Thursday, November 3, 2022

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 3rd of November 2022. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

In the four years, I have been doing this show, I have yet to tell the story of the Lutherans who came to America that would comprise the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a synod several 1517’s Lutherans belong to, and the Lutherans behind the Concordia University system (where I taught for ten years). Why haven’t we told the story? I don’t know- but today, the 3rd of November, is the anniversary of the Copernicus and the Johann Georg setting sail- the Lutherans version of the Mayflower, Nina, Pinta (or the Santa Maria, you can pick).

The background to these Lutherans coming to the new world was the state of the Lutheran Church in Prussia and Saxony in the early 1800s. The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III precipitated the events leading to these Lutherans making their way to Missouri. He wanted to create a union of Lutheran and Reformed churches- this was the last straw for a group of Lutherans. They saw their confessional stance already eroded with a rationalistic approach to theology in the universities. When Wilhelm combined the churches into one Prussian church in 1834, a community of Lutherans began considering emigrating to the United States seriously.

They coalesced around a preacher from Dresden, Martin Stephan- he was known for being a strictly confessional Lutheran and a thorn in the side of the Prussian church. He was also beset with rumors of inappropriate behavior with women, but they were considered to be slander by his followers; more on that later…

The 700 Lutherans would arrange themselves on five ships- the Copernicus, Johann Georg, Republik, Olbers, and Amalia. Stephan would leave on the 4th ship, the Olbers, while the Amalia, the 5th, would be lost at sea.

On the 3rd of November in 1838, the Copernicus set off first into the North Sea from Bremerhaven, with the Johann Georg leaving hours later.

On New Year's Eve in 1838, the Copernicus would land in New Orleans, and Johann Georg would meet them on January the 5th. Those Lutherans would then take the steamboat Clyde up the Mississippi to St. Louis. Some of them would stay in St. Louis, while others would move south to Perry County to land that more closely resembled their homeland.

There were rumblings of discontent from the 4th ship- the Olbers where Martin Stephan had a document known as Stephan’s Investiture. His leadership would edge close to authoritarianism with his wish to be called the church's primate in America. And it was relatively soon that rumors of Stephans infidelities would come to the knowledge of a few of the pastors, two of them being the Walther brothers who had moved on to Perry county. The news got out ahead of them, and on June 1, 1839, a German newspaper in St. Louis printed news of Stephan’s indiscretions, and he was soon exiled.

Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm “CFW” was called from Perry County to St. Louis, where he would be the pastor of the Lutherans, then meeting at an Episcopal church. They would spend 5,000 on a 50x55 foot church at 3^rd, and Lombard in St. Louis called Trinity Lutheran Church- the mothership for these Lutherans in America.

CFW would also oversee a log cabin college called Concordia and write “Der Lutheraner,” a newsletter for these Prussian and Saxon Lutherans in America. In 1847 they would form the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states at a meeting (ironically) in Chicago. This would later shorten to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (the LCMS)

With the Stephan affair, they would be wary of authoritarianism and the episcopal structure (that is, having Bishops) - they would instead form a congregational system- some would decry it as giving into the democratic American spirit. It would be the last controversy the LCMS would have to deal with. Just kidding.

But a happy anniversary to those Lutherans who started their trek to America on the 3rd of November with the Copernicus and the Johann Georg setting sail from Bremerhaven to America.

The Last Word for today comes from the lectionary for today, Psalm 145:

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you
 and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
 his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation commends your works to another;
 they tell of your mighty acts.

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
 and I will meditate on your wonderful works

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 3rd of November 2022, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose nickname in high school was “Der Lutheraner; he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man asking you to google image search CFW Walther and ask yourself why today’s Lutheran men can’t look like that- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.