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Overview of the History of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

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Overview of the History of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod Overview of the History of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod The 5 W’s of the LCMS Where are we going? • So far… • What is it to be Christian? (as communicated in the Liturgy) • What is it to be a Protestant? (as Luther summarized in the Small Catechism) • What is it to be Lutheran? (as collected in the Book of Concord) • I’ll describe what is it to be Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (as told through the history of the LCMS) • First Class • Lutherans in the New World • Evolution in the Lutheran theology, both in the New World and the Old, and its impact. • How these theologies, and reactions to them prompted the creation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod • Second Class • Key personalities in early LCMS • Changes in the LCMS • LCMS Today Early Timeline of Lutherans in America • 1580 The Book of Concord is published • 1614 Dutch establish along the Hudson near present day Albany NY. • 1617 English establish their first colony in present day Virginia • 1620 The English “Pilgrims” establish a colony in present day Massachusetts after they fail to reach the mouth of the Hudson River. • 1624 The first Dutch settlers settle along Long Island Sound • 1637 the Swedes settled the western shore of Delaware They brought the official Swedish state religion of Lutheranism with them. • 1655 the Dutch led by Peter Stuyvesant capture “New Sweden”. Since Calvinism was the predominant church in Holland, Lutherans were generally discriminated against. • 1664 the English capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York. The English King Charles II was a believer in religious tolerance, which resulted in the end of the persecution of the Lutherans. • 1675 Philipp Jakob Spener published Pia desideria or “Earnest Desire for a Reform of the True Evangelical Church”. This challenge to the Lutheran Orthodoxy became the spark of Pietism. Recap – What is Lutheran “Orthodoxy”? • The key doctrine, or material principle, of Lutheranism is the doctrine of justification. Lutherans believe that humans are saved from their sins by… • …God's grace alone (Sola Gratia), • …through faith alone (Sola Fide), • …on the basis of Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura). What is Pietism? • Summary: 17th–18th c. movement in Ger. Protestantism; it regarded prevailing orthodoxy as spiritually unproductive.3 In Pia desideria, Spener made six proposals as the best means of restoring the life of the Church 1. The earnest and thorough study of the Bible in private meetings, ecclesiolae in ecclesia ("little churches within the church") 2. The Christian priesthood being universal, the laity should share in the spiritual government of the Church 3. A knowledge of Christianity must be attended by the practice of it as its indispensable sign and supplement 4. Instead of merely didactic, and often bitter, attacks on the heterodox and unbelievers, a sympathetic and kindly treatment of them 5. A reorganization of the theological training of the universities, giving more prominence to the devotional life 6. A different style of preaching, namely, in the place of pleasing rhetoric, the implanting of Christianity in the inner or new man, the soul of which is faith, and its effects on the fruits of life What’s wrong with that? • Theology • Subordination of “dead orthodoxy”; creeds and external factors such as scripture to a person’s inner faith and devotional life. It’s not The Word that matters, but what it does to a person. Mark 16:16 • Baptism was not as important as Confirmation or being “Born Again”. Whoever believes People must come to Jesus. and is baptized will be • Christ’s sacrifice was not absolutely saved, but whoever sufficient for the forgiveness of does not believe will sins, but rather that a person’s piety be condemned. is also a factor, and so the encouragement of piety is critical Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 -- For what I received I passed on to you (see point 3 above). as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to • Compare this to Paul’s thoughts in the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the his first letter to the Corinthians, third day according to the Scriptures, Chapter 15 verses 1-10. What have others said? • Françoise-Louise de la Tour (responding to her Pietist mentor Pastor Francis Magny): "pietist mysticism did less to reinforce the moral law than to take its place...the principle of 'guidance by inner light' was often a signal to follow the most intense of a person’s inner sentiments...the supremacy of feeling over reason". • Dietrich Bonhoeffer of the German Confessing Church framed the same characterization in less positive terms when he called Pietism “…the last attempt to save Christianity as a religion”: Given that for him religion was a negative term, more or less an opposite to revelation, this constitutes a rather scathing judgment. Bonhoeffer denounced the basic aim of Pietism, to produce a "desired piety" in a person, as unbiblical. • A more detailed examination of the subject of Pietism requires a separate Bible Study. Outcomes of Pietism • Pietism was a major influence Congregationalists on many American Protestant denominations. • Pietism shared aspects with Baptists Deism which also appeared at about the same time. • Pietism is considered the major influence that led to the creation of the "Evangelical Church of the Union" in Prussia in 1817, and other German states soon afterwards. Huh? The Francke Foundation in Halle • 1691, Francke Foundations are created in the city of Halle in the German state Saxony-Anhalt by August Hermann Francke. While Lutheran; he and his foundations were heavily influenced by the Pietist movement. • The Francke Foundations included an institution known as the Orphan School (although most students there were tuition paying). As of 1727 when Francke died), approximately 2200 students (of these 134 were orphans) were in attendance. This was a big institution with 8 “Inspectors” (administrators), 167 male and 8 female teachers. What is Rationalism?4 • Applied to the theol. of H. Zwingli or J. Calvin, the term “rationalistic” often means to say that they interpreted revelation in such a way as to render it harmonious with deductive reasoning, logic, and/or physical phenomena. • Attempts were made in the 17th century to show that Christianity is reasonable. Revelation was not rejected but was regarded as in harmony with reason (rational supernaturalism). • When reason gained the upper hand in the 17th century, the transition to Deism followed. The rationalism of Deism rejected revelation but was tempered by assumption of 5 principles believed common to all religions. What is Deism? • Critical elements of deist thought included: • Rejection of religions that are based on books that claim to contain the revealed word of God. • Rejection of religious dogma and demagogy. • Skepticism of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious "mysteries". • Constructional elements of deist thought included: • God exists and created the universe. • God gave humans the ability to reason. Famous American Deists: Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen and Thomas Paine. Challenges of the British Colonial Lutherans • Language: German? Swedish? Dutch? English? Some combination? • Shortage of clergy, and where to get them? • Sweden? Germany? • Who trains and vets the clergy? • How about “borrowing” from the Episcopal (Anglican) churches. • In some cases non-Lutherans would take the opportunity adopt congregations. A classic example is Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a Moravian (Brotherhood) Bishop who insinuated himself into a position of leadership at a number of Lutheran congregations in Pennsylvania, causing considerable confusion. Because the Lutheran church was very closely tied to Germans and the German Language, it was said that “it lost incalculably much by the exodus of each successive generation from its borders, and for many years had to fall back again upon the material furnished by new arrivals from abroad. It was always beginning and always behind.”2 Hierarchy of the Church of England during 1st half of the 18th century Mixing things up in England Lutheran Lutheran • 1714 Georg Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (aka. Hanover) as well as Archbannerbearer and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire became King George I of England. • “"George I. remained a Lutheran as long as he King George I King George II lived, and had his own German chaplain; but he conformed on some occasions with the Church of England. George II. was in the same position. Though Lutherans, they exercised acts of supremacy in the Church of England; and the common opinion was, that there was no opposition between the views of the two Churches“1 • Finally -- George II’s Grandson, King George III of England was raised Anglican, and also - by the way - lost the American War of Independence. Enter Henry Muhlenburg – “Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States” • Unlike the State churches, the Pietist Francke Foundations of Halle did feel a calling to send pastors to the colonies when asked. Primary among these was Heinrich (Henry) Muhlenburg (1711-1787), who is described in Wikipedia as being “Integral to the founding of the first Lutheran church body in North America, and considered the patriarch of the Lutheran Church in the United States” (Wikipedia). • Muhlenburg eventually settled in Pennsylvania in 1742, from which the Lutheran Church in America started it’s consolidation and growth. • The German immigration to the US through the 19th Century fueled the growth of Lutheran and Protestant churches in the US. By 1900 Germans were the largest ethnic group in the US. 19th Century and New Lutheran Immigrants from Germany • 1817 Led by Frederick William III, King of Prussia institutes the “Prussian Union of churches”, an administrative and liturgical union of the Calvinist and Lutheran Churches in the Kingdom of Prussia, the largest Protestant kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire.
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