be fine assuming you didn't use a cover. But since most people want to have something protecting their $400 device, this meant you would invariably manage to detach the cover from the Kindle 1, or literally the back cover of the Kindle 1 would come off. Horrible design flaws. Kindle 2 however has only one on/off button that you simply slide over for a few seconds, and power on. Slide over quickly to wake it up. Slide it over and hold it for four seconds to power down.

Kindle 1's cover. Disaster. Total and complete, disaster. It hooked into a plastic cover on the back and the cover would fall out at the slightest bump. So your cover would never stay on or attached while you were reading it. Kindle 2 has a wonderful locking cover system where you attach the cover (optional) into a locking clip. The cover does not come off, period.

Kindle 1's battery life was not the greatest. Wifi on Kindle 1 was find. Kindle 2 has better battery life, particularly after you a few good full charges, and it's wireless is much better, taking advantage of 3G speeds where available.

Frankly, for me, the jury is still out a bit on whether I enjoy reading more with the Kindle than with traditional books, but I do know this: I'm reading more now then I have previously. Why? Because the Kindle makes it easy to have, literally at your fingertips, hundreds and hundreds of options. For instance, during my trip yesterday I had a two hour flight to where I went, and a two hour flight back. Four hours. Plus waiting time at the airport. A total of around seven hours. All spent reading. I read a manuscript an author-friend of mine sent me for an endorsement, I read from the New Yorker magazine, I read from the Bible, the Book of Concord, Treasure Island, and several other papers and such that I have on the Kindle.

I give the Kindle 2 a 8.5 out of 10 stars. I'm reserving 1.5 stars for future improvement. I find the Kindle reading experience to be extremely comfortable. No eye strain. You are not looking at a back lit screen. It is very much like reading a book, and that's the nicest thing I can say about it.

Oh, one more thing. I'm sorry PC-friends, but the differences between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 can be best summarized by saying this. "Kindle 1 felt like it was designed by Microsoft. Kindle 2? Apple." 'nuff said.

I'm sorry to bore out of their gourds folks who are not Trekkies, but for those of us who are…this is exciting stuff: trailer three is out, so far the best sneak-peek.

Hey, when you get a chance, please feel free to start sharing these widgets, by putting them on your own blog sites, Internet pages, etc. etc. and sharing them with others so they can do the same. Let’s have some fun and see how fast we can see these widgets populate themselves around the Internet. When you do, would you drop me a line, or add a comment here? As always, you can contact me at boc1580@gmail.com
Here are three options for you and you can find another product widget at the new Concordia Publishing House widget page.

A friend of mine posted some remarks recently about the temptation some Lutherans feel to run off and join Eastern Orthodoxy. I won't reveal my friend's name since he may wish to say more, or something other, at some other time, elsewhere. But his remarks, posted below, are extremely wise and helpful. We were talking about the "EO Bug" and I told him I can spot those who have been bitten a mile away by now. I've watched over the years as men are bitten by the "Orthodoxy bug" and the symptoms begin, usually, with an unhealthy fascination with all things Eastern Orthodox, at the expense of neglecting their own Lutheran fathers and confessions. Incessant quotations from Early Church fathers, and usually Eastern fathers, and not uncommonly, the more obscure desert fathers, start filling their blog site posts. The only art you see them using is Eastern Orthodox iconography. You rarely see them quoting with praise and a positive attitude Luther or our Lutheran fathers. Suddenly Lutheranism is treated as merely a little "glitch" in church history. Next thing you know they are quoting, ad naseum, contemporary Orthodox theologians and gushing over the wonders of Eastern Orthodoxy. Then there develops a keen defensiveness when they are questioned about where they are headed. Passive-aggressiveness sets in and they even deny they are being tugged toward Orthodoxy, but they start blaming others and adopting a "I'm being picked on" mentality. At any rate, these symptoms are just that: symptoms of deeper problems to come. Here is how my friend put matters when asked what to do for folks who have been bitten by the "Orthodox bug."

Receive a daily prayer and Psalm reading via Twitter, from The Treasury of Daily Prayer, receive it as a SMS message on your cell phone, etc. @ConcordiaPrayer is a new service that tweets a prayer at 8 am. and a portion of a Psalm at 5 pm. daily from Treasury for Daily Prayer. Please retweet.