We continue to receive truly outstanding endorsements for the The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes. Here is the most recent batch of endorsements from a number of Lutheran leaders and professors, from various Lutheran church bodies here in the USA.

This is an extraordinary volume that should be in the library of every serious student of Holy Scripture. Especially helpful are the historical outlines and theological underpinnings of the intertestamental period. Returning from Babylonian exile, the chastened and repentant God’s covenant people struggled to remain faithful. Entering into a post-Christian era, we can learn much from those who have gone before us when the Messianic Hope was a minority faith. Studying this volume in conjunction with the Bible will enrich you for the living of these days.

—Rev. Timothy J. Scharr
President, Southern Illinois District, LCMS

This companion to The Lutheran Study Bible will be a very helpful tool for Lutherans to become reacquainted with the Apocrypha. I say reacquainted because the Apocrypha were long included in German and English Bibles. More recently among Lutheran Bible readers, knowledge of the Apocrypha has almost disappeared. This volume provides all the tools—translations, notes, and supplemental essays—that readers will need to become familiar with these writings.

—Professor John Brug
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

The Apocrypha not only illustrates sin and grace, godlessness and godliness, humanity’s need and God’s grace for the reader, it also helps one to better understand the meaning of “the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), when God sent His Son to redeem us. Reading it on one’s own, however, is daunting at best. The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes helps the reader to understand the significance of the Apocrypha itself along with issues such as canonicity and historical context. From introduction through the study notes, charts and illustrations to the final topical index, the reader will find great assistance and guidance. And through this guidance, the reader comes to a better understanding of the Word made flesh who gave Himself to save us.

—Rev. Dan P. Gilbert
President, Northern Illinois District, LCMS

There recently has been a renewed interest in the Lutheran devotional writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In this literature their use and interest in the Apocrypha is clearly evident. The devotional writers have a genuine appreciation of these books and especially for Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon. This is certainly in keeping with Luther’s evaluation of the Apocrypha: “These books are not held equal to the Scriptures but are useful and good to read” (AE 35:337). Concordia is to be commended for this excellent Lutheran edition of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes will definitely be edifying for twenty-first century Christians.

—Gaylin R. Schmeling
President, Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary

CPH’s The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes provides a great resource for those who, having mastered the canonical books, desire to delve into those books that arise out of the intertestamental period. The explanations and historical data will help both the lay and clerical reader wade through some unfamiliar literature. The liturgical uses of this literature are especially highlighted. Finally, the appendices will help those who are confounded by the constant resurrection of the so-called “lost books” of the ancient world by the ignorant or misleading media. The reader will be comforted by the clear distinction that is able to be drawn between the canonical books and those of non-canonical status. CPH’s Apocrypha is awonderful resource for the church.

—Scott R. Murray, Ph.D.
Senior Pastor, Memorial Lutheran Church
Fifth Vice-President, LCMS

I have been pleased to review this latest CPH treasure from the perspective of an interested churchman who has watched 60 years of softening in general Lutheran attitude toward things associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Bringing these intertestamental writings out of such shadows is not only bold and timely but may be one of CPH’s greatest gifts to today’s Lutheran and Protestant world. With its publication of The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes, CPH signals that these writings are okay to read. These writings (and the commentary CPH provides) make available to both clergy and laity a very important aid to Bible study: a firsthand look into the historical context that God Himself regarded as “the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4).

—Raymond L. Hartwig
Secretary, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Edward Engelbrecht and Concordia Publishing House are to be commended for publishing The Apocrypha: The Lutheran Edition with Notes. It is a fitting companion to The Lutheran Study Bible. The introductions, historical articles, appendices, and reference guide provide a concise and immensely helpful overview of the intertestamental period. All who lead or participate in Bible studies will find these resources, as well as the text of the Apocrypha, to be of great value in better understanding the Old and New Testaments.

—Rev. Mark C. Chavez
General Secretary, North American Lutheran Church

Years ago a popular Sunday TV program announced that the evening’s offering was the “biblical” story of Judith and Holofernes. I’d never heard of them! If you don’t recognize them, or the names of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, or Judas Maccabeus, if you’ve ever wondered about the origin of Hanukkah, or what happened between the time of Nehemiah and John the Baptist, you will discover why Martin Luther recommended reading the Apocrypha even though it is not Scripture. This marvelous edition is chock-full of helps that mark it as a truly Lutheran study edition!

—Rev. Terry Cripe
President, Ohio District, LCMS

Inside the Reformation is a visual journey through the Reformation with concise text and richly designed pages. While not laid out as a traditional history book, it communicates the same information through pictures, illustrations, and short articles in a fun way. This book makes a great addition to school libraries, classrooms, and home libraries. Useful for all ages, from childhood through adult.

The People

Learn all about the people and everyday life during the time of the Reformation
You may have heard of Martin Luther, but who were the other people of the Reformation?
How did people live in the sixteenth century?
What did they do for fun?
What was school like?

The Ideas & Events
Learn about amazing inventions and ideas that helped shape the world as we know it today
How could Martin Luther’s writings change the history of the world?
What inventions helped make the Reformation possible?
What events changed the course of history?

Bulk pricing is available! Please contact our award winning customer service team at 1-800-325-3040 for details.

I’m pleased to announce that Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation has arrived and you may place your order for it.

I do not use the phrase “raving about it” very often, but…this is one of those times when it is the best thing I can think to say about the endorsements we are receiving for a forthcoming book.

Coming in June, we will be publishing an outstanding English translation of Ernst Walter Zeeden’s study of how Lutherans in German reformed the customs and traditions of the Medieval Roman Mass. This book will contain surprises for all concerned.Check out this line up of endorsements. I’ll keep you posted when the book comes out. It’s title is: Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation.

Here are the endorsements we have received, so far:

Ernst Walter Zeeden was one of the most important Reformation historians of the twentieth century. Years before scholars began to weigh up the vitality of late-medieval religion or trace the broad outlines of the confessionalization process, Zeeden was shedding light on a religious culture that transcended the traditional late-medieval and early modern divide while thinking of new ways to comprehend the period as a whole, an approach that eventually led to his influential idea of the “formation of confessions.” Faith and Act was one of his earliest and most important works in this vein, a mix of exacting research and historiographical vision that may justly be viewed as one of the foundation texts of modern Reformation history.

—C. Scott Dixon, PhD
Queen’s University, Belfast

For 50 years Zeeden’s work has shaped historians’ knowledge of the confessionalizing of religious life and practice in Reformation-era Europe. Faith and Act provides a masterful account of the ritual system of the churches in Protestant Germany by means of a close analysis of the documents through which the Reformers both preserved and adapted elements of the Catholic tradition. Historians of liturgy and church discipline will welcome the re-appearance of Zeeden’s classic monograph, gracefully translated and with updated bibliographical references.

—Ralph Keen, PhD
Professor of History
Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation Chair in Catholic Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago

Kevin Walker’s translation of Faith and Act represents a necessary addition to contemporary scholarship on how liturgical practices shaped the lived religion of the Reformation churches. Zeeden’s original book was visionary in many ways; it anticipated both the scholarly discussion over confessionalization that has dominated the last generation of Reformation scholarship and the debate inspired by Gerald Strauss over the relative success or failure of the Reformation. Walker’s translation brings Zeeden’s original insights to light for an Anglophone audience, and his preface and notes update the scholarly apparatus to account for over fifty years of scholarship inspired by, and in dialogue with, Zeeden’s original. Walker’s additions never overshadow the text, however, and his explanation of ecclesiastical terminology in the preface provides a remarkably clear window into the diverse and potentially overwhelming world of organizational, disciplinary, and liturgical practices that characterized the nascent Lutheran churches. Taken as a whole, this new translation of Zeeden’s Faith and Act reveals a fluid religious culture in which secular and ecclesiastical leaders strove to synthesize traditional forms of worship with novel theological insights; this depiction adds depth and specificity to our knowledge of that process of synthesis, and delightfully unsettles easy generalizations about the transition from medieval to early modern Christianity.

—Phillip Haberkern, PhD
Assistant Professor of History
Boston University

Ernst Walter Zeeden’s Katholische Überlieferungen in den lutherischen Kirchenordnungen des 16.Jahrhunderts is one of the most important works of German research from the past half century concerning the history of the Reformation and its ramifications. For comparative historical research of confessions, which consequently became focused under the key concepts of “confessional formation” and “confessionalization,” this book represented a decisive breakthrough in terms of methodology and substance. Zeeden was able to show that the separation of the confessions in the everyday religious life of people in the Holy Roman Empire was a slow process that stretched over several generations. In doing so, he qualified firmly ingrained views of history of Protestant and Catholic historians (and theologians), who had presumed an early separation of the confessions: Some saw the “introduction of the Reformation” at the earliest possible fixed date (with the first evangelical sermon and celebration of the Lord’s Supper under both kinds), others in the successful defense of Catholicism and beginning of the Counter-Reformation, also preferably as early as the 1520s and 1530s (with territorial prohibition mandates). By way of contrast, Zeeden pointed to the numerous cases of interference and mixed forms in practice, in which the old Church and new faith coexisted in many German territories and cities. Closed confessional states among the territories of the Empire were for a considerable time more the exception than the rule. The dogmatic confessional definitions of doctrine (Augsburg Confession, Council of Trent, Heidelberg Catechism) were put into practice in worship, piety, and everyday life also very gradually at first and with numerous compromises. In conjunction with this, Zeeden also drew attention to the significance of cultural-historical phenomena (art, literature, popular customs). It is to be highly welcomed that now after half a century this groundbreaking study for research is being translated into English.

—Professor Dr. Anton Schindling
Fachbereich Geschichtswissenschaft
Seminar für Neuere Geschichte
Philosophische Fakultät
Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen

This book would be a helpful contribution to Lutheran theology and church life if it offered only an English translation of Zeeden’s classic study, which made clear the dense catholicity of earliest Lutheran church practice. Translator Kevin G. Walker offers here much more. In a highly informative preface, as well as dozens of new footnotes, he breathes new life into the work, making it much more useful and relevant for today. For everyone who really cares how the Lutheran Reformation came to life in a rich but varied liturgical practice, this book, now more than ever, is essential reading.

—Mickey Mattox, PhD
Associate Professor of Theology
Director of Undergraduate Studies in Theology
Marquette University

Kevin Walker has done us a service through his translation of Ernst Zeeden’s monumental study of the Lutheran church orders of the sixteenth century. These documents provide a unique insight into the Lutheran Reformation, both the successes it enjoyed as well as the perennial challenges and occasional failures. Anyone interested in the development of Lutheran liturgical practice, especially in light of medieval milieu from whence it came, will find Faith and Act to be an engaging resource.

—Paul Grime, PhD
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN

A gripping read awaits those who attend to Zeeden’s multi-faceted account of the nitty-gritty of classical Lutheran church life in its parish and public setting. As he shows how the first generations committed to the Augustana took care not to throw out the ‘catholic’ baby with the tainted ‘medieval’ water, a master historian of another confession poses searching questions to Lutherans of the present day. I commend Kevin Walker for toiling to make this significant study available to the reading public of the Anglosphere.

—John R Stephenson, PhD
Professor of Historical Theology
Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines, Ontario

This meticulous historical study examines the complexities of liturgical practices in sixteenth century Lutheranism as reflected in the church orders. Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation is an invaluable handbook providing detailed and documented data giving contemporary readers a glimpse into the way that liturgical texts and ceremonies were retained, modified, or rejected in various territories. Liturgical scholars as well as pastors will find this volume to be a useful guide to understanding the evangelical reception and appropriation of the catholic legacy of liturgical forms and practices in light of the immediate background of the medieval church.

—John T. Pless, MDiv
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions
Director of Field Education
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN

What a service Kevin G. Walker has done for the Lutheran Church in English speaking lands by providing this fine translation of Ernst Zeeden’s helpful monograph: Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation. Both the medieval practices and the details of the early Lutheran appropriation of them are not nearly as well known as they ought to be, and this volume goes a long way towards remedying that. I heartily recommend the book to any and all who love the Lutheran liturgy and seek to become better acquainted with its formative development in the time of the great Church Orders. It’s the next best thing to having a full set of Sehling gracing your shelf!

—William C. Weedon, STM
Director of Worship
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

CPH is pleased to announce the twenty-second volume in the Concordia Commentary series, which will be released in June, 2012. The new commentary covers both of the biblical books of 2 Peter and Jude. The author, Dr. Curtis Giese, is a professor in the Theology Division of Concordia University Texas, located in Austin. We interviewed Dr. Giese about his new book.

What are some of the unique features of your commentary?
“The commentary discusses noteworthy aspects of these canonical books such as the usage of material from the extrabiblical books of 1 Enoch and the Assumption of Moses, the destruction of the present, corrupted world and introduction of the new creation, the condemnation of the rebellious angels, and the authorship of 2 Peter.”

How will your book impact the life of the church?
“2 Peter and Jude assure first-century Christians that the false teachers in their midst will not prevail but will suffer the dire judgment of evildoers long ago. Similarly, Christians today receive the comfort from these books that all who oppose the Church will ultimately receive divine judgment, and the Church will be vindicated.”

Who will most want to read your book?
“The Concordia Commentary series is intended for pastors, Bible translators, professors, and other teachers of sacred Scripture. Such scholars will want to have this particular volume in the series because it delves into two New Testament books that offer great riches of divine revelation.”

Why will they benefit from your book?
“This commentary contains a thorough study of the Greek text of 2 Peter and Jude, an overview of contemporary scholarship, and a theological exposition that deeply respects these two books as inspired Scripture.”

How did you come to be interested in these particular books of the Bible?
A portion of my Ph.D. studies at Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, concerned Jewish literature of the Second Temple Period. Since Jude uses material from two extra-biblical texts of this genre, I immediately welcomed the opportunity to write a commentary on Jude. Additionally, my longtime admiration of the apostle Peter plus 2 Peter’s connection with Jude made me eager to write on this epistle as well.

What are your thoughts upon the publication of your book?
“I was truly enriched in the research and writing of this commentary. The imminent publication of this volume brings great excitement, knowing that over five years of labor are coming to fruition. I pray that the Word of God in 2 Peter and Jude, which this commentary seeks faithfully to expound, will edify the readers and bring them to a deeper understanding of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.”

Reading the Bible is easy with Today’s Light. This quarterly magazine takes readers through the entire Bible in two years, just 15 minutes a day. Six daily readings a week include: Get the Big picture, a helpful overview of the text, so you comprehend what you’ve read; Sharpen the Focus, a closer look at the passage to see its significance in your life; and Zoom In, touches on the text’s highlights. It can be used independently or in combination with theToday’s Light Bible. Also, it’s great for Bible discussion groups.

Bulk pricing makes Today’s Light an affordable resource for every church! View a complete issue, for free, here.

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Consider using a great resource from Concordia Publishing House on Father’s Day, titled Peak Performance. Here’s some of its benefits

-Great gift to hand out to every man in your congregation for Father’s Day, or great to give out at Men’s Ministry events

-Two different covers – one that says Happy Father’s Day, one that does not. The content is the same in each.

-Tiered pricing allows it to be as low as $0.99 each (when purchased in quantities of 49 or more).

-Here is the link to look inside: https://www.cph.org/pdf/370149.pdf

-Perfect size to fit in a pocket or in your Bible cover (3.5” x 5.5”)

-There are free resources for Father’s Day and Men’s Ministry online here.

-Cover images and a couple inside pages are attached.

-Here is the back cover copy:

Are you operating at peak performance?

 Are you giving your best, reaching your goals, and striving for excellence? Or are you stuck, unable to take the next step in your life? God never promised life would be easy, but He did promise never to leave us and to work for good in every situation. With a coach like that, how can we go wrong? Let God’s Word speak to you. Read about athletes who faced challenges, won and lost, overcame obstacles with God’s help, and celebrated great victories.

Don’t miss this opportunity, if you were considering purchasing a leather edition of The Lutheran Study Bible. Leathers editions are on sale now and you can get free imprinting. Here is how. The offer is good through next Monday and you must call our 800 number to place an order, no web orders.

I’m very happy, finally, to report out to you what we have been working on with our friends at LOGOS for a while. We have transitioned to a new relationship with LOGOS by which now, and going forward, all CPH resources in the LOGOS format will be available, and only available, directly from LOGOS via digital download from their web site. The advantages to our customers are many: instant access to LOGOS formatted CPH resources, easier maintenance and upgrading and updating, etc. LOGOS, as they have in the past, provides all technical support for any CPH resource in LOGOS format. That means, call them for support, not us. They are extremely helpful. The other big plus is that now LOGOS formatted CPH resources are part of the LOGOS universe of resources and will be accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, literally around the world, using LOGOS and looking for Lutheran resources. So, I invite you to head on over to our LOGOS page, on LOGOS.COM. Click here on the image below. We will be adding additional resources and more existing resources will continue to be populated on the LOGOS web site. Bookmark our LOGOS page and stay tuned. If you are not familiar with what LOGOS is, please visit their web site. It is, in my opinion, the best digital search and research platform available for Christian resources.

Look what came across my desk today…the proof copy of the cover for the forthcoming new book: Faith and Act: The Survival of Medieval Ceremonies in the Lutheran Reformation. You can preorder a copy now, by clicking here. Download a PDF sample from the book, by clicking here.

Here is more information on the book:

The Reformation did not happen overnight, not with the singular act of posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, or even the presentation of the Augsburg Confession. Prof. Dr. Zeeden’s classic study of how medieval church practices continued and developed within Lutheran church orders offers readers a unique perspective on how faith influences the act of worship. Historians of liturgy and theology will discover insights and important continuity between the Lutheran churches of the sixteenth century and their forbearers of the late medieval period.

What Others Are Saying

“Faith and Act [is] . . . a mix of exacting research and historiographical vision that may justly be viewed as one of the foundation texts of modern Reformation history.”
—C. Scott Dixon Queen’s University, Belfast

“Historians of liturgy and church discipline will welcome the re-appearance of Zeeden’s classic monograph, gracefully translated and with updated bibliographical references.”
—Ralph Keen University of Illinois at Chicago

“Kevin Walker’s translation of Faith and Act represents a necessary addition to contemporary scholarship on how liturgical practices shaped the lived religion of the Reformation churches . . . and delightfully unsettles easy generalizations about the transition from medieval to early modern Christianity.”
—Phillip Haberkern Boston University

“Liturgical scholars as well as pastors will find this volume to be a useful guide to understanding the evangelical reception and appropriation of the catholic legacy of liturgical forms and practices in light of the immediate background of the medieval church.”
—John T. Pless Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN

“One of the most important works of German research from the past half century concerning the history of the Reformation and its ramifications. . . . It is to be highly welcomed that now after half a century this groundbreaking study for research is being translated into English.”
—Anton Schindling Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen

“A gripping read awaits those who attend to Zeeden’s multi-faceted account of the nitty-gritty of classical Lutheran church life in its parish and public setting.”
—John R Stephenson Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Catharines, Ontario

“What a service Kevin G. Walker has done for the Lutheran Church in English speaking lands by providing this fine translation of Ernst Zeeden’s helpful monograph. . . . I heartily recommend the book to any and all who love the Lutheran liturgy and seek to become better acquainted with its formative development in the time of the great Church Orders.”
—William C. Weedon Director of Worship The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

We received today back from the typesetters complete “first pages” of The Apocrypha: Lutheran Edition with Notes, and …. wow, it is really amazing. You are going to love what a rich treasure of resources this volume provides, as it restores once more to many Lutherans a part of the Lutheran Bible tradition that went “missing in action” when the Lutheran Church moved over to English. The book will be available later this Fall, but you can already place an order, by going here.

Here’s a picture, which you can supersize to your heart’s content by clicking on it and clicking again on it and clicking on it, again….

This cover proof is making the rounds around here. The book will be available this year, late Fall. Good to see. Another fine addition to The Essential Lutheran Library.

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We’ve uploaded pages from the book and now you can download a PDF sample from the book. I think you’ll love it.

Click here.

Ready to order a copy? Here you go.