The Lutheran History Podcast

In this special episode, guest host Tim Grundmeier interviews historian and author Benjamin T. Phelps about his recent Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly article on Dr. Henry A. Koch—a pastor, professor, and editor who left a profound mark on confessional Lutheranism in both Germany and America. Phelps shares personal insights drawn from years of research, including access to Koch’s letters, diary, and unpublished materials preserved by ...

This is a special episode of a presentation I prepared for the Society of German American Studies symposium in April in Milwaukee.

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The year 2025 marks the 175th anniversary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Originally established in the Milwaukee area as the Die erste deutsch. evang.-luth. Synode von Wisconsin, this German immigrant ecclesiastical organization, immediately needed printed materials in its native language...

In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Joel Otto, the anniversary committee chairman, about the pictorial history book Christ Through Us, which he co-authored with John Braun.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• Interview Request Form
• email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
• About t...

In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Joel Otto, the anniversary committee chairman, about what WELS worship has looked like in the past and how it has changed.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• Interview Request Form
• email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
• About the Host
  • Ben...

image: Adolph Hoenecke from the host's family photo collection.

In this WELS 175th episode, we talk with Prof. James Danell who teaches German at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN, about Adolph Hoenecke, who taught for many decades at the Wisconsin Synod's Seminary.  Prof. Danell speaks in this episode about his significant influence on the spirit and theology of the Wisconsin Synod.

Not only does Dan...

This is part of a longer conversation I had with Prof. James Danell about the imperative need for scholars who know German to do Lutheran history.

You can support the Confessional Language Scholarship at MLC to encourage this endeavor here.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• In...

This is a cross-over episode with The Shepherd's Study Podcast, where I was a guest of Jared Natsis and Phil Moldenhauer.  We talked about the content and merits of the book Brand Luther which came out shortly before the Reformation 500th anniversary.

The Shepherd’s Study podcast is produced by Grow in Grace to help pastors grow in the art and practice of pastoral ministry. Each episode features Lutheran pastors discu...

In this episode, we talk with Peter Prange about the third volume in his series, Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, in which he gets into the details and nuances of the Election Controversy that rocked the Synodical Conference.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• Interview Request Form
• e...

In this WELS 175th episode, Tim Grundmeier and I talk about who Johannes Muehlhaeuser was, Christmas trees, and the founding of the Wisconsin Synod.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• Interview Request Form
• email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
• About the Host
  • Benjamin Phelps is...

Image: JP Koehler at Wauwatosa Seminary, candid photo taken by a student.


While going through some old boxes in my grandfather's basement, I stumbled upon something truly remarkable: my great-grandfather’s diary. He was a student at the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary from 1910 to 1912 and had the unique opportunity to learn from the famous Wauwatosa theologians of that era. As you can imagine, this diary could be a ...

Link to the service and hymns: https://trinitylutheransd.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Reformation-Hymn-Festival-2024.pdf

The first evangelical hymnal—which in retrospect we can also call the first Lutheran hymnal—rolled off the presses around the middle of January 1524. But interestingly, it did not roll off the presses in Wittenberg, even though the title page gave that impression, or even at Luther’s instigation. It w...

Timothy Plichta is a WELS homeschooled high school student living in Germantown, WI. He loves Lutheran history in general and is especially enthralled with anything related to the CELC.

Support the show

• Confessional Languages Scholarship
• The Wauwatosa Diary (book)
• Youtube ( even more behind-the-scenes videos available for certain patron tiers)
• Facebook
• Website
• Interview Request Form
• email: thelutheranhistorypodcast@gmail.com
...

This episode is a fuller version of my presentation given at the 2024 Lutheran Historical Conference in Baltimore. Link to the full video of this episode.

One church historian observed that “ It would require pages and pages to report Wyneken's work during his pastorate [in Baltimore].”  
This episode will examine one specific topic- how Wyneken contested for a genuine Lutheran identity and practice in the followi...

Image: Johannes Bugenhagen

During the Reformation Martin Luther restored many Christian teachings to its proper biblical understanding. One of the men who worked with Luther in communicating those teachings was Johannes Bugenhagen. This episode explores one specific way Bugenhagen communicated the doctrine of the Two Kingdoms in The Christian Order of the Honorable City of Braunschweig. His answer to the question is especi...

Image U.V. Koren

 “How is our America doing?” That is the poignant question that C.F.W. Walther (1811 1887), the President of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, asks in his Synod’s theological journal, “Lehre und Wehre” in 1863. In a series of articles written in the Spring of that year, on the eve of the Civil War, Walther addressed topics such as slavery, abolitionism, the nature of America as having been founded on “Enlight...

Image: city of Brunswick (Braunschweig) in the 16th century

In Becoming Lutheran, Dr. John Maxfield discusses several key aspects of Lutheran culture that shape the identity and practice of Lutherans as the Reformation grew and developed outside of the center of Wittenberg.  The story of Brunswick engages with Reformation historiography in a way that takes genuine religious convictions seriously as pamphlets and preaching ...

We welcome back Pastor Scott Henrich, a WELS pastor serving in Knoxville, Tennessee.  His experiences reading historic Lutheran sermons inspired him to research Lutheranism's homiletical heritage in a way that may challenge some contemporary assumptions about the historic perception of Lutheran preaching. (See TLHP 39)

You can contact him here: scottwhenrich@gmail.com

Today he offers further thoughts and rese...

Heather R. Darsie lives in the United States. She has a Bachelor of Arts in German Languages and Literature, and a Juris Doctorate. During her time at university, she had the privilege of studying in Costa Rica and France, with visits to Germany and other countries.

Ms. Darsie first became interested in the Renaissance time period when she read a biography about Elizabeth I of England. She found Elizabeth I to be very inspiring and ...

Image: Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the Younger

"Wittenberg Uses of Law and Gospel"
Our guest today Dr. Robert A. Kolb is a professor emeritus of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.  See the emeritus faculty page at Concordia Lutheran Seminary:

Kolb retired in 2009 after 16 years of distinguished service as missions professor of Systematic Theology and Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Lou...