Memories 4: Concordia student; pastor Wisc; Walther's recommendation: Concordia professor; August Pieper

      This continues from Part 3 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a series by Prof. Ludwig Fürbringer of his personal memories of the departed Franz Pieper in the 1931 Der Lutheraner magazine. — Now begins the connection between Walther and Pieper, first as Pieper's teacher, then…

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(page 251, col. 2)

Memories of Dr. Franz Pieper.

by Ludwig Fürbringer – [1.] (Part 4 of 16)

Pieper then transferred to our seminary in St Louis, as the Wisconsin synod did not have its own theological seminary at that time but sent its students to St Louis.

Thus he came under the influence of the blessed Walther and his co-workers, of whom Günther and Schaller later became like Walther his older colleagues. Besides these, A. Crämer, the head of the practical department, and F. A. Schmidt, employed by the Norwegian Synod, worked in those years. The class with which Pieper completed his theological examination after three years of study also showed familiar names in our synodical history, such as the two recently deceased brothers Friedrich and Bernhard Sievers, E. Hamann, who later became a professor at our college in Milwaukee, H. Käppel, the longtime director of our college in Concordia, Mo., G. Spiegel, the future president of our Michigan district, O. Hoyer of the Wisconsin Synod, who later became professor at the institute of his synod in Watertown, and others. I can well imagine how Pieper, with all his earnestness and diligence, threw himself particularly into the study of dogmatics or Christian doctrine, and soon drew the attention of his teachers, especially that of Dr. Walther. And it is remarkable, how Walther – as I was informed by one of the (page 252, col. 1) class from that time – paid special attention to Pieper just because of an excellent student sermon by him on Isaiah. 55:1-3. Every reader already sees from the choice of this text how Pieper was directed at the very beginning to the center of the Christian doctrine also in his preaching; for these are well-known words:

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”  

Yes, the doctrine of grace, the certain graces of David, the grace of God in Christ Jesus toward the lost sinner world, that was the theme of his theological thought even then.

Since Pieper came from the Wisconsin Synod, after completing his studies in 1875, he entered the service of this synod, first as a pastor in Centerville (now Hika, Cleveland), Wisconsin, [MAP] from July 1875 to November 1876, and then at the large congregation at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, until September, 1878. I have always considered it a special providence of God that our Pieper was well acquainted with the Wisconsin Synod and its leaders, and remained in constant contact with them until his old age. This also contributed to the right relationship between the two synods in the Synodical Conference, whose meetings Pieper visited regularly, especially in earlier years, and whose well-being, as I have already learned from many conversations with him in recent years, was of particular importance to him.

But Pieper would remain in the service of the Wisconsin Synod only three years. Then he was called to a much more important post. At the Delegate Synod of 1878 in St. Louis, our Synod decided, in view of the fact that Walther was getting older and the other members of the faculty were all mature, to establish a new professorship for Systematic Theology and resume the vacant English professorship left by the departure of Professor Schmidt to the Norwegian seminary at Madison, Wisconsin; and while the Synod ordinarily had its institution’s professorship appointed by the electoral college, in its order at its assembly it expressly reserved the right to carry out such elections as synod itself;

and thus at the Synod, undoubtedly especially on Walther's recommendation, Pieper was elected to the systematic professorship, while the English professorship fell first to Professor M[atthias] Loy of the seminary of the Ohio Synod at Columbus, Ohio, and then, after he rejected this, it went to the blessed Rudolf Lange. And the fact that our synod did not make any mistakes at that time, but through this election has experienced the greatest blessing, everyone in the Church knows. I would like to tell you more about this next time. L[udwig] F[ürbringer].

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      Fürbringer reveals a major point of Missouri Synod history when he stated that Pieper's election to the seminary professorship was "undoubtedly especially on the recommendation of Walther”.  He even stated the Missouri Synod “experienced the greatest blessing” from this.  This corresponds with Pieper's close conversation with Walther near his death which indicated that Walther probably also recommended Pieper to succeed him as president of Concordia Seminary.  Would anyone question Fürbringer's judgment on this, even though he was only about 14 years old at that time? We see now just how hard the LC-MS has worked to bury almost all memory of…  Franz Pieper.

Prof. August Pieper

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      In Part 3, Fürbringer mentioned Pieper's brother August Pieper, a noted professor of the Wisconsin Synod.  Franz Pieper never mentions the works of his brother August in all his own writings, whereas he praised the works of other Wisconsin theologians Hönecke and John Schaller.  One can detect a possible reason for this when August made the following statements, in his 1923 "Anniversary Reflections" essay, on Walther and his use of languages (The Wauwatosa Theology, vol. 3 p. 237):

      “Walther preached this doctrine of justification as no one has since Luther. When he preached sin and wrath, hearts quaked with fear; when he testified to God’s grace, they embraced it, rejoiced in it, found peace, and humbled themselves before God. …

      He did not have the same power in his lectures in the seminary. In dogmatics, the “Baier hour,” he was indeed always intellectually interesting, but spiritually he often seemed dry. That is in part, of course, because of the nature of teaching dogmatics. It deals to such a large extent with making distinctions between concepts and with logically grasping them, with intellectual operations that do not touch the heart. In Walther’s case this was worse because he kept the Latin textbook and stubbornly adhered to using the Latin language in teaching. It was noticeable that in doing this even Walther was walking on stilts, and most of his students did not fully understand him. For all of them the daily three- to five-hour “Baier grind,” as they in typical student fashion called it, spoiled their joy in God’s precious Word.”

One wonders that brother August was not as astute in the knowledge of languages as his older brother Franz. — One can detect in August Pieper's public comments that his theology, the so-called "Wauwatosa Theology" that the Wisconsin Synod came to adopt, came to differ from Walther's in certain areas, especially Church and Ministry.  August's statement above displays a typical beginning comment of high praise for Walther, only to be followed by a detraction. A student of August later became one of the "faculty majority" who staged the Walkout in 1974 at Concordia Seminary.  In his public testimony, Alfred von Rohr Sauer praised his mentor and counselor… August Pieper.
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      In the next Part 5, we hear of just how proficient Franz Pieper was with the languages of the Church…