Carl Edward Braaten (January 3, 1929 – October 28, 2023) was an American Lutheran theologian and minister.
Braaten authored and edited numerous books and theological papers, including Principles of Lutheran Theology (Fortress Press, 1983), Mother Church: Ecclesiology and Ecumenism (Fortress Press, 1998) and In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003).
His parents were Norwegian-American pietists, who served as missionaries in Madagascar, and he received his early spiritual formation in that context.
[citation needed] His doctoral dissertation was titled Christ, Faith and History: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Martin Kähler's Distinction Between the Historical Jesus and the Biblical Christ Developed in the Past and Present Context.
In 1961 Braaten, together with Robert Jenson, Roy Harrisville, Kent Knutson, James Burtness and others, founded the journal Dialog, which he continued to serve as editor until resigning in 1991.