THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Loehe himself advised his friends to associate themselves with the Saxon Lutherans. Several conferences were held at St. Louis and Fort Wayne, and the parties united in the formation of the synod of Missouri in which the emissaries of Loehe outnumbered the " Saxons." Soon, however, serious differences arose between Loehe and the leaders of the Missouri Synod, particularly on the doctrines concerning the Church and the ministry. To avoid a threatening rupture Wyneken and Walther were sent to Germany to confer personally with Loehe, but no agreement was reached. Consequently the adherents of Loehe, G. M. Grossmann and J. Deindoerfer, to avoid friction with the Missouri Synod, went further west, to carry on the American Mission work of Loehe beyond the Mississippi. Together with S. Fritschel and M. Schueller they founded the synod of Iowa at Dubuque, la., Aug. 24, 1854. This synod means to represent a strictly confessional yet ecumenical Lutheranism. Accepting the symbolical books without reservation it distinguishes between what is confessed in the symbols as a direct doctrine of faith, and what those standards contain in their exegetical, historical, and explanatory material. From^the very beginning there was_a conflict between_±hesynodBof Missouri and Iowa. No agreement was reached in the"c(3nfirrence at Milwaukee, 1867. The points of difference are essentially the following: (1) Concerning the office of the ministry, Missouri holds that the spiritual priesthood of believers involves the ministry of the Word, while the congregation, possessing the priesthood and all ecclesiastical authority, transfers to the individual the authority of exercising the rights of the spiritual priesthood publicly, in behalf of the congregation. Iowa draws the distinction between the spiritual priesthood and the office of the Word as a special vocation, and holds that the Missouri doctrine on this particular point was not fixed in the confessions of the Church, and therefore, even if correct, should not divide the Church. (2) Concerning the authority of the confessions both agree that all doctrines of faith in the confessions are binding. But Iowa limits those doctrines to such articles as are taught ex professo, without accepting their theological exposition as binding in every case. (3) Concerning " open questions " Iowa teaches that there are points on which different opinions may be held without disturbing church fellowship, such as the doctrines concerning Antichrist and the conversion of Israel. Missouri at first maintained that nothing that was taught in the Scriptures could be considered an open question in this sense. But later on, when difficulties arose in the Missouri Synod itself concerning the subject of usury, it was publicly declared that there was, indeed, a difference between articles of faith and other Scripture doctrines which must not necessarily be considered as such. (4) Concerning Antichrist and all eschatological doctrines Missouri insists that all prophecies of things preceding the last day are actually fulfilled, including the prophecy concerning Antichrist, whose fulfilment is found in the pope. Iowa, while admitting the antichristian character of popery, holds that it should not be condemned as
unlutheran to expect some future culmination of the prophecy concerning Antichrist in a person that is yet to appear. (5) Concerning chiliasm (see Millennium, Millenarianism) both agree to accept the seventeenth article of the Augsburg Confession and reject any doctrine of the millennium which would rob the spiritual kingdom of Christ of its character as a kingdom of grace and of the cross. But the doctrine of a first resurrection, though not taught by the Iowa Synod as such, is not considered a fundamental error, as Missouri considers it. From the beginning there have been pleasant and kindly relations between the Iowa Synod and the General Council, though the former never entered into organic connection with the latter. At most of the conventions of the General Council the Iowa Synod was represented by delegates. It took an active part in the preparation of the General Council's church-book and uses it in all its congregations. The Iowa Synod numbers 487 ministers, 927 congregations, 99,895 communicants, scattered over nineteen States and British Columbia. It has a theological seminary in Dubuque, la., with 4 teachers and 45 students.
In the year 1805 for the first time traveling preachers of the Pennsylvania Ministerium reached the State of Ohio, where they founded a conference in connection with the mother synod. The organization of the synod dates from the
4. The year 1818 and its present name, Joint Joint Synod Synod of Ohio, from the year 1833.
of Ohio. Though a number of ministers, like Dr. Sihler and the missionaries sent by Loehe, had left the synod because they were not satisfied with its confessional position, the synod developed more and more in a decidedly Lutheran direction and in 1847 adopted all the symbolical books as the basis of its confession. Conferences held between Missouri and Ohio led to a gradual approach between the two bodies, and in the year 1872 the Joint Synod of Ohio united with the Missouri Synod and other western bodies in the formation of the synodical conference. But the controversy on predestination led to the withdrawal of the synod of Ohio in 1881. There followed an approach between Ohio and Iowa which culminated in a mutual recognition. The synod at present numbers 556 ministers, 733 congregations, 110,- 877 communicants. There are two theological seminaries, in Columbus and St. Paul, with 9 teachers and 101 students.
The Sync^calConference, at present the strongest in the Lutheran Church in America, was founded in the year 1872 on the basis of the Concordia of 1580. It embraced the following synods: Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and the Norwegian Synod, and numbers at present 2,444 ministers, 3,101 congregations,
5. The and 643,599 communicants. The synod Synodical of Wisconsin was founded by Rev. J.
Conference. Miihlhauser, formerly in Rochester, N. Y., and afterward in Milwaukee (1848-68). This synod at first belonged to the General Council, but left it in 1872 to join the synodical conference. It numbers 242 pastors, 350 congregations, 100,000 communicants, with a theo-