The Formula of Concord did not appear in a vacuum. The writings of Melanchthon and of the second-generation theologians Martin Chemnitz, David Chytraeus, and Nicolaus Selnecker show the Augsburg Confession being defended, clarified, and applied amid the controversies of the later sixteenth century.
Reformation Books for Younger Readers
Augustana500: Stories of the Lutheran Reformation introduces young readers to the people and events of the Lutheran Reformation.
Augustana500: Stories of the Lutheran Reformation
For younger readers
The Princes Who Confessed Christ
The Story of the Augsburg Confession
On June 25, 1530, Chancellor Christian Beyer read the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V. Behind him stood princes and representatives of cities willing to place their names beneath a clear confession of Christ and His Gospel.
James D. Heiser tells that history for young readers in a richly illustrated, 32-page volume—with a catechetical guide for families.
Here I Stand Before the Emperor: Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms
A richly illustrated account for younger readers of Luther’s confession before Emperor Charles V, his appeal to Holy Scripture, and his refuge at the Wartburg.
View at Repristination PressPhilip Comes to Wittenberg: Philip Melanchthon and the Lutheran Reformation
Follow the young scholar Philip Melanchthon from his childhood and university years to Wittenberg, his friendship with Martin Luther, and his 1521 Commonplaces. Book 3 in Augustana500: Stories of the Lutheran Reformation. For ages 7–11; 32 pages.
View on AmazonTheology and Historical Studies
Augustana500: Stories of the Lutheran Reformation
For younger readers
The Princes Who Confessed Christ
The Story of the Augsburg Confession
On June 25, 1530, Chancellor Christian Beyer read the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V. Behind him stood princes and representatives of cities willing to place their names beneath a clear confession of Christ and His Gospel.
James D. Heiser tells that history for young readers in a richly illustrated, 32-page volume—with a catechetical guide for families.
The Christian Book of Concord
The 1854 second revised Henkel edition supplies Augustana 500’s primary English text of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and presents the complete Lutheran confessional corpus.
View at Repristination PressCommon Theological Topics: Loci Communes Theologici (1535)
Melanchthon’s mature presentation of evangelical doctrine provides essential context for reading the theology confessed at Augsburg.
View at Repristination PressOn the Controversies
Chemnitz reviews controversies raised concerning articles of the Augsburg Confession and witnesses to the doctrinal work that preceded concord.
View at Repristination PressA Repetition of the Sound Doctrine
A sustained confession of Christ’s body and blood in the Supper amid the controversies that would be addressed in the Formula of Concord.
View at Repristination PressAnatomy of the Propositions of Albert Hardenberg
Chemnitz defends the Tenth Article of the Augsburg Confession in the Eucharistic controversy surrounding Albert Hardenberg.
View at Repristination PressA Christian Sermon on God’s Foreknowledge or Election to Salvation
A pastoral treatment of election by one of the principal architects of the Formula of Concord.
View at Repristination PressA Summary of the Christian Faith (1568)
A concise doctrinal presentation by a leading second-generation Lutheran theologian and participant in the concordist effort.
View at Repristination PressAn Oration Concerning the State of the Churches
Chytraeus surveys Christian churches across Greece, Asia, Africa, Hungary, Bohemia, and elsewhere, preserving a remarkable Lutheran account of Eastern Christendom and the worldwide Church in the sixteenth century.
View at Repristination PressChronicle of the Years 1593, 1594, and the Beginning of 1595
Chytraeus records the ecclesiastical and political events of the final years of his life, offering a contemporary Lutheran chronicle of a confessional age moving from concord toward the conflicts of the seventeenth century.
View at Repristination PressPious and Most Useful Explanations
Chytraeus treats necessity, divine determination, contingency, human powers, and free will—terms central to later doctrinal controversy.
View at Repristination PressAgainst the Secret Calvinists
Selnecker’s 1571 defense of Lutheran Christology and the Lord’s Supper illuminates controversies immediately preceding the Formula of Concord.
View at Repristination PressA Brief and Useful Booklet on the Lord’s Supper
Originally printed in 1572, Selnecker’s compact biblical, grammatical, Christological, and patristic defense of Christ’s true presence anticipates the doctrine confessed five years later in the Formula of Concord.
View at Repristination PressA Christian and Necessary Defense against the Slander of the Flacians
Selnecker answers the accusations of the Jena theologians and reveals both the doctrinal substance and the personal cost of the controversies from which the Formula of Concord emerged.
View at Repristination Press