Mike Middendorf, professor of theology at Christ College, recently finished two volumes on Paul’s letter to Romans for the Concordia Commentary Series (CCS), a major scholarly effort by the LCMS. The series assists parish pastors and scholars who have Greek knowledge. Middendorf devoted three years to the first volume, on Romans 1-8, which was 800 pages long and was published in 2013. Middendorf says,
It has been an overwhelming, humbling, and most rewarding learning experience.
“Wrestling with God’s word is the greatest joy. It’s not that you come out with all the answers and write the definitive commentary, but that you have the opportunity to wrestle with these spiritually inspired words and express that to twenty-first century Christians.”
The CCS is the first Lutheran commentary series at a high scholarly level in seventy-five years and will take decades to complete. Middendorf recently submitted volume two, covering Romans 9-16, to the publisher and is working with three editors to revise it. It is scheduled for publication next spring.
Middendorf does his scholarly writing at home in the guest bedroom, next to where his wife teaches piano.
“I bought noise-cancelling headphones,” he says.
His guest bed served as a large desk for the dozens of books that were part of his research. When he needed a break he walked in the hills near their home.
“There are times you hit the wall,” he says. “If I walk forty-five minutes in the hills, that’s spiritual, devotional. It sets your mind at peace to engage the task of the day. I love the creation out here.”
He also learned to bounce back and forth between writing, editing and researching so he didn’t get bogged down in any one of them.
Middendorf serves part-time as a pastoral assistant at a bilingual church in Santa Ana, “keeping a foot in the real world outside academic circles,” and serves on the LCMS’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Prior to teaching he was a parish pastor at a Lutheran church in North Dakota.
His favorite part of writing the Romans commentary was chapters 12 through 15. “Romans is deeply theological but the last four or five chapters are very practical,” he says. “That nice counterbalance was invigorating and refreshing coming down the home stretch. You’re not just being academic with the content. "It is drawing you beyond itself to the God who reveals it and interacts with people in a relational way in Christ.”
He notes that the support of Concordia University Irvine’s president, provost and dean, and the Trembath Fellowship given by the Trembath family, were key to making the writing of the commentaries possible. In gratitude, the Middendorfs are donating the proceeds from the books back to Concordia University Irvine.
“Doing a commentary is not an end in itself,” says Middendorf. “It’s about communicating God’s grace in Christ to people through those words and impacting their lives and ministry.”