Volker Stolle, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Lutheran Theological Seminary (Theologische Hochschule), Oberursel, offers an overview of the formation and development of the confessionally Lutheran Free Churches in Germany, which in 1972 came together to form the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church; SELK). After a brief historical prelude, in which he seeks (not entirely successfully) to cover the entire period from the New Testament to the end of the eighteenth century, including the Reformation, Stolle sets out the history of the confessionally Lutheran Churches in six chapters arranged chronologically by key periods of German history. The first independent Lutheran congregations emerged in protest against the decision of King Friedrich William iii of Prussia to merge the Lutheran and Reformed churches in his kingdom into a united Church in 1817. These congregations subsequently came together to establish the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Prussia. They were independent of the United Church of Prussia, the Landeskirche, and their legal status was disputed. These were the first Lutheran Free Churches in Germany; similar developments soon led to parallel developments in other German states. When Germany was unified in 1871, Lutherans’ hopes that the new state would have confessional Protestant churches – i.e. Lutheran and Reformed – were not realised; instead, the Landeskirchen, many of which were United, were retained. With the introduction of the new political constitution after the First World War and the establishment of the Weimar Republic, the constitutions of the Landeskirchen changed significantly: the Summepiskopat system, in which the local ruler functioned as the head of the Church, was abandoned and new synodical structures developed. Lutheran Free Churches continued to exist alongside the Landeskirchen. During the Third Reich, the Lutheran Free Churches adapted to the political situation, although they resisted the ideological claims of the ‘German Christians’. They remained outside the Deutsche Evangelische Kirche (German Evangelical Church) established in 1933; they also distanced themselves from the Barmen Declaration, which they regarded as contrary to their Lutheran confession. Relationships with the Lutheran Landeskirchen improved during this period. After the Second World War four Lutheran Free Churches emerged in Germany: the Evangelisch-Lutherische (Altlutherische) Kirche (Old Lutheran), the Evangelisch-Lutherische Freikirche, the Evangelisch-Lutherische Bekenntniskirche and the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche. In 1972 they united to form the present SELK. A final chapter explores the current situation of the SELK, its theology, structures and polity, including the role of women in the SELK (women have full voting rights but may not be ordained). The new SELK, which is a member of the International Lutheran Council rather than the Lutheran World Federation, has been critical of the Leuenberg Agreement, of the WCC's Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, and of the Joint declaration on the doctrine of justification between the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church. Written from within the SELK, this study provides a detailed account of the genesis and development of Germany's Lutheran Free Churches, their structures, polity and mission. Stolle's approach may not be critical, but it is also not apologetic. His study casts considerable light on the history of the SELK, but it also provides interesting insights into the historical status of Free Churches in the different German states, into the relationships between Free Churches and the Landeskirchen, and into the complex relationship between the Landeskirchen and confessional Churches.