Produced by (Rev.) Kurt A. T. Bodling Concordia Senior College, Class of 1976 AMERICAN LUTHERANISM Volume I Early History of American Lutheranism and The Tennessee Synod By F. BENTE St. Louis, Mo. CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE 1919 PREFACE. Essentially, _Christianity_ is the special divine faith in the truth revealed by the Bible that we are saved, not by our own efforts, works, or merits, but alone by the pure and unmerited grace of God, secured by Christ Jesus and freely offered in the Gospel. And the Christian Church is the sum total of all those who truly believe, and therefore confess and propagate this truth of the Gospel. Accordingly, the _history_ of Christianity and of the Christian Church is essentially the record concerning this truth, _viz.,_ how, when, where, by whom, with what success and consistency, etc., it has been proclaimed, received, rejected, opposed, defended, corrupted, and restored again to its original purity. _Lutheranism_ is not Christianity _plus_ several ideas or modifications of ideas added by Luther, but simply Christianity, consistent Christianity, neither more nor less. And the Lutheran Church is not a new growth, but merely the restoration of the original Christian Church with its apostolic, pure confession of the only saving Christian truth and faith. The _history_ of Lutheranism and of the Lutheran Church, therefore, is essentially the story concerning the old Christian truth, restored by Luther, _viz.,_ how, by whom, where, when, etc., this truth was promulgated, embraced, rejected, condemned, defended, corrupted, and restored again to pristine purity. As for _American Lutheranism,_ it is not a specific brand of Lutheranism, but simply Lutheranism in America; for doctrinally Lutheranism, like Christianity, with which it is identical, is the same the world over. Neither is the American Lutheran Church a distinct species or variety of the Lutheran Church, but merely the Lutheran Church in America. The _modified_ Lutheranism advocated during the middle of the nineteenth century as "American Lutheranism" was a misnomer, for in reality it was neither American nor Lutheran, but a sectarian corruption of both. Hence, also, the _history_ of American Lutheranism is but the record of how the Christian truth, restored by Luther, was preached and accepted, opposed and defended, corrupted and restored, in our country, at various times, by various men, in various synods and congregations. In the history of American Lutheranism _four names_ are of special significance: Muhlenberg, Schmucker, Walther, Krauth.