Bayer, professor of systematic theology in the Protestant Faculty of the University of Tübingen, is not nearly as well known outside Germany as his older colleagues Jürgen Moltmann and Eberhard Jüngel. This trend, however, is beginning to turn in Anglo-American theological circles, thanks in large part to the efforts of the editors of the Lutheran Quarterly books series, who have now translated into English and published two of Bayer's major works. Theology the Lutheran Way will undoubtedly leave many readers hungry for more such volumes, as here we encounter a theologian of impressive skill, dexterously capable of bringing the insights of the Reformation to bear upon the problems bequeathed to us by the theology and philosophy that has emerged in the wake of the Enlightenment.

The volume is a partial translation of Theologie, which in its original publication was the first work – the prolegomena, more or less – of a multi-authored project of systematic theology written for students, pastors and laypersons. The editors of the English edition judiciously select from the original what they believe to be the most significant sections. Though the gaps in content are easily perceptible in some places, the broad argument of the author is preserved coherent and the transitions between sections rendered seamless.

The text of the volume is divided into two main parts. In part I Bayer provides a broad analysis of Luther's understanding of the tasks of theology and, more significantly, of the character and practices of the theologian. He demonstrates that, for Luther, the theologian cannot actualise the vocation of theology through reading and writing, lecturing, speculating etc. Rather, it is only through the passive reception of the word of God, through suffering the effects of this word as it searches, cleanses and renews, that one becomes a theologian. Theology is therefore marked by three ‘rules’ – prayer (oratio), meditation (meditatio) and spiritual attack (tentatio). Bayer shows that Luther developed this concept of theology chiefly through biblical exegesis and in the context of his critical engagement with scholastic theology.

Part II, entitled ‘Understanding Theology Today’, is a re-evaluation of Luther's concept of theology in light of a handful of developments in Western thought that have taken place over the course of the last two or three hundred years. In particular, Bayer persuasively insists that Luther's understanding of theology, as the passive suffering of the word of God, is a healthy alternative to the hasty bifurcations of faith and theological knowledge, ethics and dogmatics, liturgical service and systematic theology, etc, that characterise modernity. Bayer demonstrates that Luther conceived of theology as a unity of such things that we have so often been taught to disjoin.

The volume does leave some lingering questions unanswered. Bayer's categorical employment of the law/gospel distinction warrants further investigation, particularly in light of ongoing debates on the subject within Lutheran and ecumenical circles. Also, one wonders how Bayer might interact with developments in theological method and philosophy of science which have taken place over the last decade. Indeed, one of the problems with translating and republishing an academic book almost fifteen years after its initial appearance is that the academy and its concerns are always in flux, and that which is most pertinent today may not have been so only a few years ago. Theology the Lutheran Way thus comes across as slightly anachronistic – capable of speaking to our most contemporary situation, though itself lagging behind by a few years.

Such reservations aside, this edition of Bayer's opus deserves a wide audience. One hopes that the editors of the series will continue to make Bayer's work available in English.