The Groundwork of a System of Evangelical Lutheran Theology

by Samuel Sprecher

Publisher:

Lutheran Publication Society

, 1879

Overview

Presenting a wide number of theological treatises, The Groundwork of a System of Evangelical Lutheran Theology is actually a comprehensive analysis of Lutheran practical philosophy. The groundwork begins in real, practical Christianity, rather than theoretical ideas. It seeks to reproduce scientifically what Christianity has evidenced in practice. The experience of the believer and objective truth are just as important in establishing a theological framework. And uniting these practically evidenced dogmas with the fundamental goals of the Reformation, a historically aware—yet modernly true—Evangelical Lutheran systematic theology takes root.

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Key Features

• Thorough systematic theology of Lutheran dogmatics
• Unites practical ethics with Lutheran philosophy

Contents

• Introduction
  • Chapter 1: General Characteristics and Relations
  • Chapter 2: The Relations of Systematic Theology to the Symbols of the Church
• Part I
  • Chapter 1: The Christian Consciousness, or More Especially, Saving Faith in its Independence of Science
  • Chapter 2: The Principle of the Reformation: A Revival of the Personal Assurance of Salvation
  • Chapter 3: Luther’s Exposition of the Principle of the Reformation as Involving Personal Assurance of Salvation
  • Chapter 4: The Christian’s Inner Assurance of Salvation through Subjective Experience and his Certainty of Objective Truth
  • Chapter 5: The Right of Private Judgment, and the Sufficiency, Intelligibility, and Efficacy of the Sacred Scriptures
  • Chapter 6: The Inseparable Union of the Two Principles of the Reformation
  • Chapter 7: Justification by Faith and Saving Truth in their Union must be Distinguished as a Principle, and not Be Treated Merely as Doctrines
• Part II
  • Division 1: The Application of the Christian Idea of God and the World in the Light of the Principle of the Reformation
    • Chapter 1: In Application to the Question of the Knowableness and the Incomprehensibility of God
    • Chapter 2: The Source and Ground of Our Belief in God, in the Light of the Christian Idea
    • Chapter 3: The Christian Idea in its Opposition to all Separation of the Divine Infinity from the Divine Spirituality
    • Chapter 4: The Christian Idea of the Unity of God in the Light of the Principle of the Reformation
    • Chapter 5: The Christian Idea in its Opposition to all Separating of God and the World, and as thus Exclusive of Every Form of Deism
    • Chapter 6: The Christian Idea in its Opposition to all Confounding of God and the World
    • Chapter 7: The Nature of the All-Absorbing Conflict between the Christian Idea and the Heathen World-view
    • Chapter 8: The Christian Idea thus Apprehended, and especially in its Ethical Bearings, Requires our Theism to Be, in the Scrict Sense, Christian Theism
  • Division 2: The Application of the True Christian Idea of the Relation of Man to God in the Light of the Principle of the Reformation
    • Chapter 1: The True Medium of Religion in its Origin and End, or the Nature of Religious Faith
    • Chapter 2: The Nature of Religion
    • Chapter 3: Religious Society in the Light of the Christian Idea, as it Is Enforced by the Principle of the Reformation
    • Chapter 4: The Application of the Christian Idea to Religious Worship and Spiritual Edification
    • Chapter 5: The Application of the Christian Idea to the Relations of Faith and Science
    • Chapter 6: The Application of the Christian Idea to the Relation of Revelation and Reason
    • Chapter 7: The Historical Evidences of Christianity in the Light of the True Christian Idea
    • Chapter 8: The Recognition of the Relation and Union of the Divine and the Human in the Holy Scriptures, as it Results from the True Christian Idea of God and Man
    • Chapter 9: The Relation of the Holy Spirit, in the Production of Assurance of Salvation, to the Word and Sacraments as Means of Grace, viewed in Light of the Idea Required by the Principle of the Reformation
    • Chapter 10: The Application of the Christian Idea of God and Man to the Modus Operandi of Assurance of Salvation
    • Chapter 11: The Need and Benefit of such a Return to the Principle of the Reformation in this Age and in this Country
    • Chapter 12: The Practicability of Meeting this Want, and of Realizing this Prospect for an Evangelical Lutheran Theology at the Present Day
    • Chapter 13: The True Principle of Division in the System of Evangelical Lutheran Theology

Praise for the Print Edition

[Sprecher] was a teacher of great ability, having special talent for work of a philosophic and systematic character. The Groundwork of a System of Evangelical Lutheran Theology, though written from the viewpoint of the ‘Definite Synodical Platform,’ is his most important contribution to Lutheran literature.

—Juergen Ludwig Neve, author, A Brief History of the Lutheran Church in America

Product Details

• Title: The Groundwork of a System of Evangelical Lutheran Theology
• Author: Samuel Sprecher
• Publisher: Lutheran Publication Society
• Publication Date: 1879
• Pages: 520

About Samuel Sprecher

Samuel Sprecher (1810–1906) was educated at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettyburg, Pennsylvania. He pastored a church while being the principal of Emmaus Institute in Middleton, Pennsylvania from 1840 to 1842, then moved on to pastor in West Virginia for a year before returning to Pennsylvania. He was the president of Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio from 1849 to 1874 and remained teaching there until 1884.