Theology of the Lutheran Confessions grew out of Schlink's lectures to theology students at the University of Giessen and the Theological School at Bethel, in response to the National Socialist ascendancy to power and, consequently, the events of the Second World War. Although many studies center on individual creeds or confessions, the present work examines the theology of the confessions as a whole, probing their underlying unity within the Lutheran tradition. In this way, Schlink seeks to move beyond a surface-level investigation of isolated confessional statements and instead, to engage in an in-depth probing of the inner coherence of the Lutheran Confessions, mapping their unified theology and insight. As the task of confession is never behind us, Schlink points us toward genuine confession of what the Church believes and teaches in present idioms through study of its theological heritage, which is comprised, in part, by the Lutheran Confessions.
