What the Symbols Have to Say About the Church

Authors

Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Publication Date

10-1-1955

Document Type

Article

Keywords

book of concord, lutheran symbols, invisible church, luther, apostles creed, baptism

Submission Type

Bible Study; Lecture; Sermon Prep

Abstract

It is not difficult to turn to the index of a modern edition of the Book of Concord and to discover therein the passages in the Lutheran Symbols which talk more or less explicitly about the church. That it is quite possible to read into these passages a very wide range of presuppositions is clear from the way in which different theologians have been claiming our church's Symbols in support of quite divergent, if not actually contradictory, opinions. But the articles of our creedal statements that the editors have headed, "Of the Church," or that bear similar titles are not all that the Book of Concord has to say about the church. In the roughly 250,000 words in the Lutheran Symbols there are about 800 references to "church" or a related term. Many of these are significant, if not decisive, for the construction of an ecclesiology of the Symbols.

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Submission Cost

Free

Submission Audience

Laity; Ministers; Scholars

Recommended Citation

Piepkorn, Arthur Carl (1955) "What the Symbols Have to Say About the Church," Concordia Theological Monthly: Vol. 26, Article 59.
Available at: https://scholar.csl.edu/ctm/vol26/iss1/59