Sacred Meditations

by Johann Gerhard

Book Overview

Written by Johann Gerhard as a young man, Sacred Meditations delves deeply into the truth and paradox of Christian faith and life. Each devotion a powerful journey into the revelation of God to the human race, Johann Gerhard's meditations immerse the reader in Christ, bringing him or her through trial to glory, through anguish to peace, through doubt to certainty, through confession to absolution, through cross to resurrection. This classic...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0982158602
• ISBN13: 9780982158609
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Madgeburg Press
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Classic Lutheran Piety

Johann Gerhard wrote these Sacred Meditations when he was just 21 years of age. He had recovered from a serious illness wherein he had almost died. The near death experience confirmed his faith and strengthened his personal piety. These Meditations are the fruit of Gerhad's spirituality. The Meditations became an instant devotional classic and were read for several centuries in pious Lutheran homes from Germany to Iceland. The Meditations evince a deep love and faith in Christ which is practical and heartfelt. This is all the more interesting because Johann Gerhard is considered by many to be the most outstanding representative of systematized Lutheran theology known as Lutheran Orthodoxy. Lutheran Orthodoxy, in turn, has repeatedly been represented by its detractors as spiritually dead and thus the phrase "dead Orthodoxy" still persists to this day in Lutheran and Pietist circles. Gerhard, however, is a striking example of a man who is deeply pious and pastoral as well as being profoundly theological.

ONE OF THE GREAT WORKS OF LUTHERAN ORTHODOXY

Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) is revered as the greatest theologian of the seventeenth century Lutheran Church. Gerhard is remembered both for his abilities as a parish pastor and as a professor of theology. He wrote dozens of volumes of theology ranging from devotional materials to his great dogmatics, "Loci Theologici." His "Sacred Meditations" (originally published in 1606) was quickly recognized as one of the finest devotional works ever written in Western Christendom. "Sacred Meditations" contains 51 different meditations on a wide variety of topics.