On this episode of The Concordia Publishing House Podcast, Elizabeth Pittman is joined by guest Dr. Gene Edward Veith Jr. as he talks about his new book, Embracing Your Lutheran Identity. Gene takes listeners and readers on a journey from the early church through the Reformation to Lutheranism today. Elizabeth discusses how his newest work helps us to see why the stories from these eras are important to our Lutheran identity.

Embracing Your Lutheran Identity will release on August 27 and is available for pre-order now on cph.org.

Show Notes
In Embracing Your Lutheran Identity, Gene Edward Veith Jr. uncovers inspiring stories and characters from church history with whom you share an identity.

Writing not as a scholar, pundit, or apologist, but as a teacher, Gene Edward Veith Jr. talks about how his new book will guide readers through the Holy Spirit's work from the early church, through the Reformation, and into Lutheranism today through engaging accounts, modern parallels, and thought-provoking questions. Gene also discusses why our baptismal identity is important to our faith lives, why we study connections to the early church and more.

Questions

• How does having a strong Lutheran identity help strengthen our identity in Christ?
• Culture today is preoccupied with ethnicity, social status, race, and identity. How does the Bible address these preoccupations?
• Why is our baptismal identity so much more important than any other way we identify ourselves?
• What parallels are there between the difficulties of Christians today and the Christians of the early church?
• Why is it helpful for us to think of our church and ourselves as being connected to the early church?
• What lessons can we learn from the medieval church?
• Tell us about the rise of American Lutheranism.
• You write that “Lutheranism offers the kind of Christianity that best speaks to the spiritual issues of today.” Why is this?

About the Guest
Gene Edward Veith Jr. is a retired English professor and college administrator, most recently at Patrick Henry College and Concordia University Wisconsin. He is the author of twenty-seven books, including Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Postmodern World; Christianity in an Age of Terrorism, and God at Work. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and currently lives in St. Louis with his wife, Jackquelyn.