The richness of Ruokanen's work and the persuasiveness of his exposition can hardly be done justice in the space of this review. Suffice it to mention implications beyond the field of Luther research that are important for contemporary systematic theology... In an epoch in which theological sentimentalism blindly accommodating structures of malice and injustice prevails, Ruokanen's pathbreaking exposition of a classic text of Reformation theology merits wide reading and discussion.
Miikka Ruokanen is Professor Emeritus of Dogmatics at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Professor of Systematic Theology at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, China. He is also Guest Professor at the Renmin University of China, Beijing, and Advisory Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai. His publications include include The Catholic Doctrine of Non-Christian Religions: According to the Second Vatican Council (Brill, 1992), Theology of Social Life in Augustine's De civitate Dei (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993), and Christianity and Chinese Culture (co-edited with Paulos Huang; Eerdmans, 2010).