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“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
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
What others are saying about this volume
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.