Tuesday, January 2, 2024

It is the 2nd of January 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I want to start today’s show by pointing out something I have found to be true, regardless of the church body you grew up in or are most familiar with: there are some names wholly revered, you have buildings named after them, a quote by them will solve a conflict in these circles and they have near-universal name recognition. Also, there are devout and sincere Christians who have NEVER heard of them before. I say all of this as a preface to such a character for many Lutherans- the esteemed Charles Porterfield Krauth. And some of you say, “who?”. Well, that’s what I’m here for.

Charles Porterfield Krauth (his father was also C.P. Krauth; thus, the middle name is important) was born in 1823 in Virginia to the aforementioned Charles and his wife Catherine. The elder Charles was a Lutheran pastor in the Ministerium of Pennsylvania at Baltimore, serving in Virginia (confusing, I know). But Catherine would die the following year, just as the family was planning a move to Philadelphia. Charles Philip took a call to St. Mark’s in Philadelphia and left his son in the care of his maternal extended family.

When the young Charles was eight he joined his father in Philadelphia and attended the Gettysburg Gymnasium. When it was upgraded to a college, the elder Charles became its president, and the younger stayed and raced through the curriculum, graduating in 1839 at the age of 16.

He went on to study at the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, graduated in 2 years, and was licensed to preach at the age of 19. At this time, he was, like his father, a Lutheran but was typical of the Gettysburg Lutherans in that they were generally in favor of unionism with other Church bodies. The younger Krauth received a few books from his father by Martin Chemnitz (a giant in the early years of Lutheranism) but was immersing himself in the study of the Church Fathers.

By 1843, he was a pastor in Baltimore at the Second English Lutheran Church, and in the following years, he was married to Susan Reynolds. His church would grow, and he was a popular preacher. He was eventually called to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia. It was here that he was given a copy of Johan Gerhard’s Commonplaces and began to, along with reading Chemnitz, question the value of the 16th-century Lutheran Confessions and their place in defining what a Lutheran was. In Pennsylvania, he would come into contact with the Mercersburg school with Phillip Schaff and John Nevin, two men on a similar “confessional” path but in the Reformed tradition.

 In 1849, he published his “The Relation of our Confessions to the Reformation” in the Evangelical review, and this marked a pivotal movement in the new confessional movement. Unfortunately, Susan would become ill, necessitating a move to a warmer climate. They would head to California, where Krauth was asked to fill the pulpit of a Reformed church on the Island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean. He did that for three months, and then he and his wife moved to Santa Cruz and attended the Danish Lutheran church there. IN 1853, Susan died, and Charles went back to Virginia. Always on the move, he took a pastorate in Pittsburgh as the Pittsburgh synod was debating a move away from the 16th-century confessions (primarily regarding questions of baptism and the Lord’s Supper). He would not be long in that synod as his defense of strict adherence to the confessions became central to his faith.

In 1861, he became the editor of a new journal, the Lutheran and Missionary, and would be called as a professor to the new Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia. It was from this position that he would write his magnum opus, “The Conservative Reformation and its Theology.” He attempted to build a new synod of Lutherans based on their confessional subscription to the Book of Concord. This General Council could not sway the Norwegians or Missourians, but it did merge with the Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan synods- precursors to the modern Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).  

Krauth flourished at the University, was elected to the American Philosophical  Society, and also taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Krauth considered himself an “‘evangelical catholic” devoted to the teachings of the 16th-century Lutheran confessions. He led the “Confessional Revival” of the 19th century and was asked to write a biography of Luther on the coming 400th anniversary of Luther’s birth in 1883. Unfortunately, Charles would die early that year- on the 2nd of January in 1883 before he could finish the book. Charles Porterfield Krauth, born in 1823, was 59 years old.

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary- the new year has us starting with Proverbs 1.

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for gaining wisdom and instruction;
    for understanding words of insight;

for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,

    doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to those who are simple,
    knowledge and discretion to the young—

let the wise listen and add to their learning,

    and let the discerning get guidance—

for understanding proverbs and parables,

    the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 2nd of January 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wonders if some of his Lutheran friends might secretly take a temporary gig with the Reformed if the Caribbean came calling- He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who was googling… cariBEan, CAribean and wonders if we can still just say “West Indies”- 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.