Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
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