Walther's Dance & Theater, more pious than Pietists: improved translation (A BTL Book)

      Although I have previously presented a translation of Walther's book 8 years ago on worldly Dance and Theater, yet recent improvements in the tools of text extraction and translation have caused me to once again publish this book in a much enhanced translation using the DeepL Translator, with the aid of

a translation made in a series of articles in the Lutheran Witness from 1887 to 1888.  

      There are some LCMS pastors who publicly ridicule "Pietism", not on doctrinal matters, but for being too strict in piety.  But Walther shows the error of these LCMS pastors, that the Pietist Lutherans were not wrong in warning against the ways of the world.  On page 63 of the German text, Walther tells members of his congregation who may be thinking like these LCMS pastors:

“We know well that the pious so-called Pietists rejected and condemned the theater”; but, one thinks, perhaps this was more Pietistic than soberly Lutheran. — You, therefore, who think you stand in a very precarious prejudice, are the first that I have to meet with. For what good would all my talk be if you thought that this was going too far?

No! The Pietists who fought against the modern Dance and the Theater were not wrong, and in fact they are outdone in their warnings by… C. F. W. Walther!  Walther taught a higher piety than the Pietists! — This subject is very personal for me, for I vividly remember my LCMS youth group having a dance involving the girls and boys embracing while dancing.  I recall even today how confusing for my faith this was — how could this happen in our church group??  And indeed, my faith began to falter even then. — Some quotes from this book:

Dance:

page 9: "Even in our congregation, especially in our inexperienced youth, a worldly Christianity wants to penetrate with power"

15: "already in the time of Christ people began to dance mixed.… Strabo (d. 25 A.D.) wrote that he had heard to his greatest astonishment that among a people in Lusitania …both sexes danced together."

16: "…they say: 'What do you want, you "Missourians"? You go even further than Luther; you are even stricter than Luther, because he defends the wedding dance!'"

20: "Oh, dear brothers and sisters, stop it!… Luther did not want to know anything about the dance."

37: "Then Spitta says to her, 'Go on, take only Jesus with you.'… Then she says, 'I asked the Lord Jesus to go with me, but he would not, so I had to turn back.'"

Theater:

63: "'We know well that the pious so-called Pietists rejected and condemned the theater'; but, one thinks, perhaps this was more Pietistic than soberly Lutheran. — You, therefore, who think you stand in a very precarious prejudice, are those I have first to meet. For what good would all my talk be if you thought that this was going too far?"

98-99: 1778 American Congress: "Resolved, … to take care of the suppression of theatrical entertainments… because true religion and good morals are the foundations of public liberty."

106: Goethe: the Theater "only devoted to the higher sensuality."

People quoted or mentioned:

Ancient pagan philosophers: Solon, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Strabo

Reformation, Lutheran theologians: Dannhauer, Scriver, Gerhard, Hutter, Lassenius

Church fathers: Augustine, Tertullian, Lactantius, Ambrose, Chrysostom

German philosophers: Goethe, Lessing;  — England's playwright, poet: Shakespeare

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Below is a Google Docs viewer where the navigation hyperlinks are active:

The DOCX file may be downloaded  >>  HERE  <<.

Below is a PDF viewer where the internal navigation links do not work, but the external links do:

For the original German text DOCX, download >> HERE <<.

      There was a major article in Der Lutheraner, vol. 10 (1853), p. 42-44 [EN], [DE, text] on Luther's position on Dancing by a writer "K." and I hope to present a polished translation of it in the future. — Also a book review by Prof. Guenther was published in Der Lutheraner, vol. 41 (1885), p. 128 [EN], [DE]. Old Missouri was unified in teaching against the modern Dance and the Theater.

Walther's Dance and Theater online (on Higher Things)

With my recent experience of embedding larger documents within my blog posts, I want to return to the subject of an earlier blog where I introduced Walther's Tanz und Theaterbesuch book.  I had translated it, commented on it, and provided download links to it then.  But now I consider this book important enough for today that I want to put the whole document online, not just a download link, so that it can be easily read anytime.

The difference of the version below from my previous download is that this is not in PDF format, but rather text only; and I have added internal hyperlinks to easily jump to certain sections from my Table of Contents.
I have also added several hyperlinks throughout the document – [ToC] – to easily jump back to the Table of Contents.  As before, underlining is in the original,  highlighting is mine.
Pagination from the original German has been retained and many page references have been hyperlinked (e.g. (page 16) ) to the original pages in Google Books.
My apologies for the rough translation work... even some German words were left untranslated.  Some might call the quality of my work laughable.  But this material is clear enough that even with some stumbling during reading, Walther's clear message comes through.  Hmmm.... did Walther really teach that the spirit of Shakespeare is the same as the ancient heathen? (See page 71)


There is a youth conference going on now of "Higher Things" (affiliated with LC-MS) in Indiana (at Purdue University) called "From Above 2013".  I do not know what all is taught at these conferences — they say they are "cultivating, encouraging, and promoting a distinctively Lutheran identity among their youth and young adults."  They also say they

are convinced that youth need solid teaching and experiences that will nurture lasting Christian faith. Rather than treating youth as an adolescent subculture and confusing them with once- in-a-lifetime “mountaintop” experiences that cannot be replicated outside the conference events, Higher Things believes in challenging youth to learn the pure doctrine of the Christian faith.  By teaching them the same message that they are already hearing at home and at church, youth grow in the fullness of the Christian faith as they come to appreciate historic liturgical practice and its unique focus on God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation for us delivered in Word and Sacrament."

Now it would seem commendable that they aren't focusing on "mountaintop" experiences such as  Pentecostal-like experiences outside God's Word.  Hmmm... just what is the "Lutheran identity" they speak of?  I wonder... do they teach like Walther in this book?  Or are they more influenced by Berthold von Schenk who claimed he started "Liturgical Renewal"?  Is the "Lutheran identity" they speak of the same as that of Berthold von Schenk (who was confused on the Doctrine of Justification) or that of C.F.W. Walther?  If their "Lutheran identity" is the same as that of Berthold von Schenk, then I have spoken on this before where I "thanked" von Schenk because

he explains more details of why my faith from my youth faltered, faded, and was ultimately lost... the emphasis on "Liturgical Renewal", the demand for Holy Communion at every service (as also Prof. David P. Scaer)... all these were at the expense of the "museum theology" of Walther and Pieper, i.e. the Gospel message.

So to assist the organizers of "Higher Things" in figuring out what material might be suitable, I dedicate this book of Walther to "assist parents, pastors, and congregations" for the training of not only the youth, but also for themselves.  Walther speaks of worldly dance, fashion, women's makeup, Shakespeare, unchastity, baudy novels, comedians, circuses, music, etc.  Walther ends his talk on worldly dance thus:

Well, dearly beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, ye fathers and their mothers, their sons and their daughters, so I urge you and ask for the conclusion: For the love of God who has given us the law of chastity, for the love of the Son of God's sake who has redeemed the whole sinful world so dearly and so does not want anyone angry, deceived and lost, and for the love of the Spirit's, the same will, that all should come to the knowledge of truth, abstain a desire of the world, with this love, which may make whatever your flesh for not absolutely true. 

Listen to Walther for truly "Higher Things"!  To God Be The Glory! Soli Deo Gloria!

Church Practice &... Dance? (Pieper, "men of St. Louis")

In my last post, Franz Pieper spoke at length on the matter of Church Fellowship.  But he added a footnote.  Footnotes can have less importance than what is said in the body of the text.  But not for Franz Pieper.  For he spoke on the issue of Church Practice and Discipline within the old (German) Missouri Synod.  This footnote [2019-10-28: updated link to Ggl Bks] was added to his point that false doctrine was rectified in an orthodox fellowship.  Here is his footnote:

1) The same has its application with church practice.  So a notice has made the rounds recently in the journals hostily reflected towards us that a new congregation of the Missouri-Synod in Portland, Oregon had arranged an execursion with dance.  The journals note in part that Missouri doesn't permit such a thing.  But this incident with malicious remarks on the [Missouri] Synod is set to account.  A journal notices:  "Here your scourge swings, you men of St. Louis!"  The remark comes too late.  The investigation of this case has been ordered for a long time.  Thus our opponents are those which charge, against all divine and human laws, the sins of individuals to the fellowship.

So not only was false doctrine put down, but also church practice was disciplined in cases of un-Christian situations in the old (German) Missouri Synod.

What prudes and nerds these "men of St. Louis" were.  Who ever heard of disciplining for a church excursion with dancing?  Who ever heard of a church body that doesn't permit such a thing?!  Maybe the Amish or other "old order" church bodies?  It was the old (German) Missouri Synod... but certainly not today's LC-MS.  And it was C.F.W. Walther (and Luther) who warned against modern Dance.

Translation of Walther's "Tanz und Theaterbesuch" finished; comments

After several weeks of work, I am finished translating the German language of Walther's book "Tanz und Theaterbesuch" into English, "Dance and Theater".  It can be downloaded in PDF format in my original post. If another format is desired, send me an email. I notice Amazon is selling a copy of the 1923 version of this book. My translation is from the original 1886 version.
Although there was considerable work to translate this book, even when using online translation services, yet it was a labor of love. For all of Walther's writings are full of spirit, i.e. possessing a pastor's heart for his flock to keep them safe from spiritual harm.  Although most of Walther's writings are about doctrine, this book is different. For he addresses the area of Christian life instead.  These talks were necessary (see page 28 of book) because even though the Missouri Synod had preserved the pure doctrine, yet Satan was causing downfalls of it's members by worldly temptations which in turn caused them to abandon their faith.  This held true also for me for I could see that I too fell this way and so also began to doubt my faith.  But the modern LC-MS was quite willing to "wink" at the worldly pleasures and so did not warn me about them.  Only by God's surpassing grace did He pull me back from despair to his promises, to the scriptural Lutheran training of my youth.
To facilitate the understanding of the points that Walther makes, I added a "Table of Contents" in the first 2 pages.
It was Walther (the American Luther), not Ewald Plass or the modern (English) LC-MS, who speaks for Luther!  It is Walther who keeps us from sin by relying on God's Word.  Walther does not "wink" at these matters, but takes them very seriously.  And his book applies to today also, no matter how much better (modern) we think we are! Here is a comparison of quotes between Ewald Plass's book This Is Luther and Walther about worldly dance:

Ewald Plass - This is Luther
At the same time the Reformer did not frown upon the element of sex attraction in dancing. (pg 285)

C.F.W. Walther - Tanz und Theaterbesuch
Still in 1525 was Luther, as we have heard, saying: "Dance nevertheless!" but now he says that not merely should the youth be encouraged to leave it (worldly dance), but that the secular authorities should intervene against it and impose punishment on dancers such as those described. (page 23)

We see by the above that Ewald Plass chose his quotes of Luther carefully.  But Walther brought out the updated quote of Luther on worldly dance that had quite the opposite tone than Mr. Plass implies and so he knew Luther better (spiritually).  So Plass is like so many moderns who quote the early Luther and ignore the later Luther who had matured spiritually.

The old (German) Missouri Synod is often labeled as "legalistic" or "too strict".  But rather they are the ones that carried the spirit of Luther by holding to God's Word.

May God bless this translation to his Glory! SDG!

(See my next post for a comment on Walther's counsel concerning the Theater.)

The modern LC-MS blindness on Luther and Walther! (Dance and Theater)

See previous posts here and here concerning "Dance".

After working on translating Walther's book "Tanz and Theaterbesuch", I just discovered how blind and stubborn the modern LC-MS is.  The LC-MS wants to appear as honoring it's founding father Walther in the recent 200th anniversary celebration.  But all the while it slaps him in the face!  How so?

Ewald Plass wrote a great book in 1959 entitled "This Is Luther" implying he knew Luther well enough to pull out quotations from him and comment on them.  I gave my book review in 2 parts starting here in previous posts.  At the bottom of Part 1, I showed where Plass thought he could pull out quotes from Luther's writings that would seem to say that he approved of the element of sex attraction in dance and also secular drama or theater.

But C.F.W. Walther knew Luther far better than Ewald Plass.  Walther's book tells the full story about Luther's position on Dance and Theater... and it is different than Mr. Plass.  Ewald Plass represents the modern LC-MS and other so-called "Lutherans" who think they can make Luther say anything including approval of modern Dance and Theater. Plass represents Luther as not "prudish or puritanical" but largely omits Luther's real warnings on these activities.

No!  Walther and Luther condemned modern Dance and Theater!  How could Mr. Plass be so wrong?  Because of the blindness of unionism and indifference to doctrine, especially the Doctrine of Justification!

Walther's book on "Dance and Theater" ("Tanz und Theaterbesuch")

[2019-05-19: appendix added below]
In the last post, the subject of Modern Dance was introduced.  C.F.W. Walther had a book published that addressed both Dance and Theater in great detail.  I have just spent some time getting the text of the German language book into digital format –a PDF file is here . The title page is here.
As far as I know, there is no published English translation of this text yet. But here is a rough partial translation using Google Translate and my best estimate of Walther's meaning:

     Dance and Theater  (<<--download)
by C.F.W. Walther
(or Tanz and Theaterbesuch)

This English translation can be read with discernment even with it's flaws.  A careful reading shows Walther's pastoral heart... something today's LC-MS would rather not face since it does not agree with Walther (or Luther or the Bible.)  See my next post about this.

(Translated all 118 pages of 118 pages total as of 1/18/2012)
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =

2019-05-19: added text box for direct viewing (w/ hyperlinks) of the full text of this translation:

Direct viewing of this translated document available >>> here <<<. 

Pieper on Modern Dance

In the 1927 issue of Lehre und Wehre (vol. 73, pg 191-192), Pieper wrote of the subject of Dancing.  I believe he was asked about this many times and decided to bring out again the teaching of Luther and Walther on this subject so that the 20th Century can hear it again.
Pieper referred to Luther's sermon on the marriage feast at Cana (St. Louis Edition, vol. 11, pgs 466 ff) and Walther's books Tanz and Theaterbesuch (Dance and Theater) and Americanisch-Lutherische Pastoraltheologie (Pastoral Theology).

Luther:

Whether the Jews had dances I do not know; but since it is the custom of the country, like inviting guests, decorating, eating and drinking and being merry, I see no reason to condemn it, save its excess when it goes beyond decency and moderation. That sin should be committed is not the fault of dancing alone; since at a table or in church that may happen; even as it is not the fault of eating that some while so engaged should turn themselves into swine. Where things are decently conducted I will not interfere with the marriage rites and customs, and dance and never mind. Faith and love cannot be driven away either by dancing or by sitting still, as long as you keep to decency and moderation. Young children certainly dance without sin; do the same also, and be a child, then dancing will not harm you. Otherwise were dancing a sin in itself, children should not be allowed to dance. This is sufficient concerning marriage.

Walther brings out Luther's teaching and also uses the Bible text from the Sermon on the Mount (p. 31) in Matt. 5: 27-28:

...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Enough said.  The Bible is very clear. Modern dance is largely about making a man look on a woman with lust.
See the next post for more on Walther teaching on Dance and Theater.