Japanese Perspectives on the Death of Christ: A Study in Contextualized Christology by How Chuang Chua (review)

Abstract

LUTHERAN QUARTERLY Volume 37 (2023): 103–5 © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc. meetings, the records of the ministerial annual meetings, journal and diary entries, and much correspondence, are arranged chronologically where possible: journal entries are interspersed with meeting minutes and dated correspondence, with some undated materials situated according to the judgment of the editors. Göransson wrote copious epistles but did not keep a journal. A journal of pastoral acts and visits was kept by John Wicksell, Göransson’s associate and advocate, providing insights into the particular needs of communicants in Wicksell’s circuit of Raccoon Kill and Pennsneck. After his recall, Wicksell, from Sweden, stayed in epistolary contact with his colleagues in the Delaware Valley. Matthias Hultgren, Göransson’s successor, also kept a diary with entries starting in 1779. Those interested in the experience of Lutherans in the American Revolution will find a rich vein to mine (202–332). The British occupation of Philadelphia is covered (260–282), featuring correspondence from Göransson to British General William Howe, loyalist “superintendent” Joseph Galloway, and other materials. The transition from Anders Göransson to Matthias Hultgren took place in 1779. The final, most remarkable detail of this publishing endeavor is that the whole set is available for $50 with free shipping. Each of these volumes could have easily commanded three figures as a price. The Swedish Colonial Society has made an amazing gift to scholarship in disciplines that include religion in America, Christian history, early America, and the Atlantic world, not to mention Lutheran historical studies, the Swedish diaspora and other related fields. Salem Covenant Church Jonathan M. Wilson Pennock, Minnesota