Bugenhagen's Jonah

When the University of Wittenberg reopened after the Smalcaldic War in 1547, Johannes Bugenhagen, Wittenberg's chief pastor and a professor at the university, began lecturing on Jonah. He first saw these lectures as a way to build up faith in his shaken community. As the months passed, Bugenhagen adapted his work to address the controversies that arose in the war's aftermath, especially those provoked by Emperor Charles V's 1548 religious edict, the Augsburg Interim. In his published Jonah Commentary, Bugenhagen richly and publicly articulated an Evangelical Lutheran faith that was confronting political threats, religious uncertainty, and the recent death of Martin Luther. By studying Bugenhagen's context, biblical theology, and Lutheran faith, this study brings a vital perspective to contemporary questions of how Christian faith can serve daily life.Bugenhagen's Jonah makes several significant contributions to Reformation studies. It is the first book published in English about Bugenhagen in over 80 years. It integrates diverse fields of study (including biblical interpretation, ecclesiology, worship, social reform and church history), draws upon the latest international scholarship, and translates original sources. Finally, the emphasis on Bugenhagen as a “public theologian” highlights the relationship between faith and daily life for every age.

Martin J. Lohrmann is a pastor and a teacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has earned degrees from Valparaiso University (B.A. 1999), Wartburg Theological Seminary (M.Div., 2004), and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, (Ph.D., 2010).