A Contemporary Evaluation of Lutheranism:

A Spiritual Odyssey

Reader Alert! The thrust of A Contemporary Evaluation of Lutheranism is identified in the subtitleA Spiritual Odyssey. Thus the author provides substantiating details as to why his very own personal faith journey reads more like a polemic. Dr. Baumbachs study of the Symbolic Books of Lutheranism has transformed his perception of Lutheran doctrine. That is, much of Lutheran doctrineas well as much of Christian doctrinehave been based upon the historicalization of myth. Hence, this book is not a call to arms. Rather, the author hopes that it might provoke others, conscientiously and with respectable scholarship, to re-examine the doctrinal structure of their respective religious assemblies. Obviously, this book is initially addressed to Lutheran theologians, Lutheran pastors, and spiritually sensitive Lutheran laity. However, inasmuch as the parameters encompassing the Domain of The Spirit are primarily unknownand many that are knowable are often unacknowledgedthis invitation is extended as well to other Christians and non-Christians alike. Global conceptualizations in the 21st Century are infinitely more illuminating than those involved in 16th Century religious thought processes. All venues of biblical scholarship available today provide disturbing, but nonetheless revealing and substantiating, evidences that cannot be ignored by scientially qualified and spiritually sensitive persons. The rigorous (some prefer the term fossilized) structures of most institutionalized religions and the resolute faith positions of their members are discouraging factors in this regard. But given the unfathomable transcendence of The Spirit, every facet of the Domain of The Spirit ultimately evidences one inescapable phenomenonCHANGE. Reader Alert! There is HOPE!