The Lutheran History Podcast

In this episode, we explore the story behind The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and the remarkable collaboration that brought it into existence. Drawing on Elisabeth J. Urtel’s recent dissertation, the conversation traces how the Missouri, Wisconsin, Norwegian, and Slovak synods of the Synodical Conference worked together to produce a shared English-language hymnal during a time of profound cultural change. The discussion examines how the shift from German and other immigrant languages to English sha...

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Ronald Rittgers about his book The Reformation of Suffering: Pastoral Theology and Lay Piety in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany. Join us for a fascinating discussion of what was retained from the Late-Medieval focus on human suffering in the Reformation, and what was incompatible with the renewed focus on the biblical doctrine of salvation. Finally, we discussed how our current age seeks to distance itself from questions and acknowledgment of su...

Image: Mythic depiction of PETER MUHLENBERG AT WOODSTOCK, VIRGINIA Note: the guest wishes to clarify that he meant a $10 bill, not $100, in reference to Hamilton. In God on Three Sides, Jonathan M. Wilson explores how German Pietist communities experienced and interpreted the American Revolution, a war that forced believers to wrestle with loyalty, violence, and obedience to God in a time of political upheaval. Drawing on sermons, letters, and personal writings, Wilson shows how Pietists on a...

Image: German and British officers with a chaplain in 1777. In God on Three Sides, Jonathan M. Wilson explores how German Pietist communities experienced and interpreted the American Revolution, a war that forced believers to wrestle with loyalty, violence, and obedience to God in a time of political upheaval. Drawing on sermons, letters, and personal writings, Wilson shows how Pietists on all sides of the conflict—Patriot, Loyalist, and neutral—understood the war through a shared theol...

In today's episode, we welcome back Dr. Tim Grundmeier from MLC to talk about his newly published book. Lutheranism and American Culture examines the transformation of the nation’s third-largest Protestant denomination over the course of the nineteenth century. In the antebellum era, leading voices within the church believed that the best way to become American was by modifying certain historic doctrines deemed too Catholic and cooperating with Anglo-evangelicals in revivalism and social refo...