Christ's Church: Her Biblical Roots, Her Dramatic History, Her Saving Presence, Her Glorious Future by Bo Giertz

Wipf and Stock sent me a review copy of Christ's Church by Bo Giertz and it's one of the best books I've ever read and definitely the best book that I have read describing what the Church is. This is the first book that Giertz wrote. It's very readable, yet profound. I don't think that anyone could walk away from this book without being challenged. Giertz takes the prayer in John 17 where Jesus prays for the unity of the Church very, very seriously. Nobody is innocent. Giertz is probably the strongest combination of confessional Lutheran and evangelical-catholic that I have ever read--this is seen most clearly in his description of the history of the Church in Sweden. The Church in Sweden seems to have experienced the Reformation in the most gradual and seamless way possible over the period of almost a century. There was no big upheaval. Apostolic succession continued. Giertz has some extraordinarily insightful things to say about confession and absolution as well as the Lord's Supper and baptism. There were a couple of typos throughout the book but nothing very distracting. There were cases where there some rather obvious translator notes that were simply enclosed in Parentheses without any indication that they were translator's notes. But overall, I was extremely impressed and hope that Giertz's works continues to be translated.