Back on November 8, 2022, I posted Teaching Lutheran Identity, telling about a post-confirmation class that I taught for our church. In the ensuing discussion, some of you Cranach readers said that I should write this up as a book and study guide, not only for youth but also for adults. Well, I took your advice. Today, CPH is releasing my new book, Embracing Your Lutheran Identity.
The Cranach Connection
Let me give you some more of the back story. In my 2022 post, I wrote this:
At our congregation I am teaching a post-confirmation class. The youth attending it have been confirmed, so they have been well instructed in the Catechism and in the Bible, knowing the Law and the Gospel, the Word and the Sacraments. At their confirmation, they were asked a series of questions about their faith, culminating in this:
Pastor: Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?
Response: I do, by the grace of God.
Despite making this commitment, many confirmands have been abandoning this confession and Church as soon as the rite is over. I have better hopes for the members of my class. But it has occurred to me that many Lutherans are oblivious to their forebears who did suffer death rather than fall away from this confession. And many Lutherans, not just young people but adults as well, do not know all that much about their Church and why it is worth suffering for.
In the class I am teaching these young folks the history of the church in general and their Lutheran church in particular. I am trying to help them learn and appreciate their spiritual heritage and realize their place in it. My goal is to build up their Christian identity by helping them cultivate a Lutheran identity.
I went on to tell about my approach, telling about the fascinating, sometimes thrilling, often inspiring saga of the church that they too are part of–from the early church that kept winning converts despite the most horrible persecution; through the Middle Ages with its cultural influence marred by corruption; through the Reformation and what happened after the Reformation when the Emperor twice nearly wiped out the movement until God amazingly brought it back from the dead; through the magnificent achievements of the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy; through the related challenges of Pietism, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism; through the confessional revival and what happened with American Lutheranism; the mainline liberal Protestant temptation; global Lutheranism today; and on and on. . . .
In the ensuing discussion, some of you indicated that you didn’t know a lot of these stories either and that you wish you did. Steve Bauer said that adults should take that class too. Tom Hering said, “Dr. Veith, I think you have the outline of a new book. ;-).” Then saddler said, “My thoughts exactly Tom…or a study guide/work book for a class.” Then Tom Hering came back with, “Or a book and a study guide for youth and adult classes. :-).” Then Pete jumped in with “Yes – two thumbs up for this!!”
So this is exactly what I have been working on for two years: A book that is also a study guide and a work book for both youth and adults. Something that can be read like any other book but can also be used for a class or group study.
How This Book Is Different
I do different kinds of writing–academic, popular theology and cultural criticism, journalism, blogging–and each kind requires a different style and approach. This book, though, is different from all of those. Here I am in my primary vocation as teacher. Except for you subscribers who are ex-students of mine, most of you don’t know me in that role, but I’m trying to recreate it in this book.
When I teach, I try to make my presentations as interesting and engaging as I can, leavened with unexpected connections and humor. And then, after going on a while, I interrupt myself by asking the class questions. Not “were you paying attention” questions, but questions that elicit thought, reflection, and personal applications. According to the tenets of classical education, understanding something is achieved not by downloading information about it but by talking about it with other people. That is to say, “dialectic”–dialogue, Socratic questioning, discussion–and I have found this to be true. “Talking things through,” as we say, causes us to internalize what we are trying to learn. After we do that for awhile, I go back to my presentation, pausing for dialectic again with my next point.
So in this book, I write a few paragraphs. Then I pose some questions. Then I write some more paragraphs. And pose some more questions.
This results in a book that can be used in multiple ways. You can just read it like any other book. I hope you pause, if only for a moment, to think about the questions, at least the ones that most interest you. But you can forge ahead as you please.
You can also read the book and actually write out your answers to the questions. Space is provided. This creates a more intentional kind of study, perhaps a good self-study project or Lenten discipline. Writing out your answers will cause you to reflect on the material more deeply than you probably would otherwise.
This format also makes the book ideal for a group study. It requires no leader preparation or prior knowledge. I supply all of that. The group can sit around and take turns reading, paragraph by paragraph, until a question comes up, whereupon the group can discuss it. Then start reading paragraph by paragraph again until the next question. The group can work through the book at their own pace.
Or, better yet, everyone in the group could read the paragraphs ahead of time and write out their answers to the questions. Then, when the group comes together, everyone can read their answers to each other, with the different perspectives and the consequent discussion enhancing everybody’s learning.
But What Does This Look Like?
I’ll post a sample tomorrow, one that you non-Lutheran subscribers can also appreciate. (One facet of Lutheran identity is identifying with the entire holy Christian church throughout time and eternity. Contrary to what is often said about him, Luther did not “start a new church”–as some later Protestants tried to–but rather sought to reform the one apostolic church when it drifted away from God’s Word and the gospel of salvation through Christ.)
Also, you can hear me talking more about the book and giving more details about it in this Concordia Publishing House Podcast with Elizabeth Pittman.
Embracing Your Lutheran Identity was chosen as the “Book of the Month” at Issues, Etc., and Todd Wilken has done a series of episodes/podcasts with me as we walk through the entire book.
You can buy the book from Amazon here. (As of this writing, it is already the #1 New Release in Lutheran Christianity.)
Or buy direct from Concordia Publishing House here. (If you want this for a class, CPH gives discounts for bulk orders.)
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