ROUGHLY EDITED COPY
CH3-038
PROFESSOR LAWRENCE RAST
PROFESSOR WILL SCHMUCKER
Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc.
P.O. Box 1924
Lombard, IL 60148
800-825-5234
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>> NICK: That was fascinating. And it leads me to wonder what impact this characteristic of American life has had upon established Christian church bodies, particularly my own. What did Lutheranism look like at the beginning of the
19th century?
>> SPEAKER: Well, Nick, you've opened up a really interesting area of conversation because Lutheranism at the beginning of the 19th century and as it developed in the
19th century was certainly affected by these same kinds of ideas that we've just been talking about.
Democratization allowed for the development of all churches in a number of ways, and I've already hinted a little bit at how Lutheranism was open to this. But I think there's an even deeper point to be made here. Earlier in the course, we talked about Pietism. And one of the elements of Pietism being this downplaying of doctrinal differences between the various churches. At the same time, we also mentioned how Pietism believed that there was a certain necessity of development within the church. That is to say, a way in which the modern church or the contemporary church, better put, could actually see farther than those who had come before. And in 19th century

Lutheranism we'll see this notion of democracy come together with this notion of Pietistic development with some really amazing results.
Simply put, we're back to that question, Lutheran identity, once again. What does it mean to be a Lutheran?
And these Lutherans in the late 1700's early 1800's really struggled with this point. As Lutheranism established itself, a number of new synodical entities came into being.
Pennsylvania, 1748, the New York ministerial, 1786, the
North Carolina Synod, 1803, the Ohio Synod in 1818. In each one of these cases, the Lutheran Church had to put together some kind of statement about how it defined itself, what it believed made it Lutheran. And in each one of these cases, it's striking just how little you see of a distinctive confessional emphasis. That is to say, the Lutheran confessions, embraced in the Book of Concord of 1580, played little part and in some cases no part whatsoever in the constitutions of these Lutheran churches. So the question, then, why is one a Lutheran? What makes one a
Lutheran?
Well, with this group, part of the answer, at least for some, was found in their Germanness. To be a German largely meant to be a Lutheran, though not always. There were also
German Reformed, German Catholics, and in some cases,
Germans that didn't go the church at all. But for a large proportion of Germans in America, German meant Lutheran.
That's part of the answer. But others would give other answers as well. Some would make an historical claim. To be
Lutheran means to be connected in some fashion -- it's hard to decide how that was carried out sometimes -- but to be connected in some fashion with the Lutheran Church historically speaking.
There was certain fuzziness, in other words. And this began to play itself out in some very unusual and in some cases some very unhappy ways. Because many of these
Lutherans did not have a strong foundation in the Lutheran confessions, they began to depart from historical Lutheran teachings that the confessions believed were based in the scripture. So for example, in the North Carolina Synod, in the first part of the 1800's, there was a pastor by the name of Gottlieb Schober who actually had grown up in the
Moravian tradition. Now, we haven't said too much about
Moravians, but in passing. Moravians were radical Pietists, in some cases, almost enthusiasts believing that the Holy
Spirit spoke to them and gave them a new message. Schober wasn't quite that radical, but what he believed was that the Lutheran Church was virtually indistinguishable, when

you got right down to it, from other churches, at least theologically speaking. So for example, in a little book he authored in the middle part of the 18 teens, he began to discuss what characterized the Lutheran Reformation and specifically Martin Luther's work. In this little book he went so far as to deny the question, at the very least, baptismal regeneration, the idea that in baptism God works forgiveness of sins and gives life and salvation. He also questioned, doubted, perhaps even denied the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. How could this be? Well, I think in Schober’s case, he simply wasn't well informed. He didn't know what the Lutherans had taught on this particular point, even though he served as a pastor. Later as president of the Lutheran in North Carolina Synod, he never formally severed his ties with the Moravian Church, and he never really had the advantage of a theological education.
Others did, and others did know what Lutherans had historical taught. In one of the most strident controversies of the early part of the 19th century, other
Lutherans within the North Carolina Synod vigorously opposed Schober’s proposals. Paul Henkel, later his son
David Henkel, held forth for a distinctively confessional
Lutheranism. And in 1820, they were participants in the formation of the Tennessee Synod of the Lutheran Church.
The Tennessee Synod has the distinction of being the first
Lutheran Church in America to accept the Augsburg
Confession in its entirety *quia. That is, because the
Augsburg Confession agrees with scripture.
Later on, the Missouri Synod would expand that to include the entire Book of Concord. It is notable, I think, that in
1820, 27 years before the formation of the Missouri Synod, the Lutheran Church in America subscribed *quia to the
Augsburg Confession. What's interesting here is how violently other Lutherans react to the Tennessee Synod’s action. Other Lutherans say by subscribing to the Lutheran confessions, specifically the Augsburg Confession, *quia, you’ve now placed the confession above the scripture.
You've made the word of man more than the word of God. Many within the Lutheran Church in America outrightly rejected the Tennessee Synod's proposal saying, what we as Lutherans believe is not determined, is not conscripted, is not prescribed by the Augsburg Confession, but rather we have the freedom to adapt, accommodate, and change our theology as circumstances demand. This would play itself out in a movement that specifically referred to itself as American
Lutheranism.

The two leaders in this movement, the two really big names, that of a newspaper editor in Baltimore and a theological professor in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: the editor, Benjamin Kurtz; the professor, Samuel Simon
Schmucker. Let's talk about Schmucker for a moment first.
Schmucker was, by far and away, the most important Lutheran theologian of the first part of the 1800's. He had the greatest impact. He came from a clergy family. His pastor,
Jan Georg Schmucker was a pastor. He trained for the ministry himself and entered into the ministry in 1820.
Upon his entrance into the ministry, after a brief period of study at Princeton Theological Seminary, he had several pious desires, and there he specifically used the language of the Pietist Spener, several pious desires that he wished to see happen in American Lutheranism. He wanted to establish a Lutheran General Synod. He wanted to establish, secondly, a Lutheran seminary. He wanted to establish a
Lutheran college, and he wanted to provide, finally, a
Lutheran dogmatics textbook in the English language. The most important of these efforts, perhaps, were the formation of the synod and the formation of the seminary.
The general synod came into existence in 1820, and notably, in its formational documents, it makes little or no reference to the Lutheran confessional writings. The only text mentioned was Luther's Small Catechism. And the synod said, we will use this text until we develop something better. Here you see part of the general synod’s perspective, the idea of the ongoing development of theology and the notion that what Luther taught in the 16th century was good, was appropriate for that time, perhaps was all that could be expected, but we, now being in a more modern age, more advanced, would have to update the theology as we move along.
Secondly, in the establishment of the seminary at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, you see the first fully functioning Lutheran theological seminary in the United
States, 1826. Schmucker is first professor and first president. When he becomes president and professor, he stuns the Lutheran world by insisting that he subscribed to the Augsburg Confession in his professorial oath. However, the manner in which he subscribes I think is worth noting, particularly in contrast with Tennessee. Schmucker subscribes to the Augsburg Confession insofar as it teaches what he calls the fundamental doctrines of scripture in a manner substantially correct in the doctrinal articles, the

fundamental doctrines of scripture in a manner substantially correct in the doctrinal articles. Well, very quickly people began to say what does this mean. And the answer was: it can mean a number of things. As such,
Schmucker’s subscription actually did not tie him down to a specific theological position, but gave him the freedom, in fact allowed him, perhaps even encourage him to begin the process of doctrinal transformation within the Lutheran
Church in America.
Now, we've already talked a little bit about Schmucker and his ecumenical work. And you'll remember how he strove to bring agreement about between the various Christian churches in the 19th century, first through his efforts at an apostolic Protestant confession and later through his efforts at finding the lowest common denominator of agreement between the various confessions. In this latter endeavor, he actually placed the various constitutions and confessions of the established churches upon one another, noted the points of agreement, and then argued that the points at which they disagreed were not fundamental and, in fact, were not necessarily scriptural.
The result, he has suggestions for confessional improvement for all of the Protestant churches, including the Lutherans. And in this respect, Schmucker specifically noted five changes that he would like to make to the
Lutheran confession. The first was an addition of sorts saying that the Lutheran Church had not adequately confessed the necessity of requiring Sabbath observance.
His language, the necessity of the divine requirement of the Sabbath. So he wanted Lutherans to add that to their practice and their confession. And then he had four specific rejections. The first, he rejected the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. The second, he rejected the teaching of baptismal regeneration. Third, he rejected the practice of private confession and absolution.
And fourth, he rejected what he called the ceremonies of the mass and by which he meant the use of the historic liturgies of the Lutheran Church. These four errors, as he calls them, were keeping the Lutheran Church from achieving its mission in America. In fact, Schmucker went so far as to say, if the Lutheran Church does not change these doctrines and these practices, it cannot survive on the
American scene. Lutheranism in its older more traditional form simply does not have meaning to the modern 19th century American mind. Here we see this principle of

radical democracy of the freedom of the church to change its confessional position, while at the same time, in
Schmucker's mind, retaining the Lutheran name coming to the forefront.
Now, here's the big question: Why would you want to do that? Well, first off, as I've already alluded, it was a matter of mission for Schmucker. He thought that if
Lutheran theology didn't change, mission will falter. But beyond that, he would say there's a deeper reason at work here, and it simply was this: Luther, as great a theologian as he was, was limited by his circumstances, did not have all the answers. And, in fact, in some cases, simply because the human being and circumstances didn't allow him to develop. Because of these things, Luther had not progressed to the point of, let's say, Schmucker and his colleagues had in the 19th century. Nevertheless, said
Schmucker, even though we change some points of Luther’s teaching, his doctrine, we are maintaining the spirit of
Luther. His claim was that what made one a Lutheran was maintaining the spirit of Luther which is the spirit of change.
So one was free, in some specific instances, to reject
Luther's teaching and in so doing, according to Schmucker, one was being, at that point, most Lutheran. His colleague,
Benjamin Kurtz, whom I mentioned somewhat earlier, took this principle and translated it into the popular language and popular practice of the day. He simply said these older notions of sacramental efficacy, real presence of Christ for the forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Supper, are wrong. Rather, all the Lord's Supper is simply a memorial meal, a symbolic endeavor in which we remember what Jesus did many years ago. Baptism is simply the public profession either of the desire for faith on the part of the parents for their child who’s baptized, or the public profession of faith of an already believing adult. It does not give the forgiveness of sins.
Private confession and absolution was rejected out of hand as a Roman Catholic residue, and the historic liturgies of the church were rejected in favor of American revivals. As such, by the time one approached the year
1840, in many ways it was difficult to distinguish between
American Lutherans and other American Protestants. And that is precisely what Schmucker and Kurtz wanted. That is precisely what they desired to have happen. They maintained their Lutheranism saying we have a strong and a long

history, and we Lutherans are the mother church of the
Reformation. But they always say Lutheranism as transitional to something greater. And they anticipated that that greater thing was immediately on the horizon. In fact, Schmucker said, if we Christians would get serious about this work of theological correction and invigorate ourselves with a sense of mission, we could see the return of the Lord. We could see the establishment of the millennium within the next 50 years.
However, that which stood most in his way was not the other churches, but confessional Lutheranism. So by 1840, as Schmucker’s thought reached its peak, we're headed now for a showdown. Because right at the time this idea is peaking, Saxons are moving into St. Louis and Perry County,
Missouri. Franconians are about to arrive in Michigan.
Friedrich Wyneken has been active in northeastern Indiana, and these groups will coalesce into the Lutheran Church
Missouri Synod in 1847. That group will have a very distinctively different understanding of Lutheran identity.
And the results will be, well, you'll just have to wait until we get to a later question. And then I'll tell you what the results are.
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This text is being provided in a rough draft format.
Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings.
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