I found $30 books and this link to Lange's Outline of the Book of Concord:
http://www.sbowd.com/full-pdf-outline-of-the-book-of-concord-lyle-w-lange-13k/
I am not sure if I have ever used it. I am far more for learning a book through repetition than gleaning through helps.
For instance, What Luther Says is a good set of quotations, but the editor sets up a filter when he judges various Luther quotations, under justification, as Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. labels that exist in the mind of the sect but never existed in the Bible, Luther, Chemnitz, or the Book of Concord.
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| Mequonites, what is the Chief Article? Why have you not deprived Bivens and Brug of food,pelted them with manure, and baited them with dogs? |
I suggest getting to know one section of the Book of Concord at a time. This would be my priority for new readers, based on the most neglected or abused parts:
- Luther's Large Catechism - once published as a book by the ALC, worth regular reading.
- Melanchthon on justification - Articles IV and V of the Augsburg Confession, Article III of the Apology. See also at the same time, Article III, The Righteousness of Faith, Solid Declaration, Formula of Concord.
- Formula of Concord, Adiaphora, Article X.
- Formula of Concord, Election, Article XI.
- Smalcald Articles, especially about Enthusiasm. If you cannot define Enthusiasm from the Smalcald Articles and identify examples of it, you do not know the Biblical, Lutheran doctrine of the Word, its efficacy, its relationship to the Holy Spirit, the Visible Word of the Sacraments, and the clarity of the Word.
- The Catalog of Testimonies - which show that Lutheran is not a brand but a continuation of the Apostolic Church.
