In this important new volume, Arand, Kolb, and Nestingen bring the fruit of an entire generation of scholarship to bear on these documents, making it an essential and up-to-date class text. The Lutheran Confessions places the documents solidly within their political, social, ecclesiastical and theological contexts, relating them to the world in which they took place. Though the book is not a theology of the Confessions, readers will clearly understand the issues at stake in the narratives, both in their own time, and in ours.

Martin Luther: A Life tells the dramatic story of the renegade monk whose heroic personal struggle ignited a revolution and shook Christendom to its foundations. Through vivid anecdotes and lively historical descriptions, Martin Luther: A Life captures the turbulent times and historic events through which Luther lived as well as his profound vision of God. A fast-moving narrative, it shows how his stinging criticisms of the Christian church struck a deep and liberating chord in the German people and led to the momentous change we know as the Reformation. For all who wish to understand Luther the man, the rebel, and the visionary, James Nestingen's account also offers insight into Luther's momentous contributions to the Western world and his personal encounter with God, the Christian Scriptures, and the relentless demands of his own conscience. James A. Nestingen is Professor of Church History Emeritus at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a nationally recognized Luther scholar as well as a popular speaker and lecturer. Nestingen is the author of numerous books, including The Faith We Hold and editor, with Robert Kolb, of Sources and Contexts of the Book of Concord.

Born in controversy and raised in university settings, the Lutheran reform movement was embroiled immediately, publicly, and perennially in theological disputes and political battles. While controversies during Martin Luther's lifetime centered on disagreements with Rome and Geneva, present and later differences emerged over interpreting Luther's and Melanchthon's theologies on such issues as governmental interference, liturgical practices, justification's implications for good works and sin, the Lord's supper, and election. It is this defining dis-concord, alternating with attempts at concord and conciliation, that is reflected in the documents newly translated in this indispensable documentary companion to The Book of Concord, which includes the works of Agricola, Eck, Chemnitz, Melanchthon, and Luther.