Letters to Lutheran Pastors - Volume 3

Sasse’s letters defend the church’s confession amid the ecumenical controversies of the twentieth century.

Written between 1957 and 1969, the letters and essays collected in Letters to Lutheran Pastors: Volume 3 address some of the most significant theological controversies of the twentieth century. Engaging developments within the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, union churches, Anglicanism, and the Second Vatican Council, Sasse evaluates contemporary ecumenical movements in light of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

In this volume, Sasse explores:

• The church’s unity in relation to the Gospel and the Sacraments
• Justification by faith alone and its place in Lutheran doctrine
• Church fellowship, ecumenism, and confessional integrity
• The authority of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit
• The distinction between Law and Gospel and the remembrance of the faithful departed

Combining historical analysis with careful doctrinal argument, Sasse challenges efforts to achieve visible unity through theological compromise. He repeatedly calls pastors and church leaders to clarity in confession, faithfulness to God’s Word, and confidence in the means through which Christ preserves His church.

Edited and translated by Matthew C. Harrison, this volume provides pastors, seminarians, theologians, and students of Lutheran history with a significant collection of Sasse’s mature reflections on the church, its confession, and its mission in a changing world.