Wielding the Sword of the Spirit
Peter M. Prange
Wielding the Sword of the Spirit is a three-volume history that recounts the events surrounding the doctrine and practice of church fellowship in the Missouri Synod and the Synodical Conference, especially under the leadership of Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (1811-1887). He took center stage among the Lutherans who organized the Missouri Synod in 1847 and later became the largest segment of the Synodical Conference in 1872. Between the years of 1838, when he and his fellow Saxon immigrants left Germany under the corrupt leadership of Pastor Martin Stephan, and 1882, when he and his fellow Synodical Conference delegates refused to recognize brotherly fellowship with Norwegian Synod Professor F.A. Schmidt, Walther lived and breathed the principles and practice of church fellowship. As with every sinful Christian, at times he faltered, but his constant recourse to the Word of God equipped him to fight the inevitable confessional battles he and his fellow Lutherans would face in a new land and to wield the sword of Spirit energetically and evangelically for the benefit of the church past and present.
Together these three volumes are meant to commemorate and celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Synodical Conference's founding and, Lord willing, to assist present-day Lutherans in thinking through the biblical doctrine of fellowship and its evangelical and truly ecumenical application to a world in desperate need of the Spirit's sword, the gospel of forgiveness and eternal life in Christ.
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 that was the hallmark of the Wisconsin Synod's Wauwatosa seminary from 1900-1920. 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.
Volume One of this three-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--and the profound influence he and his fellow Missourians had on the newly-founded Norwegian Synod. 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--that the other early midwestern Lutheran church bodies did not realize to the same degree.
In short, this volume 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" (Eph 4:3).
Volume One Book details
Publisher: Joh. Ph. Koehler Press (2021)
Language: English
Hardcover: 425 pages
ISBN: 978-1716344572
$39.99
Watch this 30-minute video about the original Saxon immigration to Missouri in 1838-1839 by clicking the picture above.
Volume Two covers the years from 1868-1877, during which time the Missouri Synod established formal church fellowship with the Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio Synods and helped found the Synodical Conference. Chapter One details the establishment of the General Council in 1867 and the reasons why Walther and the Missourians steered clear of membership in that body. It also provides a detailed summary of Walther's important essay on The True Visible Church, in which he thoroughly explained his doctrine and practice of church fellowship. Chapter Two provides a detailed account of the confessional maturity 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 being recognized by the Missouri Synod as an orthodox church in 1868. Chapter Three highlights the important part that the Ohio Synod's Matthias Loy played in urging Walther and the Missourians to assist in forming a united church body in America that would promote confessional Lutheranism in different languages, establish a joint seminary, and sort out the difficulty of rival Lutheran congregations within close proximity of one another. It also demonstrates the prominent role that Professor Friedrich August Schmidt played in publicly justifying the formation of the Synodical Conference through his 1871 Denkschrift and the important essay he offered on the doctrine of objective justification at the Conference's inaugural convention in July 1872. Finally, and perhaps most important, this chapter focuses especially on the fact that the Synodical Conference was not established on the basis of absolute doctrinal unity, which can never be attained, but on the foundation of fundamental unity. Chapter Four treats some of the immediate practical issues that the Synodical Conference members faced after they were able to come together in 1872, especially the matter of congregational boundaries, establishing state synods, and founding a joint seminary.
Prolific translator and Missouri Synod pastor, Rev. Joel Baseley, writes:
"The Rev. Peter M. Prange, in his second volume, Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, Vol. Two: The Doctrine and Practice of Church Fellowship in the Synodical Conference (1868 - 1877), continues to demonstrate careful, detailed, insightful scholarship as he navigates the currents of change in the various strands of Lutheranism in the nineteenth century, up to and including the formation of the Synodical Conference (1872) and her early history. As Rev. Prange was so successful at filling out the caricatures of earlier German Lutheran leaders, that is, Walther, Grabau, and Loehe, he continues to satisfy many questions, asked or begged, with respect to the Lutheran factions in the next phase of Lutheran history in America. Especially helpful were the descriptions of leaders in the formation of the General Council and the Wisconsin Synod. This whole history is a colorful kaleidoscope of sanctification. Men exhibiting erroneous faithfulness in legalism, even to men who were the most marginal adherents to the Lutheran doctrine expressed in her confessions are splayed out here in American history for all to read. The consequent movement of faithful Lutherans from uncertainty in their position to certain and definite Biblical stances are here displayed to illustrate the life of sinners under Christ’s sanctifying cross. Necessary pain, healed only by the Gospel, proved that as every individual is in need of sanctification, so Lutheran Church bodies reel under this painful cross of sanctification, whose ongoing sin and error would only be forgiven and corrected by the Gospel and that painful and unpleasant (for sinful, fallen flesh which must die with Christ), but healing, regenerative process of repentance. The Synodical Conference’s realization that perfect unity in doctrine would be no more attainable in this Christian life than perfection of the individual, proved that these were, indeed Christian, Biblical realists, willing and able to suffer God’s ongoing sanctification of their own and others’ sins and errors, being brought from sin to righteousness, error to truth, death to life, self glory to God’s glory, by Christ in His grace alone. Their reported failure to completely put aside self interest as church bodies, as honestly reported by Rev. Prange, also proved that, indeed, sin, self-love and self-pride, and imperfection would remain with the Church of Christ until His return. As many of us in the Missouri Synod regret our central role in breaking apart the Synodical Conference in the 1960's due to our Synod’s refusal to handle doctrinal error in our own Church body, in contrite tears we pray for forgiveness and better days of Lutheran brotherhood and support in all that pleases our Lord with our dear brothers. We must be thankful for God’s work through Rev. Prange, for his wonderful report and assessment of our Lutheran past that we might learn, under Christ’s forgiveness and grace, the lessons our fathers in the faith had learned and act in Christ’s wisdom to despair of our own solutions and find our identity and unity in Him and Him alone, and only seek to help and be helped by Christ, who has promised to be found in His Word and Sacrament and in our brother."
Volume Two Book details
Publisher: Joh. Ph. Koehler Press (2022)
Language: English
Hardcover: 296 pages
ISBN: 978-1794748125
$34.99
Volume Three, scheduled for publication in early 2023, will cover the years from 1877-1882. This volume will focus especially on the pre-history and history of the Election Controversy (Gnadenwahlstreit) that quickly upended the conference beginning in 1877 and had a devastating and often-underappreciated effect on American Lutheranism and the doctrine and practice of church fellowship on both sides of the controversy.
A sneak peek at Volume One of Wielding the Sword of the Spirit
Wielding the Sword (Final Preview).pdfWhat others are saying about Volume One of Wielding the Sword of the Spirit
"Rev. Peter Prange's Wielding the Sword of the Spirit is no surface treatment but an in-depth and far-reaching sketch of the critical characters, influences, and movements in nineteenth century American Lutheranism. His descriptions of the personalities and tendencies of those three men so influential to confessional Lutheranism--Walther, Loehe, and Grabau--are thoughtful and nuanced and make them more human than the caricatures we commonly embrace. Most pastors who are "sons of Walther" have a general knowledge and appreciation for the unique gifts the Lord gave C.F.W. Walther. They know him not only as a brilliant systematic theologian but as one the Holy Spirit used to aptly apply the biblical Lutheran doctrine of church and ministry, to clearly distinguish law and gospel in preaching and practice, and to guard the freedoms and dignities Christ has given to each and every Christian with the gospel against the abuses of fleshly license and against those in positions of service who longed to be masters. Prange puts flesh on the bare bones of Walther that most of us have learned. His interactions with other influential Lutheran leaders of his day also flesh out Walther's evangelical approach to all who honored the Word of God and humbled themselves under its wondrous, saving authority, as well as his tenacious resistance to those who opposed the Word against their better knowledge."
-- Rev. Joel R. Baseley, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Dearborn, Mich., and prolific translator of writings by C.F.W. Walther and Martin Luther
"God’s Word provides us with many unchanging principles. Two of them are 'separate from people who impenitently persist in sin or false teaching' and 'patiently instruct Christians who have fallen into error through weakness or lack of knowledge.' Knowing how to evangelically apply these two principles is one of the most difficult problems in pastoral theology. These two principles are unchanging, but the specific applications of the principles may vary with circumstances. Wielding the Sword of the Spirit attempts to help Christians wrestle with this dilemma by using the fellowship practices of C.F.W. Walther and the Missouri Synod between 1838 and 1867 as a test case. Since an evaluation of specific practices cannot be divorced from the context and circumstances that provoked them, the bulk of this book is a thorough survey of inter-Lutheran relationships (or, all too often, inter-Lutheran battles) during this thirty year period which was so formative for American Lutheranism. Interspersed between the historical episodes are reflections on how successful Walther was in balancing his two concerns of strongly confronting the perpetrators of false teaching and patiently trying to win the victims caught in errors that were due to weakness or lack of knowledge. The goal of the book is to get its readers to ponder how we can find balance in dealing with the same issues today. This book is a very helpful resource to help Christians wrestle with these questions."
-- Dr. John Brug, Professor Emeritus, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.
Read Professor Brug's full literary review of Volume One here
Read Professor Brug's full literary review of Volume Two here
"Rev. Peter Prange's first volume of Wielding the Sword of the Spirit is a well-researched examination of the formative years of the Missouri Synod. He centers his narrative around the figure of C.F.W. Walther, as this leading theologian encountered the tumultuous landscape of Lutheranism in the 19th-century United States. Prange successfully shows how Walther applied the doctrine of church fellowship both firmly and pastorally. He insisted on 'fundamental unity,' but not 'absolute unity,' and carefully distinguished between 'stubborn errorists' and 'weak Christians.' Though Walther and his comrades were staunch opponents of 'unionism,' they were not legalists. In addition to making an important contribution to the historiography of American Lutheranism, Prange's book also possesses great practical value for pastors and other church leaders. His chapters contain numerous examples of how Walther and other early Missouri Synod leaders practiced church fellowship in specific circumstances. Modern readers will benefit from studying their confessional and evangelical approach to the question of Lutheran unity."
-- Dr. Timothy Grundmeier, Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.
"The biblical doctrine of church fellowship does not exist in a vacuum. Rather it is a relationship God creates between church bodies which exist in a specific time and place. Knowing the history of those times, places, people, and church bodies is helpful, even critical, if one is also to understand why church fellowship existed between some confessional Lutheran synods but not between others and how that came, or didn't come, to be. In his book Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, Pastor Prange masterfully tells the story of the 'American Luther,' Professor C.F.W. Walther, and shows through countless concrete examples why and how he faithfully applied the Bible's doctrine of church fellowship as he and the Missouri Synod encountered other confessional Lutheran church bodies in America from 1838-1868. As he does, Pastor Prange provides a fuller, sometimes even surprising picture of Walther as he patiently, evangelically, and carefully applied this Bible doctrine. Those who enjoy history will appreciate the many quotations the author provides which allow the reader to experience this history in the words of those who lived and made it."
-- Prof. James Danell, Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn.
"When one studies the vast span of church history, the temptation is very real to identify individuals or groups as simply good or bad, sinners or saints based on our own theological and historical perspective. Yet in doing so, we often fail to recognize that they are both sinners and saints. In Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, Volume One: The Doctrine & Practice of Church Fellowship in the Missouri Synod (1838-1867), Peter Prange provides an insightful account about confessional Lutheranism's early blossoming in America under the leadership of C.F.W. Walther and other German Lutheran immigrants coming to America in the mid-19th century. Utilizing a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Prange ably demonstrates how the doctrine and application of church fellowship, whether carried out faithfully to the Word of God or straying from that Word, played an integral role during this period of American Lutheranism.
"However, this volume does much more than merely lay out the broad history of these early decades. Prange makes the historical figures and the groups that followed them come alive as both sinners and saints. Walther, Wilhelm Loehe, J.A.A. Grabau, and many others become living, breathing people for the reader with very real faults and very real gifts of God's grace. In doing so, we see our Lutheran forefathers for who they really were and how God used them to get us where we are today. For students of church history and those who simply want to know how we got here, Wielding the Sword of the Spirit is an accessible and valuable contribution to the corpus of work on the development of confessional Lutheranism in America worth reading."
-- Pastor Jeremiah Gumm, King of Kings Lutheran Church, Maitland, Fla., and Book Reviewer for The Shepherd's Study.
"Pastor Prange has handled some complex history very well and clearly demonstrated Walther’s consistency in distinguishing between weak brothers and persistent errorists. He offers valuable insights not only into Walther’s practice of fellowship but also into the mindset of Grabau and the Buffalo Synod and the guiding principles of the Iowa Synod. Those who have an interest in the history of Lutheranism in America will find this volume fascinating and helpful."
-- Dr. John Brenner, Professor Emeritus, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.
"Walther served as a catalyst for all American Lutheranism. He molded his own Missouri Synod into a denomination with a distinct self-identity. As a charismatic leader sensitive to his historical moment he managed to engender in the rank and file of his denomination's pastors and parishes a unity of doctrine and an esprit de corps that almost baffles analysis. He also created what must be read as American Lutheranism's success story. In the process he did polemics on numerous fronts. As a firm exponent of high Lutheran orthodoxy he managed somehow to couple his orthodoxy with a pastoral sensitivity and a flexibility that displayed evangelical fervor and remarkable religious vitality."
-- Dr. Leigh D. Jordahl, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Penn.