Priesthood, Pastors, Bishops: Public Ministry for the Reformation and Today (Lutheran Reformation 500) - Softcover

Protestant churches are often rent by disagreement and dissent over the office of bishop, the roles of the ordained, and myriad forms of lay ministry. Timothy Wengert's text overturns many of the 'pious myths' about these matters to probe the core conviction of Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and the early Reform about public ministry.

Timothy J. Wengert is emeritus professor of Church History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. A parish pastor for seven years in Minnesota and Wisconsin with a doctorate from Duke University, he taught on Philadelphia's faculty from 1989-2013. He has written extensively on the Reformation, was co-editor of the English edition of The Book of Concord (Fortress, 2000) and translated LutherAs Small Catechism, used throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In addition to books on Philip Melanchthon and Martin Luther, he co-authored with Susan Wood a book on Lutheran/Roman Catholic relations, Shared Spiritual Journey (Paulist, 2016) and currently serves on the U.S. Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogue. He currently resides in Long Valley, NJ.