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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  • 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.

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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  • 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.

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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• 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.

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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• 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.

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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• Confessional Languages Scholarship
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• email: [email protected]
• 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.

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.

Lutheran History Shop

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
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• Interview Request Form
• email: [email protected]
• 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.

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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• Confessional Languages Scholarship
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• email: [email protected]
• 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.

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 divis

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• email: [email protected]
• 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.

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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• email: [email protected]
• 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.

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:

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
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• Website
• Interview Request Form
• email: [email protected]
• 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.