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Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays

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that were already causing disruption among the members of the Synodical Conference in<br />

the area of proper biblical hermeneutics.<br />

II. The Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa Theology (1904-1929)<br />

Joel Pless defines the Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa theology in this way,<br />

Between the years 1904-1929, in a suburb of Milwaukee,<br />

<strong>Wisconsin</strong>, a unique approach <strong>to</strong> both the study and the<br />

interpretation of the Holy Scriptures was developed. The<br />

hermeneutical method has been called the “Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa<br />

theology” or the “Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa Gospel.” Its origina<strong>to</strong>rs were<br />

three men trained at Concordia <strong>Seminary</strong>, St. Louis. All<br />

were students of the American Luther, Dr. C.F.W. Walther.<br />

The Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa Theology received its name from the<br />

Milwaukee suburb where a <strong>Lutheran</strong> seminary was located<br />

which trained pas<strong>to</strong>rs for what is <strong>to</strong>day known as the<br />

<strong>Wisconsin</strong> Evangelical <strong>Lutheran</strong> Synod. The three<br />

seminary professors who originated this approach <strong>to</strong> the<br />

study of Scripture were John P. Koehler, August Pieper,<br />

and John Schaller, the “Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa Triumvirate.”<br />

…Central <strong>to</strong> Koehler’s approach <strong>to</strong> Scripture, later shared<br />

by both Pieper and Schaller, was the view that the<br />

Scriptures should be his<strong>to</strong>rically and grammatically<br />

interpreted on the basis of the original Hebrew and Greek<br />

texts, with no dogmatic or ecclesiastical presuppositions.<br />

This method proved <strong>to</strong> be the heart and core of the<br />

Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa theology. 103<br />

During the first decade of the 20 th century, a series of free conferences were held<br />

between Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, <strong>Wisconsin</strong>, and various other Midwestern church bodies.<br />

The main article of disagreement still remained the doctrine of election, which had<br />

caused Ohio <strong>to</strong> break fellowship with the Synodical Conference and caused a civil war<br />

among the Norwegians. While the free conferences did not accomplish their goal of<br />

103 Joel Pless, “The Doctrine of the Word of God According <strong>to</strong> the Wauwa<strong>to</strong>sa Theology.” <strong>Wisconsin</strong><br />

<strong>Lutheran</strong> <strong>Seminary</strong> on-line essay file.<br />

http://www.wlsessays.net/authors/PQ/PlessWauwa<strong>to</strong>sa/PlessWauwa<strong>to</strong>sa.pdf. (Accessed July 21, 2008), 1.<br />

56

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