Thomas H. Schattauer

Beyond Church Walls

Church Leadership & Ministry

“An experienced pastor and well-formed guide, Rick Rouse aims to help us navigate the shifting place of the church in relation to culture and context. Drawing together scripture, theology, and the practical wisdom found in ministry stories and strategies, this work's clear purpose is to imagine congregations turned toward care for the larger communities of which they are a part. Pastors and congregational leaders will find here a lively vision for the church acting out what it celebrates in its worship: Jesus Christ, the generosity of God for each and every one—for this whole wide world.”

Church in Motion

Evangelism & Missions

“Out of an obscure village in Germany emerged a church in motion that has changed the globe! This is at the heartbeat of the amazing story documented in this book, which begins with Wilhelm Loehe. Hermann Vorlaender is one of his successors, who knows this history from the inside out, having served many years as director of the missional institution Loehe grounded. Detailing the historical developments among the global partner churches through relationships of accompaniment extending from Neuendettelsau, the book locates these efforts in relationship to many other mission institutions that also were at work during this fruitful period. Even more insightful is the analysis of the diverse meanings of mission that come to expression through this history.” —Craig L. Nessan, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa “The mission movements among German Protestants in the nineteenth century involved a radical premise: that the life and work of the church transcends national boundaries. Vorlaender’s excellent and comprehensive account of the Neuendettelsau Mission, originating with Wilhelm Loehe and Friedrich Bauer’s efforts among German immigrants and Native Americans in North America, shows how this new and generative understanding of the church’s mission has unfolded in the context of Bavarian Lutheranism. The impact continues to this day in the emergence of the church as a trans-national, global communion.”

Common Worship in Theological Education

Preaching & Worship

“Theological schools in North America are most often also worshiping communities that gather to sing and pray, to hear the scriptures proclaimed, to eat and drink at the Lord's table. The essays in this volume are a welcome contribution to serious reflection about the practice of worship in seminary chapels and its import for theological education and formation. Let this be the starting point for a wide-ranging and much-needed conversation.”

Postils for Preaching

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“What a rich resource for preaching the lectionary! Rollefson's postils give fresh currency to a historic homiletical form. Every essay offers insight and inspiration for the three-fold task of preaching: to proclaim the appointed scripture readings in their witness to the good news of Jesus Christ, to set that Word in relation to the song and prayer of the worshiping assembly, and to interpret the 'now' of these hearers and this world.”

Preaching in Place

Preaching & Worship

“This little book holds a great gift. Rigg carries on a generative theological conversation with Wendell Berry’s writing and its alternative vision for an economy rooted in place and people, for a way of life connected to the land that sustains us. There is a wisdom here for the preacher—and much more. In an age captive to the dislocating forces of commerce and technology, Rigg’s work will inspire imagination for the distinctive witness of the local congregation.”

Wilhelm Loehe and North America

History & Biography

“This volume offers us the abundant harvest of Nessan’s writing on the impact of Wilhelm Loehe’s worship-centered, ecclesial, and missionary theology on Lutherans in North America. Here you will find readable, well-informed history, and illuminating theological discussion of Loehe and those who followed his lead. And more—you will see the impulses from Loehe for imagining the renewal of the church in its life and mission today. Nessan is a superb guide into this territory.”

Worship and Culture

Preaching & Worship

“This wide-ranging collection of essays takes up the pathbreaking study of worship and culture sponsored by the Lutheran World Federation in the last decade of the twentieth century and carries the conversation forward into the twenty-first century. Readers new to that conversation will give thanks for this introduction to the seminal statements and work of the LWF study. Readers familiar with the issues will find here new treasures of understanding and insight.”