Lutheran theology and religious practice re-shaped traditions from the ritual heritage of the Medieval Latin Church. Throughout the cultural history of European Lutheran areas, what came to be seen as "the arts" may be discussed in the light of changing Lutheran traditions: the cultural heritage of Martin Luther. This volume presents a collection of 9 essays on Lutheran traditions and the arts within the 500 years since the Reformation, as a special issue of the journal Transfiguration. This issue has been planned in connection with the Tenth International Congress for Luther Research hosted at the Department of Church History, University of Copenhagen.

In the middle of the twentieth century, American Lutherans were newsworthy enough to find themselves on the cover of "Time" magazine. Their claim to fame? In an era when American churches were beginning to look and act alike, Lutherans' strong confessional nature and stress on theology as well as their liturgy and ethnicity set them apart. They were Protestants with a difference at a time when differences were supposed to be dissolving in the American melting pot.

Subsequent years have posed serious questions to Lutheran identity, as disputes about the true nature of Lutheranism and the meaning of the Lutheran confessions, the structure of ministry, ecumenism, sexuality, and multiculturalism have all left their mark on Lutheran denominations. In "Lutherans Today" several historians, social scientists, journalists, and other leading experts map out the place of Lutheranism in the landscape of contemporary American Christianity and explore the directions in which it is heading in the new millennium.

Presenting new and original research, the book is divided into two sections. The first examines change and movements within American Lutheranism. Distinguished church historian Mark Noll here sets the scene by arguing that the predicament of American Lutheranism has always been the struggle to remain faithful to the enduring witness of the European Reformation while also accommodating itself to the democratic pluralism of the New World. Six other chapters discuss the Missouri Synod, the Lutheran Left, the Called to Common Mission agreement, the evangelical catholic movement within Lutheranism, the rise of megachurches, and Lutheran charismatics.

The second section considers trends andissues related to Lutheran identity, including politics and the pastorate, the impact of immigration and multiculturalism, the loss of Lutheran identity at Lutheran colleges and universities, and conflicting patterns of commitment among Lutheran youth.

As a whole, "Lutherans Today" will be valuable not only to all Lutherans but also to those interested in the development and current state of religious life in America.

Contributors: Robert Benne
Richard Cimino
Maria Erling
Mark Granquist
Dan Hofrenning
Robert Longman
Steve Montreal
Mark Noll
Jim Petersen
Eugene C. Roehlkepartain
Alvin J. Schmidt
Scott Thumma
Mary Todd
Jeff Walz

The first complete account in English of the American Lutheran controversy of 1849-1867Tension between a religion's heritage and its social context forms the everpresent question of group identity. In the United States, this question has been posed in a particular way for religious traditions as the tension between "Americanization"-being assimilated into social and cultural structures of the new world-and "confessional identity"-seeking to sustain and understand a religious heritage in light of a new context and its questions. Lutherans in the mid-nineteenth century provide one illustration of this social and theological tension.The first part shows how, in spite of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg's efforts, early Lutheranism adopted congregational polity, democratic structures, voluntary membership, and freer liturgical forms. Then the formation of the General Synod (1820) is traced and its chief spokespersons and their theological and practical innovations highlighted. Gustafson locates the movements toward confessional revival among Lutherans in Germany-many of whom emigrated to the United States in the 1830s-in reaction to unification with the Reformed. The final chapters chart the actual controversy (1849-1867) between the less confessional Lutherans of the General Synod and the recent, more confessional Lutheran immigrants."Gustafson shows that Lutherans today can learn a lesson from the nineteenth-century struggle for Lutheran identity. The confessional Lutheran part issued a 'call to faithfulness' at a time when major voices were inviting Lutherans to join the melting pot of American Protestantism. Lutherans still stand at a crossroads between Protestantism and Catholicism, caught in the struggle over their own identity and mission. Lutherans in Crisis sheds the light of our past on the path of our future. Without this light we would be completely in the dark."-Carl E. BraatenLutheran School of TheologyDavid A. Gustafson, who received his PhD from the Graduate School of Union Institute, served elca parishes in Wisconsin for most of his career. At the time of his death in 2001, he was teaching Church History at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota.