Theologie Der Reformatorischen Bekenntnisschriften: Einheit Und Anspruch

In the constitutions of the Lutheran, United and Reformed churches, the confessions of the Reformation period are still declared standard and canon for the life and doctrine of the church, and the ministry is obliged to them. This fundamental claim of validity is surrounded by various questions, of which the one about the relation between confession and scripture is comparably simple. Furthermore, there is the question on the relation between faith and doctrine. Is faith not heteronomously determined by a doctrine, contrary to its nature? Can 500-year-old texts still be plausible today? Do these confessions reinforce differences, that are long overcome in the ecumenical discussions of the 19th and 20th century? And do these confessions represent a theological unity that allows to speak about THE doctrine of Lutheranism, THE doctrine of the Reformed churches and even about THE doctrine of the reformatory churches? The well-known Berlin Systematic theologian Notger Slenczka makes accessible the historical contexts, composition, self-conception and claim of validity of these confessions as well as the unity of the insights inherent and to be discovered anew. It shows: These texts are fascinating, because they are thought-out, lifelike and therefore plausible.