Chrysostom against unbelief: with words, not violence

      In the second year of the Der Lutheraner, before the Missouri Synod was born, there appeared a short blurb that caught my attention by its title.  It was a translation from a sermon by Chrysostom. a noted early church father. The quote struck me for its Christian character. From DL vol. 2, April 18, 1846, p. 68 [EN]: 

The Fight against Unbelief.

“We are led into the battlefield against the unbelievers, not to strike down those who are standing there, but to raise up those who are lying down. For this is the nature of the war we wage. He does not kill the living, but raises the dead and makes them alive, because He is full of gentleness and goodness. I do not persecute with violence but with words, not the heretic but the heresy. I do not abhor man, but I hate error; I seek to destroy it. I do not wage war with the creature, for the creature is a work of God, but I seek to amend the soul that the devil has corrupted. Thus a physician who heals a sick person does not attack the body, but the infirmity of the same, with the intention of healing it. So when I make war with the unbelievers, I do not make war with the persons, but I only want to expel the error and save them from the corruption. It is customary for me to suffer persecution, but not to persecute, to be oppressed, but not to oppress. Thus Christ overcame.” — Chrysostom in his Homily against the Anomœans of the year 404 A.D. — G.  [J. J. Gönner?]

May this blog serve the aims as set forth by Chrysostom.

"What is a Sect?" Pieper's answer (LuW 1900)

      To follow my blog of Feb. 5, 2023 on Walther's 1871 essay against Unionism, a short blurb by Dr. Franz Pieper in Lehre und Wehre from the year 1900 addresses a question many people, like me, may have, namely “What is a sect?”.  The blurb quotes an exchange between two church papers, one Reformed, the other Lutheran. Then Pieper sets both of them straight with a Luther-like answer. — From Lehre und Wehre, vol. 46 (1900), p. 346 [EN]:

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F. Pieper (1914)

What is a sect? The Christian Ambassador [Evangelical Church (Reformed)] reproaches the Lutheran Herald [New York Ministerium (Lutheran)]: 

"While we are pleased with the kind notice, we must also express our regret that the [Lutheran] Herald could not give us a deserved recognition without expressing its disdain or contempt for that which does not fit its mold. He does this with the word ‘sect’ which Lutherans, when referring to other denominations, never use other than in a contemptuous sense. We think, however, that in view of the serious disunity of Lutheranism in this country, it does not look good for a Lutheran to call other denominations by the opprobrious name of ‘sect’."

To this the [Lutheran] Herald replies: 

"The sober judgment of the Christian Ambassador has run away with its sensitivity. There was certainly not the least thing in that note of the Herald that could cause the Ambassador to smell contempt or disdain. We applied the word ‘sect’ to the Evangelical fellowship according to conventional theological usage. The words 'church' and 'sect' are fixed terms and are usually applied by Lutherans according to their meaning [according to what meaning? L. u. W.]. We would never call, for example, the Roman Church a sect, although it is much less 'according to our mold' than the Evangelical fellowship." 

Why then does the Herald [Lutheran] not want to call the Roman Church a sect? Luther and the Lutheran teachers often speak of the "sect of the pope," "the Roman sect," etc. A sect is a fellowship of people who have accepted doctrines contrary to Scripture in one or more articles of the Christian faith and, on the basis of this false doctrine, keep themselves separate from Christians who abide in all parts by the Word of God, and thus cause or maintain division and trouble in the Christian church. This is true both of the Roman and the various Reformed church fellowships.   F. P.

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Note well that Pieper does not comment against the Reformed writer, rather he exposes the confusion of the Lutheran writer because he soft-pedals the difference with the Roman Church.

While Walther in his 1871 essay gave some examples of sects — the Reformed, Baptists, and Methodists, along with their leading errors — Franz Pieper spoke to the general question of "What is a Sect". Now Lutherans can use this term of "sect" confidently if they realize and believe that what the Lutheran Church teaches is Scriptural. If they do not believe this, then they are not true Lutherans.

Today's LC-MS leaders and teachers appear to be in the same camp of "Lutherans" as the above New York Ministerium, who would "never call the Roman Church a sect." Can they be truly called "Lutheran"?

Limits5: Luther Classical & Valpo compared: Accreditation for Lutheran schools

        Luther Classical College  vs.  Concordia University Wisconsin

     This concludes from Part 4 in a series presenting Prof. Franz Pieper's address at the dedication of a new building for Concordia College in Milwaukee in 1901. (Table of Contents in Part 1). — While translating Pieper's address, I received the latest Ad Fontes monthly (September) leaflet from Luther Classical College (LCC).  Some of the aims of this institution are in direct opposition to the aims of Concordia University Wisconsin which "indefinitely suspended" Prof. Gregory Schulz who had a "theological concern" with the university.  The newly appointed Academic Dean for LCC, Dr. Ryan C. MacPherson, wrote an article on the college's plans for accreditation.  It was a most interesting and encouraging read as it showed not only his familiarity with the matter of "accreditation", but also the pitfalls associated with it. I would quote from one of the final paragraphs:

"We believe, teach, and confess..." is a repeated phrase throughout the Formula of Concord. What our supporting congregational members believe, what the faculty teach, and what the administration confesses publicly by its formal affiliations must all accord—not merely with one another but most especially with the Word of God. Accreditation at LCC must fit the framework of our confession; our confession must not be altered or muted to conform to wayward accreditation trends.

Franz Pieper would whole heartedly support Dr. MacPherson's, and the college's, aim to "accord… with the Word of God".  

Valparaiso University 

      However, to speak of adherence to the Word of God and to practice it can be problematic.  How so?  I have an example from nearly 100 years ago in… Valparaiso University in 1926, the year it was established as a Lutheran University, Der Lutheraner reported that Dr. Franz Pieper delivered an address that gave specific counsel to Dr. W. H. T. Dau, the first president, and his new Lutheran university on this matter (Der Lutheraner vol 82, [1926], p. 378: 

"Dr. F. Pieper of St. Louis, in a Latin address, pointed out the right relation between human science and Christian religion. Both should remain in their divinely appointed sphere, and the one should not encroach upon the sphere of the other."

Did Dr. Dau take this to heart? — In 1929, Dr. Pieper, the essayist of the above series that was published 18 years earlier, reported the following news in Lehre und Wehre, vol. 75 (1929), p. 84:

Dr. W. H. T. Dau

From the Synod. The President of Valparaiso University, Dr. [W. H. T.] Dau, informs us that this institution was admitted to membership in the North Central Association on March 15 [1929], and is thus “accredited.” Dr. Dau adds, 

“This removes a great difficulty with which our institution had to wrestle. But the new status of our institution places an exceedingly serious responsibility upon the administration, inasmuch as it is to be a Lutheran institution. God grant us further his grace, that we may get entirely on the right track here!” 

[Pieper:] With this “accreditation” Valparaiso University has been given the certificate that it stands in scientific relation on the same line with the state universities and other publicly recognized universities of the country. Now it is necessary to keep in mind the right of special existence, the differentia specifica, namely, to arrange the teaching in all departments in such a way that the students are not harmed in their Christian faith, but rather strengthened.

Note Dr. Pieper's public counsel (or warning?) is for "all departments" of Valpo. — At its anniversary celebration in 2009, Valpo boasted that 

"Dr. Dau succeeded in getting the University accredited and set it on a course that would establish it as an outstanding academic institution with a strong Lutheran Christian identity."

 

          LCC              —              Valpo

But one searches in vain for this "strong Lutheran Christian identity" in Valparaiso University's materials. Rather one finds that it boasts of practically everything but this, and can report that only 27% of its students are "Lutheran". Thirty years after Dau's accreditation of Valpo, the official organ of Valparaiso University (The Cresset, Jan. 1960) called the literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2 "rationalistic". The reports of the teaching of evolution many decades ago was a clear indication that Dau's accreditation did nothing to keep Valpo "entirely on the right track". From personal experience, I am amazed that one of my older brothers (of 2) did not lose his Christian faith while attending Valpo. My mother grieved when another brother joined a "Greek" fraternity there. I did not go to Valpo because I did not like its "appearance only" Lutheran identity.

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      So what about this talk of holding to the Lutheran Confessions, to the Word of God?  It is only talk until the real issues of Christianity are addressed, the theology, as Prof. Franz Pieper addressed them at the dedication of Concordia College in Milwaukee in 1901, also for Valparaiso University in 1926 and 1929. May Dr. MacPherson avoid the pitfall of Dr. Thomas Korcok [Parts 2 and 3], and that in Pieper's address in Part 4, and, as Pieper stated, let God "rule through His Word, the Holy Scriptures"!  —

      Another address by Pieper was made 8 years later to another Concordia school, Concordia-Bronxville  That will be presented in the future.

Limits4: Hostility to Christ dominates civilized world, also textbooks in schools

      This continues from Part 3 in a series presenting Prof. Franz Pieper's address at the dedication of a new building for Concordia College in Milwaukee in 1901. (Table of Contents in Part 1). — Pieper now gives the "hard truth", the only Christian counsel for a Lutheran Christian educational institution. — From Lehre und Wehre, vol. 47 (Oct. 1901), pp. 293-295 [EN]: 

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But how is it in practice? The theory is good, but the practice is bad. In practice, one usually goes further than observation and experience lead. One passes off for knowledge what is not knowledge but hypothesis, yes, empty imagination. Already [Georg Christoph] Lichtenberg rightly said of the geologists, that is, of the people who want to enlighten us about the formation of the earth, that nine tenths of their statements obviously belong more to the history of the human mind than to the history [page 294] of the earth. And Luther's judgment of the astronomers is also still true. He says of them that they "lie by force," stating "of the innocent heavens" what they will, not what experience or observation gives.

Where does this come from? Where does this factual unscientificness come from, while in theory human science is defined correctly? It comes from the corruption of human nature. The human mind cannot rise against the perverse will. We have plenty of examples of this in all areas of human life. For example, people are quite universally of the opinion that "War is hell," and in principle one wants to avoid wars through arbitration. We even have a standing peace congress. But in practice, peace conferences have neither prevented nor ended wars. The imperiousness and arrogance found in men start wars and continue wars.  

Arbitration is only entered into when one does not really trust things, that is, when one cannot hope to win an easy victory. Thus, the world has always exceeded the limits theoretically recognized as correct in human science, seduced by the evil will. People are vain. The so-called representatives of science also take part in this vanity, and in their vanity they pass off as knowledge what is merely their assumption and imagination. And the dear public, especially the "educated," accepts the conjectures and conceits as "established results of science," because it is possessed by the same vanity and worships itself, the human genius, in the glorification of the so-called representatives of science. In addition to this, there is another. In men there dwells by nature an enmity against the Gospel of Christ and the Holy Scriptures which reveal this Gospel. One searches for constellations that contradict the Scriptures. However, it would be difficult to achieve one's purpose if one were to conduct truly scientific research and stay strictly within the limits of experience. Thus one resorts to brazen assertions and puts them on the market under the name of “science.” This spirit of untruthfulness, of unscientificness, of lies, of open and hidden hostility to Christ dominates at present the greatest part of the civilized world. It has also penetrated into most of the textbooks used in lower and higher schools.

By God's grace, we want to be preserved from this way of doing human science. We want to keep the limits of human science not only theoretically but also practically. We want to cultivate human science in our institutions, which adheres to the facts. We want to cultivate the spirit of truthfulness and shun the spirit of untruthfulness. [Page 295] 

But finally the important question: Will we succeed in this? Certainly not, if it depends on ourselves! By nature, we too—to speak with Luther—have more desire for “pretty useless fables” than for truth and honest research. In us, too, there is by nature the spirit of vanity and self-deification. Therefore, if it depends on us, we will both deceive and be deceived in the general deception. But we are Christians by God's grace and have God's Word. And in our institution we do not merely want to cultivate a natural morality, but here God should rule through His Word, the Holy Scriptures. God's Word, however, has the power that it, like all evil lusts and desires, also continually kills the evil lust of vanity, idolatry of man, and blind worship. The Word of God can and will save us from the deception that so generally prevails in the world under the name of science. Therefore, we conclude with the prayer, “Preserve us Lord,”—our whole synod and this institution as well—“by Thy Word!” [ELHB # 138, TLH 261; see this blog post] Amen.    F. P. [Franz Pieper].

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      Dr. Pieper's address is perhaps the most important counsel for the planned new Luther Classical College in Casper, Wyoming. They have recently come out with a statement on their plans for accreditation that touches on the thesis that Pieper addresses… in the concluding Part 5.

LCMS pastors for Old Missouri: "treasures we never knew existed"

      Time spent reading across several web sites has turned up some refreshing writings by LCMS pastors:

(1) Pastor Ryan Loeslie of Immanuel Lutheran in Dimock, S. Dakota, who has written for the "Steadfast Lutherans" website (now "Steadfast Press"), continues his writings now for the Christian Culture magazine published by the new Luther Classical College organization.  This pastor is one to follow. In 2020, in his "Preserving Walther's Hymnal" article, he reveals that he spent an academic year in Germany, so he has a valuable knowledge of the German language and is using it to translate various "Old Missouri" writings, especially from Der Lutheraner.  In praising Walther's Hymnal, he makes a statement that parallels my thinking of over 25 years ago:

"…our modern Missouri Synod has much to learn from our past, treasures we never knew existed."

That mindset has served Pastor Loeslie well.  Now he is presenting excellent translations for Christian Culture magazine, of Fredrich Pfotenhauer, and lately Friedrich Bente, etc. One can hope that he continues producing these writings and translations. Excellent!

(2) Pastor Lincoln Winter of Trinity Lutheran in Wheatland, Wyoming, has a few days ago announced the first book to be published by the Steadfast Press, a republished English translation of Prof. George Stoeckhardt's Grace upon Grace book of sermons.  (I own a copy of the Ft. Wayne bookstore English translation.) It was exhilarating for me to read his laudatory comments on Stoeckhardt, for he has also seen Stoeckhardt's true gift for exegesis, as Franz Pieper also praised.  Also refreshing was Pastor Winter's gentle criticism of the Northwestern Publishing editor's (August Pieper?) caution that Stoeckhardt's sermons were "too opaque for the average reader". To this, the pastor comments:

"With all respect, we heartily disagree with this sentiment, and have no trouble finding a place for this work in our permanent catalog."

The Steadfast Press has chosen well. May it remain steadfast on this course for its future!  

Limits3: Conjecture, hypothesis, speculation = end of science

      This continues from Part 2 in a series (Table of Contents in Part 1). presenting Prof. Franz Pieper's address at the dedication of a new building for Concordia College in Milwaukee in 1901. — In Pieper's final section, he now brings theology to bear on the subject of his address "the limits of human science". — From Lehre und Wehre, vol. 47 (Oct. 1901), pp. 292-294 [EN]: 

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2.

But human science has a field peculiar to it. It has a field in which it can and does know something. This is the area of natural things that fall under human perception and observation or experience. The area is so wide that I can only outline its scope. There is a historical knowledge through investigation of the existing historical sources. There is a linguistic knowledge by research of the actually existing old and new languages. There is a scientific knowledge by observation and research of the wide area of nature lying before us. 

And we as a church consider the knowledge in all these areas to be very valuable. Luther's praise of the study of history and [p. 293] languages is well known among us. He calls history a “display, memory, and characteristic of divine works and judgments,” and the knowledge of languages, with regard to theology, “the sheath in which the sword of the spirit lies”. And as for the vast realm of nature, for the Christian it is a great garden in which every little flower is interesting to him. If it should happen in our materialistic time that neither history nor the old languages are studied seriously and the study of natural sciences is reduced to commercial interests, we as a church will cultivate these fields of knowledge with all seriousness for the reasons given. In short, the church recognizes and cultivates a wide field of human science.

But here a warning is necessary. Human knowledge in the natural field belonging to it has a limit. It must remain aware of this limit if it is not to degenerate into foolishness, ignorance and presumption. Human knowledge of natural things always goes only as far as observation and experience of the facts at hand go. Our knowledge of history goes as far as existing credible documents testify to facts that have happened. Our knowledge of old and new languages is the perception of these languages from existing writings or from the use in oral communication. Our knowledge of nature reaches as far as the observation and experience of facts in this area reaches. 

Where conjecture, hypothesis and speculation begin, science ends. Hypothesis and knowledge are opposites. As in regard to Christian doctrine the sentence holds: “What is not taken from the Bible does not belong to theology,” so in regard to human science the sentence holds: “What goes beyond observation and experience of present facts does not belong to science.”

One might ask: Is this not exceedingly self-evident? Certainly it is exceedingly self-evident. And in theory this is also quite generally accepted. Not only does Luther thus determine the limit of human science when he says: “Now it is not possible for nature to be known by reason after Adam's fall further than experience gives,” but also the more recent representatives of natural science quite generally recognize the proposition that with the limit of experience also the limit of science is given.

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    Dr. Thomas Korcok faults the Old Missourians, in Part 2 of that series, saying 

“Their own personal experiences with the sciences were minimal at best. 601) (fn # 601: [Hermann] Sasse recognized this and believed that the epistemological understanding of the Missourians suffered accordingly).” 

But Hermann Sasse has been shown to have a low view of Holy Scripture as even President Matthew Harrison admitted. So how can Sasse judge Old Missouri on their faithfulness to the Bible with his "epistemological understanding"?  And to answer Dr. Korcok's characterization that Old Missouri's knowledge of the sciences was "minimal at best", one need only look at Dr. A. L. Graebner who had not only knowledge of theology, languages and literature, but  also of the natural sciences and medicine. Here is where Dr. Korcok weakens his own praise of Old Missouri elsewhere, and calls into question his own faithfulness to Scripture. — In the next Part 4…

Pieper's Dogmatik, v. 3, in English (Completed series)

      This post continues from the previous posts (Volumes 1 and 2) presenting a new English translation of Dr. Franz Pieper's 3-volume Christliche Dogmatik series of books. — The following volume completes the 3-volume series.  It took time to polish the DeepL translation, partly because I had to pause at various points to refresh myself with the solid Christian, scriptural truths that Dr. Pieper taught.  As I went along, I highlighted certain portions in order to help in locating these points in the future.

      Before I present some quotes, the following are download links to the various texts (DOCX files are zipped):

• English (DOCX without shading)
• English (DOCX with my shading)
• English (PDF—Internet Archive)
• German (DOCX with hyper links)

       A future blog post is planned to combine the links to all 3 volumes. Any updates to these files will be noted on these blog posts. 

      Among the many topics covered in this volume is the doctrine of The Church, particularly the local church, a doctrine in which the LC-MS has departed from Pieper, also Walther. While President Matthew Harrison identifies only Prof. J. T. Mueller for his antagonism, he fails to mention that his real target is…  Dr. Franz Pieper in the teaching of this volume, p. 483 ff.. Prof. Mueller was an "easy" target for President Harrison, Concordia Seminary President Pieper is not.

Notable Quotes (page numbers from original German book):

75: "Works, insofar as they are mixed into the article of justification, are not God's but the flesh's and the devil's works"

79: Leo XIII's Circular Letter (Immortale Dei) of November 1, 1885, also inculcates in the United States the duty to place itself at the service of the Papal Church and to suppress all other "worships" as soon as they have the power to do so. Cf. the article "The Pope's Latest Encyclical" in L. u. W. 1886, p. 12 ff.

80: “In this order [Jesuit Order], the rule is that even sins cease to be sins and become good works in the eminent sense when the superior of the order commands the sins and the members of the order perform them in dutiful obedience”

107: “the cause of apostasy is always contempt for the divine Word and reluctance to accept the Holy Spirit's action in the Word.”

109: “This objectively existing grace, presented through the objective means of grace, not the "Christ in us" and holy life, is the saving grace, ή χάρις τον ϑεοϋ ή σωτήριος. [“the grace of God that bringeth salvation”]”

110: “But in spite of all synergistic fears and counter-reasons, the fact cannot be denied that the Scriptures teach divine sole efficacy, as in conversion, so also in regard to perseverance in the faith.”

123: "In expounding the doctrine of the means of grace, the general objective reconciliation or justification is to be assumed."

125: "Even more recent Lutheran theologians, in the interest of combating the inspiration of Holy Scriptures, have expressed and advocated the peculiar opinion that not the word read, but only the word preached is the means of grace." [Many LCMS pasters do not believe "the word read" is a means of grace.]

130: "Therefore Luther has rightly taught that whoever has an evil conscience from sins should go to the sacrament and take comfort, not in the bread and wine, not in the body and blood of Christ, but in the Word, which in the sacrament offers, presents, and gives me the body and blood of Christ as given and shed for me." 

138: "Rome… does not understand by saving grace the grace of the forgiveness of sins, which is taken by faith and thus is certain to man, but the infusion of good qualities"

162: "Luther and the Lutheran Church are the mouth of Christianity on earth also with regard to their doctrine of the means of grace."

189: "The ridicule which unbelieving newspaper writers pour upon the revival meetings of the Negroes and the whites fills us with disgust."

197: "Zwingli followed the counsel of Erasmus and the humanistic train of the time when he turned to the 'very purest sources'. He had a different starting point than Luther."

201: "There is only one deliverance from the works doctrine for Reformed theology. That is the defection to Lutheran territory. "

206: "The essence of this pietism was that it gave instruction to base the state of grace before God on inner processes in the human heart"

215: On Luther and the Jews    [click "Continue Reading" below]

Walther's Licht des Lebens, new English translated book on Amazon

683 pages, only $15.33 + Ship

      It has come to my attention by a correspondent that a new book has come out on Amazon recently, a book "Independently published", that offers an English translation of one of the two remaining untranslated sermon books of C. F. W. Walther: Light of Life (Licht des Lebens).  Although it is not from Concordia Publishing House, it adds to the list of C. F. W. Walther's sermon books that are now available in English, including the books made available on my blog: Year of Grace and Epistle Sermons (also CPH here)  Of the two remaining books, this is the greater one, similar to the previously published major books of sermons. (The remaining one is Predigtenwürfe). 

      The original German book was 688 pages, while this translation is 683 pages — a large book! And for those, like me, that look for a budget price, this book is offered, at least for now, for the incredible price of only $15.33 + shipping! This is surely at cost for now.  Hopefully others will obtain this book and make its availability known.

      How was it translated?  One wonders that it was made with the aid of machine translation, but a review of the few available sample pages of the first sermon reveal that it holds great promise for salutary use.  One could wish that Walther's emphasized words were carried forward into this translation, but that seems not available… yet.

      How may one recommend this book?  Two ways: 

1. the back cover states “Walther masterfully balances the portrayal of the law's demands and the grace found in the gospel”; and 
2. as already highlighted in my blog post of 6 years ago, Walther's incomparable expression of the Gospel message is presented strikingly also in this volume (p. 589 in the new book):

“The Gospel is, therefore, really nothing more than a letter from God to the whole world in which he tells it that its sins are paid and forgiven; nothing other than a receipt, which is to be handed over to all sinners, which in it is written: God is paid-up by the death of his Son; the debts of all sinners are paid.”

In other words, the Gospel is not a bill or an invoice demanding payment, but a receipt for the payment already made! Pure gold! And to the extent that this translation is faithful to Walther's text and meaning, it too is pure gold.  May it bring "understanding, comfort, and eternal joy" for those reading it.