Samuel Simon Schmucker
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| Samuel Simon Schmucker | |
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| Born | February 28, 1799 in Hagerstown, Maryland |
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| Died | 1873 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania |
| Church | Lutheran: |
| Education | Princeton Theological Seminary |
| Writings | Definite Synodical Platform |
| Offices held | President, Gettysburg Seminary President, Gettysburg College |
| Title | Ordained pastor |
Samuel Simon Schmucker (February 28, 1799-1873) was a German-American Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was integral to the founding of the Lutheran church body known as the General Synod, as well as the oldest continuously-operating Lutheran seminary and college in North America.
Later in his career, Schmucker became a controversial figure because of his theological positions, in particular his approach to the Lutheran Confessions. Outside of the church, Schmucker was a noted abolitionist.
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[edit] Early life
Samuel Simon Schmucker was born on February 28, 1799 in Hagerstown, Maryland. His father, John George Schmucker, was a German immigrant and an ordained pastor in the Pennsylvania Ministerium. Schmucker showed a promising intellect at a young age, and entered the University of Pennsylvania at age 15.
After teaching briefly at the York Academy, Schmucker went on a missionary journey to the western frontier of Kentucky and Ohio, and on his return studied at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was ordained a Lutheran minister (1820). In 1820 he helped to establish the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of the first organizations of the American Lutheran church. From 1826 to 1864 he served as professor of didactic theology and chairman of the faculty in Gettysburg Theological Seminary, of which he was one of the founders. Schmucker Hall on the campus was named in his honor. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Schmucker's house was used as a field hospital for soldiers of both opposing armies. He was never compensated for the damages incurred.
His publication of 1838 prepared the way for the formation of the Evangelical Alliance, which was formed in Freemason's Hall, London, August 19-23, 1846. The American branch was organized in 1867. He was the leader of the low-church Lutheran party who were connected with the General Synod and was better known outside of his communion than any other Lutheran minister.
Amongst his numerous publications are:
- Fraternal Appeal to the American Churches on Christian Union (1838)
- The American Lutheran Church (1851)
- The Lutheran Symbols (1856)
- The Church of the Redeemer as developed within the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (1870)
Schmucker is buried in Evergreen Cemetery (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania).
[edit] Objections to Samuel Simon Schmucker
Schmucker was a very controversial theologian that Confessional Lutherans viewed as a threat to American Lutheranism. They did not believe he was actually a Lutheran, but rather, a Reformed theologian[1] working to destroy American Lutheranism from the inside through absorbing it into a union with non-Lutheran American Protestants[2]. His plan to discard the Augsburg Confession as a declaration of Lutheran belief in favor of a mutilated confession compatible with Reformed theology alienated him from former allies[3]. He published this altered confession anonymously, but it failed to pass even within his own church body[4].
Because Schmucker denied the Real Presence in the Lord's Supper, he is categorically placed in the "Un-Lutheran" camp by Charles Porterfield Krauth. Schmucker wrote, "worthy communicants, in this ordinance, by faith spiritually feed on the body and blood of the Redeemer, thus holding communion or fellowship with Him." [5]. This demonstrates Schmucker held to the Calvinist spiritual explanation of the Lord's Supper rather than the Lutheran teaching of Sacramental Union.[6]
The Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious knowledge states his theological position was a mix of "Puritanism, Pietism, and shallow Rationalism" rather than Lutheranism.[7]
[edit] References
- Bowden, Henry Warner. Dictionary of American Religious Biography. Westport, CT:Greenwood Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8371-8906-3.
- H. E. Jacobs, The Lutherans, volume iv, in "American Church History Series" (New York, 1893)
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
- Concordia Cyclopedia article on S.S. Schmucker
- Schaff, Philip and Hauck, Albert. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1911.
- Krauth, Charles Porterfield. The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology: As Represented in the Augsburg Confession and in the Literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875.
[edit] External links
- Encyclopedia Dickinsonia article
- Works by Samuel Simon Schmucker at Project Gutenberg
- Christian Cyclopedia article on S.S. Schmucker
- Bente, F. American Lutheranism Volume II St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1919.
- Wolf, Edmund Jacob. The Lutherans in America; a story of struggle, progress, influence and marvelous growth. New York: J.A. Hill, 1889.
- Samuel S. Schmucker Papers at Gettysburg College
