LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

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EDITORIAL FOREWORD
T
his volume of Lutheran Theological Review brings us a wide variety
of articles from theologians with a wide variety of experiences. While
there is no overarching theme for the issue, there is clearly one that
stands out for much of the issue, namely that of Lutheranism in the United
Kingdom, past and present. Three of the articles are written by Lutheran
pastors who are completing or have completed doctorates at the two great
universities in the United Kingdom, Oxford and Cambridge. The short study
is written by the deployed tutor to Westfield House in Cambridge. The book
review is written by the pastor in Coventry.
Thomas Winger begins this issue with a short study on the importance
and significance of the terms “for us men and for our salvation” and
“became man” in the Nicene Creed. He argues that any attempt to use
modern inclusive language to translate the creed will diminish its meaning,
therefore the traditional wording must be maintained.
The major articles for this issue begin with an article by Frederic Baue,
who summarizes the current discussions among Lutherans on the topic of
predestination. He traces the history of the controversy from Reformation
times, examining past and current views presented by Calvinists, Arminians,
and Lutherans (with the Muslim view thrown in for good measure),
concluding that the view of Lutheran Orthodoxy remains the best
presentation of the view, preserving Election as pure Gospel and maintaining
both universal grace and grace alone.
Next, Adam Francisco outlines the political and religious context of
Christian–Islamic contact during the time of the Reformation, noting and
summarizing several significant anti-Islamic polemical works of the time.
Given the current political context and interest in Islam that has arisen as a
result of this, this article provides the church with resources both to
understand what Islam is all about and to provide a means of refuting its
teachings from the perspective of an orthodox Christianity.
The next two articles deal with the Reformation in the United Kingdom.
Jeffrey Leininger looks at the theology of William Tyndale, asking whether
the great English reformer, the student and translator of Luther, was in fact
“Lutheran” in his understanding of justification. Korey Maas then looks at
the work of lesser-known Robert Barnes, and outlines Barnes’s contributions
to the dissemination of Luther’s theology in England. As both Tyndale and
Barnes were martyred for the faith, they demonstrate what it may mean to be
truly confessing theologians.
The sermon by William Mundt points to the very heart of the Gospel: that
our lives lived under grace are lives lived in freedom, in the face of our
inborn tendencies to live by the Law.