What would a theology look like that takes seriously Paul’s words, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2 ESV)? Steven Hein provides a compelling answer in a book that might be called a “dogmatics of the cross.” Rich with insights from Luther’s Heidelberg Theses and engaging of issues raised in the culture of autonomous spirituality so dominate in North America, Hein has provided a book that will serve well in grounding seasoned Christians in the word of the cross while also challenging those who have been bored or burnt out with shallow and anemic Christianity to a fresh hearing of the story and promise of the Crucified and Risen Lord. —John T. Pless Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions / Director of Field Education Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, IN
You probably have experienced an announcement that your favorite author is releasing his latest book—and it’s a book that is about your favorite author’s own favorite subject? How soon can I get a copy? That is exactly what I thought when I heard the announcement of Dr. Steve Hein’s new book: The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? (Irvine, CA: 1517 Legacy, 2015). How so? Over decades, Dr. Hein mastered Luther and classical, Confessional Lutheran theology (he was a professor of that subject at the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod college in Chicago for almost twenty-five years). Hein delights in, is supremely competent in, teaching this faith within the confines of his church/synod, as an “insider” to other “insiders.” He would do it 24/7 were that possible. And in particular, Dr. Hein is a master of Luther’s view of the Christian life (“sanctification”—the doc- trine that other Christians don’t believe that Lutherans have, believe or are even interested in!) Centering on the paradoxical themes found in Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, Dr. Hein’s book covers all the predictable subjects: law and Gospel, God hidden and revealed, justification sola fide and propter Christum, the nature of the Christian life/sanctification, and so on. Parts II and III of his book focus in on the war in the Christian between his or her new life and his or her “Old Adam,” on what Luther called tentatio (trials, temptations, afflictions), on good works as fruit of faith in Christ, on vocatio (“vocation, calling, station”) and on the Christian being both free Lord of all and simultaneously ser- vant to neighbor (Luther, The Freedom of the Christian). As in St. Augustine’s Confessions, he has a final, C. S. Lewis–conditioned chapter on Heaven and Hell (not as taught in dogmatics classes, but rather more “How-do-we-make-sense-of-these?”—cf. Lewis’s conversation with MacDonald in The Great Divorce.)The Christian Life is packed with not just Scripture [full text and well-chosen] but illustrative references to Luther and to contemporary Lutheran writers (e.g., the late Gerhard Förde, Dr. Heiko Obermann, and to the yet-living Dr. Ronald Feuerhahn,). To both my surprise and delight, Dr. Hein also makes use of the writings of the late Father Robert Capon (mainline Episcopal, but who had a soundly Biblical and amazing grasp of “grace”—and the almost complete absence of its scandalous content in priests, pastors, churches and seminaries). To the writings of these “greats,” Dr. Hein adds his own help- ful illustrations throughout his book. I recommend Dr. Hein’s book particularly for those who appreciated Dr. Eugene Edward Veith’s The Spirituality of the Cross and who want to read more of the same, but written in a deeper and more analytical style. But if you read through The Spirituality of the Cross in a weekend, you should probably allow yourself a couple of weeks for Dr. Hein’s The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? —Dr. Rod Rosenbladt
If you’re looking for a book that puts a “Lutheran spin” on the subject of the Christian Life, this isn’t it. When it comes to the Christian Life, Lutherans and pop-American Christianity aren’t on the same planet, much less the same page. No, this is a uniquely Lutheran book on the Christian Life. It is a life given in preaching, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, lived in the neighbor, and shaped like the Cross. In other words, this book locates the Christian Life not in the Christian, but in the crucified Christ Himself. —Todd Wilken
