LHP Review: Gerhard on the Church
Gerhard, Johann. Translated by Richard J. Dinda. Edited with Annotations by Benjamin T. G. Mayes. On the Church (Theological Commonplaces: XXV). St. Louis: Concordia, 2010. 870 Pages. Cloth. $54.99. https://www.cph.org/p-12935-on-the-church-theological-commonplaces.aspx?SearchTerm=gerhard%20church (LHP) For far too long, the encyclopediac dogmatic masterpiece of Johann Gerhard was not available in English translation. We rejoice to present to you Gerhard's massive volume on the Church. The doctrine of the church was contentious as Lutherans argued for the scriptural catholicity of their churches, which embraced the Reformation, over against Roman Catholic claims to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church confessed in the creeds. Distinguishing between visibility and invisibility as aspects of the same church, Gerhard discusses whether the church can err and defines the true marks of the church. Yet this volume covers much more than just the doctrine of t