JPK1: Koehler not true exegete, not a Stoeckhardt; protest to WELS; Pless counters Prange

Prof. J. P. Koehler
Better than Stoeckhardt?
Why deposed?

 

Pastor Peter Prange: 
Out with Old Syn. Conf.
In with New "Exegesis"

    This blog post was provoked during my research of George Stoeckhardt and his Exegetical Theology. It is a protest to today's Wisconsin Synod (WELS).  I am lodging a protest against your Pastor Peter M. Prange who is a member of the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) and was also a member of the committee that produced the Christian Worship: Supplement  (according to current info here.) 

      What is my protest?  It is the same as the formal protest reportedly issued by the St. Louis faculty and submitted by Prof. George Stoeckhardt against the new theology promoted by your Prof. John Philipp Koehler. 

This formal St. Louis protest was reported by Koehler himself in his History of the Wisconsin Synod (HWS; WHI; Internet Archive 2024) , p. 212. I have blogged about Koehler in 2017, and this post expands on that by bringing it into today's Wisconsin Synod.
      Most WELS church historians, and many outside the WELS today, make extensive use of Koehler's HWS book. (It should be noted that there is an extensive "Introduction" by Koehler follower Prof. Leigh Jordahl of Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary).  It has been called "the standard reference for the early history of the Wisconsin Synod" by the WELS Historical Institute.  It should be mentioned that it was not made available from WELS publisher NPH, but only through those who followed Koehler and separated from the WELS, the "Protes'tant Conference", which may no longer have congregations. Its periodical "Faith-Life" appears be be discontinued.  While the historical works of WELS Profs. Mark Braun, Armin Schuetze and E. C. Friedrich make substantial use of HWS, they offer practically no correction to Koehler's weaknesses and errors (he was deposed from his professorship in 1929).  This leads their readers to sympathize with Koehler, and wonder: "Why was Koehler deposed from his post as professor?"

      Again, Koehler was the leader of this "new exegesis" movement. What he came to promote was actually an attack on much of what the Missouri Synod and the Synodical Conference stood for, an objective faith.  The field of "Exegesis", according to Koehler, was supposed to breathe a new vigor into the life of a supposed "spiritless" orthodoxy, a "dead formalism" as one follower called it.  The notion was raised that the process of "exegesis" was sorely lacking, that new efforts were needed to understand the Bible, as if the Church was adrift in uncertainty.  Much has been written about Koehler and why he was deposed as professor by the Wisconsin Synod – search "Koehler" at essays.wisluthsem.org (Edward Fredrich's essay is perhaps the best.).  But the notion of the primacy of "exegesis" still lives on among many Lutherans.  Although Koehler claimed some support from George Stoeckhardt (HWS, p. 212), yet he admits that it was Stoeckhardt who wrote the letters of formal protest (p. 212) against his "exegetical clarification", against his misuse of the term "analogy of faith".  Dear God!  as I read the works of the later Koehler and the followers of his weaknesses and errors, I needed an antidote and I found it in Franz Pieper's Christian Dogmatics books.  The Christian religion is not about always questioning what we believe (faith) but about being absolutely certain of it, about sustaining and defending it.  And especially those who followed after Koehler, the so-called Protes'tant Conference, show how dangerous a little leaven can leaventh the whole lump. (Gal. 5:9) It is a shame the that Wisconsin Synod's history and its so-called "Wauwatosa Theology" is so tied up with the book written by deposed Prof. J. Ph. Koehler!

A Tale of Two Synods, and A Fiction

Past. Peter M. Prange:
Stöckhardt speaks
“at the mind”,
not the heart?

      In case anyone doubts that some (most WELS theologians and teachers?) hold that J.P. Koehler taught a superior exegetical theology than Stoeckhardt, Pastor Peter M. Prange (now of Kenosha Lutheran Academy-Kenosha) said the following in his essay J.P. Koehler, The Exegetical Task at the 2006 Bethany Reformation Lectures (BLTS/LSQ 47-1, p. 45):

“The reader will instantly notice a marked difference [between Koehler and Stoeckhardt]. Stöckhardt has copious quotations from other exegetes; Koehler has practically none. Stöckhardt spends much more time on the fine points of grammar and syntax; Koehler deals much more with the interrelatedness of Paul’s thought and the application of its saving truths to our lives as Christians. Stöckhardt reads as if he’s delivering a lecture aimed principally at the mind; Koehler sounds like he’s delivering a sermon aimed principally at the heart.”

So, according to Pastor Prange, to get at the meaning of the Holy Spirit by His words, by "merely setting forth what is expressed in Scripture", is not aimed at man's heart? This assertion that Stoeckhardt's writing is directed "principally at the mind" and not at the heart is fiction. Stoeckhardt lets the Holy Spirit, through His words, "aim at the heart". But I will grant to Pastor Prange that Koehler "deals much more with … the application of its saving truths to our lives as Christians".  The actual case is that Koehler does not lay the foundation for the assurance, the absolute certainty of salvation for the Christian, as does… George Stoeckhardt. Prange (in his 2006 essay) and Koehler promote "A Call to Reinvigorate the Science of Biblical Hermeneutics", a new "exegesis". I am unable to distinguish their distinctively new "exegesis", from eisegesis ("interpreting text in such a way as to introduce one's own presuppositions, agendas or biases"), or from the apostasy of Germany's renowned theologians.  It was exactly against this false notion of Prange and Koehler that I had to fight for my soul's salvation against Larry Darby and his attack on UOJ. — (Note: The Steadfast Press book Grace upon Grace of Stoeckhardt sermons recently published is at an unbelievably low price of $12.50 –paperback.)

 

Prof. Joel L. Pless:
“Stöckhardt was
confessional,
orthodox,
thoroughly Lutheran”

A Stark Contrast...

      To counter Prange's attack on Stoeckhardt, in the same 2006 lectures, WELS Prof. Joel L. Pless said of Stoeckhardt's exegesis:

• p. 13: Stoeckhardt’s view and understanding of the Holy Scriptures can be readily understood to be orthodox Lutheran ... Stoeckhardt’s view of Scripture is readily recognizable as confessional and orthodox Lutheran.
• p. 15: Stoeckhardt was truly a master exegete of both Testaments. ... his hermeneutical principles can be legitimately described as thoroughly Lutheran.
• p. 20: The main focus of his exegetical method is commenting on the doctrinal content of the verses, with often brief references to what other commentators have remarked on the meaning of the verse being studied, followed by Stoeckhardt’s often polemical rejoinders. Stoeckhardt then often supplied a brief application of the verse at hand.
• p. 22: Stoeckhardt’s method was continually guided by a burning desire to make the text of Scripture plain.

Prof. Pless wonderfully counters Prange.  These statements by Prof. Pless on Stoeckhardt's exegesis is in stark contrast to that of Pastor Prange.  The contrast is no small matter.  If Pless is correct that Stoeckhardt's exegesis was "thoroughly", "confessional and orthodox" Lutheran, then Stoeckhardt taught the absolute certainty of salvation, no doubts whatsoever.  But if Koehler's exegesis truly shows "a marked difference", then just what did Koehler teach? (Hint: "the application to our lives as Christians, i.e. "Faith-Life")  —

      And What Would Luther Say? about the emphasis on the application of the Bible to "our lives as Christians" à la Koehler, Prange, "Protes'tant Conference", etc.?  Martin Luther said:

“Doctrine is heaven, life is earth”
            Objective        <—>     Subjective
             Stoeckhardt      <—>     J. P. Koehler

So much for the fiction of Koehler's "exegesis" over Stoeckhardt!   Nonsense!  I reject all the teachings of this "new exegesis" for it would mix its aberrations with the truth, thereby confusing the truth!  But, Dear God!, "Doctrine is Heaven, Life is Earth".  I am absolutely certain of my salvation, in part because Luther, Walther, Pieper, and Stoeckhardt and others in the Old Synodical Conference (including the Wisconsin Synod!) held my nose to the very words of Holy Scripture (objective!) and said: Believe this!  My life is nothing apart from believing 2 Cor. 5:19 — or the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification! – I will take from the Old Synodical Conference what Koehler claims for it: the "dogmatism", "rusty thinking", "closed minds to new insights", "no understanding of exegesis", no "clear conception of how to handle language"! (HWS pp. 212-213).

      Others are being brought to testify against Pastor Peter M. Prange and his dream of Koehler's exegetical supremacy. The first will be Martin Luther, to refute an exegesis of John Philipp Koehler on Koehler's primary Bible verse, Romans 12:6, regarding the "Analogy of Faith". That will come in the next Part JPK2. 

- - - - - - - - - - - -  Table of Contents  - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Koehler 1: Doctrine & Life — Faith & Life (Luther); “coma” of Missourians (2017)

Part JPK1: Koehler not true exegete, not a Stoeckhardt; protest to WELS; 

Part JPK2: Luther vs. J. P. Koehler on Rom. 12:6, "analogy of faith"

Part JPK3: Pieper's LuW essay, p. 321; 

Part JPK4: John Gerhard On Interpreting (GDrv) §§ 75-78 , § 62, p. 76-77, 30. (Note: § 78 is directly against Prof. Joel Biermann. This series will be followed by one on a lecture by Prof. Biermann starting with JB01.)

Part JPK5: Koehler–dangerous path; Stöckhardt–”old paths”