Behind the Language Curtain

The following reflections have been prompted by conversations with Rev. Zelwyn Heide.

It goes without saying that Martin Luther preached in German, catechized in German, translated the Scriptures into German, and gave the church hymns, sermons, and theological writings in German. For centuries, German became one of the chief languages of Lutheran theology, devotion, hymnody, and church life. 

And so, when many Lutherans came to America, they brought this German theological world with them. This was especially true of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The early Missouri Synod was German in worship, education, publishing, preaching, and theological formation. German was not merely a cultural preference. It was the language through which the Synod received and preserved much of its Lutheran inheritance.

This began to change in the early twentieth century: German began to decline. For a time, German and English stood side by side. Many congregations used both German and English. Some pastors preached in both. Just ask an older member of an LCMS Church, and you might hear stories of how they lived between both worlds. But with the pressures of Americanization, World War I, and later World War II, German rapidly fell out of use. By the 1960s, the LCMS was largely an English-speaking church body.

So why does this matter?  It matters because when the Missouri Synod moved from German to English, it lost easy access to a vast theological inheritance. You see, behind the German language stood an ocean of Lutheran theology: sermons, dogmatics, hymnody, devotionals, pastoral writings, catechetical materials, and church practices. Much of it reached back through Walther, the Lutheran fathers, the Book of Concord, and the Reformation of the 1500s. Perhaps we could say it this way: the books of Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Walther remained. But for English-speaking Lutherans, much of this inheritance stood behind a language curtain. The Missouri Synod’s history reaches back to the Reformation, the ancient church, and the apostles. But our usable history often begins with what we can read in English. In other words, history for many late 20th-Century LCMS Lutherans did not begin with the 16th-Century Reformation but began in the 1950s - from what was available in English.  

At the same time German declined, English-speaking-institutions rose to prominence in the LCMS. The Lutheran Witness, founded in 1882, became an English voice within the Synod in the 1900s. The Lutheran Laymen’s League was organized in 1917. The Lutheran Hour began in 1930. Portals of Prayer first appeared in 1937. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League was organized in 1942. These institutions and auxiliaries taught the faith, supported missions, provided devotions, shaped identity, and gave the Missouri Synod a common English voice. From the 1930s through the 1960s, and in some cases into the 1970s and 1980s, these English-language institutions exerted enormous influence. At the same time, German was rapidly declining in the Synod. This loss of German was not intentional; it resulted from German-descended Lutherans adapting to an English-speaking nation, often under significant cultural pressure. During the transitional period, many pastors and people were bilingual, so there was little urgency to translate what was still accessible. But by the time German was largely lost, fewer and fewer were able to carry that inheritance forward. As a result, much of the vast theological inheritance reaching back to the Reformation of the 1500s became less accessible to ordinary English-speaking Lutherans.  It was concealed behind a language curtain – locked in a treasure chest with no key. 

There is another component that must be recognized as well.  As previously indicated, the Missouri Synod lived in a cultural and linguistic insulation via the German language.  However, as the Synod shifted to English, the Missouri Synod found herself sharing the English language with fellow Methodists and popular revival movements.  And so, the English-speaking Missouri Synod began operating within the same ecosystem as the broader American Protestant Church.  Simply stated, when LCMS Lutherans stopped speaking German, they did not just change language; they entered a shared religious marketplace of English, where the Lutheran Church was much more susceptible to Methodist and tent revival influences.  The LCMS found herself sharing the same words with other religious entities and movements, but words that held different meanings and theologies. 

Fast forward to today, and another shift is taking place. Many of these once-dominant LCMS Auxiliaries no longer hold the same central influence they once did in the LCMS. Furthermore, the religious landscape of America has become even further divided.  At the same time, something great has occurred: the older Lutheran inheritance, which was locked in German, is becoming more accessible in English than ever before.  For example, the 55-volume set of Luther’s Works began appearing in English starting in 1955 and was completed in 1986. The works of Martin Chemnitz have been translated (e.g., Loci Theologici 1989). Johann Gerhard’s writings have become available in English (2000s-present). The Lutheran Confessions have been published in accessible reader editions (2012). A fresh new translation of CFW Walthers’ Law & Gospel Theses was released in 2010. Many older Lutheran works have been translated, republished, digitized, and made available to pastors and laity. 

What does this mean, though?  This means English-speaking LCMS Lutherans in 2026 have access to theological resources that many English-speaking LCMS Lutherans in the 1960s and 1970s did not have. A layperson can read Luther in English. A pastor can study Martin Chemnitz (one of the authors of the Book of Concord). A student can read Gerhard. A congregation can study the Book of Concord in a readable edition through a Confessions Study. The language curtain is being pulled back.

This recovery matters. Not because German is sacred. But instead, it connects the Lutheran Church of today to the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.  Today’s American Lutheran Church has always possessed a theological inheritance that is like a treasure chest, but with no key – that is, until now. Therefore, in some LCMS Congregations, there has been a subtle shift (not necessarily a rejection) away from LCMS Auxiliary organizations, as some women’s groups are choosing to study the Book of Concord rather than the LWML Quarterly.  Or some parishioners are choosing to read Luther’s Postil Sermons (Published in 2000) instead of listening to The Lutheran Hour.  And some parishioners are reading Sacred Meditations by Johann Gerhard instead of Portals of Prayer. Simply stated, the subtle shift is not toward something new or foreign, but a return to something old and inherited.   

In conclusion, for a time, much of this inheritance was hidden behind a language curtain. Now much of it is returning to us in English. What a gift this is: a bridge back to our Lutheran past – a reconnection to a rich theological heritage that still speaks, still teaches, and still blesses the Lutheran Church in the twenty-first century.