ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the emphases on the reliable and authoritative communication of consolation and discipline in some oft-reprinted sermons. The sermons also deal with contextual issues in an effort to ensure that their listeners understood the benefits of Lutheran confession. The catechetical sermons of Andreas Osiander and Cyriacus Spangenberg were some of the most popular of the sixteenth century, judging by the number of times they were reprinted. Consolation, discipline, and the effective communication of these are the chief themes in these sermons. Consolation and discipline have both vertical and horizontal dimensions, that is, they concern the penitent’s relationship both to God and to humans. A generation later Spangenberg retains the emphases on consolation, strengthening of faith, and certainty. Discipline is a secondary theme for both preachers but it is more prominent for Spangenberg. Spangenberg’s interest in discipline is much greater than Osiander’s and permeates all three of his sermons on confession.
