Rev. Dr. Craig L. Nessan

Earthy Faith: A Theology for the People. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2026. Earthy Faith is a fresh interpretation of the Christian faith, written for the Christian people with an eye toward providing a theologically robust resource for those who may not have formal theological training. Using a minimum of theological jargon, integrating Christian claims with consensus positions in the natural sciences, and forthrightly engaging in public theology, Craig L. Nessan has crafted a book that takes seriously all Christian believers. 

Here We Stand: A Lutheran Response to Child Abuse. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2025. Craig L. Nessan and Victor I. Vieth, Editors. Although the life and writings of Martin Luther and other reformers have a great deal to say about children and our need to protect them from maltreatment, this legacy of the Lutheran churches, and of Christianity as a whole, has largely been forgotten. Here We Stand reclaims the Lutheran heritage as it sets forth a Lutheran theological and ethical foundation for the church’s response to child abuse. The book models rooting our response to child abuse in fertile biblical and theological soil. Written by Lutheran theologians and child-abuse prevention experts, the groundbreaking book provides practical direction for the pastoral ministry of clergy and for congregations that wish to develop robust policies and practices in order to protect children. 

Diaconal Studies: Lived Theology for the Church in North America. Oxford: Regnum Books, 2024. Craig L. Nessan and Darryl W. Stephens, Editors. Diaconal Studies explores and creates new ways of incarnating the church’s ministry, seeking to enhance connections between doctrine and daily life, service and social critique, solidarity and transformation – for a wide array of helping professions. This book aims to accelerate learning between North American and global diaconal educators and reflective practitioners, with contributors from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway, South Africa, and the United States. Deeply rooted in the theological tradition, diaconal studies can ground, renew, and invigorate interdisciplinary academic discourse to address the most urgent challenges in the contemporary world. 

Craig L. Nessan and Carsten Linden. Paul Leo: Pastor with Jewish Roots in Flight from Nazism. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2024. Although baptized as a child and serving faithfully as a pastor and theologian in the German Evangelische Kirche, Paul Leo was persecuted, removed from his church position, and imprisoned by the Nazi regime due to his Jewish ancestry. Leo was a descendent of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous Jewish philosopher, and Fanny Hensel nee Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, the composer and pianist. The book carefully documents how the Nazis took harsh measures against Leo, a Christian minister, because of his Jewish lineage. This eventuated in his incarceration in Buchenwald concentration camp before he was able to flee Germany as an exile to the United States, ending up at Wartburg Theological Seminary. 

Free in Deed: The Heart of Lutheran Ethics. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2022. Free in Deed serves as a primer in Lutheran ethics for faith and the church as the body of Christ. It captures the fruit of Craig L. Nessan's teaching of ethics and his research and reflection on Christian ethical existence over his entire career. The heart of Lutheran ethics, Nessan claims, involves serving neighbors. When Christ sets us "free indeed" (John 8:36), we are set free to serve others "in deed." 

Wilhelm Loehe and North America: Historical Perspective and Living Legacy. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2020. This book explores Loehe’s historical activity as a pastor, as a supporter of mission in North America, as an organizer (together with Friedrich Bauer) of theological education in North America, and as a founder of deaconess institutions in Neuendettelsau, Germany, that still exist today. The central themes represented by Loehe not only constitute a matrix that has significance for the church and its mission today but also constitute an agenda for the church of the future. 

Wittenberg – 1934 Case Study. This case study explores issues facing those who joined the Confessing Church in resistance to Nazism. Historical, ethical, and theological information is introduced about the German church struggle and the complexity of the issues. 

The Integrity of the Body of Christ: Boundary Keeping as Shared Responsibility. With Arden F. Mahlberg. Cascade Books (A division of Wipf and Stock Publishers), 2016. [Note: the link downloads an excerpt of the beginning of the book, through Chapter 1. Used with Permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers: http://wipfandstock.com/.] 

“A Well-Formed Stewardship Leader is Grounded in Biblical and Theological Principles”, a chapter in the book, How Much is Enough? A Deeper Look at Stewardship in an Age of Abundance, Catherine Malotky, Editor, Columbia, S.C.: Region 9 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America/Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary Council on Stewardship Education (2011). [Note: The above link downloads the entire e-book.] 

Liberating Lutheran Theology: Freedom for Justice and Solidarity in a Global Context. With Paul S. Chung and Ulrich Duchrow. Minneapolis:  Fortress Press (2011) 

Shalom Church: The Body of Christ as Ministering Community. Minneapolis:  Fortress Press (2010).  

Beyond Maintenance to Mission: A Theology of the Congregation. Minneapolis:  Fortress Press (2010, Revised Edition) 

Transforming Leadership: New Vision for a Church in Mission.  With Norma Cook Everist. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress (2007) 

Many Members, Yet One Body: Committed Same-Gender Relationships and the Mission of the Church.  Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress (2004) 

Give Us This Day: A Lutheran Proposal for Ending World Hunger.  Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress (2003) 

The Air I Breathe Is Wartburg Air:  The Legacy of William H. Weiblen.  Eugene: Wipf and Stock (2003) 

Who Is Christ for Us?  (With Renate Wind).  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press (2002) 

Orthopraxis or Heresy: The North American Theological Response to Latin American Liberation Theology.  Atlanta:  Scholars Press (1989) 

Dr. Nessan has extensive knowledge in the following categories and can serve as a resource on: