Review Article: The Church and the Office of the Ministry

Abstract

This review of a study edition of Walther’s “The Church and the Office of the Ministry,” is the fourth time the book has been reviewed in the Quarterly. This is to be expected given the various editions throughout the years; however, Brug discusses further importance for such a review:

“But the more important reason for the repeated reviews is the long-running and never entirely resolved discussion (or would it be more accurate to say “controversy”) over the doctrines of church and ministry in the churches of the Synodical Conference. This new version is especially significant since in it the present president of the Missouri Synod has edited and commented on one of the key writings of the first president of the Missouri Synod. This makes it necessary for a review of this new edition to consider three issues: the merits of the new edition, the views which Walther expresses in this edition through his own theses and explanations and through the numerous quotations which he has assembled from the Confessions, from Luther, and from the Lutheran fathers, and finally, the role this study edition can play in a fresh discussion of the issues of church and ministry.”

In addition to simply reviewing this work, Brug also provides valuable commentary on this topic that is pertinent to the both to the history of the WELS and LCMS disagreement on theissue, as well as the discussion today.