Homer nods

It’s gratifying to learn that there are some serious readers of our blog out in cyberspace. One serious reader has recently informed us of an error in attribution from six years ago! Thanks and a tip of the hat to Alex Touchet for calling this to our attention.

Back in 2019 we featured a post quoting a nineteenth century Lutheran supporting the link between liturgical propriety and Lutheran doctrine: “There are congregations all over the Synod whose usages are indistinguishable from the sects all around us . CFW Walther did have something to say about this because he believed that Lutheran Doctrine matters and that Lutheran Doctrine is expressed in Lutheran practice.” Thereupon followed the remarks attributed to Walther. It turns out that the author of the remarks was not Walther but, in all probability, Martin Guenther.

Here’s the rather extensive research our reader has submitted to us to demonstrate this, and we do appreciate it. It’s also an interesting read:

To Whom It May Concern,

I came across the following quotation recently:

Church usages, excepting the case when confession of a divine truth is required, are indeed adiaphora. But they are nevertheless not without an import of their own. Congregations that adopt the church usages of the sects that surround them, will be apt to conform to their doctrines also, more easily and quickly than those that retain their Lutheran ceremonies. We should in Lutheran services, also when held in the English language, as much as possible use the old Lutheran forms, though they be said to be antiquated and not suiting this country. We will mention here the words of a pious Lutheran duchess, Elisabeth Magdalena of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her court chaplain Prunner relates as follows: “Although her ladyship well knew that the ceremonies and purposes of this chapter (at which Prunner officiated) must have the appearance and repute of popery with some people, she still remembered the instructions which that dear and venerable man, Luther, had once given to her father concerning such ceremonies. I remember in particular that her ladyship several times told me that she did not desire at these present times to commence discontinuing any of those church usages, since she hoped that so long as such ceremonies continued, Calvinistic temerity would be held back from the public office of the church.”

In looking for the source, I came across the post referred to in the subject line, located here: https://www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2019/1/28/does-walther-really-matter. The post provides the following citation: "C. F. W. Walther, The Controversy Concerning Predestination. Translated by August Croll. Concordia Publishing House, 1881, pp. 77-78."

After some review, it appears that this is inaccurate. In fact, the above quote comes from a book review of Church Liturgy for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, as published in The St. Louis Theological Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4 (August 1881), pp. 77-78 (which can be located here: https://books.google.com/books?id=AbknAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false). The original source is simply signed "G." 

David Jay Webber has authored at least four articles/essays which refer to this quote while citing to at least three different authors (CFW Walther, Martin Guenther, and August Graebner). 

The first is his essay "Why Is the Lutheran Church a Liturgical Church? A Confessional Anthropology" (June 1992) (https://els.org/wp-content/files/worship/essays/Webber-Jay-Why-Is-the-Lutheran-Church-a-Liturgical-Church.pdf), which prefaces the same quotation with the following: "Just over a century ago, a colleague of C. F. W. Walther offered a defense of a synodically promulgated English liturgy which gives his successors food for thought." 

Webber's 2012 article “'Walking Together' in Faith and Worship: Exploring the Relationship Between Doctrinal Unity and Liturgical Unity in the Lutheran Church" provides the following citation for the quotation: "August L. Graebner, book review of Church Liturgy for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, The St. Louis Theological Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4 (August 1881), pp. 77-78." (The cite appears at page 228, footnote 44 of Webber's article as published in Lutheran Synod Quarterly, Vol. 52, Nos. 2-3 (June-September 2012), pp. 195-248 (https://blts.edu/wp-content/downloads/LSQ/2012/LSQ-52,2-3%20June-September%202012.pdf.))     

Most recently, an April 2025 essay of Webber's refers to the same quotation, but this time cites to Martin Guenther rather than Walther or Graebner. (https://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/WebberCeremoniesThatTeach.pdf.) And a 2025 essay by Webber entitled "The Divine Service in Confessional Lutheranism and in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod" also cites to Guenther. (https://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/WebberDivineService.pdf.) 

At this point, I am not certain who authored the quotation. My suspicion is that, among the available options, it was Martin Guenther, because there are numerous entries in the original source signed by "Augustus" (presumably the Rev. Dr. Augustus Lawrence Graebner). In any event, given the "G." signature, I think it was probably not Walther. At a minimum, it did not come from his "The Controversy Concerning Predestination" pamphlet. 

Regards,

J. Alex Touchet