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The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: an Examination of the Underlying Problems

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The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: an Examination of the Underlying Problems Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Dissertations (1934 -) Projects The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems John M. Brenner Marquette University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Brenner, John M., "The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems" (2012). Dissertations (1934 -). 204. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/204 THE ELECTION CONTROVERSY AMONG LUTHERANS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS by John M. Brenner, B.A., M.Div. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2012 ABSTRACT The Election Controversy among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems. Author: John M. Brenner The Election Controversy of the nineteenth century re-shaped the face of confessional Lutheranism in America. The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, the leading voice of confessional Lutheranism in America, bore the brunt of the dispute and ultimately dissolved. This dissertation examines the Election Controversy with special attention to the twentieth century attempts to resolve it in order to discover the underlying problems that have prevented the opposing sides from reaching a resolution. The dissertation is written from the viewpoint of the Wisconsin Synod, one of the synods involved in the controversy but often ignored in the discussion of it. The study is needed because contemporary observers do not have a good understanding of confessional Lutheranism and Lutheranism’s historic emphasis on doctrinal purity. The dissertation demonstrates that the underlying causes of the controversy and the failures to resolve it were departures from Luther’s approach to theology and from the historic Lutheran stress on doctrine and doctrinal agreement for the expression of church fellowship. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: The Lutheran Doctrine of Election in the Reformation & Age of Orthodoxy 7 Lutheran Doctrine in the Age of the Reformation 8 Melanchthon’s Theology 24 Formula of Concord (1577) 30 Lutheran Doctrine in the Age of Orthodoxy 35 Summary 43 Chapter Two : The Election Controversy among Lutherans in America in the Nineteenth Century, 1879-1900 45 Confessional Revival in Europe 46 Confessional Lutheranism in America 49 The Election Controversy 65 Reactions outside the Synodical Conference 105 Summary and conclusion 107 Chapter Three : The Free Conferences of the First Decade of the Twentieth Century 109 Relations between Ohio and Iowa 110 The Midwestern Free Conferences 114 Conclusion 134 Chapter Four : The Madison Settlement ( Opgjør ) and the Drive to Norwegian Lutheran Union 136 The Lutheran Church in Norway 137 Norwegian Lutheranism in America 141 The Nineteenth Century Break in the Norwegian Synod over Election 144 The Union Movement after 1900 156 The Madison Settlement ( Opgjør ) 163 Conclusion 184 Chapter Five : The Intersynodical Movement & the Chicago (Intersynodical) Theses 186 Reformation Anniversaries, Lutheran Mergers, and Movements 187 The Intersynodical Movement 191 The Chicago (Intersynodical) Theses 198 Ohio, Iowa, and Buffalo Fellowship and Merger 217 Conclusion 230 Chapter Six : The Controversy between the Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod 231 Background 232 Winds of Change 239 Missouri – Wisconsin Controversies 244 Conclusion 270 Conclusion 272 Appendix A – Lutheran Federations 277 Appendix B – Synodical Conference Membership 280 Appendix C – Scandinavian Lutheran Synods 281 Appendix D – Main Participants in the Election Controversy 283 Appendix E – Lutheran Mergers 285 Appendix F – Theses 287 Bibliography 310 INTRODUCTION Hans Robert Haug produced a massive (961 pages) study of the Election Controversy in 1967 entitled, The Predestination Controversy in the Lutheran Church in North America . 1 This Ph.D. dissertation (Temple University) concentrated on the controversy in the nineteenth century and included only brief comments on the twentieth century aspects in the epilogue. Haug also did not address the reasons why the twentieth century efforts to resolve the controversy failed. In addition, he paid little attention to the role of the Wisconsin Synod in the controversy. Charles F. Bunzel wrote a master’s thesis on the Chicago (Intersynodical) Theses in 1964 (Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) entitled, The Missouri Synod and the Chicago Theses .2 To my knowledge this is the only serious study of the intersynodical movement and the theses the movement produced. Bunzel, however, devotes only ten pages to a discussion of the free conferences of the first decade of the twentieth century. His thesis also does not include the Wisconsin Synod. The purpose of Bunzel’s study was to discover why the negotiations of the Intersynodical Committee and the theses the committee produced failed to resolve the Election Controversy. He claims that the efforts failed because the Missouri Synod’s theologians, who were not on the Intersynodical Committee, focused their attention on past history rather than determining whether there was agreement on the doctrines in question at the time. I believe that his conclusion is simplistic and faulty. Furthermore, both Haug and Bunzel write from a perspective of modern ecumenism which often fails to grasp the historic Lutheran stress on agreement in doctrine for the unity of the church and the expression of fellowship between groups of Christians. Since both Haug and Bunzel exclude the Wisconsin Synod from their studies, they do not offer a complete presentation of the issues. I believe that a new study is necessary to offer a more comprehensive picture. 1 Hans Robert Haug, The Predestination Controversy in the Lutheran Church in North America . Ph.D. Dissertation, Temple University, 1967. 2 Charles F. Bunzel, The Missouri Synod and the Chicago (Intersynodical) Theses. Masters Thesis, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. 1964. 2 Such a study can shed light on the differences between Lutherans in America today. To a certain extent, the differences that became evident during the Election Controversy are still apparent in the present alignment of the various Lutheran synods. There is a much more basic reason for the failure of the twentieth century attempts to resolve the controversy than Bunzel suggests. The root of the problem was that the two sides differed in their approach to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions and in their understanding of the historic Lutheran emphasis on the importance of agreement in doctrine for the unity for the church and the expression of church fellowship. The Lutheran doctrine of church fellowship is intimately involved in the failures to resolve the Election Controversy in the twentieth century. These differences continue to divide Lutheranism in America and the divisions will not be mended without a resolution of these differences. Many in contemporary America have trouble understanding the underlying issues and motives of sharp doctrinal disputes like the Election Controversy. Such controversies are often quickly dismissed as irrelevant to the contemporary religious scene. The contemporary scene, however, is shaped by past experience. If people do not understand that experience they cannot hope to understand current differences and contemporary problems. This study explains why the two sides initially considered these doctrinal issues so important that they would forfeit an outward unity rather than compromise their teachings even when that outward unity seemed to offer so many benefits. The failure to resolve the doctrinal differences between synods in the nineteenth century caused a break between synods in the nineteenth century and again in the twentieth century. This study will also explain the failures to resolve the controversy. Even when union movements succeeded in establishing outward union, there was no real resolution of the basic issues. Doctrinal differences came to be seen as irrelevant. This attitude marked a departure from the historic Lutheran stress on doctrine and doctrinal agreement for the expression of church fellowship. 3 This is a critical historical-theological analysis of the Election Controversy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Midwestern Lutheranism and the efforts to resolve it. The background necessary to understand the origins of the controversy and the subsequent efforts to resolve it is provided first of all by examining the doctrine of election and Lutheran theological characteristics in the writings of Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, the Formula of Concord , and the Lutheran dogmaticians in the Age of Orthodoxy. Secondly, the study examines the major essays, articles, and theses produced during the Election Controversy among Midwestern Lutherans in the nineteenth century to show the issues which separated the two sides in the conflict. The study then explores the attempts to resolve the Election Controversy in the twentieth century by examining the major essays, articles, theses, and convention resolutions of the participants to show the reasons for the failure to resolve the controversy. In this dissertation I contend first of all that the
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