Doctrinal Review, a Huge Asset

From time to time, I am asked about the impact of doctrinal review on the products we produce at Concordia Publishing House.

For those who are unfamiliar with the process, every thing that we publish at CPH is reviewed to ensure its faithfulness to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions before it is published.

• The reviewers are appointed by the office of the president of the synod. They are chosen for their theological credentials and assigned reviews for material that is within their area of knowledge and expertise; the reviewers for children's material are different from those who review our Concordia Commentary Series, for example.
• The process is completely anonymous; the reviewer is not given the names of the authors or editors of the material they review and the editor does not know who the reviewer is. All communication is handled through a highly discrete doctrinal review clerk at CPH. 
• Material can be determined to be "in agreement with Lutheran doctrine," "in agreement, but here are some suggestions for improvement," or "not in agreement" with specifics noted, suggestions made for correction, and a requirement that the reviewer see the material after it has been corrected.
• Material is never subjected to "second opinions." Once approved, the material (a hymn text, for example) may be used many times, but it is not resubmitted each time; reviewers are not invited to critique one another.
• Finally, a reviewer's decision can be appealed, but only to Synod's doctrinal review commission. Such appeals are very rare and are almost never made by the publishing house. Our goal is always to bring our material into compliance with the reviewer's decision.

It can also be noted that CPH has an internal "doctrinal review" system for artwork we commission for use in our curricula and books. Editors familiar with biblical culture ensure that illustrations depicting biblical or liturgical people and scenes do so accurately.

I've worked under this system for over twenty years, and have grown to appreciate it. On a few rare occasions, I have chaffed at having to revise an activity to accommodate a reviewer's concern. Far more often, I have given thanks that a reviewer helped me speak clearly or rescued me from putting material in print that could mislead someone or teaching something in error. The doctrinal review process guarantees that what our material teaches is the truth according to God's Word, not the truth according to Tom Nummela.

Far from having a negative impact on our ability to produce excellent material, the doctrinal review process guarantees that the material you purchase from us is the best we can make it.

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word!

Let's Review

Last week I wrote about "Sticky Lessons." A key point in that post was that repetition and review are important tools for making lessons stick, for moving information from short-term to long-term memory.

Did You Review?
So, let me ask, when you taught your most recent Sunday School lesson, did you review the lesson from the week before? Did you place the lesson you were teaching into the context of the Bible's narrative in a way that made sense? (A very different task for teaching three-year-olds than for teaching preteens.) After teaching the Bible account did you review it in some way before the end of the session, perhaps by letting the students retell the account while acting it out or creating a drawing about the event and telling their classmates about their picture? Or by playing a review game with the Bible Review Cards (part of every lesson in the Growing in Christ middle and upper grades materials)? Or by simply asking informational and analytical questions?

If You Reviewed
If you review the Bible account as part of your lesson last week, you increased the likelihood that your students will remember the key point and basic facts of the lesson next week, or next month, or the next time they encounter that lesson some day in the future. Good job!

If You Did Not Review
Plan now to include review in your next lesson plan. You and your students will be glad you did. It is sometimes difficult to include review. It may mean not doing something else in the precious window time you have available. But it is worth it! It is one of the significant ways you can make those lessons stick!

God bless you as you make His Word stick in the hearts and lives of His children!