The Formation of the American Lutheran Church by Fred W. Meuser

Meuser, Fred W. The Formation of the American Lutheran Church. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock reprint, originally issued 1958 by Augsburg Fortress.

I was given this book at the annual convention of the AALC in 2010. The book will be used in a course I am taking late in 2010 but I decided to read it ahead since I tend to have trouble assimilating history texts. Meuser's writing is engaging and his scholarship is impressive.  He originally prepared the manuscript as a doctoral dissertation and the depth of research shows clearly. Meuser traces the formation of the American Lutheran Church of 1930 from the history of theological discussion among various different groups of Lutherans in the United States. He details the hindrances to unification as well as the incentives. At the end of the book, Meuser does talk a bit about the developments from 1930 which led to the formation of The American Lutheran Church (notice the definite article is in the name). I wish I could say I enjoyed the reading. I frankly did not.  I find that when there are too many different groups being discussed at once I lose my bearings quite easily. This happened again and again. Hopefully when I read the book for a class I will keep an adequate map of characters and organizations to sort them out better.  The scope of the book is enormous. Fitting so many people and organizations into so few pages must have been a daunting task. I would recommend the book for someone interested in the development of Lutheranism outside the Missouri Synod, though. Meuser brought many ideas to light that I had never seen before in discussions I had engaged in with Lutherans.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com