Black Geneva Gown, Alb
Pastor Paul McCain had a question about the gowns: "I understand the historical origin of the alb with stole (worn by two men in the photo). The cassock and surplice worn by the Vicar. And I understand the origin of the black Geneva gown (the vestment of choice brought in during the Prussian Union days in Germany, by the way).
But I do not understand, at all, the white choir robe/academic gown."
***
GJ - Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, seems to specialize in graduating MDivs obsessed with clerical garb, equally adept at avoiding doctrinal discussion. I thought McCain's question sounded rather snooty, unless robes have been moved from the locus of adiaphora to In Statu Confessionis...or perhaps status epilepticus.
At St. Boniface Lutheran Church (Niles, Michigan), the links (when they work) are prioritized according to clerical garb (four links) and the Marian monastery loved by Niles Lutherans and the ALPB.
Jay Webber, another Ft. Wayne graduate, used to worry about the proper clerical collar. There are many different answers about the origin of the Roman collar. All clerical garb is derived from earlier customs.
The new parament colors used by all the Lutheran churches are from the Church of Rome. They do the thinking for Lutherans today.
