SBTS Press today released Here We Stand: Enduring Truth and the Reformation of the Church, a collection of significant writings from the Protestant Reformation. Edited by Michael A.G. Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the volume is a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The book is from the publishing division of Southern Seminary.
“[In the book] one can read the words that shook European churches and society to their very depths and brought about the profound recovery of biblical Christianity that marked the Reformation era,” Haykin said.
Whether through scathing critique of the 16th century Catholic Church or wise instruction for believers, the selections for Here We Stand offer a call for Christians of all eras to stand with other believers in faith.
“There is little doubt that the Reformation is one of the most important events of Western history in the last thousand years,” Haykin said. “It reshaped nations and every facet of culture, from theology to art and from politics to music. While this is widely acknowledged, few have read the actual texts written in the era that precipitated these changes. Here in one volume are 15 key texts, some whole, some large extracts, that were central to this revolutionary event.”
The book includes writings from Desiderius Erasmus, who published the first Greek New Testament and “laid the egg” for the Reformation; Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation; John Calvin, who published the Institutes of the Christian Religion; and Hugh Latimer, who was one of the most gifted preachers of the Reformation.
Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Seminary, identifies in the preface eight stances Boyce College and Southern Seminary take. Each stance, Mohler writes, is shaped by the same Reformation that shook all of Europe.
The release of the book is in conjunction with the start of the Here We Stand conference. The conference is a three-day conference celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and features evangelical speakers from across the country. The book was available for purchase from the start of the conference and is now available for purchase in Southern Seminary’s LifeWay store.
Full selections from the book include:
- Julius Excluded from Heaven by Desiderius Erasmus
- To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation by Martin Luther
- The Babylonian Captivity of the Church by Martin Luther
- The Freedom of the Christian by Martin Luther
- A Simple Way to Pray by Martin Luther
- Schleitheim Confession of Faith of the Swiss Brethren
- The Wittenberg Concord 1536
- A Sermon on Matthew 6:9 by Hugh Latimer
- A Certain Communication by Lady Jane Grey
- Preface to the Psalms by John Calvin
- Selections from Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
- A Treatise of Reformation without trying for Anie by Robert Browne
- The Augsburg Confession
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Letter to Sadoleto by John Calvin
Video from the Here We Stand conference will be available at equip.sbts.edu