RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lutherans
logical seminary at Wauwatosa, near Milwaukee (3 professors, 32 students). The synod of Minnesota was the fruit of the missionary labors of Father C. F Heyer (1793-1873), born at Helmstadt, Germany, for many years an active missionary among the Telugus in India, died as chaplain of the theological seminary in Philadelphia. The synod was founded in 1860 at West St. Paul. It numbers 86 pastors, 123 congregations, 35,685 communicants. In 1867 it joined the General Council but left it in 1871 and afterward connected itself with the synodical conference. The synod of Michigan was the outcome of the missionary labors of the Rev. F. Schmid, Ann Arbor, Mich. It was founded in 1860, joined the General Council in 1867, and afterward went over to the synodical conference, in which it is now represented by 14 pastors, 22 congregations, 4,225 communicants. These three synods, of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, united in the synod of the Northwest, in 1892, with their common seminary in Milwaukee. But the original Michigan Synod, dissatisfied with this step, left the synodical conference in 1896, and is, since that time, without connection with a general body. It numbers 37 pastors, 54 congregations, 7,933 communicants. Another, more serious rupture took place in the synodical conference in consequence of the predestinarian controversy. Since 1868 there has appeared a tendency of the Missouri leaders to condemn as Pelagian and synergistic the so-called Intuitu fidei doctrine of the old Lutheran dogmaticians, and to teach an absolute, unconditional, particular decree of God, by which a certain limited number of men were elected to salvation. Professor Asperheim, in the seminary of the Norwegian Synod, raised a voice of warning and was forced to resign his professorship and to leave his synod. Professor F. A. Schmidt, formerly one of the champions of Missouri, protested against the teaching of Walther, the great leader of the Missouri Synod. The professors of the Ohio Synod sided with him. A colloquy, lasting five days, held in Milwaukee, had no favorable result, and in 1881 the Ohio Synod left the synodical conference. The Norwegian Synod to which Dr. F. A. Schmidt belonged was divided into two parties, and, in order to avoid a rupture in its own midst in 1884, it also left the synodical conference.
6. The Scandinavian Lutherans: About the middle of the nineteenth century a new tide of KwAHiaV. iTnTT1ig-r.1+ir,r. set in. Rev. Lars P Esbjoern organized the first Lutheran congregations at Andover, Galesburg, Moline (111.), and New Sweden (Iowa). In 1851 he joined the synod of northern Illinois, belonging to the General Synod. Faithful pastors were called over from the 1. Swedes, mother country, like T. N. Hassel- Augustana quist (afterward professor of the the- Synod. ological seminary of the Augustana Synod), Erla Carlson, Jonas Swensson, and young men like E. Norelius were ordained for the ministry. In 1860 the Scandinavians withdrew from the General Synod and organized the " Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America." In 1870 the Swedes and Norwegians separated peacefully. The Swedish
Augustana Synod joined the General Council at the time of its organization and has ever since formed one of the most prominent bodies in this connection. In the seventies the Augustana Synod had to contend against the influence of the " Mission Friends " (Waldenstroemians). Their college' and seminary were moved to Rock Island. Other preparatory institutions are the Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peters, Minn., Bethany College at Lindsborg, Kansas, and the Lutheran Academy at Wahoo, Neb. The Augustana Synod is in reality the Swedish General Synod of North America, extending over the whole Union from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It numbers 574 pastors, 1,052 congregations, 154,390 communicants, and has seven orphans' homes, two deaconess homes, three hospitals, and several immigrant and seamen's missions. A small colony of Norwegian immigrants settled at Rochester, N. Y., in 1825 and nine years afterward moved to Illinois. The first step toward a church organization was the founding of (1) the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America, Hauge Synod, through the influence 2. The of Elling Eielsen (1804-83), originally Norwegians, a lay preacher and adherent of Hauge, of Pietistic tendency. Several secessions took place and in 1876 there was a reorganization under the name: " The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Hauge Synod," with 122 pastors, 290 congregations, 21,181 communicants. Eielsen with a few adherents kept aloof, and there is at the present time still a separate Eielsen Synod with 6 pastors, 26 congregations, 1,200 communicants. (2) The Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod of North America was founded in 1853 by the more conservative elements, under the leadership of C. L. Claussen, A. C. Preus, H. A. Preus, U. V. Koren, J. A. Ottesen, and P. L. Larsen, in sympathy with the Missouri Synod, in whose theological seminary at St. Louis they were represented by professors of their own (Larsen, Preus, F. A. Schmidt). Afterward the synod established its own seminary in Madison, Wis. The predestinarian controversy, as above stated, led to the withdrawal of this Norwegian Synod from the synodical conference, and finally to a separation in the synod itself (1887). It numbers at present 350 pastors, 1,050 congregations, 87,000 communicants with a theological seminary at St. Paul, Minn., and a college at Decorah, la. (3) The initiative toward the founding of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church in North America was taken by the anti-Missourian party in the Norwegian Synod, who sought to unite the Hauge Synod, the Norwegian Augustana Synod, and the Norwegian-Danish Conference. The Hauge Synod did not join in this movement, but the others united in 1890 at Minneapolis. The united synod numbers 480 pastors, 1,335 congregations, 154,055 communicants, with a theological seminary at St. Paul, Minn., and colleges at Canton, S. D., Moorhead, Minn., and Northfield, Minn., and two orphans' homes, two deaconess motherhouses, and seven hospitals. (4) The Norwegian Lutheran Free Church was founded in 1893 by G. Sverdrup and Sven Oftedahl, formerly members of the Norwegian-Danish Conference, and reports 148 pas-
Lutherans