LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 79

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THE CONVENTION ESSAY 79

righteous one will live. If he shrinks back, I will not be

pleased with him. Now, we're not those who shrink back

and so are lost, but we have faith and so are saved.

The same Lord was in her midst motivating, direct-
ing, filling the hearts of His people with His love and
willing sacrifice. In spite of the painful struggles and
selfish pride He forged a willingness to endure, a Scrip-
tural and confessional commitment, and we rejoice in
His mercy. Amen.

mi
The Theological Power Pack

Have you ever had the experience of trying to get
away from one evil situation, only to find yourself con-
fronting another? This is what happened to our synodi-
cal forefathers. Theologically, they jumped from the
European frying pan into the American fire. Hardly
had they emerged from the rationalism and pietism of
European Lutheranism, when they found themselves
in the fire of a similar problem in America. Today
we will examine the theological climate in which the
newly organized Synod found itself and the specific
theological platform which it adopted.

At the time that the Frankonian, Saxon, Prussian,
and other immigrants arrived in America, Lutherans in
this country were going through one of the most severe
struggles in their history. The period of the 1840s and
1850s in American Lutheranism can best be described
as one of internal convulsion coupled with agonizing
efforts to redefine the essence of Lutheranism.

At the center of this struggle was the General Synod,
a federation of synods organized in 1820. In its own
way it attempted to oppose rationalism which at-
tempted to place reason above the Scriptures. Even
among America’s Lutherans, some held that faith in
Christ was merely an imitation of a life-style.

President F. H. Quitman (1768—1832), of the New York
Ministerium, in his 1814 catechism raised the question
“What is faith in Christ?” Without embarrassment he
taught: “A firm belief in the divine authority of Jesus,
and His doctrine and promises, expressed by a sincere
zeal to cherish Christian sentiments and dispositions, and
cultivate Christian graces.” [F. H. Quitman, Evangelical
Catechism or a Short Exposition of the Principal Doc-
trines and Precepts of the Christian Religion, For Use of
the Churches Belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran
Synod of the State of New York (Hudson: William E.
Norman, 1814), pp. 47—48]

Closely allied with the problem of subjecting Scrip-
tures to human reason was the transition from German
to English. A lack of English Lutheran literature made
it difficult for the pastors and people to make the change.
The Lutheran Confessions, for example, did not appear
in English in their entirety until 1851: The Christian
Book of Concord (New Market: Published by Solomon
D. Henkel and Brs. 1851). Besides, so many of the
Lutherans were not even interested in theology, and
thought that revivalism was the answer to the church’s
renewal.

Because of this, Lutherans in America developed
two theological parties: those who agitated for none or
as little support or subscription to Lutheran Confessions

The Local Convention Committee

as possible, and those who advocated total commitment
to them. Those who rejoiced in such subscription saw
the Confessions as the proclamation of their faith and
fellowship, and a bulwark against various un-Lutheran
tendencies.

One of the most renowned leaders in Lutheranism
in America at this time was Dr. S. S. Schmucker, presi-
dent and professor at the only theological seminary
Lutherans had, located at Gettysburg, Pa. At first
he worked strenuously to introduce the Augsburg
Confession when it was virtually unknown; in 1834,
however, he wrote a dogmatics textbook warning against
a confessional subscription:

The Lutheran divines of this country are not willing to
bind either themselves or others to anything more than
the fundamental doctrines of the Christian revelation,
believing that an immense mass of evil has resulted to
the church of God from the rigid requisition of extensive
and detailed creeds. [S. S. Schmucker, Elements of Popu-
lar Theology, 2nd edition (New York: Levit, Lord and
Co., 1834), p. 41]

To make things worse, Schmucker and his colleagues
tried to demonstrate to the union church of Germany,
that they were on the same theological wavelength with
them, protesting against subscription to the Lutheran
Confessions. In a letter written two years before the
formation of the Missouri Synod Schumucker appealed
to the German church:

Now as to our doctrinal views, we confess without dis-
guise, indeed confess it loudly and openly, that the great-
est majority of us are not old Lutherans. . .. We are
convinced that, if the great Luther were still living, he
would not be a member of it either. We believe that
the three last centuries have also produced men who
were capable of independent thought, research and
growth equal to the sixteenth.

. . . But, nevertheless, we are Evangelical Lutheran.
Committed to Luther’s fundamental principle that God’s
Word is without error. . . . The distinctive views which
separate the old Lutherans and the Reformed Church we
do not consider essential; and the tendency of the so-
called old Lutheran party seems to us to be behind our
time. . . . The peculiar view of Luther on the bodily
presence of the Lord in the Lord’s Supper has been
abandoned long ago by the great majority of our preach-
ers.... {“Aus Amerika,” Zeitschrift fiir Protestantismus
und Kirche, XI (1846), pp. 263—264]

The climax of the controversy over confessional sub-