The Lutheran History Podcast: Recent Episodes
Benjamin Phelps
The Lutheran History Podcast interviews professional and independent historians on their work, covering over 500 years of Lutheranism. We hear new stories, examine old heroes of faith, and dig into the who, how, what, and why of history-making.
In this episode, we explore the story behind The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and the remarkable collaboration that brought it into existence. Drawing on Elisabeth J. Urtel’s recent dissertation, the conversation traces how the Missouri, Wisconsin, Norwegian, and Slovak synods of the Synodical Conference worked together to produce a shared English-language hymnal during a time of profound cultural change. The discussion examines how the shift from German and other immigrant languages to English shaped Lutheran identity in America, the theological and musical principles that guided the hymnal committee, and the challenges of translating and selecting hymns that would faithfully carry the Lutheran confession into a new cultural setting. Along the way, we ask how hymnody forms theology and devotion, how different Lutheran traditions negotiated their distinctive musical heritages, and how the publication of The Lutheran Hymnal helped foster a shared American identity among confessional Lutherans. The episode also reflects on the reception and lasting influence of TLH and what its history reveals about the relationship between tradition, language, and church life.
1941 Recording of a TLH model service (misleadingly described as just "Missouri Synod.")
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
In this episode, we talk with Dr. Ronald Rittgers about his book The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany.
Join us for a fascinating discussion of what was retained from the Late-Medieval focus on human suffering in the Reformation, and what was incompatible with the renewed focus on the biblical doctrine of salvation.
Finally, we discussed how our current age seeks to distance itself from questions and acknowledgment of suffering and its proper theological framework and pastoral applications.
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Image: Mythic depiction of PETER MUHLENBERG AT WOODSTOCK, VIRGINIA
Note: the guest wishes to clarify that he meant a $10 bill, not $100, in reference to Hamilton.
In God on Three Sides, Jonathan M. Wilson explores how German Pietist communities experienced and interpreted the American Revolution, a war that forced believers to wrestle with loyalty, violence, and obedience to God in a time of political upheaval. Drawing on sermons, letters, and personal writings, Wilson shows how Pietists on all sides of the conflict—Patriot, Loyalist, and neutral—understood the war through a shared theological vocabulary of providence, suffering, discipline, and faithful endurance.
Wilson treats Pietism broadly, using the term to describe a transatlantic devotional culture rather than a narrowly defined movement. In his account, Lutherans, Reformed, Moravians, and related German-speaking Protestants participate in a common pietist world shaped by intense Scripture use, moral seriousness, and the conviction that God was dwelling within them by faith.
Rather than resolving the moral tensions of war, God on Three Sides highlights how pietist faith absorbed and interpreted political crisis: some read the conflict as divine chastisement, others as a call to reform, and still others as a trial demanding patient submission. For Lutheran listeners, the book is especially illuminating in showing how traditional Lutheran language of vocation, suffering, and obedience functioned within this broader pietist framework—often without sharp confessional self-consciousness, yet still grounded in inherited theological instincts.
God on Three Sides offers a comparative compilation of how early American German Protestants experienced revolution, revealing the temporal costs of war and the complexity of Christian conscience in a divided world.
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Image: German and British officers with a chaplain in 1777.
In God on Three Sides, Jonathan M. Wilson explores how German Pietist communities experienced and interpreted the American Revolution, a war that forced believers to wrestle with loyalty, violence, and obedience to God in a time of political upheaval. Drawing on sermons, letters, and personal writings, Wilson shows how Pietists on all sides of the conflict—Patriot, Loyalist, and neutral—understood the war through a shared theological vocabulary of providence, suffering, discipline, and faithful endurance.
Wilson treats Pietism broadly, using the term to describe a transatlantic devotional culture rather than a narrowly defined movement. In his account, Lutherans, Reformed, Moravians, and related German-speaking Protestants participate in a common pietist world shaped by intense Scripture use, moral seriousness, and the conviction that God was dwelling within them by faith.
Rather than resolving the moral tensions of war, God on Three Sides highlights how pietist faith absorbed and interpreted political crisis: some read the conflict as divine chastisement, others as a call to reform, and still others as a trial demanding patient submission. For Lutheran listeners, the book is especially illuminating in showing how traditional Lutheran language of vocation, suffering, and obedience functioned within this broader pietist framework—often without sharp confessional self-consciousness, yet still grounded in inherited theological instincts.
God on Three Sides offers a comparative compilation of how early American German Protestants experienced revolution, revealing the temporal costs of war and the complexity of Christian conscience in a divided world.
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
In today's episode, we welcome back Dr. Tim Grundmeier from MLC to talk about his newly published book.
Lutheranism and American Culture examines the transformation of the nation’s third-largest Protestant denomination over the course of the nineteenth century. In the antebellum era, leading voices within the church believed that the best way to become American was by modifying certain historic doctrines deemed too Catholic and cooperating with Anglo-evangelicals in revivalism and social reform. However, by the mid-1870s, most Lutherans had rejected this view. Though they remained proudly American, most embraced a religious identity characterized by a commitment to their church’s confessions, isolation from other Christians, and a conservative outlook on political and social issues.
Grundmeier shows that this transformation did not happen in a vacuum. Throughout the Civil War and early years of Reconstruction, disputes over slavery and politics led to quarrels about theology and church affairs. During the war and immediately after, the Lutheran church in the United States experienced two major schisms, both driven by clashing views on the national conflict. In the postbellum years, Lutherans adopted increasingly conservative positions in theology and politics, mainly in reaction to the perceived “radicalism” of the era. By the final decades of the nineteenth century, Lutherans had established a rigorously conservative and definitively American form of the faith, distinct from their coreligionists in Europe and other Protestants in the United States.
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
The most important WELS history resource might not sit on a shelf — it’s already in your browser.
In this episode, we sit down with Professor Nathan Ericson, Library Director at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and Editor of the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, to explore the quiet engine behind much of modern WELS scholarship: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Digital Library. We discuss how thousands of digitized papers—from convention essays to rare historical documents—form an indispensable record of the synod’s past and a living resource for pastors, teachers, researchers, and congregational historians today. Ericson unpacks how these materials are curated, what hidden gems lie inside, and how a new generation can use them to build a clearer, richer understanding of our church’s story. This is the episode for anyone who loves archives, theology, or the thrill of finding the perfect source—right when you need it most.
WLS online collections
Many thanks to my wonderful supporters!
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
What was it like to witness Martin Luther’s wedding—and even his bridal chamber? In this episode, we explore Justus Jonas’s vivid letter announcing Luther’s marriage to Katharina von Bora, complete with tears, friends, and ancient wedding customs that may shock modern ears. Along the way, we’ll uncover the surprising role of the best man, the significance of Luther’s marriage for Reformation theology, and why vocation and family life became so central to his legacy.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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In this episode of The Lutheran History Podcast, Dr. John M. Brenner joins to share insights from his recent article on Professor Siegbert W. Becker, a major voice in confessional Lutheran theology during the 20th century. Listeners will be introduced to Becker’s life, teaching, and legacy, and gain a better understanding of the challenges he faced—and the convictions he held—in a time of great theological unrest.
Becker’s story spans some of the most critical decades in American Lutheranism. Raised in the Missouri Synod and later serving in the Wisconsin Synod, he became known for his deep commitment to the inerrancy of Scripture, his courage in confronting theological compromise, and his sharp but accessible writing style. Dr. Brenner discusses Becker’s role during the years leading up to the WELS/LCMS split, particularly his concern over growing liberalism and the erosion of biblical authority in the seminary classroom.
Despite his formidable intellect—fluent in multiple languages, trained in theology and apologetics—Becker was known for his humility, clarity, and pastoral heart. Through stories from former students and colleagues, Dr. Brenner paints a picture of a man who taught the faith not only in lecture halls, but also through his personal example of faithfulness, gentleness, and humor.
Listeners will come away with a renewed appreciation for the importance of doctrinal clarity, the dangers of theological drift, and the enduring need for pastors and teachers who speak the truth in love. Dr. Brenner also shares reflections on what Becker’s legacy can teach us today—and where interested readers can start exploring his work.
Whether you’re familiar with Becker’s writings or discovering him for the first time, this episode offers a thoughtful and inspiring look at one of confessional Lutheranism’s most important 20th-century theologians.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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In this episode of The Lutheran History Podcast, we talk with Dr. Timothy D. Grundmeier about his recent article, “Pennsylvania’s ‘Youthful Daughter’: Reexamining the Early History of the Wisconsin Synod,” featured in the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly (Spring 2025). While many are familiar with the Wisconsin Synod’s early ties to German mission societies and eventual fellowship with the Missouri Synod, Dr. Grundmeier highlights an often underappreciated chapter in WELS history: its formative partnership with the Pennsylvania Synod. Drawing on rich archival sources, he paints a fuller picture of how eastern Lutherans supported and shaped the growing church in the Midwest through financial aid, pastoral connections, and shared theological commitments. This episode invites listeners to reflect on the blessings of intersynodical cooperation and the broader roots of confessional Lutheranism in America.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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In this special episode, guest host Tim Grundmeier interviews historian and author Benjamin T. Phelps about his recent Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly article on Dr. Henry A. Koch—a pastor, professor, and editor who left a profound mark on confessional Lutheranism in both Germany and America. Phelps shares personal insights drawn from years of research, including access to Koch’s letters, diary, and unpublished materials preserved by his family. Together, they trace Koch’s theological formation in Wauwatosa, his academic work in Leipzig, his resistance to Nazi ideology, and his return to America without a call during the Great Depression. The conversation explores Koch’s role in rebuilding fractured congregations, his deep concern for doctrinal faithfulness, and his controversial but principled opposition to the Missouri Synod’s growing unionism. Through it all, Koch remained committed to the Lutheran confession and the gospel ministry—living out the motto he printed for decades in the Gemeinde-Blatt: Halte, was du hast—Hold fast what you have.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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This is a special episode of a presentation I prepared for the Society of German American Studies symposium in April in Milwaukee.
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The year 2025 marks the 175th anniversary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Originally established in the Milwaukee area as the Die erste deutsch. evang.-luth. Synode von Wisconsin, this German immigrant ecclesiastical organization, immediately needed printed materials in its native language that would serve the needs of its people in a new geographic and social setting. The Wisconsin Synod primarily sought to preserve and transmit conservative confessional Lutheranism in the first several generations. The motto, “Halte was du hast,” crowned the synod’s first regular publication, the Gemeindeblatt. Its message, “Hold what you have,” reflects the conservative concern of the ministers who encouraged Lutheran immigrants to preserve their faith and pass it on to future generations. Wisconsin Synod leaders also recognized that as the synod faced new challenges and opportunities in its frontier immigrant context, it must also apply theological principles in ways that precluded simplistic repristination of the 16th century Reformation. The resulting “Wauwatosa Theology” came to life in the German publications of the synod.
To meet the needs of its laity, pastors, and scholars, the Wisconsin Synod locally produced various printed materials in the German language to meet its high theological standards. These German American Lutherans required many printed materials: hymnals, service agendas, synodical reports, catechisms, bibles, and devotional literature. Regular publications: the Gemeindeblatt and the Theologische Quartalschrifft not only served to communicate to and inform laity and pastors within the Wisconsin Synod but also spread its news and theology across the nation and back to the German homeland.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod required German materials for well over a century—despite the erosion of a German-speaking demographic accelerated by two world wars. In the post-war years, the synod experienced an irreversible transition from needing German materials to holding on to them for personal comfort. Still, the synod continued to print officially in German regularly until 1970.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
...
In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Joel Otto, the anniversary committee chairman, about the pictorial history book Christ Through Us, which he co-authored with John Braun.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
...
In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Joel Otto, the anniversary committee chairman, about what WELS worship has looked like in the past and how it has changed.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
...
image: Adolph Hoenecke from the host's family photo collection.
In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Prof. James Danell who teaches German at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN, about Adolph Hoenecke, who taught for many decades at the Wisconsin Synod's Seminary. Prof. Danell speaks in this episode about his significant influence on the spirit and theology of the Wisconsin Synod.
Not only does Danell teach the German language, but his advanced classes read through German Lutheran materials from the Reformation through the 19th and 20th century American Lutheran theologians. His students, therefore, get to sharpen their German skills, study theology, and learn Church History--all at the same time!
You can support the Confessional Language Scholarship here.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
...
This is part of a longer conversation I had with Prof. James Danell about the imperative need for scholars who know German to do Lutheran history.
You can support the Confessional Language Scholarship at MLC to encourage this endeavor here.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
...
This is a cross-over episode with The Shepherd's Study Podcast, where I was a guest of Jared Natsis and Phil Moldenhauer. We talked about the content and merits of the book Brand Luther which came out shortly before the Reformation 500th anniversary.
The Shepherd’s Study podcast is produced by Grow in Grace to help pastors grow in the art and practice of pastoral ministry. Each episode features Lutheran pastors discussing a book that is salient to their work.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers’ own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary or the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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In this episode, we talk with Peter Prange about the third volume in his series, Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, in which he gets into the details and nuances of the Election Controversy that rocked the Synodical Conference.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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In this WELS 175th episode, Tim Grundmeier and I talk about who Johannes Muehlhaeuser was, Christmas trees, and the founding of the Wisconsin Synod.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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Image: JP Koehler at Wauwatosa Seminary, candid photo taken by a student.
While going through some old boxes in my grandfather's basement, I stumbled upon something truly remarkable: my great-grandfather’s diary. He was a student at the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary from 1910 to 1912 and had the unique opportunity to learn from the famous Wauwatosa theologians of that era. As you can imagine, this diary could be a treasure trove of insights into the life of a seminary student over a century ago.
But here’s the thing—the handwriting is challenging to decipher. It’s very different from what we’re used to today, and to do it justice, I need to hire professional transcribers who can carefully decode its contents. Only then can I start the process of translating and studying it. This project isn’t just personally meaningful to me; it could also provide valuable historical insights, and I plan to use it as the basis for an article in the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly Journal.
Here’s where I’m asking for your help. The cost of professional transcription is about $1500. To make this project a reality, I’ve set up a crowdfunding campaign. If this story resonates with you, if you’re passionate about preserving history or just love a good discovery, I’d be incredibly grateful for your support. Whether you’re able to contribute or just share the campaign with others, every bit helps.
https://patreon.com/tlhp?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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Link to the service and hymns: https://trinitylutheransd.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Reformation-Hymn-Festival-2024.pdf
The first evangelical hymnal—which in retrospect we can also call the first Lutheran hymnal—rolled off the presses around the middle of January 1524. But interestingly, it did not roll off the presses in Wittenberg, even though the title page gave that impression, or even at Luther’s instigation. It was printed by Jobst Gutknecht in Nuremberg, well over 200 miles to the south of Wittenberg, and apparently on his own initiative. Gutknecht compiled four hymns that had been individually published in Wittenberg on broadsheets in 1523 and 1524. He also obtained the texts of three additional Luther hymns, which were already being sung in services in Wittenberg. (There were no copyright laws back then, and printers regularly copied, reprinted, and sold works they obtained from elsewhere.) To these seven hymns he added one more anonymous one, which was possibly given to him in the composer’s own manuscript. He published these eight hymns under the title:
Some Christian Songs, Hymns of Praise, and Psalms, Produced in
Conformity with the Pure Word of God from Holy Scripture by Various
Well-Educated Men for Singing in Church, Just As Is Already Being Done
with Some of Them in Wittenberg
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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Timothy Plichta is a WELS homeschooled high school student living in Germantown, WI. He loves Lutheran history in general and is especially enthralled with anything related to the CELC.
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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This episode is a fuller version of my presentation given at the 2024 Lutheran Historical Conference in Baltimore. Link to the full video of this episode.
One church historian observed that “ It would require pages and pages to report Wyneken's work during his pastorate [in Baltimore].”
This episode will examine one specific topic- how Wyneken contested for a genuine Lutheran identity and practice in the following arenas in Baltimore:
- 2nd German Evangelical Lutheran Church
- Evangelical Lutheran General Synod
- Forming the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, etc.
- The IOOF, Red Men, and other lodges
https://youtu.be/T9m8usSbwSE
Support the show
- Confessional Languages Scholarship
- The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018. Ben has been a regular writer and presenter on various Lutheran history topics. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of several awards from the Concordia Historical Institute.
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Image: Johannes Bugenhagen
During the Reformation Martin Luther restored many Christian teachings to its proper biblical understanding. One of the men who worked with Luther in communicating those teachings was Johannes Bugenhagen. This episode explores one specific way Bugenhagen communicated the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms in The Christian Order of the Honorable City of Braunschweig. His answer to the question is especially evident in the section of this Kirchenordnung that deals with relief for the poor.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image U.V. Koren
“How is our America doing?” That is the poignant question that C.F.W. Walther (1811 1887), the President of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, asks in his Synod’s theological journal, “Lehre und Wehre” in 1863. In a series of articles written in the Spring of that year, on the eve of the Civil War, Walther addressed topics such as slavery, abolitionism, the nature of America as having been founded on “Enlightenment” principles, as well as how Lutherans can remain faithful to God’s Word in the face of fiery political debates in a democratic context. Of course, Walther was grappling with a much broader question that endures to this day among Lutherans living in America, and that is, what does it mean to be both an “American” and a “Lutheran”?
Rev. Andrew Soule discusses the views of Clausen, Koren, and Walther.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: city of Brunswick (Braunschweig) in the 16th century
In Becoming Lutheran, Dr. John Maxfield discusses several key aspects of Lutheran culture that shape the identity and practice of Lutherans as the Reformation grew and developed outside of the center of Wittenberg. The story of Brunswick engages with Reformation historiography in a way that takes genuine religious convictions seriously as pamphlets and preaching spread the Gospel to every level of society.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
We welcome back Pastor Scott Henrich, a WELS pastor serving in Knoxville, Tennessee. His experiences reading historic Lutheran sermons inspired him to research Lutheranism's homiletical heritage in a way that may challenge some contemporary assumptions about the historic perception of Lutheran preaching. (See TLHP 39)
You can contact him here: scottwhenrich@gmail.com
Today he offers further thoughts and research after studying Walther's Pastoral Theology.
"While C. F. W. Walther needs no introduction for conservative American Lutherans, his Pastoral Theology does. Originally published in 1872, it was not translated into English in its entirety until 2017. (An abridged version, found under various titles, was published in 1995.) In it, Walther condenses a tradition of over 300 years of Lutheran pastoral practice. In a purely historical sense, it is a contribution of great interest, without which the non-specialist would be cut off from centuries of his heritage. Walther’s project, however, goes beyond remembrance, or even repristination. The “American” in the book’s original title (Americanisch-Lutherische Pastoraltheologie) was no accident (3). His intent was to help pastors apply that heritage, mined from God’s Word and initially expressed in the state churches of Europe, to their own time and place. To that end especially, this book is a gift to the Lutheran pastor." -S.H.
Support the Show.
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Heather R. Darsie lives in the United States. She has a Bachelor of Arts in German Languages and Literature, and a Juris Doctorate. During her time at university, she had the privilege of studying in Costa Rica and France, with visits to Germany and other countries.
Ms. Darsie first became interested in the Renaissance time period when she read a biography about Elizabeth I of England. She found Elizabeth I to be very inspiring and her world to be both foreign and familiar.
Ms. Darsie has spent the last ten years researching the history of the Holy Roman Empire. This has helped her gain perspective as to the political world stage during the Renaissance.
As a bibliophile, she turned her attention to illuminated manuscripts. She is learning more each day and is glad to share it with you. Today we talk about Lutheran connections to the House of Cleves.
Her book:
Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings
https://maidensandmanuscripts.com/
Support the Show.
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the Younger
"Wittenberg Uses of Law and Gospel"
Our guest today Dr. Robert A. Kolb is a professor emeritus of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. See the emeritus faculty page at Concordia Lutheran Seminary:
Kolb retired in 2009 after 16 years of distinguished service as missions professor of Systematic Theology and Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis. Before joining the Seminary, he served as director of the Center for Reformation Research, and in various teaching roles in the religion and history departments at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minn. He has taken much time over many years to teach abroad. He also has been involved in several boards—serving both officially on behalf of the LCMS on commissions, and a leader of 16th century and Reformation societies.
There is not enough time to list everything he has written, but I included a selection today: He is the author of several books, including The Christian Faith: A Luther Exposition; The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church with Dr. Charles Arand; Studies of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century; Lutheran Ecclesiastical Culture, 1550-1675; Bound Choice, Election, and Wittenberg Theological Method from Martin Luther to the Formula of Concord; Sources and Contexts of the Book of Concord, co-edited with James A. Nestingen; Teaching God’s Children His Teaching, a Guide to the Study of Luther’s Catechism; and the list goes on. Perhaps where his name is on most Lutheran bookshelves is in the Book of Concord—he was one of the editors and translators of the most used English edition today. He also has written more than 100 articles and a collection of essays. One of the most recent, titled Wittenberg Uses of Law and Gospel, was published in the Fall edition of the 2023 Lutheran Quarterly and is the focus of this podcast episode.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: Wittenberg c. 1530 from the host's personal collection.
In May 1536 several prominent Reformed reformers traveled to Wittenberg to confess their understanding of what is received in the sacrament of Holy Communion and who receives it. Luther, Melancthon, and other Lutheran reformers readily signed on in agreement concerning this contentious doctrine. This was seen as a significant breakthrough and a celebrated establishment of fellowship and would later directly influence the Formula of Concord.Read more about this topic here in Gordon Jensen's book.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
In this episode, translator Michael Holmen takes us through J. W. F. Höfling's How the Lutheran Church is Constituted (Grundsätze evangelisch-lutherischer Kirchenverfassung).
In his book Höfling describes how the Lutheran church should be constituted according to the principles given in the Lutheran Confessions and in Martin Luther's writings. Höfling sees the teachings of church and ministry in the Lutheran church as being very different from what the Roman Catholic church teaches. In the wake of the 1848 revolutions, he is also concerned about the loss of the sovereigns as the Summepiskopat of the churches in Germany. He offers his advice for how the churches should work towards structuring themselves in the wake of these new conditions.
This third edition of his work has extensive endnotes, which are often more like excurses, where he elaborates on what he has said in previous editions and responds to objections from opponents.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: Carl and Gottlieb Damler. These brothers immigrated to Manitowoc County, WI from the principality of Lippe-Detmold in the early 1850s. Although confirmed Reformed, they worshiped first in a union congregation, but then joined the Lutheran church under the leadership of Pastor Koehler. Carl is the host's g-g-g-grandfather.Our returning guest, Pastor Peter Prange, provides a detailed account of the formation and confessional maturation of the Wisconsin Synod, which finally led to its complete break with the German Union mission societies that had given it so much missionary and monetary support and its recognition by the Missouri Synod as an orthodox church preceding the formation of the Synodical Conference.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: Right wing of the Altar Triptych in St. Peter und Paul, Weimar by Cranach - Lutheran princes of the House of Wettin in worship
Worship of the triune God has always stood at the center of the Christian life. That was certainly the case during the sixteenth-century Reformation as well. Yet amid tremendous social and theological upheaval, the church had to renew its understanding of what it means to worship God.
In this episode, Reformed Reformation scholar Karin Maag takes us inside the worshiping life of the church during this era. Drawing from sources across theological traditions, she explores several aspects of the church's worship, including what it was like to attend church, reforms in preaching, the function of prayer, how Christians experienced the sacraments, and the roles of both visual art and music in worship.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image: The Account of How Two Men of the Augustinian Order Were Martyred in Brussels in Brabant for the Sake of the Gospel (Erfurt, 1523)
Five hundred years ago, on July 1, 1523, two observant Augustinian monks from Antwerp, Hendrik Voes and Jan van den Esschen, were degraded, condemned, and burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in the Grand Plaza of Brussels, today an UNESCO World Heritage Site. These monks were adherents of Luther’s Reformation doctrine, making them the first Lutheran Christian martyrs and, as Martin Luther himself noted, perhaps the first Christian martyrs ever in the Low Countries.
For this episode, we welcome back Pastor Nathaniel Biebert for his mini-series, "Details Less OftenTold," where he examines fascinating hidden details of the Reformation 500 years later.
Support the show
- Lutheran History Shop
- Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
- Website
- Interview Request Form
- email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
- About the Host
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Image:Johann Gerhard
In this episode, our guest Rev. Caauwe gives a detailed overview of various forms of Lutheran devotional piety developed in the 16th and 17th centuries as well as a discussion on how that devotional heritage has been transferred through the generations.
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- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
Ben loves all things history and enjoys traveling. A descendant of over a dozen Lutheran pastors, Ben has an interest in his family roots, especially 19th-century Lutheranism, and has written several papers and journal articles on the topic. His 2018 thesis on Wyneken won the John Harrison Ness award and the Abdel Ross Wentz prize. He is also the recipient of two awards of commendation from the Concordia Historical Institute.
Ben is currently a doctoral student in historical theology through Concordia Seminary's reduced residency program in St. Louis.
- Benjamin Phelps is a 2014 graduate from Martin Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts with a German emphasis. From there went on to graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 2018.
(Image: Synodical Conference founders from Lutherans in All Lands, 1896)
Dr. C.F.W. Walther worked tirelessly to realize his dream of a Lutheran Zion in North America that would combine and coordinate ministry efforts of faithful Lutherans in the United States and Canada to proclaim the gospel primarily in German, English, and Norwegian. He took center stage in the history of the doctrine and practice of church fellowship among those Lutherans who organized the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America in 1872. With the Spirit's help, six confessional Lutheran church bodies in the American Midwest would forge a gospel ministry partnership that could and would have a profound impact on American and world Lutheranism for decades. But how did it happen? Had these synods discovered the Holy Grail of complete doctrinal agreement? No, they hadn't. Nor did they expect to find it. Instead, the Synodical Conference was founded on fundamental unity, an important fact that has been too often overlooked by subsequent generations of Lutheran church historians and church leaders. But what did these Lutheran fathers mean by fundamental unity? This volume deals with and answers that question and many more.
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Listen to this tribute to Alaska's Lutheran history as I prepare to say goodbye to the wonderful 49th state with deep and unique Lutheran roots!
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"For Midwestern Lutheran synods, the 20th century was especially dramatic and even traumatic. ..In his article, Dr. Braun describes some of the tensions within two predominantly Midwestern Lutheran bodies, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), as these Lutherans struggled to adapt to change without sacrificing eternal truths and treasured traditions. " [Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly 79, 3 (Fall), 180-194] Dr. Mark Braun is a former professor of theology at Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is most known for his Tale of Two Synods.
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Image: Reinhold L. Pieper (1850-1920)
Isaac Johnson graduated from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, MI with a degree in Latin in 2011 and attended Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. During his time at seminary he spent two years studying at the Lutheran theological seminary (Evangelisch-Lutherische Hochschule) in Oberursel, Germany. He was ordained in 2016 and was called to serve Risen Christ Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa. He now serves New Hope Lutheran Church, a mission congregation in Charles City, Iowa. Isaac has a strong interest in homiletics and the German language and is currently engaged in translating Reinhold Pieper's Homiletics textbook (Evangelish-Lutherische Homiletik)
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Image: Three generations of Franks and Kerlers in Greenfield 1889."I prefer America," one German Lutheran immigrant wrote. Letters of German Lutheran immigrants in 19th century America give under-analyzed perspectives of lay members and their views of church establishment and denominational selection.
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Image: Regina, Veronica and Frank Kerler
"I prefer America," one German Lutheran immigrant wrote. Letters of German Lutheran immigrants in 19th century America give under-analyzed perspectives of lay members and their views of church establishment and denominational selection.
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In 1929, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) was a small church body serving primarily German immigrants with congregations in twelve states, mostly in the Midwest; the only “foreign” work was a mission on the Apache reservation in Arizona. By 1961, WELS was still only in sixteen states, but WELS missionaries were working in Japan and Central Africa. By 1983, WELS was carrying out mission work in ten foreign nations and had a presence in every state. This mission expansion occurred despite extensive crosses the synod had to bear: the burden of a substantial debt during the Depression years and other financial challenges, a world war, a shortage of pastors at varying times, and a lengthy doctrinal battle with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) that ended in the painful severing of fellowship ties in 1961. In addition, extensive building projects on the ministerial education campuses of the Wisconsin Synod and the establishment and expansion of area Lutheran high schools and Lutheran elementary schools, as well as building programs at local congregations, were also ongoing during this time period. These various challenges and obstacles contributed to internal tensions over budget priorities and synod mission policies. Some of these crosses became catalysts for mission work. By examining primary source materials, this thesis endeavors to demonstrate that WELS had to persevere under numerous heavy crosses in order to carry out a vigorous mission expansion program at home and abroad, resulting in a nationwide and
worldwide confessional church body.
Read the paper here
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In this episode, we welcome back Rev. Nathaniel Biebert to continue his mini-series on lesser-known details of 500th anniversaries of the Reformation.
Here, we focus on the 500th anniversary of the "September Testament." In this case, almost any detail will be a “detail less often told.” Most Lutherans familiar with Luther’s life are aware that he translated the New Testament into German at the Wartburg in less than eleven weeks, that it was published later that year, that he famously included the word alone in his translation of Romans 3:28, and that his translation (not just of the Testament, but eventually of the Bible as a whole) helped to standardize the German language and to unify German-speaking peoples.
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Today's guest is Pastor Scott Henrich, a WELS pastor serving in Knoxville, Tennessee. His experiences reading historic Lutheran sermons inspired him to research Lutheranism's homiletical heritage in a way that may challenge some contemporary assumptions about the historic perception of Lutheran preaching.
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From his earliest memories to his final legacy, Wyneken’s life story can be told in connection with the catechism. It is a story of Lutheran catechesis on both sides of the Atlantic. It is a story of centuries of Lutheran catechesis practices in German lands. It is a story that highlights the impact of catechesis upon those who immigrated in the 19th century. Wyneken’s ministry unfolds details on the practice of teaching children and adults. His leadership highlighted the clear need to form individual character and congregational culture. He took part in the transition from state to synod catechisms and formed the place of the catechism in the Missouri Synod's mission and identity.
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Image: Albrecht Dürer The AnnunciationToday's guest is Dr. Beth Kreitzer was raised in California and has degrees from Stanford and Duke Universities. Her graduate study in the Program of Religion at Duke focused upon the history of the Church from the patristic era through the early modern period. Her dissertation, upon the images of Mary in Lutheran sermons of the 16th century, was also her first book, "Reforming Mary."
Kreitzer's work looks at Lutheran sermons between 1520 and 1580 and the various occasions on the church calendar where Mary is the main or at least a major focus.
While some aspects of reforming the Church’s view and use of Mary focused on key concepts like salvation through faith alone through Christ alone, other aspects of reforming Mary seem less doctrinally central but were just as impactful to the life of everyday Christians.
You can purchase the book here:https://www.amazon.com/Reforming-Mary-Changing-Sixteenth-Historical/dp/019516654X
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Image: The Wartburg Castle taken during my trip there in 2016.
In this episode, we continue our series with Pastor Nathaniel Biebert where he digs into the lesser-known details of important milestones in the life of Luther and the Reformation. Here we look at Luther's "capture" on his way back from the Diet of Worms and his time at the Wartburg Castle.
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A must-know topic for understanding 19th-century Lutheranism!
Order online at www.oup.com/academic with promotion code AAFLYG6 to save 30%!
Historians of modern German culture and church history refer to "the Awakening movement" (die Erweckungsbewegung) to describe a period in the history of German Protestantism between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the Revolution of 1848. "The Awakening" was the last major nationwide Protestant reform and revival movement to occur in Germany. This book analyzes numerous primary sources from the era of the Awakening and synthesizes the current state of German scholarship for an English-speaking audience. It examines the Awakening as a product of the larger social changes that were re-shaping German society during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Theologically, Awakened Protestants were traditionalists. They affirmed religious doctrines that orthodox Protestants had professed since the confessional statements of the Reformation-era. Awakened Protestants rejected the changes that Enlightenment thought had introduced into Protestant theology and preaching since the mid-eighteenth century. However, Awakened Protestants were also themselves distinctly modern. Their efforts to spread their religious beliefs were successful because of the new political freedoms and economic opportunities that the Enlightenment had introduced. These social conditions gave German Protestants new means and abilities to pursue their religious goals. Awakened Protestants were leaders in the German churches and in the universities. They used their influence to found many voluntary organizations for evangelism, in Germany and abroad. They also established many institutions to ameliorate the living conditions of those in poverty. Adapting Protestantism to modern society in these ways was the most original and innovative aspect of the Awakening movement.
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A must-know topic for understanding 19th-century Lutheranism!
Order online at www.oup.com/academic with promotion code AAFLYG6 to save 30%!
Historians of modern German culture and church history refer to "the Awakening movement" (die Erweckungsbewegung) to describe a period in the history of German Protestantism between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the Revolution of 1848. "The Awakening" was the last major nationwide Protestant reform and revival movement to occur in Germany. This book analyzes numerous primary sources from the era of the Awakening and synthesizes the current state of German scholarship for an English-speaking audience. It examines the Awakening as a product of the larger social changes that were re-shaping German society during the early decades of the nineteenth century. Theologically, Awakened Protestants were traditionalists. They affirmed religious doctrines that orthodox Protestants had professed since the confessional statements of the Reformation-era. Awakened Protestants rejected the changes that Enlightenment thought had introduced into Protestant theology and preaching since the mid-eighteenth century. However, Awakened Protestants were also themselves distinctly modern. Their efforts to spread their religious beliefs were successful because of the new political freedoms and economic opportunities that the Enlightenment had introduced. These social conditions gave German Protestants new means and abilities to pursue their religious goals. Awakened Protestants were leaders in the German churches and in the universities. They used their influence to found many voluntary organizations for evangelism, in Germany and abroad. They also established many institutions to ameliorate the living conditions of those in poverty. Adapting Protestantism to modern society in these ways was the most original and innovative aspect of the Awakening movement.
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James is the pastor of First Lutheran Church of El Cajon, CA where he lives with his wife, Kristan and their two cats. He is a graduate of Concordia University Wisconsin and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. A writer, photographer, and independent historian, James focuses on the history of Chicago Lutheran ministry and black Lutheran ministry, hoping to leverage the lessons of ministry past to help understand current and future work in urban centers.
You can check out James' work at his blog here: https://jameshuenink.wordpress.com/
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James is the pastor of First Lutheran Church of El Cajon, CA where he lives with his wife, Kristan and their two cats. He is a graduate of Concordia University Wisconsin and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. A writer, photographer, and independent historian, James focuses on the history of Chicago Lutheran ministry and black Lutheran ministry, hoping to leverage the lessons of ministry past to help understand current and future work in urban centers.
You can check out James' work at his blog here: https://jameshuenink.wordpress.com/
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In celebration of the commencement of plans to publish my biography of FCD Wyneken with the help of the Concordia Historical Institute, I am releasing an audio version of a presentation I prepared four years ago, covering the main points of my research as it stood then. While I would change a few things today and add a lot more, it will hopefully serve to peak your interest in this topic before the book comes out.
Video version here
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Today we welcome back Pastor Beibert to discuss his research and presentation on Luther at Worms in 1521, one of the most iconic and significant events in the history of the Church.
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Image: Kenneth Wyatt – Circuit Rider.
Today's guest author is pastor Justin Dauk. A native of northeastern Wisconsin, he is a 2011 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. He has served a dual parish in northcentral South Dakota for 7-1/2 years. Since January 2021, he has been serving as associate pastor at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Plymouth, NE, and Christ Lutheran Church in Beatrice, NE. He is also on the board for the WELS Historical Institute.
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Stephen Gurgel is a 2011 graduate from Martin Luther College: Bachelor of Science in Education and a 2012 graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Master of Arts in History. His 2012 thesis, a War to End All Germans, Wisconsin Synod Lutherans and the First World War, offers a detailed account and analysis of the social and political forces that persecuted the German Lutherans of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod during WWI.
You can read the thesis here
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Image: Haugianere by Adolph Tidemand (1852)
Thomas Jacobson currently serves part-time as pastor of Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lindy, Nebraska, and as an adjunct instructor of historical theology at the Institute of Lutheran theology in Brookings, South Dakota. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Augustana University (SD) in 2002, his Master of Divinity degree at Luther Seminary in 2006, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree also at Luther Seminary in 2018. His main research interest is American Lutheran history, especially the Scandinavian-American church experience. He resides in Menno, South Dakota with his family. He is delighted to share information about the inspiring and often misunderstood figure of Hans Nielsen Hauge.
You can read his dissertation here
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Image: Hans Nielsen Hauge
Thomas Jacobson currently serves part-time as pastor of Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lindy, Nebraska, and as an adjunct instructor of historical theology at the Institute of Lutheran theology in Brookings, South Dakota. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Augustana University (SD) in 2002, his Master of Divinity degree at Luther Seminary in 2006, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree also at Luther Seminary in 2018. His main research interest is American Lutheran history, especially the Scandinavian-American church experience. He resides in Menno, South Dakota with his family. He is delighted to share information about the inspiring and often misunderstood figure of Hans Nielsen Hauge.
You can read his dissertation here
Lutheran History Shop
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Image FCD Wyneken in old ageWielding the Sword of the Spiritrecounts the history surrounding the doctrine and practice of church fellowship in the Missouri Synod, especially under the leadership of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther.
Volume One of this two-part history covers the years from the Saxon immigration to Missouri in 1838-1839 until 1867, just before the founding of the General Council. Not only does it chart the history of the Missourians' doctrine and practice of church fellowship during their first thirty years in America, it also provides an in-depth account of how they came to the positions they held on important matters of theology. It details their burgeoning fellowship relationships with the Buffalo Synod's Johannes Grabau and the patron of the Missouri and Iowa Synods, Pastor Wilhelm Loehe, in the 1840s and 1850s and their eventual split with both due to different positions on church and ministry, confessional subscription, open questions, chiliasm, and evangelical pastoral practice. It also highlights the central role Walther played in promoting a Lutheran confessional consciousness among the American Lutherans of his day--especially his single-minded emphasis on the objective nature of justification--Finally, it presents a clear recounting and analysis of why, under God, the Missouri Synod experienced an exponential growth--and developed a vigorous esprit de corps.
Wielding the Sword of the Spirit highlights how these early Missourians maintained a firm grip on the teachings of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions while also carefully distinguishing between weak Christians, who lacked proper insight and instruction, and stubborn errorists, who denied the clear teachings of Scripture against better knowledge. When carefully considered in their historical context, Walther and his colleagues modeled a faithful and evangelical doctrine and practice of church fellowship that followed in the footsteps of Jesus, St. Paul, and Martin Luther. They wielded the sword of the Spirit vigorously and evangelically, while also striving to do their very best to "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace"
Peter M. Prange serves as an associate pastor at New Life Ev. Lutheran Church in Kenosha and Somers, Wis. He is a 1998 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. He has researched and written extensively on the history and doctrine of the Synodical Conference, with a special emphasis on the connection between C.F.W. Walther's theology and practice and the so-called Wauwatosa Theology. Included among his various writings are "The Wauwatosa Spring: The Flowering of the Historical Disciplines at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1900-1920)," and Jars of Clay: A History of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1863-2013), co-authored with Dr. John Brenner.
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Wielding the Sword of the Spiritrecounts the history surrounding the doctrine and practice of church fellowship in the Missouri Synod, especially under the leadership of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (shown in episode thumbnail)
Volume One of this two-part history covers the years from the Saxon immigration to Missouri in 1838-1839 until 1867, just before the founding of the General Council. Not only does it chart the history of the Missourians' doctrine and practice of church fellowship during their first thirty years in America, it also provides an in-depth account of how they came to the positions they held on important matters of theology. It details their burgeoning fellowship relationships with the Buffalo Synod's Johannes Grabau and the patron of the Missouri and Iowa Synods, Pastor Wilhelm Loehe, in the 1840s and 1850s and their eventual split with both due to different positions on church and ministry, confessional subscription, open questions, chiliasm, and evangelical pastoral practice. It also highlights the central role Walther played in promoting a Lutheran confessional consciousness among the American Lutherans of his day--especially his single-minded emphasis on the objective nature of justification--Finally, it presents a clear recounting and analysis of why, under God, the Missouri Synod experienced an exponential growth--and developed a vigorous esprit de corps.
Wielding the Sword of the Spirit highlights how these early Missourians maintained a firm grip on the teachings of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions while also carefully distinguishing between weak Christians, who lacked proper insight and instruction, and stubborn errorists, who denied the clear teachings of Scripture against better knowledge. When carefully considered in their historical context, Walther and his colleagues modeled a faithful and evangelical doctrine and practice of church fellowship that followed in the footsteps of Jesus, St. Paul, and Martin Luther. They wielded the sword of the Spirit vigorously and evangelically, while also striving to do their very best to "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace"
Peter M. Prange serves as an associate pastor at New Life Ev. Lutheran Church in Kenosha and Somers, Wis. He is a 1998 graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis. He has researched and written extensively on the history and doctrine of the Synodical Conference, with a special emphasis on the connection between C.F.W. Walther's theology and practice and the so-called Wauwatosa Theology. Included among his various writings are "The Wauwatosa Spring: The Flowering of the Historical Disciplines at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1900-1920)," and Jars of Clay: A History of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (1863-2013),
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Anna Hoppe was born on May 7, 1889 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She left school after the eighth grade and worked as a stenographer. She began writing patriotic verses when she was very young and by the age of 25 she was writing spiritual poetry. After some of her poems appeared in the Northwestern Lutheran, a periodical of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, they came to the attention of Dr. Adolf Hult of Augustana Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois. He influenced her to write her Songs for the Church Year (1928). Several hymnals include her work, which was usually set to traditional chorale melodies, although she also made a number of translations. She died on August 2, 1941 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
https://hymnary.org/person/Hoppe_AB
https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781942304333/Anna-B-Hoppe
https://www.amazon.com/Hoppe-Shaping-American-Lutheran-Church/dp/1942304331
Today's guest is Elisabeth Urtel. After graduating from Bethany Lutheran College, where she studied church music and religion, Elisabeth received her Master of Arts in Lutheran Theological Studies from Bethany Lutheran
Theological Seminary in 2016. Her recent publication Anna B. Hoppe: Her Life and Hymnody draws upon her thesis for this program. In December 2016, she earned her Master of Church Music in organ from Concordia University Wisconsin. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Historical Theology at Concordia Seminary (St. Louis, MO) where her advisor is Dr. Gerhard Bode. Through Concordia, she was honored to be a guest researcher at the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Germany in 2019.
Her research interests include women in early-modern Germany, American-Lutheran history, and recovering a greater appreciation for the Lutheran musical heritage. Articles she has authored have been published in LOGIA and Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and she has been a guest lecturer at several Lutheran institutions and conferences.
She is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and is active as a church musician and collaborative pianist in southern Minnesota. When not performing, Elisabeth enjoys reading, writing, traveling, running, languages, and history.
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Anna Hoppe was born on May 7, 1889 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She left school after the eighth grade and worked as a stenographer. She began writing patriotic verses when she was very young and by the age of 25 she was writing spiritual poetry. After some of her poems appeared in the Northwestern Lutheran, a periodical of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, they came to the attention of Dr. Adolf Hult of Augustana Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois. He influenced her to write her Songs for the Church Year (1928). Several hymnals include her work, which was usually set to traditional chorale melodies, although she also made a number of translations. She died on August 2, 1941 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
https://hymnary.org/person/Hoppe_AB
https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781942304333/Anna-B-Hoppe
https://www.amazon.com/Hoppe-Shaping-American-Lutheran-Church/dp/1942304331
Today's guest is Elisabeth Urtel. After graduating from Bethany Lutheran College, where she studied church music and religion, Elisabeth received her Master of Arts in Lutheran Theological Studies from Bethany Lutheran
Theological Seminary in 2016. Her recent publication Anna B. Hoppe: Her Life and Hymnody draws upon her thesis for this program. In December 2016, she earned her Master of Church Music in organ from Concordia University Wisconsin. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Historical Theology at Concordia Seminary (St. Louis, MO) where her advisor is Dr. Gerhard Bode. Through Concordia, she was honored to be a guest researcher at the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, Germany in 2019.
Her research interests include women in early-modern Germany, American-Lutheran history, and recovering a greater appreciation for the Lutheran musical heritage. Articles she has authored have been published in LOGIA and Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, and she has been a guest lecturer at several Lutheran institutions and conferences.
She is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and is active as a church musician and collaborative pianist in southern Minnesota. When not performing, Elisabeth enjoys reading, writing, traveling, running, languages, and history.
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Tim Grundmeier and I talk about the purpose, arguments, and significance of this work in Lutheran history.
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Tim Grundmeier and I discuss the purpose, arguments, and significance of this work in Lutheran History.
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Mark Braun returns to talk about the book for which he is most known, A Tale of Two Synods.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod can look back on the 1961 split with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as a defining moment for its little, conservative church body. From that time on, the Wisconsin Synod has assumed a new profile and distinction in the history of conservative American Lutheranism. The book A Tale of Two Synods is written 40 years removed from the events. The historical background is the result of exhaustive research from written records of both synods and also from interviews and surveys of 82 Wisconsin Synod pastors who lived through the controversy. Their personal reminiscences lend a very human character to the book. This is a good read about the substance of the split between these two Lutheran church bodies.
https://online.nph.net/a-tale-of-two-synods.html
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Today's guest is Pastor Craig A. Ferkenstad, the author of Proclaim his Wonders- a pictorial history has been published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the reorganization of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. This 312-page volume includes more than 400 photographs from the history of the synod.
These books of Evangelical Lutheran Synod history are available in print from the Bethany Lutheran College bookstore or electronically for Kindle and iBooks:
- Grace for Grace
- Faith of Our Fathers
- Let’s Look at Our Synod
- Our Great Heritage
- A City Set on a Hill
- Built On The Rock
- A Blessing in the Midst of the Land (print edition not available)
- Proclaim His Wonder: A Pictorial History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
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Today's guest is Pastor Craig A. Ferkenstad, the author of Proclaim his Wonders- a pictorial history has been published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the reorganization of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. This 312-page volume includes more than 400 photographs from the history of the synod.
These books of Evangelical Lutheran Synod history are available in print from the Bethany Lutheran College bookstore or electronically for Kindle and iBooks:
- Grace for Grace
- Faith of Our Fathers
- Let’s Look at Our Synod
- Our Great Heritage
- A City Set on a Hill
- Built On The Rock
- A Blessing in the Midst of the Land (print edition not available)
- Proclaim His Wonder: A Pictorial History of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
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The subject of this discussion can be found in the 2021 summer article of the CHIQ.
Image: Rev. "Colonel" John Jacob Lehmanowsky. Note the scar on his face supposedly from the battle of Austerlitz.
The small Lutheran Synod called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the West existed for barely more than a decade (1835-1846). In Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, isolated Lutheran pastors vainly attempted to rally around an institution intended to be the preeminent Lutheran synod in a large and rapidly populated geographical area. From its beginning, the synod’s leaders continuously struggled to find enough pastors and to keep up with the region’s population explosion. In search of solutions to perplexing challenges, ambitious plans to establish a seminary and publishing house were proposed. Yet the largest challenge proved to be meeting the needs of German immigrants, who began to overtake the number of American-born members. The Synod of the West did not ultimately have the foresight to anticipate the multitudes of German-speaking Lutherans who moved into their sphere at an ever-increasing rate.
Friedrich Wyneken, a member of the synod, was troubled by the distress of German Lutherans in the West. They lacked pastors and leadership, and the Lutheran synods available to them were too weak to minister effectively and struggled with doctrinal error and indifference. The Synod of the West serves as the backlighting for Wyneken’s famous The Distress of the German Lutherans in North America (the Notruf), which called forth an incredible response from Lutherans in Europe. Understanding this synod’s history is essential to understanding the context and cause for Wyneken’s dissatisfaction with the condition of the Lutheran Church in America. The Synod of the West, more than anything, embodied the distress of the Church.
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In what ways is theology a science? Should theology be approached the same empirical way as other areas of studies? August Vilmar had a lot to say about that. Today’s guest is James Ambrose Lee II. Dr. Lee has earned his BA - Concordia University Chicago; River Forest, IL, MDiv - Concordia Theology Seminary; Fort Wayne, IN, STM, Liturgical Theology - Yale Divinity School & Yale Institute of Sacred Music; New Haven, CT, PhD, Historical Theology - Saint Louis University; Saint Louis, MO. Dr. Lee currently teaches classes at Concordia University Chicago on various topics in Church History, including, Christianity and the Modern World, Women in the History of Christianity, and Martin Luther. He also teaches Encountering Religion In America and Introduction to Christianity. Today, we’ll discuss his research on August Vilmar and the German Theological Wissenschaft which he presented in an article in the Lutheran Quarterly last year.
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David Zersen is president emeritus of Concordia University Texas. He has written 25 articles, chapters, and books on Wendish subjects and is proud to have been designated by the Texas Wendish Heritage Society an “Honorary Wend.” Today, we’ll be discussing one of his articles which was the lead article of the 2018 summer issue of the Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly titled, “An Isolated Texas Lutheran Scholar living in Hope." This article focuses on Kilian's interpretation of the millennium in Revelation 20 and a discourse on the room allowed for theological disagreement in the Missouri Synod in the mid-1800s. Dr. Zersen lives with his wife, Julie, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Photo: St. Olaf's altar-pulpit in Cranfills Gap, Texas.
Today’s guest is Alex Aakre, a master of divinity student at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. He is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. His paper, Lift High the Word of God, received an honorable mention from the 2020 Abdel Ross Wentz prize of the Lutheran Historical Society of the Mid-Atlantic.
Alex's article is published in the Journal of the Lutheran Historical Conference 2019, “Lift High the Word of God: A Social and Theological Examination of Altar-Pulpits in Norwegian-American Lutheran Churches.” Alex focuses on an unusual oddity in church architecture—the altar-pulpit.
Alex summarizes the pre-existing analysis on Norwegian American altar-pulpits as mainly folk art, but offers his theological analysis and promotes his own five categories of altar-pulpits to help us understand them better. He writes, “The dominant inspiring force behind the design is the categorical alignment, rather than aesthetic effect.” Alex argues that altar-pulpits can be understood as a paradox.
Listen to this podcast and read Alex's article to learn about his 5 categories and the impact of Pietism on Norwegian American church architecture.
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Normally I interview a professional or independent historian, so far all men, who have conducted original research on some aspect of Lutheranism and have presented it in some way, usually a book or an article. Today we’ll talk to a person whose job is to help researchers do their work so they can share their findings with the rest of us. Today’s guest is Susan Willems, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod's archivist. We'll dive deep into a major part of the "HOW" of history-making.
WELS archive page and contact link.
WELS Historical Institute link.
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Normally I interview a professional or independent historian, so far all men, who have conducted original research on some aspect of Lutheranism and have presented it in some way, usually a book or an article. Today we’ll talk to a person whose job is to help researchers do their work so they can share their findings with the rest of us. Today’s guest is Susan Willems, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod's archivist. We'll dive deep into a major part of the "HOW" of history-making.
WELS archive page and contact link.
WELS Historical Institute link.
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Pastor Ben Schaefer's master's thesis discusses a collision of two important historic entities. One, a Lutheran church body called the Synodical Conference, the other the 19th amendment, a piece of legislation that is still part of the US Constitution.
Pastor Schaefer presented his reasearch in 2019 to the WELS Historical Institute. His paper is titled: Avoiding the Hornet's Nest: Woman Suffrage and Synodical Conference Lutherans 1890-1930. (see it and read it here)
This paper on Woman's Suffrage was awarded the 2020 Abdel Ross Wentz Prize by the Lutheran Historical Society of the Mid-Atlantic. (Your host won this same award for his paper on Wyneken in 2018) Congratulations Pastor Schaefer!
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Check out the Lutheran Historical Conference, where I first presented this material. My article will soon appear in the conference's journal.
German Lutheran immigrant Friedrich Schmidt began a German-language Lutheran newspaper in August 1838. Initially, Schmidt and his Lutherische Kirchenzeitung got along quite well with Benjamin Kurtz and the well-established Lutheran Observer. Indeed, Kurtz chaired the committee that launched the Kirchenzeitung, and Schmidt’s first number spared no praise for the Observer. The two men would later participate in one of the earliest open battles between Confessional Lutheranism and American Lutheranism.
Each paper seemed to have an unwritten agreement to be the primary Lutheran paper for its own language sphere. However, over the years it became apparent that the differences between the papers were much deeper than the language. In 1841 Schmidt commented that the Observer was always defending and recommending religious innovations of the 2nd Great Awakening called the New Measures, which included practices like revivals and altar calls. Yet, the Kirchenzeitung consistently defended Old Lutheranism. Schmidt kept his concerns to himself until he published a letter complaining that the Observer had, in poor taste, attacked the chorrock, the traditional liturgical garb of Lutheran pastors. The Observer declared that the Kirchenzeitung was now its opponent. So, Schmidt responded by denouncing the Observer’s various unLutheran, (Schmidt called them unchristian) views on the sacraments and other doctrines.
At the heart of the short newspaper war was the argument over the Church. Kurtz and others would argue that the American Lutheran Church had never been strictly confessional. American Lutheranism was its own brand of Lutheranism—never mind that it largely mirrored and conformed to mainstream American Christianity which was dominated by Calvinism. Schmidt was likely the first in 19th century America to so publicly argue that true Lutherans were identified by holding to the Lutheran Confessions because they correctly confessed the teachings of the Scriptures.
While some Lutherans denounced Schmidt for being a divisive influence, many others stood by him. Schmidt’s battle challenged many heretofore indifferent Lutherans to examine doctrinal issues and purify their positions.
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Music has always been a big part of Christianity, and especially Lutheranism ever since the Reformation. If I were to ask Lutherans to name Lutheran composers, Martin Luther would probably be on that list. In the intro to The Lutheran Podcast, I remarked how Lutheran composers like J.S. Bach are still popular centuries after their deaths. Did you know that Bach still gets over 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify? Another Lutheran composer, who falls on the timeline between Luther and Bach was rather popular in his own day, and still registers a respectable 800,000 listeners on Spotify. Today we’ll talk about Michael Praetorius. Today, February 15, just so happens to the be 400th anniversary of his death.
Here are three albums that would make for a great introduction to Praetorius:
https://www.amazon.com/Praetorius-Christmette-Gabrieli-Consort-Players/dp/B00DNVIVHC/
https://www.amazon.com/Praetorius-Polyhymnia-Caduceatrix-Panegyrica-Christmas/dp/B0000029VM/
https://www.amazon.com/Dances-Terpsichore-1612-Philip-Pickett/dp/B000SNUI4W/
And here is a link to a Praetorius concert you can watch for free (Praetorius dances):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWYIY3icUg
Link to Heaven is my Fatherland on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1532684312/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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*My statistics report for the podcast tells me that 89% of my listeners are in North America, so that likely means that many listeners may not be aware of parallel developments of Lutheranism in other parts of the world, especially Australia. I was surprised to see how many origins, divisions, and developments within Australian Lutheranism were so similar to many American Lutheran groups. While we certainly don’t have time to cover nearly 200 years of history in any great detail, I think our audience would appreciate and benefit from a brief overview of Australian Lutheranism. It turns out, a more detailed overview series exists on YouTube, but rather than have me, an American summarize something I just listened to, today we have our first international guest. Rev. Jake Zabel is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dalby, Queensland, Australia.
Episode Image: Map of Statistical Areas coloured by percentage of people identifying as Lutheran at the 2011 Census*
Link to Zabel's "Ask the Australian Lutheran Historian" Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Australian-Lutheran-History-The-Order-of-Knight-George-107927964023073
Link to Zabel's youtube video series on Australian Lutheranism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndleSWeJSJ4&list=PLSLRfRT3QBv4LU2trNGYxaaM_legugLxl&index=1&ab_channel=TheOrderofKnightGeorge
Link to Zabel's book: The Forgotten Synod: A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australasia
Link to Zabel's book: Pastor Schirmeister: The Father of the Lutheran Church in Queensland
Links to Zabel's helpful colorful charts that diagram the timelines of Australian and neighboring Lutheran Synods: http://www.knightgeorge.info/lutheranism-in-australia-and-new-zealand.html
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*My statistics report for the podcast tells me that 89% of my listeners are in North America, so that likely means that many listeners may not be aware of parallel developments of Lutheranism in other parts of the world, especially Australia. I was surprised to see how many origins, divisions, and developments within Australian Lutheranism were so similar to many American Lutheran groups. While we certainly don’t have time to cover nearly 200 years of history in any great detail, I think our audience would appreciate and benefit from a brief overview of Australian Lutheranism. It turns out, a more detailed overview series exists on YouTube, but rather than have me, an American summarize something I just listened to, today we have our first international guest. Rev. Jake Zabel is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Dalby, Queensland, Australia.
Episode Image: Kleimzig 1846- an Old Lutheran settlement in South Australia.*
Link to Zabel's "Ask the Australian Lutheran Historian" Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Australian-Lutheran-History-The-Order-of-Knight-George-107927964023073
Link to Zabel's youtube video series on Australian Lutheranism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndleSWeJSJ4&list=PLSLRfRT3QBv4LU2trNGYxaaM_legugLxl&index=1&ab_channel=TheOrderofKnightGeorge
Link to Zabel's book: The Forgotten Synod: A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australasia
Link to Zabel's book: Pastor Schirmeister: The Father of the Lutheran Church in Queensland
Links to Zabel's helpful colorful charts that diagram the timelines of Australian and neighboring Lutheran Synods: http://www.knightgeorge.info/lutheranism-in-australia-and-new-zealand.html
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Pastor Borrasso’s presentation on the 2019 decision to close Concordia, Selma and other historically Black Lutheran institutions at the 2020 Lutheran Historical Conference could hardly be called disinterested history! He examined the history of Black ministry in the LC-MS and identified a pattern and foundation that has very real implications for the present and very recent past. He offered a critique of current leadership and actions. Meanwhile, the purpose of TLHP is to examine Lutheran History, without diving headfirst into discussion of current events, issues, and controversy. However, many would argue that the study of history should not be an end itself. While we will focus today primarily on the history of Black educational institutions in the LC-MS, we will not ignore Pastor Borrasso’s opinions on how that history impacts the present. For today’s episode, I asked my friend, Pastor Scott Henrich, who researched and wrote a thesis on Race and the Lutheran Pastor, to offer some feedback and suggestions for today’s conversation. You can read Scott’s thesis via the WLS essay file online.
Guest introduction: Our guest today, Pastor Matt Borrasso, was born and raised in the Chicago area where was baptized and received a Lutheran education in his childhood years. He has received degrees from Concordia University, Chicago, Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, United Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg PA, and has recently begun his PhD. work at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Among his works is the book The Art of Exegesis: An Analysis of the Life and Work of Martin Hans Franzmann published by Wipf & Stock in Eugene, Oregon. Pastor Borrasso is currently the pastor at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church in Parkton, Maryland where he lives with his wife, Holly, and two children.
For Reference:
LCMS Convention Concordia College Alabama’s Closure Session: “July 24 2019 - Afternoon Session Part 1” YouTube video, 2:59:57–3:01:31, posted by The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, July 29, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWq-NUChZ4&list=PLDu0iVoFL_d4CTqtlAVoHUqHVsfbHhsnZ&index=15&t=9268s
Stories from Selma: https://www.storiesfromselma.com
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You can order The Election Controversy here:
https://online.nph.net/the-election-controversy.html
Today when people hear the phrase “election controversy” they’re probably talking about a political election for public office, no doubt November 2020 will often be associated in American minds with the idea of election controversy. But for hundreds of years, another kind of election has divided Protestants all over the world. The late comers to the Reformation, the Calvinists, or Reformed theologians, sharply disagreed with the Lutherans. Later, the Arminians would place election at the center of their conflict with the Calvinists. But the doctrine of election was not only debated between the major branches of Protestantism. The doctrine of election was a great source of controversy for many American Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries—so great that it led to the dissolution of the Synodical Conference, which had once been the largest union of Lutheran synods in the United States. Today’s guest, Dr. John Brenner, has written his book The Election Controversy, to explain and examine the doctrinal issues and historical implications that have shaped the face of Lutheranism in North America to this day.
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Our guest today is John Hannah. He has served as a pastor in Royalton, Minnesota, and The Bronx, New York. He was a Chaplain in the U.S. Army for thirty years. He earned degrees from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Vanderbilt University Divinity School and graduated from the U.S. Army War College.
Pastor Hannah has extensively researched the military service of Arthur Carl Piepkorn, calling him "the foremost of men who became Lutheran chaplains in WWII." While Piepkorn would later be known among Lutherans as a notable professor and theologian of the 20th century, very little work has been done on Piepkorn's remarkable service as a U.S. Army chaplain during and after WWII. Hannah's work sheds new light on this period of Peipkorn's work and helps us understand Lutheran chaplaincy.
John's book on Piepkorn is available through the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau at
https://alpb.org/books/arthur-carl-piepkorn-chaplain-to-the-greatest-generation/ or at Amazon.com.
For other information on Arthur Carl Piepkorn, check out https://piepkorn.org/.
If you liked this episode or think someone you know may find it interesting, please share! The best way to keep up with the Lutheran History Podcast is to follow the podcast on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, or whatever platform you are using.
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The mid-19th century was an important period of transition and formation for Lutheranism. The life of Johannes Strieter an immigrant, orphan, missionary, and pastor, gives us a personal perspective on this period, filled with colorful anecdotes.
Here are some links shared by our guest, Nathaniel Biebert:
My translation blog: https://redbrickparsonage.wordpress.com
Post-Reformation Digital Library: http://www.prdl.org
My author page on Wipf and Stock Publishers: https://wipfandstock.com/author/view/detail/id/258362/
Subscribe to the WELS Historical Institute Journal: https://wels.net/about-wels/history/wels-history/journal/
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In today's episode, Dr. Mark Braun of Wisconsin Lutheran College shares his perspectives on the 1916 book: Little Journeys with Martin Luther: A Real Book Wherein are Printed Divers Sayings and Doings of Dr. Luther in These Latter Days when He Applied for Synodical Membership in the United States. Carefully Set Down in Writing at that Time by Brother John, of the Order of Poor Brethren Commonly Known as Lutheran Pastors by William Nicholas Harley. You can find the book here in google books.
The fictional book supposes that a Martin Luther came back to life in Washington D.C. in 1916 and had to visit various Lutheran synods to determine which church body he could join in good conscience. Harley cleverly used many direct quotes from Luther's works to fabricate Luther's hypothetical response to the divergent churches that all bore his name and claimed to inherit his spirit. Dr. Braun provides helpful context and insights, while clearly connecting this book with Lutheran issues that are still at play today.
Please note that I misspoke when I said that a question was "above" Dr. Braun's "pay grade." By saying that I implied that he was not qualified to speak on the matter. I meant the exact opposite! Perhaps this is why composition teachers tell us to avoid idioms...
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According to one opinion article in the New York Times, Johann Sebastian Bach is the greatest composer of all time. Bach topped a competitive list for his “combination of masterly musical engineering and profound expressivity.” But did you that Bach was a hardcore Lutheran? Not surprisingly, the article also noted that Bach found success by “digging deeper into his way of doing things.” The amount of work he did for his Lutheran Church dwarfs the relatively smaller pieces for orchestra or chamber music. So, what do you know about Lutheran history? Did you know that some historians estimate that around a century ago, roughly 10% of the population in the United States was Lutheran? Odds are, if you have Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, or Danish ancestry, you without a doubt had ancestors in the Lutheran Church, odds are pretty good for most people with German ancestry too. Did you know that Martin Luther not only altered the course of Christianity, but was he likely the first to understand and use mass media? Think about that as you contemplate how you are able to listen to this right now!
Hi, I’m Ben Phelps. I’m a Lutheran pastor, a husband, a father, a sinner-saint, and more, but I’m here to share my passion for history. I find Lutheran history to be more varied, more impactful, and more important than most people (whether they are Lutheran or not) realize. Hopefully my introduction helped to clearly illustrate that. I’ve personally presented on Lutheran history at a few conferences and gatherings, written a handful of articles for various Lutheran history publications, and am in the final stages of my work on a major figure in 19th-century Lutheranism.
But I’m starting this podcast to interview professional and independent historians on their work, covering over 500 years of Lutheranism. On the Lutheran History Podcast, or TLHP, We’ll hear new stories, examine old heroes of faith, and also dig into the who, how, what, and why of history-making.
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