Holding Fast the Faithful Word—
Episcopacy and the Office of the Holy Ministry
in the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
by John Rutowicz
Pastor, St. Boniface Lutheran Church (Niles, MI)
In June 2006, the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
(ELDoNA) was organized by a group of confessional Lutheran pastors serving
independent congregations who were alarmed by the lack of faithful doctrine and
practice manifest in the existing synods in North America. The founding pastors
of the diocese recognized that a lack of pastoral oversight was one of the most
significant factors contributing to the decline of Lutheran doctrine and
practice. Therefore, the diocese was organized with an episcopal polity, with a
bishop who would be responsible for exercising pastoral oversight among the
pastors of the diocese, just as the pastors themselves were responsible for the
oversight of their respective parishes.
Pastor Rutowicz was among the founding pastors of the diocese. This
volume contains three of his essays which helped shape the diocese's
understanding of the episcopal office, as that office is set forth in the Book
of Concord and historic Lutheran practice. This volume also contains the ELDoNA
Charter, the Niles and Malone Theses, and the diocesan Rite of Consecration.
Pastor Rutowicz serves at St. Boniface Lutheran Church in Niles,
Michigan.
ISBN 1891469460 • Paperback • 104 Pages • List Price: $9.95
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, PLEASE USE THIS LINK: http://amzn.com/1891469460
In the Stead of Christ
by Rev. Kent A. Heimbigner, S.T.M., Ph.D.
Pastor, Charity Lutheran Church (Burleson, TX)
Who may celebrate the Lord's Supper? In recent years, ‘offices’ such as ‘lay
minister’ have begun to appear, and such ‘lay ministers' have been permitted to
officiate at celebrations of the Lord's Supper. Are such celebrations actually
the sacrament which Christ instituted? Are they God-pleasing? Do they offer the
forgiveness of sins?
In this important book, Pastor Heimbigner examines Holy Scripture and the
writings of the early church fathers, church orders and liturgies in order to
find an answer to these questions. Heimbigner's research reveals that the
Church has always understood that Christ entrusted the celebration of the
Lord's Supper to the Office of the Holy Ministry. The Church acknowledges that
the Office was instituted by Christ to convey the forgiveness of sins to God's
people. The Office of the Holy Ministry, therefore, is occupied by men who have
been called by Christ through the Church and ordained into the Office by men
who already occupy the Office.
206 Pages • Paperback • ISBN 189146924X • $17.95
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, PLEASE USE THIS LINK: http://amzn.com/189146924X
Stewards of the Mysteries of God
by James D. Heiser, M.Div, S.T.M.
Six essays are included in this volume:
• The Office of the Ministry in Nicolaus Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum
(A detailed study of the teaching of one of the Lutheran
fathers from the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy as pertains to the office of the
ministry)
• The Office of the Keys in the Ecclesiology of C.F.W. Walther and the
Lutheran Confessions
(A comparison of the central tenets of Walther's doctrine of
the Church and that which is confessed in the Book of Concord)
• Ministry and the Ordained Diaconate in the 16th and 17th Century
Lutheran Church
(The historic Lutheran understanding of the diaconate is
substantially different from that of the Reformed and many modern Lutherans)
• Pastoral Responsibility and the Office of the Keys in the Book of
Concord
(An examination of that aspect of the office referred to as
"jurisdiction" in the Augsburg Confession)
• Bishops, Councils and Authority in the Church in the Treatise on the
Power and Primacy of the Pope
(The Treatise was written in the context of an invitation to
attend an Ecumenical Council and it was written as a Lutheran response to
the claims of Papalists and Conciliarists regarding authority
in the Church)
• The Future of Ecclesiastical Oversight among Confessional Lutherans
(The modern neglect of Visitation and Ecclesiastical Oversight
is examined in light of the Reformation-era practices)
“Reading this book gives me hope for a recovery of traditional and confessional
understanding of the Office of the Holy Ministry and its oversight in American
Lutheranism.”—The Rev. Paul J. Cain, Editor, LHP Quarterly Book Review, Wyoming
District Worship Chairman, LC–MS
188 pages • paperback • ISBN 978-1891469411 • $13.95
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, PLEASE USE THIS LINK: http://amzn.com/189146941X
Rt. Rev. James Heiser, M.Div., S.T.M.
Repristination Press
P.O. Box 173
Bynum, Texas 76631
www.repristinationpress.com
[email protected]
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