With a name like Schmucker . . .

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Mollie

Pastor Brondos posted a couple of interesting quotes over at his site:

“The days when compromises with and concessions to symbolism were made are passed. If a clash between symbolism and American Lutheranism is unavoidable within the General Synod, the sooner it comes, the better it is.”

and . . .

“He strove to eliminate everything distinctively Lutheran and to substitute the basis of the Evangelical Alliance for the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Catechism.”

For the context, read the rest of his post.

Filed under: Updates

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7 Responses to “With a name like Schmucker . . .”

  1. Bob, on May 11th, 2008 at Said:

    Nothing new under the sun.

  2. Rev. (Mr.) Jody R. Walter, on May 11th, 2008 at Said:

    Ironically, it was the “old” Lutherans of Missouri that grew. “Old” Lutherans was the 19th century term for confessional Lutherans. Schmucker and his followers were largely unsuccessful at growing the church. Yet, in those early decades the Missouri Synod grew like crazy - 1000% a decade type growth. I wrote a paper some years ago that was published Gottesdiesnt where I cited the stats. If I can find a copy of it laying around, I’ll give you the exact numbers. In any event that’s pretty good for “old” Lutherans, huh?

  3. Rev. Joel A. Brondos, on May 11th, 2008 at Said:

    By “symbolism,” those authors are referring to “confessionalism.”

    When we talk about the Lutheran “Symbols,” we mean the Book of Concord. They are not symbolic in the sense of being metaphorical or allegorical. Rather they stand as the symbol of the faith we confess.

    Perhaps someone can offer a better history of the term’s origin and usage in reference to the Confessions.

  4. Rev. (Mr.) Jody R. Walter, on May 11th, 2008 at Said:

    Found it!

    That stats are from “The Zeal of His House: Five Generations of Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod History” by Eldon Weisheit and “A Century of Grace” by Walter Baepler.

    The Missouri Synod grew 58% in the first three years. In the 1850’s it grew 343%. In the 1860’s in spite of the Civil War it grew 154% So not quite as high as I remembered.

    By the end of the first half century the LCMS had grown from 22 pastors and their congregations (about 30 or so) to 1564 pastors serving 1986 congregations and 693 preaching stations.

    Schmucker and co. were down in rookie league by comparison.

  5. Bob, on May 11th, 2008 at Said:

    What’s the root word of Schmucker?

    Looks like we have one, currently.

  6. califiowan, on May 13th, 2008 at Said:

    The Jewish word “schmuck” can’t be properly defined here. After all, this IS a DECENT forum! Check any good slang dictionary. I don’t know whether “Schmucker” is a direct derivation or not.

  7. Susan R, on May 13th, 2008 at Said:

    It’s not really a Jewish word, but a Yiddish word, which is actually German, Yiddish deriving from the German language.
    In German, which is most likely the root of this name, schmuck means jewelry or decoration.

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