Over the last several decades, perceptive observers of Western civilization have documented what virtually everyone has perceived: as the old foundations of society have toppled, morality and personal character have been set adrift and often vanished altogether. How can character be cultivated when it seems no one is willing or able to provide a definitive description of character to which humans should aspire?

While the reasons for this are many and complicated, one of the more potent singular factors is actually theological, says Biermann. Contemporary Lutheranism, in particular, has struggled with the appropriate place of morality and character formation, as these pursuits often have been perceived as being at odds with the central Christian doctrine of justification.

A Case for Character explores this problem and argues that Christian doctrine, specifically as articulated within a Lutheran framework, is altogether capable of encouraging a robust pursuit of character formation while maintaining a faithful expression of justification by grace alone through faith alone.

Fall '25
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '23
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

SIT 2023
Recommended SIT textbook for The Systems of Systematic Theology session taught by Dr. Jason Gudim.

Fall '21
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

Summer Institute of Theology 2021

Textbook for Ethics and the Followers of Christ course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

Fall '19

Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. James Molstre.

What does the Bible teach about how to live in today’s world?

Best-selling author and professor Wayne Grudem distills over forty years of teaching experience into a single volume aimed at helping readers apply a biblical worldview to difficult ethical issues, including wealth and poverty, marriage and divorce, birth control, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, business practices, environmental stewardship, telling the truth, knowing God’s will, understanding Old Testament laws, and more.

Fall '25
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '23
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '21
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

Summer Institute of Theology 2021

Textbook for Ethics and the Followers of Christ course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

The doctrine of theosis has enjoyed a recent resurgence among varied theological traditions across the realms of historical, dogmatic, and exegetical theology. In Christification: A Lutheran Approach to Theosis, Jordan Cooper evaluates this teaching from a Lutheran perspective. He examines the teachings of the church fathers, the New Testament, and the Lutheran Confessional tradition in conversation with recent scholarship on theosis. Cooper proposes that the participationist soteriology of the early fathers expressed in terms of theosis is compatible with Luther's doctrine of forensic justification. The historic Lutheran tradition, Scripture, and the patristic sources do not limit soteriological discussions to legal terminology, but instead offer a multifaceted doctrine of salvation that encapsulates both participatory and forensic motifs. This is compared and contrasted with the development of the doctrine of deification in the Eastern tradition arising from the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius. Cooper argues that the doctrine of the earliest fathers--such as Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Justin--is primarily a Christological and economic reality defined as "Christification." This model of theosis is placed in contradistinction to later Neoplatonic forms of deification.

Fall '25
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '23
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Twenty-first century Christians face significant challenges to their proclamation of the Gospel and to their existence as a faith community. Living in a tumultuous age, Luther faced equally challenging crises. His theological emphases described and considered in this perceptive study have much to offer contemporary pastors and theologians.

Fall '25
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word and Christian Ethics courses taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '24
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '23
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word and Christian Ethics courses taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '22
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word and Christian Ethics courses taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '21
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word and Christian Ethics courses taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Summer Institute of Theology 2021

Textbook for Ethics and the Followers of Christ course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '20
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles of Theology/Doctrine of the Word course taught by Dr. Wade Mobley, President of FLBCS.

Fall '19
Required FLS textbook for Basic Principles/ Doctrine of the Word course taught by Pr. Steve Mundfrom, Professor of Systematic Theology.

Wholly Citizens addresses the relation between the church and the world in light of the Reformation teaching of the two realms—especially as presented by Luther. Rather than exploring again the usual texts of Luther from the 1520’s, this book begins with a careful reading of Luther’s Commentary on Psalm 81 (1531), and then considers subsequent interpreters of Luther, both faithful and otherwise, and the dubious legacy they have left the church. The book argues that both the corporate church as well as individual believers are responsible for the world and that each must speak directly about and to the world in meaningful ways. The final section of the book addresses the concrete situation facing believers in the early 21st century in light of faithful Reformation teaching about the two realms. Following this path leads to conclusions not entirely expected, including the forthright rejection of “a wall of separation” between church and state, and also a rebuke of the familiar clamor for the preservation of the rights of Christians and the church. Heedless of the status quo, Wholly Citizens offers an engaging and bracing picture of Christian life in today’s world—a picture framed in theological truth.

Fall '25
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

Fall '23
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson, Professor of New Testament and Systematic Theology.

SIT 2023
Recommended SIT textbook for The Systems of Systematic Theology session taught by Dr. Jason Gudim.

Fall '22
Recommended FLBC textbook for Theology of the Christian Life course taught by Dr. Jason Gudim.

Fall '21
Required FLS textbook for Christian Ethics course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

Summer Institute of Theology 2021

Textbook for Ethics and the Followers of Christ course taught by Dr. Nathan Olson.

Fall '20
Recommended FLBC textbook for Theology of the Christian Life course taught by Pr. Brett Boe.