175th, 75th Missouri Synod anniversaries—New & Old

      While working on the issues of Der Lutheraner since Walther's passing up to 1934,  I ran across the extensive celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Old Missouri Synod in 1922, 100 years ago. It occurred to me, as I looked at the calendar that this year, 2022, was the 175th anniversary. So I figured there may be some mention of this on the LCMS website, and indeed there was, with photos and a page for historical reading resources. This blog post will focus on a difference between the images, after 100 years, used to portray the early history. Today the LCMS has 2 banner images: 

(1) on the 'Doctrine" page,

(2) and on their '175 years' page.

 

 

Notice that I have circled the faces of Wilhelm Loehe and C. F. W. Walther.

     One hundred years ago, in the May 2, 1922 issue of Der Lutheraner (vol. 78, no. 9), these were the images that the editors inserted into the essay by Dr. Franz Pieper for the occasion. On page 150 (left) , they inserted a single image, a magnificent photo of Walther in his later years. On page 153, they inserted 3 pictures with a caption reading (translated): 

"Pastors in Germany who have rendered great service to our Synod, especially by training and sending pastors." 

One will notice that 100 years ago, although Loehe was certainly acknowledged for his role in supplying men for the Missouri Synod, the editors' decision to have a much larger image of the German Pastor Friedrich Brunn showed that they considered Brunn's contribution, after Loehe was exposed for his Romanizing tendencies, was at least as important, if not more so, as Loehe's contribution for the Old Missouri Synod.  — In an upcoming blog I will present a translation of Franz Pieper's full essay in 1922 [2024-04-01: added link], which did not mention any names – not even Walther's.  Why? Because he wanted the Synod to focus on what God had done for them.