Edmund Schlink

Edmund Schlink (3 March 1903 – 20 May 1984) was a leading German Lutheran theologian in the modern ecumenical movement, especially in the World Council of Churches. An influential teacher, pastor (since 1932), and professor (1946-1971), he was also a leading participant in several official ecumenical dialogues for more than forty years. The author of a weighty dogmatics text, five additional important books, and numerous essays, sermons, and addresses, this second-generation "ecumenical pioneer of the 20th Century" (Gassmann) was the central systematic-historical theologian at Heidelberg University between 1946 and his death in 1984.

Books in English

• The Victor Speaks, English 1958, a collection of wartime Lenten sermons;
• Theology of the Lutheran Confessions, English 1961, reprinted six times;
• The Coming Christ and the Coming Church, English 1967, an anthology of key articles related to his work in the World Council of Churches;
• After the Council, English 1968, reflections on the Second Vatican Council as an official observer;
• The Doctrine of Baptism, English 1972, based on a historical-critical reading of the New Testament texts, it examines the doctrine as held by all churches.
• The Vision of the Pope, English 2001

References

• Matthew L. Becker, “Edmund Schlink (1903-1984),” in Twentieth-Century Lutheran Theologians, ed. Mark Mattes, 195-222 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht, 2013)
• Matthew L. Becker, “Edmund Schlink on Theological Anthropology, the Law, and the Gospel,” Lutheran Quarterly 24 (Summer 2010), 151-82
• Matthew L. Becker, “Edmund Schlink (1903-1984),” Lutheran Quarterly 23 (Winter 2009), 406-38
• Jochen Eber, Einheit der Kirche als dogmatisches Problem bei Edmund Schlink, 1993
• Eugene M. Skibbe, A Quiet Reformer: An Introduction to Edmund Schlink's Life and Ecumenical Theology, 1999
• Jochen Eber, Edmund Schlink 1903-1984, Ein Leben für die Einheit der Kirche, in Edmund Schlink, Schriften zu Ökumene und Bekenntnis, Band I, 2004.
• The series of collected writings edited by Klaus Engelhardt and others, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Edmund Schlink, Schriften zu Ökumene und Bekenntnis, Vol. 1 (2004), Vol. 2 (2005), Vol. 3 (2007), Vol. 4 (2008), and Vol. 5 (2010).
• The American Edition of Schlink's writings, edited and translated by Matthew L. Becker, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, is forthcoming.