This fine collection brings together four papers given at a conference in the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, in May 2010 and eight articles published elsewhere (several of which appear here for the first time in English). Divided into three sections, the essays consider Melanchthon ‘in classroom’, as a teacher and exegete; ‘in confession’, as a definer and mediator of confessional norms; and ‘in controversy’, in questions of free will and the Lord's supper. The volume opens with Nicole Kuropka's consideration of Melanchthon's appeal to Aristotle: the attempt to exclude Aristotle from the teaching syllabus in the early years of the Reformation, and his ‘rediscovery’ in the mid-1520s. Robert Kolb assesses the pastoral dimension of Melanchthon's teaching, concluding that he was always concerned to identify practical applications. Timothy Wengert catalogues the wide extent of Melanchthon's exegetical works, opening up a rich field for future research. Considering ‘confession’, Wengert considers Melanchthon's contribution to the 1530 Diet of Augsburg, focusing on his encounter with Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. Kolb suggests that Melanchthon's Responsiones to the Bavarian visitation questions of 1558 may be read as presenting a useful summary of his mature doctrinal position. Irene Dingel explores Melanchthon's attempts to use the Confessio Augustana as a basis for theological consensus with the kings of France and of England in the mid-1530s, presents his attempts to unify Protestantism after Luther's death in the ‘Frankfurt Recess’ in 1557/8, and assesses his role in the establishment of confessional norms (a process which after his death would lead to the drafting of the Formula Concordiae, although she does not say so). Finally, some of Melanchthon's contributions to the key controversies of his day are considered. Wengert takes issue with two recent readings of Melanchthon's position on free will, arguing that each in its own way presents an over-simplified picture of a complex debate which can only properly be understood in context. In three final essays, Wengert, Kolb and Dingel consider aspects of Melanchthon's contribution to debates on the Lord's supper towards the end of his life and after his death, demonstrating how a range of factors – personal, political and theological (including exegetical) – meant that his position increasingly came to be seen as controversial and (at best) verging on Calvinist by those who regarded themselves as seeking to preserve the true legacy of Martin Luther, amongst whom the drafters of the Formula Concordiae must be included. This is a volume aimed at the scholarly community; at times these essays assume considerable background knowledge of (for instance) the political shifts in Saxony in the latter part of the sixteenth century. None the less, taken as a whole, these papers offer a nuanced picture of Melanchthon's contribution to the Reformation and the processes of confessionalisation, not just in the German lands, but across Europe. The volume makes a significant and very welcome contribution to Melanchthon studies in English.