Aegidius Hunnius (1550-1603) was among the most significant of the Lutheran theologians of the early years of the Age of Lutheran Orthodoxy (1580-1713). From 1576 to 1592, Hunnius served on the theological faculty of the University of Marburg and then joined the faculty of the University of Wittenberg in 1592, helping to restore Lutheran teaching and practice in Saxony during the reign of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm I.
It was during his years in Marburg that Hunnius completed his sermons on the Small Catechism, to which his twelve sermons on "The Christian Table of Duties" were appended....

For many Christians, the doctrine of election is perceived as one of the most perplexing articles of the faith. In this sermon by Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) on the "Parable of the Wedding Feast" from Matthew 22:1-14, the reader is given a good overview of the biblical teaching of election by one of the great theologians of the Lutheran Reformation.
This 1573 sermon anticipates the more extensive treatment of this article of the faith which is found in Article 11 of the Formula of Concord in the Book of Concord (1580), of which Martin Chemnitz was one of the primary authors.

In A Comparison of the Roman and Evangelical Churches also known as A Brief and Careful Description (1629) by Nicolaus Hunnius and A Catholic Answer to the Heretical Question of the Jesuits: Where Was the True Religion and Church before the Time of Luther?" (1627) by Balthasar Meisner, one encounters two examples of a defense of the existence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church against the ongoing polemical assaults of the Papacy, which are written in such a way as to be accessible to a primarily lay audience. Writing in the midst of the time of the Thirty Years' War, both...

In The Method of Theological Study, Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) sets forth the aims and topics of theological study which form a five year educational program for the preparation of Candidates for the Office of the Holy Ministry. In the words of Gerhard, "Speaking concisely and by way of outline, the study of theology is the remedy for our innate ignorance of spiritual matters and for the inherent disorder in our emotions; the stronghold for the cultivation of holiness and piety; the means for listening to God daily in the Word and for speaking to God daily in prayers; and, finally, a...