Anthology of the Sermons of J. Michael Reu Vol. One: Advent to Easter Cycle Sermons
| Author: | Johnston, Paul | |
| Year: | 1995 | |
| Pages: | 436 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-9061-2 978-0-7734-9061-1 | |
| Price: | $259.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
The Anthology of the Sermons of J. Michael Reu is the only resource exhaustively to collect and present all of Reu's English-language sermon outlines, sketches, and fully-developed sermons for the first time to enable scholars of American church history, Luther historians, Reformation scholars and church professionals to examine Reu's theological presuppositions and historical insights as he applied these to preaching.
This definitive two-volume collection includes sermons for every Sunday of the church year and also for festival and special occasions, as well as major convention addresses translated for the first time from the German. The volumes are meticulously edited and standardized as to style, spelling, and format of the text, and are easy to use, with helpful lists and an index of published and manuscript sermon sources to identify quickly on sermon by Scripture text, date of origin, or location. Parish clergy will find here a wealth of ideas for opening the text of Scripture to a full and persuasive exegetical development from a theologian who was an acknowledged master of the homiletical art in the Lutheran Church. The sermons contain rich insights, and furnish the busy pastor with examples of how to make textual preaching vivid and applicable to everyday life. Still fresh and powerful in their examination of the human condition and Gospel comfort, these sermons by one of this century's best-known and most admired preachers in the confessional Lutheran tradition encourage and inspire by their directness, their scholarship, and by their deep pastoral concern.
Historians will find the books of interest in identifying major themes in Reu's anthropology and sociology, while theologians will profit from the many clues Reu provides in these sermons as to the content and style the proclamation of the Word should assume, especially as it relates to the Small Catechism of Martin Luther. A number of sermons featured in the Anthology are from the Johann Michael Reu Collection, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA, and have never before been published; others were published previously in the periodical Kirkliche Zeitschrift, which Reu edited from 1904-1943.
This definitive two-volume collection includes sermons for every Sunday of the church year and also for festival and special occasions, as well as major convention addresses translated for the first time from the German. The volumes are meticulously edited and standardized as to style, spelling, and format of the text, and are easy to use, with helpful lists and an index of published and manuscript sermon sources to identify quickly on sermon by Scripture text, date of origin, or location. Parish clergy will find here a wealth of ideas for opening the text of Scripture to a full and persuasive exegetical development from a theologian who was an acknowledged master of the homiletical art in the Lutheran Church. The sermons contain rich insights, and furnish the busy pastor with examples of how to make textual preaching vivid and applicable to everyday life. Still fresh and powerful in their examination of the human condition and Gospel comfort, these sermons by one of this century's best-known and most admired preachers in the confessional Lutheran tradition encourage and inspire by their directness, their scholarship, and by their deep pastoral concern.
Historians will find the books of interest in identifying major themes in Reu's anthropology and sociology, while theologians will profit from the many clues Reu provides in these sermons as to the content and style the proclamation of the Word should assume, especially as it relates to the Small Catechism of Martin Luther. A number of sermons featured in the Anthology are from the Johann Michael Reu Collection, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA, and have never before been published; others were published previously in the periodical Kirkliche Zeitschrift, which Reu edited from 1904-1943.
Reviews
"Johann Michael Reu was likely the most significant scholar to have served the Lutheran churches in America. His collected and published sources of catechetical instruction are generally recognized as a treasure of world-side importance. Many who know him only as a Reformation historian and source scholar are not aware that he was also one of the greatest preachers of his time. Not only did he write an important textbook on homiletics but his sermons are a treasure trove of how to preach well. Dr. Paul Johnston has performed a great service to the American churches and to the scholarly guild by editing and publishing Reu's sermons in English. The anthology will be important, both for the examples of great preaching and for their theological content. Because of the international scope of Rey's scholarship, these sermons will provide valuable background in understanding his other writings." -- Dr. Lowell C. Green
"We owe Paul Johnston a great deal for assembling this collection of J. Michael Reu's English sermons. Here we discover a great theologian who was at home in the parish pulpit. . . . Even though these sermons were preached many years ago, they could be preached in the Church today as well. In a day when solid biblical, confessional preaching has fallen on hard times, these sermons can provide inspiration to us all." -- David A. Gustafson
"These sermons and convention essays are more than historical artifacts from a bygone era of American Lutheran history: they are sterling examples of well-crafted, textual sermons that speak with evangelical clarity, confessional integrity, and pastoral warmth to ordinary Lutheran congregations. Contemporary Lutheran preaching could be enriched and strengthened by exposure to these homiletical gems that Dr. Johnston has brought forth from the legacy of a learned and eloquent preacher whose preaching was shaped by his study of Luther." -- The Reverend John T. Pless
"We owe Paul Johnston a great deal for assembling this collection of J. Michael Reu's English sermons. Here we discover a great theologian who was at home in the parish pulpit. . . . Even though these sermons were preached many years ago, they could be preached in the Church today as well. In a day when solid biblical, confessional preaching has fallen on hard times, these sermons can provide inspiration to us all." -- David A. Gustafson
"These sermons and convention essays are more than historical artifacts from a bygone era of American Lutheran history: they are sterling examples of well-crafted, textual sermons that speak with evangelical clarity, confessional integrity, and pastoral warmth to ordinary Lutheran congregations. Contemporary Lutheran preaching could be enriched and strengthened by exposure to these homiletical gems that Dr. Johnston has brought forth from the legacy of a learned and eloquent preacher whose preaching was shaped by his study of Luther." -- The Reverend John T. Pless