Conrad Emil Lindberg: Christian Dogmatics and Notes on the History of Dogma

Ken McGuire
Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭
edited November 20 in English Forum

The Swedish-American Lutheran church was based largely in the Midwest, but unlike most of the rest of Midwest Lutherans, tended to align itself with East Coast Germans. In addition, it generally had a closer relationship with their mother church over in Europe than many other Lutherans. And so while it looks at first glance like one of the many conservative Midwest Lutheran ethnic enclaves, it was also an unofficial bridge between various neighbors and also with the homeland state church and so European Lutheranism.

The book offered here was the a dogmatics textbook that Conrad Emil Lindberg wrote for use at Augustana Rock Island. As the preface states, it came out is Swedish in 1898 and in English (with expansions) in 1922. I admit that when I started with this personal book, I was more than a bit frustrated that when he summarizes many figures, he does not reference where the figure said it, and so it. Other than scripture, the writers he references are largely those of Lutheran Orthodoxy – and he admits in the Preface that he is a bit limited in access to them. For a long time I was thinking that instead of reading this work, it would be better to read Schmid’s Doctrinal Theology instead.

But as I went through the work, I did see how this work does serve a purpose as a more approachable introduction to how Lutheran Orthodoxy can still speak to today. And I started to recognize the truth that Rev. Jordan Cooper wrote in his blog: it does "pack a lot of theology into each chapter." And it does what the Swedish-American Lutherans have often done - namely work to bridge between various Lutheran communities.

The source for this Personal Book is https://archive.org/details/christiandogmati00lind . I have incorporated the corrections noted at the end of the book into the main text. The scan at Internet Archive was generally pretty good, but there were some fuzzy spots. If a word seemed to be misspelled or there seemed to be a grammatical mistake, I have left it as is, unless the scan itself was unclear, in which case I have tried to read it as correctly as possible. If I could understand the reference, I have tried to link it with works in my library. I have not been entirely consistent about when I have created links to a particular verse if there is already a link to the passage on that page, and I have also not always been consistent in where I have inserted the links to the Book of Concord – sometimes it is in the main text, and sometimes it is attached to footnote where Lindberg references a 19th century edition with page and paragraph number. While I have quickly tried to reproduce the table of contents and the index, I have not provided links from them to the pages in the book itself.

If you find errors in this edition, I do ask that you share corrections and any helpful additions you make to this text.

SDG,

Ken McGuire

The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze

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Comments

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    Thanks, Ken!

    I made a screenshot from your source to use as a book cover: 

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    Rev. Jordan Cooper wrote in his blog: it does "pack a lot of theology into each chapter."

    Ken, I did take the opportunity and made Cooper's blog post into a Reading List. Many many thanks for your efforts in providing PB sources, you made one entry available in each of his three short sections! That's 18% of the whole list. 

    Those who do PBs may try to get this list to a more complete coverage by providing the books by Joseph Stump and by A. Hoenecke and all of us could check or place our bids at https://www.logos.com/product/43138/a-summary-of-the-christian-faith to cover the last percentage points missing for H.E. Jacobs' "Summary"

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Ken McGuire
    Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭

    Those who do PBs may try to get this list to a more complete coverage by providing the books by Joseph Stump and by A. Hoenecke

    Pretty sure that Stump is too recent to be Public Domain. I know the English translation of Hoenecke is.

    The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

    L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

    L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    Those who do PBs may try to get this list to a more complete coverage by providing the books by Joseph Stump and by A. Hoenecke

    Pretty sure that Stump is too recent to be Public Domain.

    Stump died in 1935, so we are well beyond 70 years pma, the published editions in Worldcat (1932 through 1942 by Muhlenberg Press) lists him as only contributor, so there should be no question of this book being PD (Forgotten books, the publisher who just reprints PD works i.e. archive.org's bad scans, has his Explanation of the Small Catechism and his Life of Melanchthon).

    I know the English translation of Hoenecke is.

    is....PD or is.... too recent? Hoenecke himself died in 1908, the German edition thus should be in the PD. It's difficult to find any of Hoenecke's Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics in English, even used printed books, but from one WELS blog post I infer that the translators' names were Joel Fredrich, Paul Prange, and Bill Tackmier. Do you know their life-dates?

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Ken McGuire
    Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭

    Life plus 70 years is term for EU. And so you should be fine. But I am in the USA, and here, under the Mickey Mouse protection act, works published since 1925 are still protected.

    So it is possible that the Stump entered PD if it did not claim copyright when published, or the copyright holder failed to renew the copyright, as was a requirement under the old law (neither is a requirement under current law, but if it entered PD under the law of the time, my understanding is they are still PD).

    As for the dates of the Hoenecke translation, I don't know exactly, but I was under the impression that it was translated into English after Pieper - which came in the 1950's. In fact, if I am reading a few references on the web correctly, it was 2009 when the English translation of Hoenecke was finished.

    The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

    L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

    L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    Regarding Stump,

    under the Mickey Mouse protection act, works published since 1925 are still protected.

    sorry, I should have known that but it slipped my mind. You're right, it depends on whether the copyright was registered and then renewed - I once knew the official webpage where to research this kind of stuff - and of course, even if it was PD, one would need to have an electronic source text to build a PB. Seems other works by him are available online, claimed to be in the PD, but I haven't seen The Christian Faith so far. 

    As for the dates of the Hoenecke translation, I don't know exactly, but I was under the impression that it was translated into English after Pieper - which came in the 1950's. In fact, if I am reading a few references on the web correctly, it was 2009 when the English translation of Hoenecke was finished.

    Which makes it particularly odd that the printed book is so rare (and one would think a this-century edition was available as eBook, too) - but this obviously closes the door on a PB of the English version. I may think over the German version (someone shared kind of an abstract, the original four volumes are bad scans in blackletter with long s and such nice things that throw off even Faithlife's production of older German works for Logos...     

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    Thanks Ken for that and all the work you have done on personal books over the years!

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  • Ken McGuire
    Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭

    Which makes it particularly odd that the printed book is so rare

    Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is not exactly known for their outreach... It appears to be currently available from Northwestern Publishing House, but every other on-line book dealer I have checked says it is out of stock.

    I may think over the German version (someone shared kind of an abstract, the original four volumes are bad scans in blackletter with long s and such nice things that throw off even Faithlife's production of older German works for Logos... 

    People that know German much better than I have commented that many of the German Americans kept using both the blackface fonts as well as  archaic forms long after they were changed in Germany. With my limited German skills, I remember throwing up my hands in frustration looking at my congregation's records from the 19th century. While penmanship was admittedly better then than today, it was just too many layers of different from the year of College German I had way too long ago.

    The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

    L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

    L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze

  • Rev. Matthew Fenn
    Rev. Matthew Fenn Member Posts: 20

    Forgive my ignorance, but how do I get the "Personal Book" version of Lindberg's Dogmatics?

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    Forgive my ignorance, but how do I get the "Personal Book" version of Lindberg's Dogmatics?

    Ken shared a docx-format file in his first post above, which you download. You then go to Tools/Personal Books in Logos and fill in the necessary information, like author and title. Keep language English and type Monograph (or change to this, if other defaults come up) . Select the downloaded file as source, optionally include the image (after download) as book cover. Then you use the button "Build" to let Logos create the book.

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Ken McGuire
    Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭

    Forgive my ignorance, but how do I get the "Personal Book" version of Lindberg's Dogmatics?

    No problem. The source file is attached to my original post. Download it.

    In Logos 8, go to Tools - Utilities - Personal Books

    Click on Add Book.

    Type in the relevant metadata you want for the book in your library. What I am using is (mostly) shown below.

    Add the Body File that you downloaded from here. Add any cover graphic you want to use.

    Hit the button "Build Book" for Logos 8 to compile.

    Afterwards, you can choose to upload it to the Faithlife servers, in which case, it will be installed in all of your DESKTOP (not mobile) installations.

    SDG,

    Ken McGuire

    The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

    L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

    L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze

  • Veli Voipio
    Veli Voipio Member, MVP Posts: 2,013 ✭✭✭

    Thanks Ken and others!

    I just wonder, is it possible to add this file to the systematic theologies passage guide, as Lutheran resource? 

    Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11

  • Ken McGuire
    Ken McGuire Member Posts: 2,074 ✭✭✭

    I just wonder, is it possible to add this file to the systematic theologies passage guide, as Lutheran resource? 

    I actually wondered this myself. However, to the best of my knowledge the Systematic Theology section is only of certain curated Logos resources. In the current PB compiler, it is even impossible to compile to the type "Systematic Theology". And so this work is not tagged in any special way.

    The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann

    L8 Anglican, Lutheran and Orthodox Silver, Reformed Starter, Academic Essentials

    L7 Lutheran Gold, Anglican Bronze