WALTHER, CARL FERDINAND WILHELM (1811–1887)

German American church leader. Walther was born October 25, 1811 in

Langenchursdorf, southeast of Leipzig, GERMANY. At the University of Leipzig, where

he studied theology, Walther observed the prevailing rationalism and PIETISM but

instead embraced orthodox Lutheran confessionalism. Unhappy with the prevailing

THEOLOGY in Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1839 with 800 other

Saxons and settled in Perry County, Missouri, 100 miles south of St. Louis. When the

group’s bishop, Martin Stephan, was expelled from the church on moral grounds, some

questioned whether they remained a Christian church, and urged a return to Germany.

Walther, however, championed the position of MARTIN LUTHER that the means of

saving GRACE (Word preached and SACRAMENTS of BAPTISM and LORD’S

SUPPER) were held by baptized believers as the PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

who themselves could put men into the ministry. The Saxons stayed, providing ministers

by continuing Concordia Seminary, which they had started in 1839.

Walther was called from his Perry County congregation to St. Louis in 1841 where,

along with parish duties, he began to publish Der Lutheraner in 1844, a periodical that

rallied like-minded conservative Lutheran immigrants in Midwest America. Preliminary

meetings led to the 1847 formation of the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of

Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, with Walther elected president. He is thus known for

being instrumental in the founding of what became THE LUTHERAN CHURCH—

MISSOURI SYNOD. When Concordia Seminary was transferred to this synod and

moved to St. Louis, Walther became its president. Walther met criticism of supposed

democratic tendencies in the synod’s view of the ministry with the publication of Church

and Ministry, reasserting Luther’s views.

A prolific writer, Walther’s major efforts included The Proper Distinction of Law and
Gospel, The Congregation’s Right to Choose Its Own Pastor, and numerous sermons and

homiletical abstracts. He also edited Lehre und Wehre (Teaching and Defense), a

periodical for laypeople.

Walther died in St. Louis May 7, 1887.

See also Lutheranism, United States

Volume 4, entries s-z 669

References and Further Reading

Primary Sources:

Walther, C.F.W. Church and Ministry: Witness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church on the

Question of the Church and the Ministry. Translated by J.T.Mueller. St. Louis, MO: Concordia

Publishing House, 1987.

——. The Congregation’s Right to Choose Its Pastor. Translated by Fred Kramer. St. Louis, MO:

Concordia Seminary Publications, 1997.

——. The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel. Translated by W.H.T.Dau. St. Louis, MO:

Concordia Publishing House, 1986.

Secondary Source:

Suelflow, August R. Servant of the Word: The Life and Ministry of C.F.W.Walther. St. Louis, MO:

Concordia Publishing House, 2000.

ROBERT ROSIN

The encyclopedia of protestantism 670