Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions--A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord [Hardcover]

Paul T. McCain (Editor), Gene Edward Veith Jr. (Editor), Edward A. Engelbrecht (Editor), Robert C. Baker (Editor), William H. T. Dau (Translator), Gerhard Friedrich Bente (Translator)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 850 pages
• Publisher: Concordia Publishing House; 1st edition (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758608063
• ISBN-13: 978-0758608062
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,222,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful translation, January 14, 2006

By 

Sven Allenbach-Schmidt (Greenbelt, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions--A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord (Hardcover)

The Book of Concord consists of the establishing theological documents of early Lutheranism. They are still the primary doctrinal statements for most Lutherans today. It was originally published in 1580 in German and most translations into English to date have been laden with technical language. As part of the 425th anniversary of the original publication, Concordia Publishing has come out with this easier to read edition.

This Readers Edition starts with the 1921 Dau and Bente translation. That translation is then updated it with plain English and nearly all the German and Latin technical phrases removed. Each document in the Book is introduced with an explanation of its historical and theological context. To further help with this there are charts, timelines, and illustrations. To make it easier access for laypersons, there is a 'One-Year Study Guide' breaking the reading down into a couple of pages each weekday.

The one year guide had the only glitch I've found in the book so far. For some reason, even though it is designed as a 52 week guide, it is actually set up as a 54 week guide. There are two Week 14s and two Week 21s, each with different readings assigned. Strange error, but not a serious one once the reader is aware of it.