In this episode, translator Michael Holmen takes us through J. W. F. Höfling's How the Lutheran Church is Constituted (Grundsätze evangelisch-lutherischer Kirchenverfassung).
In his book Höfling describes how the Lutheran church should be constituted according to the principles given in the Lutheran Confessions and in Martin Luther's writings. Höfling sees the teachings of church and ministry in the Lutheran church as being very different from what the Roman Catholic church teaches. In the wake of the 1848 revolutions, he is also concerned about the loss of the sovereigns as the Summepiskopat of the churches in Germany. He offers his advice for how the churches should work towards structuring themselves in the wake of these new conditions.
This third edition of his work has extensive endnotes, which are often more like excurses, where he elaborates on what he has said in previous editions and responds to objections from opponents.