Robert Kolb is professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Systematic Theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, and a world-renowned authority on

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

and the history of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Biography and education

Robert Kolb was born on June 17, 1941, in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He married Pauline J. Ansorge on August 14, 1965. He attended

Concordia Senior College Concordia Senior College was a liberal arts college located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). It was founded in 1957 and closed in 1977. The senior college was a new type of institution for th ...

, Fort Wayne, Indiana, from which he earned the B.A. in 1963. He graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri with a Master of Divinity in 1967 and a Master of Sacred Theology in 1968. He attended the University of Wisconsin—Madison from which he obtained an M.A. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1973, studying under the prominent Reformation scholar Robert M. Kingdon.

Scholarship

Kolb served as director of the Center for Reformation Research at Concordia Seminary from 1973 to 1977. He then taught at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in various roles from 1977 to 1993, including serving as acting president from 1989 to 1990. From there he joined Concordia Seminary as missions professor of Systematic Theology, a position he held until his retirement in 2009. While at Concordia Seminary, he also served as director of the Institute for Mission Studies. From 1994 to 2010, he spent three months each year teaching at educational institutes in other parts of the world. Kolb has served as associate editor and coeditor of ''

The Sixteenth Century Journal ''The Sixteenth Century Journal: The Journal of Early Modern Studies'' (SCJ) is a quarterly journal of early modern studies. The senior editors are Merry Wiesner-Hanks and Patricia Phillippy. It is published by Sixteenth Century Publisher Inc. an ...

'' and as co-editor of ''Lutheran Mission Matters''. He has served as president of two academic societies: the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (1981-1982) and the Society for Reformation Research (1994-1996). He has been a member of the Continuation Committee of the International Congress for Luther Research since 1993, and is a member of the Society for Reformation Research. Robert Kolb is internationally recognized as one of "the most respected scholars of the Reformation" and "one of the best historians of Luther at work today". His work has garnered multiple accolades and awards, including honorary doctorates from

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...

in 2000;

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

in Irvine, California, in 2005;

in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2008; and

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2017. In 2013, he was awarded the

Hermann Sasse Hermann Otto Erich Sasse (17 July 1895 – 9 August 1976) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and author. He was considered one of the foremost confessional Lutheran theologians of the 20th century. Sasses was born on 17 July 1895 in So ...

Prize for theological literature by the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule in Oberursel, Germany—the first American to ever receive the award. A ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' in Kolb's honor was published in 2018, entitled ''From Wittenberg to the World: Essays on the Reformation and its Legacy in Honor of Robert Kolb''. In addition to his historical research on the Reformation, the ''Festschrift'' highlights several of Kolb's particular contributions to the study of theology, including the recovery of Luther's distinction of the Two Kinds of Righteousness, his emphasis on the Word of God's conversational and performative aspects, and the significance of the created world in all aspects of Christian theology. Notable among Kolb's numerous publications is the 2000 edition of

The Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

, which he edited along with Timothy J. Wengert. Its publication was hailed "a historic moment" by some, although others questioned the edition's use of the September 1531 octave edition of the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

rather than the earlier quarto edition, which has been used in all other editions of the Book of Concord.

Works

Author

* ''Andreae and the Formula of Concord: Six Sermons on the Way to Lutheran Unity''. Concordia Publishing House, 1977. * ''Nikolaus von Amsdorf (1483 - 1565): Popular Polemics in the Preservation of Luther's Legacy''. Brill, 1978 (Revised edition:''Nikolaus von Amsdorf: Champion of Martin Luther's Reformation''. Concordia Publishing House, 2019.) * ''For All the Saints: Changing Perceptions of Martyrdom and Sainthood in the Lutheran Reformation''. Mercer University Press, 1987. * ''Confessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580''. Concordia Publishing House, 1991. * ''The Christian Faith: A Lutheran Exposition''. Concordia Publishing House, 1993. * ''Speaking the Gospel Today: A Theology for Evangelism''. Concordia Publishing House, 1995. * ''Martin Luther as Prophet, Teacher, and Hero: Images of the Reformer, 1520-1620''. Baker Academic, 1999. * (With Charles P. Arand) ''The Genius of Luther's Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church''. Baker Academic, 2008 * ''Martin Luther: Confessor of the Faith''. Oxford University Press, 2009. * ''Die Konkordienformel. Eine Einführung in ihre Geschichte und Theologie''. Oberurseler Hefte Ergänzungsband 8; Göttingen: Edition Ruprecht, 2011. * ''Luther and the Stories of God: Biblical Narratives as a Foundation for Christian Living''. Baker Academic, 2012. * ''Martin Luther and the Enduring Word of God''. Baker Academic, 2016. * (With

Carl Trueman Carl R. Trueman (born 1967) is a Christian theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He was Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he held the Paul Woolley Chair of Church History. In 2018 T ...

, Carl R. Trueman]) ''Between Wittenberg and Geneva: Lutheran and Reformed Theology in Conversation''. Baker Academic, 2017. * ''Bound Choice, Election, and Wittenberg Theological Method: From Martin Luther to the Formula of Concord''. Fortress Press, 2017. * ''Luther's Wittenberg World: The Reformer's Family, Friends, Followers, and Foes''. Fortress Press, 2018. * ''Martin Luther as He Lived and Breathed''. Cascade Books, 2018. * ''Luther's Treatise on Christian Freedom and its Legacy''. Fortress Press, 2019.

Editor

* (With Timothy J. Wengert) ''The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church''. Augsburg Fortress, 2000. * (with James A. Nestingen) ''Sources and Contests of The Book of Concord''. Augsburg Fortress, 2001. * (With Irene Dingel, Nicole Kuropka, and Timothy J. Wengert) ''Philip Melanchthon: Theologian in Classroom, Confesson, and Controversy''. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012. * (With Irene Dingel and L'ubomir Batka) ''The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology''. Oxford University Press, 2014.

References

Concordia Seminary faculty Living people 1941 births Reformation historians Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod people {{US-theologian-stub