Giertz: Commentaries and a Letter on Theology and Pastoral Care

Giertz, Bo. Translated by Bror Erickson. New Testament Devotional Commentary, Volume I: Matthew, Mark, Luke. Irvine: 1517 Publishing: 2022. 379 Pages. Paper. $34.95. https://shop.1517.org/products/add-to-wishlist-the-new-testament-devotional-commentary-volume-1-matthew-mark-and-luke

Giertz, Bo. Translated by Bror Erickson. New Testament Devotional Commentary, Volume II: John, Acts, Romans. Irvine: 1517 Publishing: 2022. 439 Pages. Paper. $31.95. https://shop.1517.org/products/the-new-testament-devotional-commentary-volume-2-john-acts-romans-1-2-corinthians

Giertz, Bo. Translated by Bror Erickson. A Shepherd's Letter: The Faith Once and For All Delivered to the Evangelical Church. Irvine: 1517 Publishing: 2022. 212 Pages. Paper. $18.95. https://shop.1517.org/products/a-shepherds-letter-the-faith-once-and-for-all-delivered-to-the-saints

Today's review features works by Bo Giertz, previously most well-known as the author of Hammer of God, a novel that teaches well the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. More translations of Giertz in English are available now than ever before. 

Volume 1:

Bible commentaries are rarely so brief, and even more rarely so insightful or helpful. Bo Giertz’s trilogy of New Testament commentaries read as short devotions, that not only give the reader a better understanding of the factual context in which these Scriptures were written, but also how they apply to people in their everyday lives. Moving passage by passage, Giertz brings the law to bear in soul searching simplicity before preaching Christ and him crucified for the forgiveness of sins to all who have ears to hear.

This first volume covers the synoptic gospels, highlighting the unique perspective that Matthew, Mark, and Luke bring to us about the earthly life of Jesus. Each section begins with a brief introduction to the book, its author, and its place in history. The subsequent chapters focus on a single pericope each, bursting with Gospel insights that will enrich the faith of the pastor and the layman alike.

(Publisher's Website)

Volume 2:

Bo Giertz wrote these commentaries in retirement after a lifetime of studying the Greek New Testament. These accompanied his own translations of the New Testament. This volume covers the Gospel of John through to Second Corinthians. Many have previously enjoyed Giertz’s Romans commentary that is also included here, and they will not be disappointed with his treatment of the other texts.

Giertz’s views were heavily shaped by his mentor Anton Fridrichsen who wanted to counter both the liberalism of men like his friend Rudolph Bultmann, and the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth with Biblical Realism. Biblical Realism sought to avoid the pitfalls of biblicism by allowing for academic freedom while studying scriptures, while also maintaining that the events of the Bible were true events that happened in our history all centered upon the death and resurrection of Christ. The scriptures are therefore a salvation history meant to “declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 11:14).

(Publisher's website)

I rather like the approach of a devotional commentary. It shows Giertz' approach to pastoral care. He deals with topics that could give one pause within each narrative or letter and addresses them adroitly. I see this in the same way as I would an academic Greek New Testament with apparatus at the bottom compared to a Reader's Edition of the New Testament with vocabulary at the bottom. My shelf of traditional commentaries is more like the former. These volumes are more like the latter. 

The inclusion of the essay "The Bible's View of Itself" at the back of each NTDC volume was helpful to me as I wrestled with how Giertz commented on textual criticism. In many ways, what Giertz wrote was similar to my education at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. We were taught what the text critics falsely said about JEDP, etc., and then we were taught how to refute denials of authenticity, authorship, and the age of manuscripts. My conclusion is that Giertz was communicating in a way that his readers would understand, and in a way he could challenge them toward a more faithful confession. 

Two other essays (by other translators) helped clarify in my mind and heart Giertz' confession with regard to the Bible. They are:

The Bible’s View and a “View of the Bible” (Bibelns syn och bibelsyn)

Bo Giertz, Visby 1970 and Gothenburg pastoral conference 1970

(Translated by Charles Henrickson, 2005)

From Då föll Herrens eld: Nytt liv i tjänsten (“Then the Fire of the Lord Fell:

New Life in the Ministry”), Göteborg: Församlingsförlaget, 1996

and

Bo Giertz on the Bible and Scriptural Authority

Excerpts and references by and about Giertz

Translated [unless otherwise noted] and edited by Eric R. Andræ 

December 2021

I would encourage all Giertz scholars and translators to cooperate and collaborate on other translations as a way for them to encourage one another, ensure the most accurate and reliable translations possible, and to share the load of a labor of love in translating Giertz.

The next book is a treat for pastors.

A Shepherd’s Letter is Bo Giertz distilled and served neat. He wrote this book to introduce his theological agenda for the Diocese of Gothenburg to which he was elected bishop in 1949. Here, he takes a straightforward approach to the theological themes that guided his writing of The Hammer of God, Faith Alone: The Heart of Everything, and With My Own Eyes. What he wrote for the sheep of the Gothenburg diocese, has applicability for all Christians everywhere even today, and will enrich their understanding of the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

(Publisher's website)

This volume strikes me as the in-print pastoral care a churchman would give to his brothers-in-office as he takes an office of ecclesiastical supervision. There should be a lot more volumes like this!

The Rev. Bror Erickson has done a lot of work in translating Bo Giertz into English. He posted the following on social media about the importance of Giertz, which is reprinted here with his permission.

My first inclination at being asked this question is, "read him you will find out." It’s a bit like being asked what is so great about C.S. Lewis or Bonhoeffer both of whom he has been compared to, even if he is significantly less known. There are plenty of reasons for Bo Giertz being less known even though his life 1905-1998 over lapped with both of them his reach was limited due to the language that he wrote in, Swedish. English and German both have significantly higher bandwidth. Of course, a person might say he was also “shadow banned” in his own lifetime. As Lutheran churches became more and more liberal, many endorsing women’s ordination early on, Bo Giertz who opposed women’s ordination lost favor in the English speaking Lutheran Churches that had ties to Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. And the conservative Lutheran Churches with their roots in Germany did not have the connection to give him bandwidth. However, he remained popular with the faithful in Sweden and Northern Europe in general. 

For a long time, the only book anyone in the English world knew him by was “The Hammer of God.” It was that book that gave me my first introduction to him. I was floored. I read it in one evening and woke up the next day confused as to why I could not find anything else by this author. This is a novel, and I had never encountered such powerful work of theology, it reshaped my whole sense of what a pastor should be, and what the point of theology was, the care of souls and the salvation of man in the death and resurrection of Christ apart from their own works. 

It turns out Bo Giertz was a prolific author. He wrote 4 novels: “The Hammer of God,” “Faith Alone” “With My Own Eyes” and finally “The Knights of Rhodes. Several doctrinal/apologetic works including: “Christ’s Church” “Churchly Piety,” “The Fight for Man” “The Great Lie and the Greater Truth” “The Abc’s of Faith” and “The Fundamentals” (of these only Christ’s Church is currently available in English.” He also wrote some devotional material which would include “To Live with Christ” and his “New Testament Devotional Commentaries.” Posthumously, a few collections of his sermons would be published. His ordination sermons can be found in “Then Fell the Lord’s Fire,” his Sunday sermons can be found in “A Year of Grace” vol. 1 and 2. This really doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of so many other pamphlets, journal and newspaper articles.  

What the reader will notice in all of these works is a concern for the laity. He wanted to enrich the life of lay people in the church and make Lutheran theology both relevant and accessible to them. So his books are not light on theology, but they are light on theological jargon. It is his simple style and wide subject manner written to enrich the lives of the common man with the gospel that has many comparing him to C.S. Lewis. 

Dr. Rune Imberg draws attention to some of the parallels Bo Giertz had with Bonhoeffer. They grew up in upper middle class families involved with medicine that were not particularly churchly. Though a recent biography of Bo Giertz’s dad shows that Knut Giertz was mostly an atheist in name only for most of Bo Giertz’s life, they were the type of family that was lucky to show up to church on Christmas eve. Both Bo and Bonhoeffer had awakenings/conversion experiences as young men, and resolved immediately thereafter to pursue the pastoral office. They both had a very cosmopolitan outlook born of numerous travels. Bo Giertz’s dad even sent him to Germany for language school in 1918, (this even after Knut had gained first hand knowledge of how bad the war was working as a surgeon on a hospital train in Austria that had been commissioned by the Knight’s Hospitallers!). In college Bo would travel to Rome and Palestine, while Bonhoeffer was given posts in Spain, and North Africa as well as attending seminary in the United States. It was in Rome that Bo would promise his queen who was convalescing there, that he would be a “regular pastor.” Rune notes that essentially both Bonhoeffer and Bo had desired to be nothing but ordinary pastors, but were monumentally unsuccessful in those endeavors and became rather extraordinary instead. Their theological acumen and character would not allow them a quiet life in a rural parsonage. Though Bonhoeffer’s life was ended early for his opposition to the Nazi’s, the rural parsonage Bo inhabited would be interrupted by the Danish resistance families and fighters that found refuge there. 

Sometimes a person wonders what might have been. What would have happened if Bo had managed to find a voice in the English-speaking world so much earlier, if Nelson had not stopped translating his work, and Augsburg Fortress would have continued to publish it in the later half of the 20th century? I’ve read reviews where people balk at the comparisons I have made once again. Maybe that would not have been so far-fetched had history played out ever so slightly different. However, it’s a fools errand to ponder all that. I’ve got better things to do, like finish my goal of translating the major works of Bo Giertz into English. For whatever reason, God has designed it that way that Bishop Giertz would find his voice in the English world today. His books are finding newfound popularity all over the world. His program of bold confession of Christ crucified, and pastoral concern for the church and her sheep are finding new students, and Bo is being spared the embarrassment of having to read such blather about him when all he wanted to do was preach Christ. But what can I say, I’m thankful for all I have learned from him. I won’t be ashamed to remember him as a leader who labored in the word when most other bishops chased relevancy in liberalism.

I'll let the author speak for himself. He has given English voice to Bo Giertz.

A third volume of the Devotional Commentary has yet to be published as of this writing. We plan to review it when received.

Rev. Paul J Cain is Senior Pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster Emeritus and Instructor of Liberal Arts at Martin Luther Grammar School and Immanuel Academy, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education, First Vice-President of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Chairman of its Board of Directors, Rhetoric Teacher for Wittenberg Academy, a regent for Luther Classical College, a Director for Steadfast Lutherans and Associate Editor of Curriculum for Steadfast Press, and Editor of Lutheran Book Review.   He has served as an LCMS Circuit Visitor, District Worship Chairman, District Evangelism Chairman, District Education Chairman/NLSA Commissioner, and District Secretary. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Rev. Cain is a contributor to Lutheran Service Book, Lutheranism 101, the LSB Hymnal Companion hymn and liturgy volumes, and is the author of 5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church. He is an occasional guest on KFUO radio. He has previously served Emmanuel, Green River, WY and Trinity, Morrill, NE. Rev. Cain is married to Ann and loves reading and listening to, composing, and making music.