Charles Porterfield Krauth: The Evangelical Lutheran Church

Charles Porterfield Krauth

“The American Chemnitz”

Charles Porterfield Krauth was born in Martinsburg, Virginia on March 17th, 1823. He was the son of the well- known Lutheran pastor Dr. Charles Philip Krauth. Krauth graduated from Gettysburg College in 1839, and at the time his father was the college’s president and he also assisted on the theological faculty of Gettysburg’s Lutheran Theological Seminary. In 1841, he graduated and the following year in 1842 he was ordained. He then served as local pastor in the following places; Baltimore, Shenandoah Valley, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

In the year of 1859 Krauth was called to serve at St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia for two years. However, he resigned due

to the disappointment with American Lutheranism, and began a new job as editor of the Lutheran and Missionary. The Lutheran and Missionary was a journal espousing a return to the theology of the Augsburg Confession (the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most essential documents of the Lutheran Reformation). The goal of this journal was to restore the confessions of faith originally found in the Book of Concord, and return them back in Lutheran Churches.
The more Krauth read from Martin Chemnitz, the more he became persuaded that the General Synod and most of Americanized Lutheranism had passed on the ways of Martin Luther. This made Krauth become increasingly uncomfortable with Lutherans who became more concerned with ecumenism that they would deny the theology of the Augsburg Confession and the rest of the Book of Concord (significant documents of the Lutheran Church, which is made up of ten creedal documents. They are also the symbolic books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church). Socinianism(rejects the doctrine of the Trinity, demanding it denies the straightforwardness of God's unity), Universalism(asserts that religion is a universal human superiority), Unionism(the standard or procedure of establishing or obeying to a union), Pietism (was an association within Lutheranism that started in the late 17th century), Moravianism(Unity of the Brethren), and Methodism(is a group of factually associated denominations of Protestant Christianity which originate their beliefs from the life and knowledge of John Wesley), became the philosophies and theologies that interrupted and corrupted the real meaning of Evangelical Lutheranism away from what Krauth knew to believe.
As Krauth searched further into older Lutheranism of the Reformation and Age of Orthodoxy, he began to speak more severely about the newest Lutheran leaders who were originally following the lead of a man named Samuel Simon Schmucker. Samuel was an essential person in the finding of the General Synod (Lutheran church body). He claimed that the General Synod became the concourse of good/weak people who ignored the major problems at hand, which were theological differences. The other side disliked the criticisms and the differences between their confessions turned into a major split/problem.
The new conservative and confessional section of English- speaking American Lutheranism found itself necessitating its own association and theological institutions.

The confessional section created the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1864. Krauth was asked to guide their new school and also to become its instructor of Systematic Theology (correction of Christian theology that expresses an arranged, balanced and articulate accounts of the Christian faith and beliefs). In 1867, the founding of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church was very instrumental under Krauth’s name. The General Council was a conservative Lutheran church organization, which was formed against the new American Lutheranism run by Samuel Simon Schmucker and his group the General Synod. In 1867 the General Council was founded along with the thirteen church groups within it. This is the group that founded the Akron Rule, a very important document in Krauth’s works. Krauth also wrote the position papers and the foundational document and drafted its constitution for the General Council. He was then elected the General Council’s president three years later, where he then served 10 years until

1880.
One of Krauth’s most debated actions was to organize a series of theses on pulpit and altar fellowship, which was called the “Akron- Galesburg Rule. The summary says “Lutheran pulpits are for Lutheran ministers only, and Lutheran altars are for Lutheran communicants only.” Even though the rule allowed exceptions built on pastoral discretion, it still intensely rejected the ecumenism of the General Synod. The General Synod was established in 1820, and is an organization of Lutheran church groups. The leader of the groups was Samuel Simon Schmucker, and the Gettysburg Seminary and Gettysburg College was founded by the General Synod in the years of 1826 and 1832.
Krauth’s theological opinions and personal demand is what made his to be such an influential theologian. His scholarship went beyond Lutheranism. He became a representative of the University of Pennsylvania, serving a total of three years there. In 1868 he was appointed the Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and kept his place there until 1883, when he passed away. He also became the Vice Provost from 1873-1882.
Throughout Krauth’s lifetime he was married twice. From 1844 to 1853 when she passed, he married Susan Reynolds. He then married Virginia Baker in 1855. Within the two marriages, Krauth had five children, whom all were very proud of him and his many accomplishments.
In 1871 Krauth published his magnum opus, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, which was only a few of its chapters that were previously published in a number of periodicals that were reviewed and reworked for additions in the book. The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology is a written defense of Krauth’s opinion towards Lutherans Confessionalism and principles based off the General Council. Krauth admits in the preface of the book “The positions taken in this book are largely counter, in some respects, to the prevailing theology of our time and our land.” “No man can be more fixed in his prejudice against the views here defended that the author himself once was; no man can be more decided in his opinion that those views are false that the author is now decided in his faith that they are the truth.” “They have been formed in the face of all the influences of education and of bitter hatred or of contemptuous disregard on the part of nearly all who were most intimately associated with him in the period of struggle.” “Formed under such circumstances, under what he believes to have been the influence of the Divine World, the author is persuaded that they rest upon grounds which cannot easily be moved. In its own nature his work is in some degree, polemical, but its conflict is purely with opinions, never with persons” (Charles Porterfield Krauth: Conservative Reformation and Its Theology (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co. 1871), 12.
Krauth also states his beliefs towards the Confessions of the church, which is a huge part of his argument as a whole.

He agrees with Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz, and what they stood for. This in my opinion is a brilliant part of his important work. He says “No particular Church has, on its own showing, a right to existence, except as it believes itself to be the most perfect form of Christianity, the form which of right should and will be universal. No Church has a right to a part which does not claim that to it should belong the whole. That communion confesses itself a sect which aims at no more than abiding as one of a number of equally legitimated bodies. That communion which does not believe in the certainty of the ultimate acceptance of its principles in the whole world has not the heart of a true Church. That which claims to be Catholic de facto claims to be Universal de jure” (Charles Porterfield Krauth,

13).
Krauth also indicates in the Preface information about the Reformation and what he believe the true meaning of it to be. “Reformation is the means by which Conservatism of the good that is, and progress to the good yet to be won, is secured. Over against the stagnation of an isolated Conservatism, the church is to hold Reformation as the instrument of progress” (Charles Porterfield Krauth 8).
“The Eclectic Reformation is like the Eclectic Philosophy, it accepts the common affirmations of the different systems, and refuses their negations. Like the English language, the English Church is a miracle of compositeness. In the wonderful tessellation of their structure is the strength of both, and their weakness. The English language is two language inseparably conjoined. It has the strength and affluence of the two, and something of the awkwardness necessitated by their union. With more uniformity than any other great protestant body, it has less unity than any…” (Charles Porterfield Krauth, 10). Krauth was very appreciative for this, he accepted all kinds of people and their affiliations no matter what the circumstances. He didn’t care what their past was or who they belonged to, he cared about the present and the future and how he could improve situations for the better of his people.
“The classification of Churches by tendencies is, of course, relative. No great organization moves so absolutely along the line of a single tendency as to have nothing in it beyond that tendency, or contradictory to it. The willing fullness of some, the feeble-mindedness of others, the power of surrounding influences, modify all systems in their actual working” (Charles Porterfield Krauth, 12). This passage from the Preface shows how in order for a system (church) to work smoothly and effectively, all have to work together to accomplish common goals. This is what Krauth wanted for the people.
Charles Porterfield Krauth’s life began in the Lutheran community, and with the initial guidance from his father, and his continued education, research and studies, he was able to assist in the formation of many standards in the Lutheran religion which we are familiar with today. Krauth is not only remember for his influential works in American Lutheranism, but also his literary works, mainly the Conservative Reformation which earned him the name of the American Chemnitz.