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Schmid Library

The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church

Read Heinrich Schmid's classic Lutheran dogmatics with full text, search, and chapter-by-chapter navigation.

Source text adapted from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library's edition of Schmid's Doctrinal Theology.

Why It Matters

A classic digest of Lutheran orthodoxy

The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church became one of the best-known English gateways into older Lutheran dogmatics because Heinrich Schmid gathered, arranged, and summarized the chief doctrinal statements of the orthodox Lutheran theologians in a single usable volume.

Its significance is partly historical and partly practical. Historically, it preserves how post-Reformation Lutheran dogmaticians such as Gerhard, Quenstedt, and Hollaz stated the articles of faith in a disciplined, scholastic form. Practically, it gives pastors, students, and lay readers a structured map of confessional Lutheran theology with citations, distinctions, and doctrinal definitions that shaped later Lutheran teaching.

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Contents

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  1. Title Page
  2. Prefatory Material
  3. Preface to Reprint Edition.
  4. Abbreviations
  5. Introduction
  6. Chapter I. Of Theology in General.
  7. § 2. Meaning of the terms, Natural and Revealed.
  8. Chapter II. Of the General Subject of Theology, viz., Religion.
  9. § 3. Religion, True and False.
  10. Chapter III. Of the Source of Theology.
  11. § 4. Revelation, — not Reason, nor Tradition.
  12. § 5 Excursus. Concerning the Use of Reason in…
  13. Chapter IV. Of the Holy Scriptures.
  14. § 6. Of the terms, Holy Scriptures and…
  15. § 7. The Attributes of the Holy Scriptures
  16. § 8. (1.) Authority.
  17. § 9. (2.) Perfection, or Sufficiency.
  18. § 10. (3.) Perspicuity.
  19. § 11. (4.) Efficacy.
  20. § 12. Of the Canon and the Apocryphal Books.
  21. Chapter V. Concerning the Articles of Faith and…
  22. § 13. What are Articles of Faith?
  23. Part I. Of God.
  24. Chapter I. Of God.
  25. § 15. Preliminary Statement.
  26. § 16. (1). The Certainty of the Divine Existence.
  27. § 17. (2). The Essence of God.
  28. § 18. (3.) The Attributes of God.
  29. Chapter II. Of the Holy Trinity.
  30. § 19. The Doctrine is a Mystery.
  31. Chapter III. Of Creation.
  32. § 20. Creation a Divine Work.
  33. Chapter IV. Of Providence.
  34. § 21. The Doctrine taught by both Reason and…
  35. Chapter V. Of Angels.
  36. § 22. When were they created?
  37. Part II. Of Man.
  38. Chapter I. Of the State of Integrity.
  39. § 24. State of Integrity Defined.
  40. Chapter II. Of the State of Corruption.
  41. § 25. Of Sin in General
  42. § 26. Man’s First Transgression, and the State…
  43. § 27. Of Actual Sins.
  44. § 28. The Freedom of the Will.
  45. Part III. Of the Sources of Salvation.
  46. Chapter I. Of the Benevolence of God towards…
  47. § 30. Benevolence of God.
  48. Note 13.
  49. Chapter II. Of the Fraternal Redemption by…
  50. § 31. Statement of the Subject.
  51. § 32. Of the Personal Union.
  52. § 33. Continuation.
  53. § 34. The Threefold Office of Christ.
  54. § 36. The Sacerdotal Office.
  55. § 37. The Regal Office.
  56. § 38.
  57. Chapter III. Of the Grace of the Holy Spirit in…
  58. § 39. Preliminary Remarks.
  59. § 40. The Agent, the Means, the Result.
  60. § 41. I. Faith.
  61. § 42. (2) Justification.
  62. § 43. Concomitants and Consequences of Justifying…
  63. § 44. (1.) Vocation.
  64. § 45. (2.) Illumination.
  65. § 46. Regeneration and Conversion.
  66. § 47. (4.) The Mystical Union.
  67. § 48. (5.) Of Renovation.
  68. § 49. Of Good Works.
  69. Part IV. Of the Means of Grace.
  70. Chapter I. Of the Word of God.
  71. § 51. The Efficacy of the Word of God.
  72. § 52. The Law and the Gospel.
  73. Chapter II. Of the Sacraments.
  74. § 53. Of the Sacraments in General.
  75. § 54. Of Baptism.
  76. § 55. (2.) The Lord’s Supper.
  77. Chapter III. Of the Church.
  78. § 56. Of the Church [1] in a Wider and a Narrower…
  79. § 57. The Church, Collective and Representative.
  80. § 58. Of the Three Estates in the Church.
  81. § 59. 1. Of the Ecclesiastical Estate, the…
  82. § 60. 2. Of the Political Estate; [1] The Civil…
  83. § 61. 3. The Domestic Estate.
  84. Part V. Of the Last Things.
  85. § 62. Preliminary Statement.
  86. § 63. (1.) Of Death.
  87. § 64. (2.) Of the Resurrection of the Dead.
  88. § 65. (3.) Of the Final Judgment.
  89. § 66. (4.) Of the End of the World.
  90. § 67. (5.) Of Eternal Damnation and Eternal Life.
  91. Appendix I. Sketch of the Dogmaticians Cited.