James Arne Nestingen (1945-2022) was a beloved pastor, seminary professor, and most of all a confessor and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus. After he retired from teaching church history at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Nestingen taught at Saint Paul Lutheran Seminary and was a guest lecturer at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne and at the seminary of the Mekane Yesus Church in Addis Ababa. He was a senior scholar in residence for 1517 and was in demand as a conference speaker. He was an active participant in the formation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) and served as a representative of that church body on the official dialogue between the NALC, the Lutheran Church-Canada, and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. He will be remembered for his passion for clear Gospel preaching, his incisive theology, and his Midwestern, Norwegian humor.
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The essays in The Essential Nestingen: Essays on Preaching, Catechism, and the Reformation represent his scholarly but at the same accessible work in these three areas of his research and teaching. Spanning over three decades of his ministry as a teacher of the church, these essays find a common focus in Christ who is the end of the law for righteousness (Romans 10:4). They remain timely and serve not only as a testimony to Nestingen erudite scholarship but as a resource for the edification for a new generation of both pastors and lay people who share Nestingen passion for "handing over the goods" that he found in Luther and the Lutheran Confessions.