The 2 volumes of this book contain some of the best Christian teaching in the world. They are the most extensive English translations available of Walther's convention essays. Too bad that Concordia Publishing House has apparently discontinued publication, even while they "celebrate" Walther's 200th bicentennial.
The current (as of March 14, 2012) pictures of the covers (2 volumes) in virtually all the web listings of books is incorrect which shows the cover of the book "Fundamental Greek Grammar". Also the links to "Buy It" are incorrect to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Better World Books. As of today, you can only obtain a copy from a library since it is unavailable even used unless perhaps on eBay. This is amazing for books published in 1992. Even Google Books has incorrect cover picture.
Updated March 18, 2012:
I have been informed that Concordia Publishing House is "...presently engaged in releasing a new set of Walther's works, pulling together all the previously different formats, shapes, sizes, into a consistent set of books. 'Essays for the Church' will be included in this new series."
Hopefully when the new updated version of this book is available, they will clear up the confusion created by duplicating the ISBN 10-digit numbers with other books they publish, which is probably the cause for the wrong cover picture and certainly a cause for confusion. Maybe they could someway untangle this mess so WorldCat (and the rest of the world) can show a full, correct record for the old books.
Update December 2, 2012:
The travesty continues – Concordia Publishing House promised in March, 2012 that these books would be available again in a "different format". It remains practically impossible to purchase these books... the "Buy It" links to the booksellers incorrectly go to "Meditations/Now", a different CPH book. This is because of an incorrect ISBN number has been assigned, probably by CPH. But Amazon does have a used set available today, see below... better snap them up while you can:
Volume 1 – http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Church-1857-1879-C-F-W-Walther/dp/B004BHBP3Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354457175&sr=1-1
Volume 2 – http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Church-1877-1886-C-F-W-Walther/dp/B004BHJ7R0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354457175&sr=1-2
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