ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CH3-001 PROFESSOR LAWRENCE REST PROFESSOR WILL SCHUMACHER Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 ***** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***** >> PAUL: Good morning, Dr. Rest and Dr. Schumacher. My name is Paul. I'm excited to be starting this course in church history. I know that we�ll finally be reaching some events which are much closer to our own time. However, I am sure it is important to understand the course of history from Luther's time until now. So I will begin in the 16th century. How did the Lutheran Church develop in the period following the adoption of the Book of Concord? >> SPEAKER: Church history is indeed an exciting subject. And the closer we get to contemporary times, the more exciting it gets. We see the connections. We see the ways in which the experiences of the past apply to us today. And in that respect, I think this course will be very exciting as well. I share your enthusiasm, Paul, and I know that there will be some interesting points for us to cover as we work through this particular course. The Lutheran Church is a dynamic church, and that means it has gone through periods of change and adaptation. It has experienced, like any other institution in this world, a very interesting course in the terms of its life. That is to say, like any other institution, it goes through changes. It adapts. It accommodates. But at all times, the Lutheran Church has striven to remain faithful to the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. That is central. In the wake of the adoption of the Book of Concord which happened in 1580, the Lutheran Church experienced numerous changes. During the early period immediately following the Book of Concord's adoption, the church struggled with basic questions of institution building. How do we prepare pastors so that they will be faithful proclaimers of the word? How do we provide resources to congregations so that they can worship together? How do we provide for the church�s mission so that the gospel is taken into the world? These kinds of basic questions were faced by all Lutherans in the period following 1580. Some Lutherans answered in different ways. The result being differences of opinions, in some cases, outright controversy. And we'll see how that plays out over the course of the time we're considering. But the big picture is this: Lutheranism went forward into the 17th century with the gospel of Christ at the center. However, world events proved to really be challenging and wars erupted. The church itself had to face tremendous challenges in the face of devastating wars. And we'll talk about those things, Paul. And then beyond that, philosophical changes in the world perspective also began to affect the church. There were fundamental world view changes. In all of this, the Lutheran Church was a participant always trying to hold up the banner of Christ. As things moved through the 18th century, the church as well found itself struggling to maintain its identity. And as they pressed forward into the 19th century, both in Germany and now in America, the church began to face basic questions about what it means to be a Lutheran. Finally, in the 20th century, as the ecumenical movement began to become so powerful and began to shape Christian experience in such fundamental ways, the Lutheran Church, once again, found itself in a unique posture, again having the opportunity to confess Christ clearly bringing us all the way up to the present. In all of these things, the Lutheran Church has had a unique witness. In all of these times, the Lutheran Church has had the opportunity, clearly, to confess Christ. In all of these places, the Lutheran Church has striven to keep mission central. The different answers the church has given have led to some of the controversies, some of the challenges of the modern period. We'll explore those in depth, and we'll consider their ramifications for us in the present and the way they shape our own ministries as we proclaim the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ. ***** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *****