Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

Part I: Getting to know the Scriptures: the Norwegian Hermeneutic and the
Wauwatosa Theology
Chapter 1: The Norwegian Hermeneutic
The Norwegian hermeneutical method that found active expression in the
Norwegian Synod in America was born as a reaction to the rationalism of the Norwegian
State Church on the one hand and the pietistic preaching of Haugean revival on the other.
The method brought back the true confessional principle of Sola Scriptura to the
Norwegian State Church, along with a deep appreciation for the Lutheran symbols and
the historic practices of the Lutheran Church. This hermeneutical method would be
deeply instilled in the founders of the Norwegian Synod; men like Herman Amberg
Preus, Jakob Aal Ottesen, Ulrik Vilhelm Koren, who guided the Norwegian Synod
through various doctrinal battles, especially the Election Controversy, with their clear,
persistent call to the authority of Scripture.
After the demise of the Norwegian Synod to the Madison Settlement of 1917 the
leaders of the ELS began a careful re-examining of the events that led to the fall of their
beloved church. 11 During this time, men like H.M. Tjernagel, J.E. Thoen, Bjug Harstad,
Norman A. Madson, C.A. Moldstad, Christian Anderson and S.C. Ylvisaker would not
only show that they stayed faithful to the sound Lutheran hermeneutical principle Sola
Scriptura, but they would also zealously bring it to the fore in sermons, theological
essays, and personal correspondence. The Norwegian Hermeneutic became all the more
11 The Madison Settlement brought together the United Norwegian Lutheran Church and the Norwegian
Synod, which had been historically separated over a number of issues, but most glaring, was the doctrine of
election. The United Norwegian Lutheran Church taught that man is elected intuitu fidei, in view of faith,
that is that God saw those who would believe and elected those. The Norwegian Synod strongly rejected
this because it undermines Sola Gratia and makes man in some way responsible for part of his salvation,
which is a subtle form of synergism. The Madison Settlement glossed over this difference with the
explanation that both synods really held to the same doctrine, but in different forms. Only the minority that
went on to form the Evangelical Lutheran Synod insisted that the merger was against the Scripture because
it tolerated false doctrine.
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