Gerhard, Johann: Succinct and Select Theological Aphorisms: in Twenty-Three Chapters Containing the Core of all Theology (1611)

Johann Gerhard (1582–1637) has long been recognized as the greatest theologian of the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy (1580–1713). In 1611, Gerhard published a summary of Christian dogmatics under the title, Aphorismi Succincti et Selecti… A generation later, Ralph Winterton published an abridged English title of this work under the title, A Golden Chaine of Divine Aphorismes (1632). However, a complete translation has been unavailable until now. Gerhard’s Succinct and Select Theological Aphorisms was written during a particularly significant period in the theologian’s work when he produced books such as On the Legitimate Interpretation of Sacred Scripture (1610) and A Comprehensive Explanation of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1610). Gerhard’s Succinct and Select Theological Aphorisms provides a thorough summary of classical Lutheran dogmatic theology divided into twenty-three chapters. Rev. Paul A. Rydecki’s translation of Gerhard’s Succinct and Select Theological Aphorisms is his tenth volume translated from the classics of the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy and his fourth volume from the writings of Johann Gerhard.