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| The print edition is here - Walther and the Predestination Controversy. |
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020
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This book is a re-issue of a classic work that was published in 1897. It was produced by individuals who opposed the erroneous doctrines introduced by CFW Walther, who was the founder and chief theologian of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) on justification and election. The tone of this book is somewhat polemic.
The book consists of 3 sections, each of which can be read as a stand-alone document:
Part 1 provides a historical background to the predestination controversy that arose in the LCMS in the last quarter of the 19th century
Part 2 is titled “Intuitu Fidei” (in view of faith). The authors provide excerpts from the writings of Lutheran theologians from the 16th and 17th centuries to document the traditional Lutheran doctrine of justification and election which Walther's new doctrines contradicted.
The book consists of 3 sections, each of which can be read as a stand-alone document:
Part 1 provides a historical background to the predestination controversy that arose in the LCMS in the last quarter of the 19th century
Part 2 is titled “Intuitu Fidei” (in view of faith). The authors provide excerpts from the writings of Lutheran theologians from the 16th and 17th centuries to document the traditional Lutheran doctrine of justification and election which Walther's new doctrines contradicted.
Part 3 is titled “The Blue Island Theses”. This is a statement of 5 principles of traditional Lutheran doctrine on justification and election published in 1881 by theologians who left the LCMS in protest to Walther's new doctrines.
If you are a member of the LCMS or the Wisconsin Synod (which adopted Walther's doctrines in this matter), then you need to read this book. You will see how the peculiar LCMS doctrine of justification without regard to faith (known as Universal Objective Justification or UOJ) came to be. If you've heard your Pastor or some synod official talk about UOJ and you always wanted to refute their claims that UOJ is 'real Lutheran doctrine', and how 'Walther got it right and everyone else got it wrong', this book has all the information you need. It lays out the Biblical doctrine of justification and provides quotes from the writings of Martin Luther and the Lutheran theologians in the 16th and 17th centuries, documenting what the real Lutheran doctrine is.
This book also describes the tactics that Walther used to smear and discredit the people inside the LCMS and in other Lutheran groups who opposed his doctrines. In fairness, we should take the authors' descriptions of Walther's behavior with a grain of salt, since they were his opponents and they ended up on the losing side of the controversy.
