Publication of Sivert Angel, The Confessional Homiletics of Lucas Osiander (1534-1604)

Sivert Angel's manuscript, The Confessional Homiletics of Lucas Osiander, is a study of preaching in the later sixteenth century. Osiander was an extremely influential theologian and churchman, and a study of his career and impact is long overdue. This d issertation highlights Osiander's contribution to the process of confessionalization at two levels: as court preacher, focusing on his funeral sermons for the ducal family and their noble clients, and on his catechetical sermons delivered in the imperial city of Esslingen. The manuscript describes in detail the embedding of Osiander's preaching in its historical context. It documents the ways that Osiander's sermons reinforced the existing political and social order. A comparison of Osiander's and Luther' s catechetical sermons reveals the shifting emphases of Lutheran theology and the long-term influence of Johannes Brenz on the Lutheranism of Württemberg and its neighbors. It employs to the confessionalization paradigm in the analysis of a varied materia l of sermons, to show how historical and theological change can be studied in rhetorical forms. It is the first major study of Lucas Osiander and his preaching.