Coming soon to a certain publishing house, near you, Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions—The Digital Edition. We are not taking orders yet for it. We anticipate that we will have it in stock and ready for purchase in early April.

Last week I spent several hours giving the electronic edition of Concordia a shake-down cruise and— wow—is it nice! The folks at Logos have done a terrific job. Every single cross reference in the book, either to the Confessions or Scripture, is hyperlinked, the search functionality is awesome, and of course, if you add this to whatever existing Libronix system library you have installed on your computer, you can keyword link to your heart’s delight.

Another great feature is that when you search on a word or phrase, or any sort of search at all, by displaying the search results in concordance mode you can easily distinguish between the text proper of the Confessions and the notes, introductions, annotations, etc. throughout the book.

On what computers will it work? All PC systems and any Mac that has an Intel processor with a Windows operating system running. On my Macs, I use Parallels and Windows XP. If you can’t dedicate at least two gigs of memory to VISTA, I strongly discourage using VISTA on a Mac. On the other hand, Windows XP with one gig allocated to it really flies
and the Logos system performs very quickly. In fact, I was talking to
Logos on the phone and we were working on some things together and the
tech on the other end of the phone line was amazed at how fast my
MacBook Pro was booting into Windows and running. She said, "Yea, we’ve
noticed here that all the Macs run Windows a lot faster than the PCs we
have." Smile.

One more comment, apparently there are some people who think that the LOGOS software costs hundreds of dollars. No, in fact every LOGOS enabled product comes as a stand-alone item, which will install the software on your computer you need to search and use the book you’ve bought. So, in this case, you would pay around $29.99 for the electronic edition of Concordia and the LOGOS system is installed on your computer for you to use the Concordia edition.

Here are a few screen of the electronic edition to whet your appetite. Click on the image for a sharper image.

Read more…

I don’t much go for "tagging" people, but…well, every once in a while, there is a tag that seems interesting and fun. The reason I don’t do this much is because you always are supposed to invite a select few others. I’m ignoring that and inviting everyone to have some fun and join along.

Pastor Weedon tagged me to do this one. I just noticed it.

Here is the challenge:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!)

Find Page 123.

Find the first 5 sentences.

Post the next 3 sentences.

Tag 5 people.

He will be deeply suspicious that I’m cheating, but …. here is a photo to prove it.

If you look at the first book on the right of the books on the credenza, it jus so happens to be the Book of Concord.  Next to it is my Bible, then Wather’s "God Grant It" and then the Catechism, the Pastoral Care Companion, Visitation, and the Lutheran Service Book. Those are the books closest to me here in the office.

So…here’s what I found.

"Through Him we have also obtained access to God" (Romans 5:2, not by works without Christ as Mediator. Therefore, when it is said in Matthew 19:17, "If you would enter life, kep the commandments," we must believe that without Christ the commandments are not kept and cannot please. So in the Decalogue itself, in the First Commandment, the most liberal promise of the Law is added, "But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6)."

Article V(III): Love and the Fulfilling of the Law
Apology to the Augsburg Confession
Concordia, p. 123

Tag:
Everyone and anyone who reads this and wants to participate by way of a comment.

The introductory price of Lutheran Service Book is going to end in May. The price of the hymnal will be going to $23 from $18.50. If you recall, Concordia Publishing House extended the special introductory price longer than originally planned; so, if you or your congregation want to purchase the new hymnal at $18.50, make your plans now to do so before the price increases on May 12, 2008. To place your order call 800-325-3040 or place your order through our web site.

Here is the information just sent out by CPH:

Order Lutheran Service Book now to receive the lowest price!

The introductory prices for Lutheran Service Book and its
companion editions are effective until May 12, 2008! On this date the
pew edition will increase to $23.00 (now $18.50), and there will be a
modest price increase on many of the companion editions.

Concordia Publishing House is pleased to announce that there will be no increase on the annual renewals for
Lutheran Service Builder and the accompanying liturgy license. However, when
Lutheran Service Builder 2.0 is released in November 2008,
there will be a 15% increase on the initial purchase price. Existing
subscribers will receive version 2.0 and all of its enhancements as
part of their ongoing service. Only new customers will need to pay the
increased rate.

Lutheran Service Book and Lutheran Service Builder
continue to serve The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in its worship
life! Nearly 70% of our congregations have adopted these resources.

Visit lsb.cph.org to view all the latest resources, including
Lutheran Service Book: Propers of the Day.

I have good news! The second volume of Johann Gerhard’s Loci Theologici, which for the first time is being published in English translation, is now available. You may view an excerpt from the volume, and read more about it
on the CPH web site. Simply put there is no theological resource that lays out Lutheran doctrine this extensively in English. I’m pleased and proud to report that Concordia Publishing House has become the single best source for the works of Johann Gerhard. We carry nearly every English translation of his works available and with the publication of the Loci we are the best "one stop shop" on the Internet for the works of Gerhard. The same holds true for English translation of the works of Martin Chemnitz. Here is the information on the book from the CPH web site.

The Theological Commonplaces series presents the first-ever
English translation of the 16-volume Loci Theologici of Johann Gerhard.
Gerhard addresses the Christian faith doctrine by doctrine in an
accessible style. Gerhard interacts with the writings of the Church
fathers, Luther and his contemporaries, and the Catholic, Reformed, and
Unitarian theologians of his day. This series remains a classic of
Lutheran theology and offers contemporary church workers and
researchers a wealth of material on the distinctives of Lutheran
doctrine.

On the Nature of God and on the Trinity, translated by
Richard J. Dinda, addresses God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as
Gerhard explores the divine names, the natural knowledge of God, the
divine essence, and the mystery of the Trinity. As Gerhard makes the
argument for the Trinity, he turns repeatedly to Holy Scripture and
interacts with the writings of the ancient Church fathers as they
sought to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity. He specifically
addresses the arguments of the Socinians (Unitarians) concerning the
Trinity.

On the Nature of God and on the Trinity is the second volume in the Theological Commonplaces series.

Who is Johann Gehard? I’m glad you asked.  Read the extended entry for a very well done mini-biography.

Read more…

I recently acquired a Kindle, from Amazon. Here is a pretty good summary article from Wikipedia. I’ve been having a lot of fun learning how to use it and loading books into it. I’m unsure yet what precisely it means, but I can not help shake the feeling that this portends the future of how we will receive, and use, digital information going forward into the future. Will books ever go away? No. After over 500 years, they are going as strongly as ever. They are the ultimate portable document device. Let’s think of the advantages of books:

Supremely portable
Simple user interface
Ease of use
Can be used anywhere there is light
Require no power source
Never need recharging
Offer a satisfying tactile look and feel
Instantly on
Never need an upgrade
No risk of breakdown (unless mistreated)

What about a Kindle? It allows me to have with me, wherever I want to take it, a large collection of reading material. With a secure digital card I can carry around over eight gigabytes of intellectual property: music, photos, books, magazines, newspapers, blog sites, and the Kindle has its own functional browser, and offers you the ability to access Wikipedia at any time. Talk about your ultimate walking encyclopedia!

Ironically, one of the first books I downloaded, which I read about on the Kindle, was Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, the premise of which is that a bunch of eggheads are determined to preserve their civilization’s knowledge in the Galactic Encyclopedia.

The sensation of reading on the Kindle is very pleasing. There is no screen glare. It is truly like reading a paperback book. The massive infrastructure that Amazon has developed to support the Kindle is the most amazing feature of the Kindle. You can put any document you want on it. Just as long as you have it in one of several common formats, you can send it to Amazon, they convert it into Kindle’s format and they will either e-mail it to you for you to download on to the Kindle yourself, or for ten cents, you receive it over the Kindle’s wireless Internet connection; which, by the way, works much better than my WiFi at home from ATT and my Sprint cell phone; just now, for example, I uploaded a 6.6 megabyte collection of a German theologians letters to pastors (all of them), and within ten minutes it was sent back down to my Kindle and I can enjoy them there.

There is much to think about here and I’m enjoying both the thinking and Kindle reading! Does any reader of this blog have a Kindle? What do you think?

I’m pleased to announce the publication of Women Pastors? The Ordination of Women in Biblical Lutheran Perspective. It is a four hundred page book, paperback, 6×9. Price: $26.99. You may place an order on the Concordia Publishing House web site or call 800-325-3040.

As the ordination of women becomes more commonplace, it is increasingly important for all faithful Lutherans, clergy and laity alike, to be able to articulate why, because of the teachings of Holy Scripture, women should not be ordained as pastors. This book offers a rich variety of essays on this topic from Lutherans around the world as they have, in the past century up to the present time, responded to the practice of placing women in the church’s pastoral ministry.

There are over twenty essays in this volume, representing Lutheran churches throughout the world. The essays are divided into four sections, including: Biblical studies, historical studies, doctrinal studies and practical studies.

Anders Nygren, a great theologian from the Church of Sweden, said prophetically after his church adopted the ordination of women as pastors, "This decision not only means a determination of the specific issue concerning female pastor, but, I am convinced, also means that our church has now shifted into a previously unknown path heading in the direction of Gnosticism and the Schwaermerei. . . I must declare my deep sorry regarding the decision and give notice of my reservation over the same."

"Years ago, C.S. Lewis said that should the Church opt to ordain women, it would very quickly find that it had brought about a whole new religion. . . . His words have an uncanny prescience to them. Perhaps it is time to step back, reexamine what we have done, and if honesty requires us to say that we have done wrong, begin the necessary correction of the course."  from the essay in the book, How My Mind Has Changed, by Rev. Louis A. Smith, ELCA pastor

Editors:

Matthew C. Harrison is the Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care Ministries.

John T. Pless is Assistant Professor, Pastoral Ministry and Missions, and Director of Field Education, Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

What Others Are Saying
"It is striking that in the ancient Near East, where female deities and priestesses were abundant, Israel was told to have only male priests. Similarly, in the Greco-Roman world, where female gods and priestesses flourished, the Church restricted the apostolic-pastoral office to men. This volume is to be commended for similarly resisting the prevailing cultural novelties by supporting in a scholarly and churchly manner the God-given order for the Church’s ministry. Women as well as men are blessed when they hear and follow the living, healing voice of Jesus in the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures."
— Rev. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe,
President, Concordia Theological Seminary,
Fort Wayne, Indiana

"The apostolic ordained ministry of Word and Sacrament cannot be made androgynous or gender-neutral against the plain text of God’s Word. Against the tides of postmodernism and the fallicies of ancient paganism, we as biblical Christians maintain that above all varying and changing human truths, there is God’s divine and eternal truth revealed to us in His Word. Departing from His Word, the Bible, means separating from the living God. The essays in this book are from able hands of ministers who still want the Church to continue praying, "Thy will be done," not, "my will be done" nor the "will of my time." This book reveals the truth from the God who was, who is, and who is to come. It will help many who doubt the truth of Holy Scripture and will build and nurture those who confess God to be faithful and living according to His Word."

— Most Rev. Dr. Walter Obare Omwanza,
Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya

"Being liberated from colonization in the last century and already facing the globalization of culture at the beginning of this new millennium, the African Lutheran Churches confront the issue of women’s ordination with pressure form within and without. This book comes at the right time as spiritual illumination, strengthening hands and providing leadership and a path for them and for those [churches] in the same situation in their war over against a modern neopagan understanding of the office of pastor."
— Dr. Randrianasolo Joseph
Professor of Theology, Malagasy Lutheran Church
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

Contributors
Louis A. Brighton
Peter Brunner
David W. Bryce
Bertil Gärtner
Bo Giertz
Charles A. Gieschen
Henry P. Hamann
John W. Kleinig
Peter Kriewaldt
Gregory Lockwood
Geelong North
Hermann Sasse
David P. Scaer
Robert Schaibley
Fredrik Sidenvall
Reinhard Slenczka
Louis A. Smith
William Weinrich
Roland Ziegler

I did an interview yesterday with the world’s best Lutheran talk radio show, Issues, etc., on the subject of children’s books. If you would care to listen, here is the MP3 file of the interview.

Download mccain_interview.mp3

Yes, you read that title correctly. Today, USA Today has posted an article about Christian children’s books and much to my delight the reporter really "got it." The thrust of the article is how many Christian parents are now looking for books that do not treat the Bible as a collection of "rules" or Aesop Fables or Mother Goose stories. And if you read the article you’ll notice a certain blogger whom you might know was interviewed for the story. He did not quite say things precisely as reported. He did not say a certain Lutheran publishing company was not interested in being innovative; rather, he said we are not interested in trying to make the Bible teach or say what it does not teach or say. But, well, overall I was very impressed by the piece and by the good job the reporter did. She told me (ok, yes, I was interviewed) that she loved the CPH Arch Book, "The Fall Into Sin." Why? "Because you guys really just tell it like it is!" She went on to say, "And I notice that no matter what Bible story you are telling you always end up coming back to talk about Jesus!" Yes!! I quoted to her what the Gospel of John says, which we understand to apply to the Bible, "These things are written, that you may believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

I’m pleased to report that Dr. Bjarne Teigen’s magisterial work is now available as a free download. Please go to Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology‘s web site to download the book. It is a tremendously helpful book that will deepen your love for, and devotion to, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

The best way to say "thank you" for this gift is to subscribe to Logia, and purchase a subscription for your pastor and your friends. It is truly one of the very best Lutheran journals available, and has been going strong for fifteen years.

My colleague, Rev. Robert Baker, has produced a magnificent book for children and their families to help them sort through the thorny issue that is ever increasing: a purposeful choice to ignore Christmas in our society. It is titled, What Happened to Merry Christmas. Please check out his blog site, and … consider purchasing the book for your parish, children, grandchildren. It is a very interesting site with all kinds of news and information on issues related to Christmas. With a keen focus on the Gospel, the book is an encouraging word to help children recognize that in spite of our culture’s increasing attempt to take Christ out of Christmas, the signs and symbols of Christmas remain all around. Here is a screen shot of Pastor Baker’s blog.

If you would like to help me promote the Book of Concord to John Q. Public, send me an e-mail message:

boc1580@aol.com

I’ll let you know how.

Thanks!

The book, Misquoting Jesus, is, according to the September 11, 2006 issue of Publisher’s Weekly, still in the top ten best selling hardback religion books. The publisher reports to PW that most of the messages are from "readers who once were fundamentalists and/or evangelicals, who have come to question their faith and now see the Bible as a very human book, who are fascinated by the circumstance that we don’t have the original Bible, but only copies made centuries later, by very human scribes who sometimes changed the wording of the text." There are presently 240,000 copies of Ehrman’s book in print.

Consider therefore this tragic irony. Harper-Collins owns Zondervan Publishing, which in turn is the publisher of the New International Version translation, a translation that remains the dominant translation of choice among many Evangelicals. Harper-Collins also publishes a book that "helps" former Evangelicals learn that the Bible is a hopeless mish-mash.

Do you have a personal literary advisor? I am perhaps one of the fortunate few to have one. And I have a very good one. A Lutheran one. His name is Gene Edward Veith. Dr. Veith has published about as many books as I have actually read, carefully. I can’t help but giggle a bit when I hear about "published" authors in Lutheran circles. I just think of Dr. Veith and chuckle a bit. The man has published a lot of books, about a lot of things, from country music, to postmodernism, to American landscape painters. Therefore, when Dr. Veith recommends books, I listen. He recently sent me an e-mail that put it this way: "Stop whatever you are doing and order Lars Walkers’ books." So, I did. I’m eighty pages into Mr. Walker’s "Wolf Time." I am absolutely fascinated and mesmerized. And I’m not a "fantasy" fan. But, this book is amazing. It is at the same time a mystery, a fable, a morality play, and it is very much authentically Christian…and….Lutheran! It manages to advocate for the historic Christian faith while not coming across as "preachy" and contrived. So, if you want some great summer reading, check out Mr. Lars Walker. He has three books published: Wolf Time, The Year of the Warrior, and Blood and Judgement. I could hardly put it down to take the time to post this. I have to get back to the book to find out what happens next.

Handwritten Bible scripted in Wales returns to ancient tradition
By Martin Revis   

London, 21 April (ENI)–One of the foremost Western calligraphers
is producing a complete handwritten, illuminated Bible for the
first time since the invention of the printing press in Europe in
the 15th century from his studio in Wales. 

Donald Jackson, scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown
Office at the House of Lords, is five years through the
seven-year US$3.4 million project commissioned by the Benedictine
Saint John’s Abbey and the Saint John’s University in the US
state of Minnesota. 

From his scriptorium in Wales, Jackson oversees scribes, artists,
and craftsmen who work with him on the handwriting and
illumination of the seven-volume, 1150-page Bible. 

"I usually start by taking a large brush and putting it in ink
and begin," he explained. "From these marks will grow a feeling
for the mood of the piece and the elemental theme. From this I
weave in the detail." 

He receives instructions on the passages chosen for illustration
by goose quill on vellum, from a committee of scholars,
historians, and artists. Inks derived from hand-ground silver,
copper gold and other precious minerals are employed. 

For the first time since the start of the project, pages from the
St John’s Bible went on display outside the United States, at
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition runs until 1
May and features selections from "Prophets", the fourth volume of
the Bible. 

The completed work, bound in Welsh oak, will be housed in
Collegeville, Minnesota at the Museum and Manuscript Library of
Saint John’s University. When open, it will measure two feet in
height  (60 centimetres) and three feet (90 centimetres) in
width.   

The hand-drawn illuminations depict scripture from an ancient and
modern perspective, including concepts of science, space and
technology.   

"Illuminated manuscripts have always marked the time and place in
which they were created, and The Saint John’s Bible will reflect
our world at the beginning of the twenty-first century for future
generations," said Brother Dietrich Reinhart, president of Saint
John’s University. [342 words] 

All articles (c) Ecumenical News International 
Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and 
provided ENI is acknowledged as the source. 

Ecumenical News International 
Daily News Service 
21 April 2006 

Ecumenical News International 
PO Box 2100 
CH – 1211 Geneva 2 
Switzerland 

Tel: (41-22) 791 6088/6111 
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Email: eni@eni.ch