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The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry In This Issue Unionism by John Michael Reu [B04] The Apostles' Creed: Christian Faith The Hour Struck by Dan E. L. Patch The Form of Public Worship Matters [quote] Essential Lutheran Library Featured Unionism by John Michael Reu The Marks of Unionism A difference in doctrine which hitherto has been regarded as divisive, is suddenly made to lose its divisive significance. Differences in doctrine are made to lose their divisive significance with a view to uniting hitherto separate churches. A formula of unification is found which each of two hitherto separate churches may accept but which each of them interprets differently. An external bond is found for internally divided groups. The unionist declares that every one may continue to hold his own private convictions and merely needs to respect and tolerate those of another. – John Michael Reu On This Page About Dr. Reu John Michael Reu (1869-1943) studied at Loehe’s Neuendettelsau Mission Institute in Bavaria and was ordained to the Lutheran ministry at the age of 20. He served pastorates in Mendota and Rock Falls, Illinois, and taught at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa for 44 years.[Wikipedia] “It was said of Reu, that the Bible was a love story from beginning to end, God wooing back His own and sustaining them with heavenly food. Reu understood the main task of Christian education to be telling the story of God as revealed in scripture. And for Reu, the study of scripture was more than just the pursuit of knowledge, but had to do with formation and feeding of the soul. He leaves a legacy of a man who was a teacher, pastor, student and lover of God’s word.” [Mark Kvale & Robert C. Wiederaenders; Biola] When Does The Kingdom of God Arrive? “When does the kingdom of God come to us? Ever more voices answer today: It will come when international peace has been established, when war has been outlawed forever, when all the churches have been united in one great ecumenical organization, when social injustice has been removed, and when epidemics and incurable diseases are things of the past. “And in what manner will this blessed season be ushered in? Through energetic efforts put forth by Christians and others, through conferences, and organizations? This is precisely the way in which the kingdom of God does not come. Man-made organizations and unions, leagues and societies, conventions and executive boards and lengthy reports—they all are earth-born efforts, beating the air and of no avail, unless they are pervaded by the vital breath of the Holy Spirit. The Small Catechism gives an entirely different answer. It asserts that the kingdom comes when the Father in heaven gives us His Holy Spirit so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and live godly lives, here in time and in heaven forever. I, too, know of a paradise to come; but it will not be the crowning culmination of a natural development of everything good that now exists in the world; it will arrive only after the day of judgment, after the abrupt termination of the present natural development, namely when Christ Himself returns ‘to judge the quick and the dead.’ In blessed hope I long for this day of perfection. But until then the kingdom of God is the kingdom of the Cross, and its only means are the Word and the Sacraments.” Book Contents About Dr Reu by Em. Poppen Unionism An Open Letter To The Lutheran Pastors Of The United States And Canada Fellowship Negotiations With The United Lutheran Church In America I. Recommendations II. Doctrinal Statement on Inspiration and the Scriptures Declaration Of The Representatives Of The American Lutheran Church I. Scripture and Inspiration. II. Universal Plan of Salvation, Predestination and Conversion. III. The Church. IV. The Office of the Public Administration of the Means of Grace. V. The Doctrine of Sunday. VI. The Doctrine Concerning the Last Things. Statement Submitted To The Intersynodical Committee Chicago, January, 1938 By The Representatives Of The Missouri Synod Report And Resolutions Of Committee No. 16 Relative To Overture 513

Recent Books and Articles Published Unionism by John Michael Reu The Marks of Unionism A difference in doctrine which hitherto has been regarded as divisive, is suddenly made to lose its divisive significance. Differences in doctrine are made to lose their divisive significance with a view to uniting hitherto separate churches. A formula of unification is found which each of two hitherto separate churches may accept but which each of them interprets differently. An external bond is found for internally divided groups. The unionist declares that every ... Read more [B04] The Apostles' Creed: Christian Faith It is by faith alone that man is able to appropriate the salvation which God has prepared for him in Christ Jesus. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Right after this splendid, comforting passage, the Divine record proceeds thus: “He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the ... Read more The Hour Struck by Dan E. L. Patch Of the characters in The Hour Struck , Dan Patch writes, “The hero depicts the victim of “fifth column police politics” prevalent in far too many communities today. The heroine, facing unavoidable circumstances, has no alternative but to fight for the right to protect the good name of those whom she loves. The villains are numerous and represent a system of corrupt politics motivated by selfishness, greed and sin in the hearts of men.” Dan E. L. Patch began his ... Read more The Form of Public Worship Matters [quote] “The forms and order of public worship, are not, in every sense, adiaphora (things indifferent). No one, beyond the Romish pale, presumes that they are absolutely necessary to salvation, as they exist at any particular period… Still, we cannot look upon it as altogether immaterial what form of worship the Church possesses… The life and spirit of the Church must ever stamp itself upon the forms and order of her public worship, and make the latter a general confession of her ... Read more Essential Lutheran Library Essential Lutheran Library These books comprise a library of solid and faith-strengthening works for pastors and all Christians. They are flowering buds of American Biblical Christianity and the Lutheran (Protestant) Reformation. Three Basic Books for New Christians and Everyone The Way Made Plain Also in paperback “I realize that this city, and all cities, are filled with people who have been unfortunate enough not to have the right kind of parents, who have been unfortunate ... Read more The Small Catechism of Martin Luther edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs Luther’s Little Instruction Book (Small Catechism) has been translated into many of the languages of the world. Williston Walker in his History of the Christian Church describes it as “one of the noblest monuments of the Reformation”. Of it, Luther writes, The Catechism is the Bible of the laymen. In it the entire body of Christian doctrine, which every Christian must know in order to be saved, is contained… On This Page How Luther Considered the Catechism: “I, ... Read more The Apology of The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon “The Apology is more than a mere polemical treatise. It is a thorough discussion, in all its relations, of the cardinal doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, without Works; for whatever be the article treated, the discussion always reverts to this theme. At first reading, it may indeed seem diffuse, but farther study will show that it contains little, if anything, unnecessary, as it is its aim to meet the questions proposed at every turn, and to examine them from varied ... Read more