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Title Page from 1580 German Edition of the Book of Concord

The Book of Concord or Concordia (1580) is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century. It has been categorized as a "body of doctrine" or corpus doctrinæ^[1] compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz. It was published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, fifty years to the day after the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. The authoritative Latin edition was published in 1584 in Leipzig. Its untranslated title Concordia, Latin for "an agreeing together, union, harmony," literally, "with one heart," denotes the character of Christian statements of faith as setting forth what is believed, taught, and confessed by the confessors with one heart and voice. This follows St. Paul's directive: "that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Cor. 1:10)(NKJV). Lutherans believe that the creeds and confessions that constitute the Book of Concord are not the private writings of their various authors:^[2]

Inasmuch, however, as they are in complete agreement with Holy Scripture, and in this respect differ from all other particular symbols i.e., denominational creeds and credal statements, the Lutheran confessions are truly ecumenical and catholic in character. They contain the truths believed universally by true Christians everywhere, explicitly by all consistent Christians, implicitly even by inconsistent and erring Christians. Christian truth, being one and the same the world over is none other than that which is found in the Lutheran confessions.^[3]

A modern edition of the Book of Concord

The documents of The Book of Concord are also known as the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church.

The Book of Concord begins with the "Three Ecumenical Creeds," the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed, statements of Christian faith that were formulated before the East-West Schism of 1054. However, the Nicene Creed is the western version containing the filioque. The other documents come from the earliest years of the Lutheran Reformation (1529–77). They are the Augsburg Confession, the Apology (Defense) of the Augsburg Confession, both written chiefly by Philipp Melanchthon, then the Small and Large Catechism by Martin Luther, his Smalcald Articles, and Melanchthon's Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. The final documents, the two sections of the Formula of Concord, were written shortly before The Book of Concord was published and were intended for the same purpose as that of the The Book of Concord itself: to unify the growing Lutheran movement. The preface of The Book of Concord was considered to be the preface of the Formula of Concord as well.

To this day The Book of Concord is doctrinally normative among traditional and conservative Lutheran churches, which require their pastors and other rostered church workers to pledge themselves unconditionally to The Book of Concord.^[4] They often identify themselves as "confessional Lutherans." They consider the Book of Concord the norma normata (Latin, "the normed norm") in relation to the Bible, which they consider the norma normans (Latin, "the norming norm"), i.e. the only source of Christian doctrine (God's authoritative word). In this view the Book of Concord, on the topics that it addresses, is what the church authoritatively understands God's authoritative word to say. This is also called a "quia" (because) subscription to the Lutheran confessions, i.e. one subscribes because the Book of Concord is a faithful exposition of the Scriptures. It implies that the subscriber has examined the Lutheran confessions in the light of the Scriptures in order to arrive at this position, which in the subscriber's view does not require the disclaimer implied in a "quatenus" (insofar as) subscription. One who subscribes the Lutheran confessions quatenus, insofar as they are a faithful exposition of the Scriptures, believes that there might be contradictions of the Scriptures in them. In some cases this is the manner of subscription of some other Lutheran churches, which regard the Book of Concord as an important witness and guide to the historical teachings of the Lutheran Church although not necessarily doctrinally binding. The largest Lutheran church to subscribe unconditionally to the Book of Concord is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland with 4.6 million members.^[5][6]

• The Three Ecumenical Creeds
  • The Apostles' Creed
  • The Nicene Creed
  • The Athanasian Creed
• The Augsburg Confession of 1530
• The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531)
• The Smalcald Articles of Martin Luther (1537)
• Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537)
• The Small Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)
  • Luther's Marriage Booklet (1529) and Baptism Booklet (1526) were included as part of the Small Catechism in some 1580 editions of the German Book of Concord [[See the second edition of Concordia: The Lutheran Confesions (2006) and The Book of Concord, edited by Kolb and Wengert (2000)]].
• The Large Catechism of Martin Luther (1529)
• Epitome of the Formula of Concord (1577)
• The Solid or Thorough Declaration of the Formula of Concord (1577).

• Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch=lutherischen Kirche. Herausgegeben in Gedenkjahr der Augsburgischen Konfession 1930. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1976. ISBN 3-525-52101-4.
• Bente, F., translator and editor. Concordia Triglotta. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.
• Kolb, Robert and Timothy J. Wengert, translators and editors. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. ISBN 0-8006-2740-7.
• McCain, Paul T., general editor. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions — A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Second edition, 2006. ISBN 0-7586-1343-1.
• Tappert, Theodore G., translator and editor. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8006-0825-9.

• The Book of Concord, Triglot edition, in PDF and HTML, other useful resources as well.
• Henkel Book of Concord 1851 edition
• Henkel Book of Concord 1854 edition
• Jacob's Book of Concord
• Online discussion of Book of Concord

• Bente, Friedrich. Historical Introductions to the Book of Concord (1921). New reprint edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995. ISBN 0-570-03262-8.
• Fagerberg, Holsten. A New Look at the Lutheran Confessions (1529–1537). Translated by Gene Lund. Paperback Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988. ISBN 0-570-04499-5.
• Forell, George W. The Augsburg Confession: A Contemporary Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1968. LOC 68-25798.
• Grane, Lief. The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary. Translated by John H. Rasmussen. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1986. ISBN 0-8066-2252-0.
• Kolb, Robert and James A. Nestingen, eds. Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8006-3290-7.
• Preus, Jacob A.O. The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
• Preus, Robert D. and Wilbert H. Rosin, eds. A Contemporary Look at the Formula of Concord. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978. ISBN 0-570-03271-7.
• Preus, Robert D. Getting Into the Theology of Concord. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
• Preus, Robert D. Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism: Volume I. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1972. ISBN 0-570-04545-2.
• Reu, Johann Michael. The Augsburg Confession. Reprint. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1995.
• Schlink, Edmund. Theology of the Lutheran Confessions. Translated by P. Koehneke and H. Bouman. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1961. Reprint, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004.
• Schmauk, Theodore. The Confessional Principle and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church. Translated by C. Theodore Benze. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, Reprint 2005.
• Wengert, Timothy J. A Formula for Parish Practice: Using the Formula of Concord in Congregations. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-8028-3026-9.

v • d • e The Lutheran Confessions - Documents of the Book of Concord
Apostles' Creed  | Nicene Creed  | Athanasian Creed Augsburg Confession | Apology of the Augsburg Confession  | Smalcald Articles  | Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope Luther's Small Catechism  | Luther's Large Catechism  | Formula of Concord

• Article on Lutheran Confessions in the Christian Cyclopedia
• Scholarly and pastoral essays on the Lutheran Confessions from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library
• Why Bible-Believing Lutherans Subscribe to the Book of Concord (classic example of a quia perspective)
• Concordia Triglotta, by Theodore Graebner from the October 1921 Theological Monthly