Church History

Church life

In this century the story begins to move to North America. The first Lutheran pastors and congregations there appear, and the Church’s devotional and Bible work reaches Native peoples.

Rasmus Jensen was a Danish Lutheran pastor on Jens Munk’s 1619–1620 voyage to Hudson Bay. The crew spent the winter near the Churchill River in what is now Manitoba. Jensen held a Christmas sermon and Mass there in 1619 and died on 20 February 1620. Most of the crew died too, and no settlement lasted. This is the earliest known Lutheran worship in North America. P: Munk’s journal, Gosch translation (1897) V1: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 9 V2: Canadian Lutheran, “400 Years of Lutheran Worship in North America”. Bente says the ships arrived in August 1619. Munk’s landing is usually dated 7 September 1619.
New Sweden was a Swedish colony on the Delaware River. Peter Minuit’s two ships landed at the site of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1638 and built Fort Christina. Sweden was Lutheran, so the colony was Lutheran from the start. It lasted until the Dutch took it in 1655. P: Campanius Holm, Description of the Province of New Sweden (1702), on Fort Christina V1: National Park Service, Fort Christina and The Rocks V2: Swedish Colonial Society, Brief History of New Sweden. Holm dates the fort to 1631. The other two sources give 1638, and so does this course.
Reorus Torkillus was the first Lutheran pastor to serve a Lutheran colony in North America. He ministered to the Swedes at Fort Christina and died there on 7 September 1643. P: Campanius Holm, Description, account of the pastors V1: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 9 V2: Amandus Johnson, The Swedes on the Delaware, 1638–1664, the first Lutheran clergyman at Fort Christina, arrived 1640, died in 1643. Sources give his birth year as 1608 or 1609.
Johannes Campanius became pastor in New Sweden in February 1643 and served about five years. A log church was built on Tinicum Island, near Philadelphia, in 1646. P: Campanius Holm, Description, on the Swedish churches V1: Swedish Colonial Society, Chronology 1638–1713, entry for 1646 V2: Christian History Institute, John Campanius racked up firsts in America. Bente places the first church at Christina instead of Tinicum. The three other sources point to Tinicum.
Campanius translated Luther’s Small Catechism into the language of the Lenape (Delaware) people. The Small Catechism is a short book of Christian teaching. It covers Christ’s saving work, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. King Charles XI of Sweden had it printed in Stockholm in 1696 and sent to America. It is one of the earliest translations of a Christian text into a North American Native language. P: Lutheri Catechismus, öfwersatt på American-Virginiske språket (1696), title page and preface V1: Campanius Holm, Description, on the catechism V2: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 9. Catalogs call the language Delaware, Munsee, or Algonquian.
After the Dutch took New Sweden in 1655, the Swedish and Finnish Lutherans kept Pastor Lars Lock. They asked the king for help in 1693, and Sweden sent pastors and books in 1696. Holy Trinity Church was dedicated at Christina in 1699, and Gloria Dei Church at Wicaco (now Philadelphia) in 1700. P: Lutheri Catechismus (1696), preface on the king’s gift of Bibles, books, and three pastors V1: Swedish Colonial Society, Chronology 1638–1713, entries for 1699 and 1700 V2: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 10.
Lutherans in New Netherland (the Dutch colony around New Amsterdam, now New York) were allowed only Reformed worship. Dutch and German Lutherans formed a congregation in 1648 and in 1653 were refused a pastor. In 1656 the governor, Peter Stuyvesant, banned all worship that was not Reformed. The fine was 100 pounds for a preacher and 25 pounds for each person attending. P: Ordinance against conventicles, 1 February 1656 V1: Bente, American Lutheranism, sections 16–17 V2: Concordia Theological Seminary, Church History 3, “Lutheran Immigration to America”. The Dutch company directors in Amsterdam rebuked Stuyvesant in June 1656 and let Lutherans worship in their homes.
Johannes Ernestus Gutwasser was the first Lutheran pastor sent to New Amsterdam. The Lutheran church in Amsterdam sent him, and he arrived in July 1657. Stuyvesant ordered him to stop preaching, and Lutherans hid him on Long Island. In 1658 the council ordered him to stay in the city, and in 1659 he was sent back to Holland. P: Council order to Gutwasser, 11 November 1658 V1: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 18 V2: Rev. Sonja Maclary, “Finding Our Roots,” Metropolitan New York Synod. Bente spells the name Gutwasser. Other sources spell it Goetwater.
After the English took New Amsterdam in 1664, Lutherans in New York gained freedom to worship. Pastor Jacob Fabritius arrived in 1669. Pastor Bernhard Arensius served New York and Albany from 1671 to 1691. P: Bente, American Lutheranism, sections 18–19 (quotes the 1664 Articles of Capitulation) V1: Concordia Theological Seminary, Church History 3 V2: Rev. Sonja Maclary, “Finding Our Roots”. Sources disagree on the date of the first church building, so this course gives none.
Johann Arndt’s True Christianity is a work of Christian devotion. Book I came out in Jena in 1605. Arndt wrote that people misuse the Gospel. They claim Christ, yet they live without repentance. He kept the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord to his death. This points readers to Christ’s saving work and the new life it brings. P: Arndt, Author’s Preface to Book I V1: Charles F. Schaeffer’s American editorial introduction, sections 20–28 V2: scholarly critical edition, Darmstadt and Hamburg universities, introduction describing his devotional literature. The critical edition names the work’s kind. It does not check every doctrinal claim in the preface.
Class activity, lesson: compare devotion with doctrine. Do not set Lutheran orthodoxy against pastoral comfort. Read P: Arndt’s preface with P: Augsburg Confession IV–VI.
John Eliot’s Massachusett Bible was completed in 1663. It was the first Bible printed in British North America, in the Massachusett language. P: Massachusett Bible, 1663 edition V1: Library of Congress, Eliot’s Bible V2: Jamaica Plain Historical Society, Owners of Hellenic Hill.
A Native printer was essential to Eliot’s Bible project. P: Eliot’s letter to Robert Boyle, identified excerpt V1: Library of Congress, Eliot’s Bible V2: Jamaica Plain Historical Society, Owners of Hellenic Hill.

Controversy and heresy

Spener’s Pia Desideria (“Pious Wishes”) of 1675 asks for four things. It asks for more use of Scripture and a larger part for lay Christians. It asks for practical Christian living and better training and preaching for pastors. This began Pietism, a movement that stressed personal faith and holy living. P: Spener, Pia Desideria, reform proposals V1: Robin Leaver, “Bach and Pietism,” discussion of the six proposals V2: Kenneth Collins, Wesleyan Theological Journal 27, 1992, pp. 66–67, discussion of the six reforms.
Class activity, study: test the claim that inward religious experience can replace the outward Word and sacraments. Keep this possible error apart from Spener’s own proposals. Read P: Spener’s proposals beside P: Large Catechism, Baptism.
The Syncretistic Controversy was a fight over church unity. It centered on Georg Calixtus of Helmstedt (1586–1656). He held that the agreement of the first five centuries was a base for uniting Lutheran, Reformed, and Roman Catholic Christians. Abraham Calov of Wittenberg answered that this gave up Lutheran teaching, including teaching on Christ and the Supper. In 1655 Calov drafted the Consensus repetitus, a statement against Calixtus. It never became binding. P: Schaff, Creeds of Christendom I, section 49, “An Abortive Symbol against Syncretism, 1655” V1: Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, “Calovius, Abraham” V2: Concordia Theological Quarterly, “Syncretism in the Theology of Georg Calixt, Abraham Calov, and Johannes Musaus,” 2004. Two of these sources are older histories.
Class activity, Christological study: compare P: Augsburg Confession III and P: Formula VIII.6–20. Ask why denying Christ’s divinity or humanity changes the account of salvation.

Councils and major events

The Reformed Synod of Dort met in 1618–1619 in the Netherlands. It answered the Remonstrants (followers of Jacobus Arminius, who taught that election depends on foreseen faith) and wrote the Canons of Dort. P: Acts and Canons of Dort, dated title and preface V1: Schaff, Creeds of Christendom I, section 65, “The Synod of Dort” V2: W. B. Patterson, The Synod of Dort, chapter summary. Christ’s atoning work is the heart of the dispute.
- Lutheran classification: Mixed. Dort agrees with the Formula of Concord that sinners cannot save themselves and that salvation is by grace in Christ. It rejects the Remonstrants’ claim that human choice decides. It also teaches that Christ died effectively for the elect only and that God passes over the rest. The Formula teaches that Christ’s redemption is for all and that the Gospel call is earnest. Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration XI
The Westminster Assembly first met on 1 July 1643, called by the English Parliament. It wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the standards of Presbyterian churches. P: Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 3, 8, and 29 V1: Schaff, Creeds of Christendom I, section 93, “The Westminster Assembly” V2: Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, “Westminster Assembly”. Sources date the Assembly’s work differently, from 1643 to between 1649 and 1653.
- Lutheran classification: Mixed. The Confession holds the Trinity (chapter 2) and Christ as true God and true man in one person (chapter 8). It holds justification by faith (chapter 11), as the Augsburg Confession does. It denies that Christ’s body and blood are “in, with, or under the bread” (29.7) and teaches that God ordains some to everlasting death (3.3). The Lutheran Confessions reject both. Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration VII, VIII, and XI
The Synod of Jerusalem met in 1672 under Patriarch Dositheus. It answered the Calvinist-leaning confession of Cyril Lucaris, an earlier Patriarch of Constantinople, and wrote the Confession of Dositheus. Decree 17 says the bread and wine are changed into Christ’s body and blood. Its Greek and Latin texts reject the Lutheran view of the Supper. P: Confession of Dositheus (Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem), Greek and Latin text V1: Schaff, Creeds of Christendom I, section 17, “The Synod of Jerusalem” V2: Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, “Jerusalem, Synod of, 1672”. The East does not number this synod among its ecumenical councils.
- Lutheran classification: Spurious. Schaff says the synod condemned the Protestant doctrines, and it teaches transubstantiation in the Supper. The Lutheran Confessions reject that teaching and the invoking of saints. The synod does confess the Trinity and Christ’s two natures. Lutherans hold those teachings from Scripture and the early creeds, not from this synod. Apology of the Augsburg Confession XXI, Apology XXIV
The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was a long war in the Holy Roman Empire, driven by religion and politics. In spring 1618 Protestant nobles in Prague threw two imperial governors out of a castle window. That act began the war. P: Defenestration of Prague, May 1618, document and introduction V1: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, “Thirty Years’ War” V2: Gardiner, The Thirty Years’ War, 1618–1648, on the Prague revolution of May 1618.
The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended the Thirty Years’ War. P: Westphalia treaties, preamble and religious provisions V1: Rebecca McCoy, “Religious Accommodation and Political Authority in an Alsatian Community,” abstract V2: “Attempts to Establish a Balance of Power in Europe,” opening account of the 1648 peace. Class reading: look at how the religious provisions allow different churches to live together.
Class activity, study of Dort: compare P: Canons of Dort I.7 and II.3–8 with P: Formula XI.13–28. Look at election, Christ’s atoning work, and the Gospel promise. Add P: Small Catechism, Baptism and Supper to ask how to teach assurance. The synod’s authority is a matter for confessional judgment.
Class activity, study of Westphalia: compare P: Westphalia’s religious provisions with P: Augsburg Confession XVI and XXVIII. A political settlement is not a confession of saving teaching.
The King James Bible appeared in 1611 after scholars worked in teams under King James I. P: The Translators to the Reader, 1611 preface V1: Cambridge University Library, 1611 V2: Library of Congress, King James Bible.

Major people

Johann Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations (1606) belongs to his early devotional work. Gerhard was a leading Lutheran teacher of the century. P: Gerhard, dedication dated April 1606 V1: critical edition, Meditationes Sacrae 1606/07 V2: Eric Lund’s account of his scholarly translation and seventeenth-century anthology.
Paul Gerhardt’s “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” is a hymn about Christ’s suffering on the cross. Gerhardt adapted it from a medieval Latin poem. P: hymn, stanzas 4, 9–10 V1: Hymnary, historical and theological commentary V2: Schaff, History of the Christian Church VI, account of the Passion hymn and Gerhardt’s adaptation. Class reading: stanzas 4 and 9–10, for comfort.
Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) was King of Sweden. He led Sweden into the Thirty Years’ War in 1630. He was killed at Lützen on 16 November 1632 (6 November on the old calendar). Protestants remembered him as a martyr. P: Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 1631 portrait, German History in Documents and Images V1: New International Encyclopaedia, “Gustavus II. Adolphus” V2: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, “Thirty Years’ War”. Many sources say he won Breitenfeld (1631) and saved the Protestant cause. His own goals included Baltic power.
Class activity, readings: P: Gerhard, Sacred Meditations, XI P: Spener, Pia Desideria P: Arndt’s preface, and P: Gerhardt’s hymn. Ask how each links doctrine to Christian life. Do not assume all four say the same thing.
John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress first appeared in 1678. It is an allegory (a story with a hidden meaning) of a Christian’s journey. P: Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress V1: Britannica 1911, Bunyan V2: Dictionary of National Biography, Bunyan.

Wider world

Jamestown, 1607: English colonists settled in Virginia. P: George Percy, observations, May landing and fortification account V1: National Park Service, A Short History of Jamestown V2: Jamestown Rediscovery, timeline, May 13–14, 1607.
Mayflower, 1620: passengers signed a compact to govern their colony. P: Mayflower Compact, covenant and dated conclusion V1: National Park Service, Pilgrims, compact account V2: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, Mayflower. The date 11 November uses the English calendar of the time.
The Bay Psalm Book, 1640: settlers in Cambridge, Massachusetts printed a book of psalms in English verse for singing in worship. It was the first book printed in British North America. P: Library of Congress, Bay Psalm Book, first edition V1: Library of Congress, “First Among Many” V2: American Antiquarian Society, The Bay Psalm Book.
Galileo’s trial, 1633: the Roman Inquisition found Galileo “vehemently suspect of heresy” for teaching that the Earth moves around the Sun. He gave up the teaching on 22 June 1633. This was a Roman Catholic Church matter, not a Lutheran one. P: Indictment, sentence, and abjuration of 1633 V1: MacTutor, Galileo’s “Confession” V2: Catholic Encyclopedia, Galileo Galilei. The Fordham copy of the same text notes no printed source for its translation.
Newton’s Principia, 1687: Newton published the first edition of his mathematical study of nature. P: Principia, first-edition title page, Oxford diplomatic transcription V1: Royal Society, Principia manuscript and printed first edition V2: University of Sydney, first-edition historical account.
Pennsylvania, 1681: King Charles II granted William Penn the land of Pennsylvania by charter dated 4 March 1681. Many German Pietists and Lutherans later settled there. P: Charter for the Province of Pennsylvania, 1681 V1: Pennsylvania State Archives, the Charter to William Penn V2: Graeme Park (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission), The “Pensilvania” Charter.
Germantown, 1688: Francis Daniel Pastorius founded the German-speaking town of Germantown in 1683. In 1688 he and three others sent the first known protest against slavery in the English colonies to a Quaker meeting. P: Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery, 1688, transcription V1: UCLA Arthur Ashe Legacy, “First formal protest against slavery filed in Pennsylvania in 1688” V2: ExplorePAHistory, First Protest Against Slavery marker. Sources disagree on whether the petition’s date is February or April.

Confessional Lutheran connection

Christian renewal and good works follow faith and do not earn justification. P: Augsburg Confession VI.1–3 V1: Apology IV.122–132 V2: Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration IV.7–12.
Confessional Christology: the Son of God is truly divine and truly human, and he died for human sins. P: Formula VIII.6–13 and III.14–17 V1: Augsburg Confession III.1–6 V2: Smalcald Articles II, first and chief article. Class application: read P: Gerhard, Meditation XI for comfort and judge it by these confessions.
Confessional teaching on the sacraments: Baptism offers God’s grace, and the Supper gives Christ’s true body and blood. P: Small Catechism, Baptism and Sacrament of the Altar V1: Large Catechism, Baptism 23–37 and Sacrament 8–32 V2: Augsburg Confession IX–X. Class application: read the catechisms on forgiveness and faith, and separate those promises from the strength of a conversion experience.
North American comparison, judged by the Book of Concord (the course’s confessional judgment): the New Sweden pastors taught Luther’s Small Catechism, and Campanius used it to bring Christ to the Lenape. Compare the Creed’s second article. Compare AC XXIV too. The Dutch ban on Lutheran worship tried to bind Lutherans to the Canons of Dort. Compare it with Augsburg Confession VII, which says the Church needs only the Gospel and the sacraments rightly given. The wider-world items in this unit have no direct tie to Christ or the sacraments, except for Bible and psalm printing.
Class activity, world-history comparison: read P: Westphalia’s religious provisions. Ask what power they give rulers and what protection they give religious groups.
Class activity, world-history reading: place the P: Principia title page beside P: Augsburg Confession XVIII. Discuss what human reason can and cannot do, without calling science heresy.
Teaching translator study: read the KJV translators’ preface. Then read John 1, Matthew 28, and the Words of Institution (Christ’s words at the Supper) in English. Ask how the translation shows Christ’s divinity, humanity, and promises. Compare AC III, IX–X. Judge translation choices apart from later loyalty to one English Bible.
Teaching literary study: read Bunyan, Part I, paragraphs 93–94. Ask how the cross, guilt, and forgiveness work in the allegory. Compare AC IV–VI and the Catechism’s Baptism and Supper. One scene does not give a full teaching on the sacraments.
Teaching mission study: read the Massachusett Bible. Read Eliot’s letter excerpt too. Then look at the 1696 Lenape catechism. Ask whose language skill and printing work the evidence shows. Compare how each passes on Christ’s promises with AC V, IX–X. Separate language work, mission practice, and colonial power. Do not let Eliot’s name hide his helpers.

Lutheran developments

Lutherans started in North America in this century. “Church life” lists Rasmus Jensen at Churchill, the New Sweden pastors, the Lenape catechism, and the struggle of Lutherans in New Amsterdam.
In 1629 Emperor Ferdinand II issued the Edict of Restitution, which ordered Protestants to give back church lands taken since 1552. It threatened Lutheran church property across northern Germany. Sweden’s entry into the war in 1630 and the Peace of Prague (1635) weakened it. P: Edict of Restitution, 6 March 1629, document and introduction V1: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, “Thirty Years’ War” V2: Gardiner, The Thirty Years’ War, 1618–1648, on the Edict of Restitution. The edict allowed Lutherans, not Reformed Christians, to hold the Peace of Augsburg’s protection.
Francke began a school for poor children at Halle in 1695. P: Francke’s founding recollection quoted by the Foundations V1: Francke Foundations, institutional history, “A public work” V2: UNESCO, Francke Foundation Buildings, historical description.
Halle linked German Pietism to North America. Justus Falckner studied theology at Halle under Francke and went to Pennsylvania in 1700 with his brother Daniel. In 1703, in the next century, he was ordained at Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia, the first Lutheran ordination in North America. P: Justus Falckner, memorial letter, Sachse (1903) V1: Bente, American Lutheranism, section 19 V2: Christian History Institute, “Falckner was the first Lutheran ordained in the New World”.
Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism were both at work. Gerhard and Calov taught doctrine in the great Lutheran schools, while Arndt, Spener, and Francke stressed devotion and holy living. See “Church life” and “Controversy and heresy.” Class study: compare P: Arndt’s devotional preface with P: Small Catechism, Baptism. Ask how personal devotion and public worship with the sacraments can be taught together.