This volume remains the most definitive study and discussion of the rite of confirmation in the Lutheran Church. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in offering Holy Communion to children at an earlier age, as was the practice in the Lutheran Church up to the time when Pietism and then Rationalism elevated the rite of Confirmation to a near-sacramental nature. This volume was commissioned by The Missouri Synod's Board of Parish Education and addressed the concerns then that remain today: how best to offer formal instruction in the faith to the church's young people in such a manner that it helps them grow in the grace of their Lord Jesus Christ and into Christian maturity.