"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done" - we often sing that at funerals. Especially when we see how it is true not just for our Lord, but for the person He has gathered home to Himself. I wish I could have known Jaroslav Pelikan - just to have thanked him for all his work; I've relied on his scholarship for many years.
Anytime a person picks up a volume of Luther's Works (American Edition), you can't help but think of him. Anytime a person turns to "Tappert's" Book of Concord, one thinks of Pelikan (and Piepkorn!). Anytime I need a quick answer to something from the early centuries, where to look but his series on Church History? His *Riddle of Roman Catholicism* remains a classic, even after some of its points were mooted after the Second Vatican Council. His insight into the interplay of catholic substance and protestant principle in the Reformation remains a most helpful light to those seeking to understand the history of Lutheranism in particular and the Reformation in general.
A mind that absorbed and processed such a staggering amount of data - and all in service to Christ and His Bride! He was a great gift of God to the Church in these "gray and latter days." Rest in peace, Father in Christ! Rest in peace!
6 comments:
May his memory be eternal!
Deb
Alas! When did it happen?
Saturday, I believe, Eric. I don't think Christianity will see another such for many years.
Yes, it was Sat afternoon
http://www.svots.edu/News/Recent/2006-0513-pelikan/
May his Memory be Eternal. He was a giant in late 20th Century Christian history and will be missed deeply.
I echo Pastor Weedon's sentiments. He has been extremely instrumental in my own personal studies in church history. His christian history series, is one of the few series I will pick up and read again and again. God bless that sweet soul.
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