Among the numerous resources published during the 2017 anniversary of the Reformation, this is a most outstanding, one-volume reference work not only for the study of Luther, but also for the development of Lutheran traditions to the present day. Here is a compact, accessible dictionary which is a reliable and substantial work that will endure as a standard source.

The general editor, Timothy J. Wengert, is a highly-respected Luther scholar who has enlisted other distinguished scholars as associate editors. They assembled a broad, international array of Lutheran and non-Lutheran scholars who display breathtaking competence. This assures top quality for each entry, making this an authoritative volume which is clearly conceived with entries reflecting the best scholarship.

A great value is that not only well-known and expected entries are found here but also a large number of pieces which deal with lesser-known figures in the Lutheran traditions. These persons laboured to present a witness to the Christian Gospel from Lutheran perspectives and did so across the globe. The dictionary itself witnesses to the diversity of Lutheran movements throughout the continents. In essence, this is a most fitting tribute to the Lutheran traditions and their impact in varied ways and places.

The bibliographies following each entry direct us to further means of study. A glimpse of the incredible breadth of entries here is found in the over thirty pages of multi-columned indices: list of entries, name index and subject index. This is a splendid help for locating specific items of interest, further enhancing the usefulness of this marvellous dictionary.

A further example of another type of diversity in this dictionary is the presence of entries on non-Lutheran figures or movements, connected by relationships to Luther and or Lutheran traditions. Thus we have accounts of Karl Barth, Theodore Beza, Martin Bucer, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, Wolfgang Musculus, John and Charles Wesley and Ulrich Zwingli. The entry on Melchior Hoffmann notes that he began as a Lutheran but was expelled to become an itinerant Anabaptist preacher. Present too is an entry on Methodism and one on Calvinism as a Second Reformation.

When it comes to heavy-duty theological entries the dictionary is especially strong. Mark Mattes expertly writes on justification, that key Luther insight which Valentin Löscher (p. 439), one of the last representatives of Lutheran Orthodoxy, said was the article by which ‘the church stands or falls’. Mattes compactly gives the historic view:

Mattes goes on to expound Luther's thought further while noting that ‘some scholars, beginning with Albrecht Ritschl and Karl Holl, disassociate Luther from a forensic approach to justification, fearing that it is implausible, a legal fiction, needing ethical or ontological supplementation or warrant’ (p. 386). Further helpful discussion follows and the entry concludes by mentioning the contemporary Finnish school of Luther studies, developed by Tuomo Mannermaa (b. 1937; cf. the entry on ‘Finnish interpretation of Luther’) which has ‘aimed to present Luther's view of justification as properly divinisation, or theōsis. In this perspective, a purely forensic view of justification falls short of the meaning of salvation for Luther which Mannermaa regards as participation in God's very nature itself’ (p. 388). Mattes concludes by discussing the critique of this view of Luther by scholars who argue that throughout Luther's works ‘Christ's atoning work in “salvation history” precedes faith. Indeed, because Christ is the object of faith (God's favor), he is present in faith as donum (gift). Hence, for Luther, salvation is based not on the indwelling Christ who deifies, but forensically on Christ who died for us’ (p. 388). This entry is typical of the clarity, historical and theological substance, and explorations of varying views that characterise – especially – the theological entries in this dictionary.

The wider reaches of Lutheran traditions are seen in pieces on such topics as German Christians (Deutsche Christen), the Confessing Church, the Holocaust, Islam, the Jews and World Wars I and II. Victoria J. Barnett, writing on the German Christians, notes that ‘moderate leaders of the German Evangelical Church and of the regional churches wanted to avoid a church schism, and thus the church as a whole followed both a pattern of compromises with the German Christian leadership within the churches and a cautious accommodation with regard to all dealings with the Nazi state’ (p. 286). In writing on the Holocaust, Darrell Jodock says that the Church ‘held out against Nazi dominance more tenaciously than did many other institutions in Germany but did not do nearly enough to protest the treatment of Nazism's victims’ (p. 332). These pieces, and others, provide the honest realities which are part of Lutheran traditions during most difficult times.

A fine piece on ecumenical dialogues by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson points a way forward by most helpfully summarising Lutheran ecumenical efforts with a number of church bodies. As Wilson points out, ‘Lutherans’ participation in ecumenical dialogues has been coterminous with their growing awareness as a global movement’ (p. 206). But she also notes that ‘the reception of dialogue results within national churches and local congregations remains a challenge’ (p. 209).

From the days of Luther, his followers have sought to be faithful witnesses to the Gospel, which Luther said, ‘commands us to look, not at our own good deeds or perfection but at God Himself as He promises, and at Christ Himself, the Mediator’ (pp. 656–7; Luther's works, xxxvi.387). This superb dictionary itself bears witness to the impetus that drove Luther himself and his followers to articulate and express their Christian faith.