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Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

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church his<strong>to</strong>ry text, Dogmehis<strong>to</strong>rie, and a dogmatics text, Grundrids af den systemantiske<br />

Theologi. 23 Caspari also did important work investigating the source of the Apostle’s<br />

Creed in order <strong>to</strong> react <strong>to</strong> the Grundtvigian assertions that so troubled the Scandinavian<br />

churches of his day.<br />

One final note about the influence of Johnson and Caspari: even within the<br />

context of their devout piety and staunch orthodoxy, they zealously defended Christian<br />

liberty,<br />

[Johnson]’s piety never lost sight of Christian liberty, and<br />

he never tended <strong>to</strong>ward moralism or perfectionism in any<br />

form. He loved his pipe and was unwilling <strong>to</strong> condemn<br />

dancing, always avoiding legalism that some of his<br />

followers fell in<strong>to</strong>, followers whom, by the way, were also<br />

frequently affected by Haugeanism. In those that were<br />

balanced, like Johnson himself, we discover a marvelous<br />

combination of <strong>Lutheran</strong> doctrinal orthodoxy with its<br />

concomitant devotional expression that can only be<br />

considered as being likewise orthodox. 24<br />

The Norwegian-American pas<strong>to</strong>rs, Herman Amberg Preus, Ulrik Vilhem Koren,<br />

and Jakob Aal Ottesen inherited this evangelical balance of theology while sitting at the<br />

feet of Gisle Johnson and Carl Paul Caspari. S.C. Ylivsaker, in commemoration of the<br />

90 th anniversary of the Norwegian Synod, expressed the debt that the Norwegian Synod<br />

founders had <strong>to</strong> the men of the Johnsonian Awakening,<br />

We thank God Who raised up men of faith and conviction<br />

and Christian courage <strong>to</strong> help stem the tide of error and<br />

symbolical books have achieved official ecclesiastical recognition among them; nevertheless, the Synodical<br />

Conference naturally demands that the honorable Norwegian <strong>Lutheran</strong> Synod, in so far as it is a part of the<br />

Synodical Conference, pledge itself <strong>to</strong> all the confessional writings of the Evangelical <strong>Lutheran</strong> Church and<br />

in the event of doctrinal controversy <strong>to</strong> be guided and judged thereby. Since this was agreed <strong>to</strong> by the<br />

representatives of the honorable Norwegian Synod, the Conference found no impediment <strong>to</strong> its<br />

acceptance.” Edward Fredrich, “The Formula of Concord in the His<strong>to</strong>ry of American <strong>Lutheran</strong>ism,”<br />

<strong>Wisconsin</strong> <strong>Lutheran</strong> <strong>Seminary</strong> On-Line Essay File, http://www.wlsessays.net/files/FredrichConcord.pdf<br />

(Last accessed July 7, 2010).<br />

23 Erwin L. Lueker et al. <strong>Lutheran</strong> Cyclopedia. St. Louis: CPH, 1975. 431.<br />

24 Langlais, 17.<br />

20

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