Hist Of The Lcms - Test Ii

Front 1

Confessional Statement on Scriptures

Back 1

The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice

Front 2

Confessional Statement on books

Back 2

All the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God

Front 3

19th Century Four ways to interpret the confessions

Back 3

1. Ecumenical formulations - General Synod
2. Confessional documents for Catechesis and teaching - General Council
3. Historical Decisions - Iowa Synod
4. Doctrinal statements (or norms) - Reflected by the LCMS

Front 4

General Synod (Ecumenical Formulation)

Back 4

-Emphasis on individual judgment in Biblical interpretation
-Don’t impose confessions on the believers because each believer can judge doctrine for themselves
-Doctrinal indifference - De-emphasis on teachings that are uniquely Lutheran
-Emphasis is on the personal experience of faith
-Wants to find commonalities with Basic Christian doctrines are sufficient
-Doctrines are good as a baseline
-Confessions should not be binding on pastors
-They see confessions as barriers to their goal of unity

Front 5

General Council (Catechesis and Teaching)

Back 5

-The LCMS likes these three guys (Krauth, Jacobs, Schmauk), but the LCMS can’t stay with these guys because they don’t follow and implement what they teach
-They are committed to the theology of the confessions… the doctrine
-They encouraged the study and use of the confessions as a teaching tool
-It is almost more for an intellectual ascent
-They do not hold UNCONDITIONALLY to the confessions… there is a conditional element
-Congregations in the council were not held to these confessions

Front 6

Iowa Synod (Historical Decisions )

Back 6

-Lohe, Fritchels (x2), Grossman, Reu (later)
-They emphasized the historical character of the confessions
-If you focus on the doctrine of the confessions you run the risk of undermining the importance of the confessions in the daily life of the church
-Stressed that the confessions were drafted to defend beliefs AT THAT TIME
-They are to be confessed because they are part of tradition but only certain topics are important for today
-They dismissed parts of the confessions that they thought were not important
-They would pick and chose from the confessions
-They had a lot of doctrinal variances within the Iowa Synod
-Doctrines to them were open to development

Front 7

LCMS (Doctrinal statements or norms)

Back 7

-The confessions help the church differentiate its teachings from heterodox teachings
-The confessions are a common norm and form of the churches teachings
-The confessions define what it means to be Lutheran
-We pledge to teach these confessions in spite of your own conscience or what you might personally believe and think
-This standard makes it difficult to get along with other Lutherans
-Walther is most interested in the doctrine of the confessions, the objective content more so than the subjective act of confessing them

Front 8

Key questions in the predestination controversy

Back 8

- "Is predestination the cause of faith?"
- LCMS (Huegli and Walther) held to this one (FC Article 11)
-The Wisconsin Synod always stayed with LCMS, especially on this one

-"Is faith the cause of predestination?"
-Most in the OH and Iowa Synod held to this one… and the Iowa Synod is not even in the Synodical Conference
-The Norwegian Synod was totally split over this controversy

Front 9

Purpose of the Synodical Conference

Back 9

-An expression of confessional fellowship and unity
-Work towards mutual strengthening of faith and the confession
-Promote the unity of doctrine and practice
-Serve as an agency for united action to meet common goals
- e.g. mission work (domestic and international)
- e.g. Turf respect - Don't open up a church in the same small town with an existing Wisconsin Synod church
-To work towards the consolidation of the Lutheran Synods

Front 10

Synodical Conference

Back 10

-was only an advisory body… it was a federation, not a merger
-1872 (after the break-up of the General Synod)
- Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Norwegian Synods... later English and Slovak
-Broklen up by predestination controversy

Front 11

Impact of Americanization

Back 11

-Language
-1917 synod removed German from name
-More externally focussed
-Insurance (AAL), pensions (LLL tsarted pension), stock market, interest (LCEF)
-Dancing, theatre, smoking, music
-CPH materials about English people
-First US born president (Behnken)
-WLML
-KFUO
-Chaplaincy

Front 12

Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Ev. Lutheran Synod

Back 12

- At the LCMS convention in 1929 we called for a committee, lead by Pieper, to create a document that addressed controversial issues in and attempt to find unity with the other synods
-We adopted it in 1932 and 1938... and also in 1938 the ALC also agree to adopt the document as a doctrinal statement
-Some people within the LCMS don’t like the fact that we are becoming chummy with the ALC and dislike the possibility of fellowship with the ALC
-By the 1960's this document becomes a litmus test for doctrinal purity in addition to the scriptures and the confessions
-By the 1960's some people start to feel that this document is not necessary anymore because you can’t make people confess it.

Front 13

The statement of the 44

Back 13

-September 1945
- There are 12 affirmations followed by a declaration
- They felt that the synod bureaucracy was getting too big
- #4 "we deplore a loveless attitude"
- #5 - The most important and got the most people upset... Romans 16-18, "I appeal to you brothers to those who cause divisions…"... I fanyone is erring in their doctrine we ned to avoid them
- They were calling into question our position on fellowship with other synods
- They felt the individual rights of congregations were being lost
- Behnken was less concerned with the content, but is upset that they are saying it at all… he does not like their tone… they are antagonistic
-The issue is that the synod was not talking very well