is the second most neglected theologian in the Lutheran Church.
The most neglected is Luther.
Logia has made the Teigne book available for free. The sainted Bjarne Wollan Teigen is the father of Norm Teigen. Here is a look at the extended family. Teigen wrote extensively on the Book of Concord. Google his name for a list of titles. I would buy his books before most of the others. I like the Bente Introductions to the Book of Concord, too.
The Lutheran Church has imploded because its leaders have deliberately quashed all attempts to be faithful to the Book of Concord and the Scriptures. As one ex-Lutheran told me, "Yes, they look carefully at the Scriptures, so they can do the opposite."
One example of this behavior is the reception of Teigen's book in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, more commonly known as The Little Sect on the Prairie. The Little Sect has only two congregations of any size. ELSizens wonder if the sect will be around in 20 years.
The ELS once worked with the LCMS and stood up to the doctrinal errors of Missouri in an official pamphlet, long before Jack and Robert Preus began the move to split the old Synodical Conference. The Wisconsin sect, always pilloried by Missouri, finally had their chance to bully another group when WELS and the ELS broke with the LCMS. Wisconsin is tiny compared to Missouri. The ELS is roughly 10% the size of WELS, depending on whose statistics are disbelieved the most.
The ELS has been mistakenly viewed as a safe place for Missourians to land. In fact, Paul McCain, MDiv, said he saw the ELS that way when he was campaigning for Barry's election. McCain figured Bohlmann would have forced both of them out of the LCMS if Barry had lost the first contest.
Thanks to the WELS-ELS partnership, the Little Sect has become the finger-puppet of the Wisconsin faux-Lutherans. The ELS is run by three larger families who have worked out a way to stay in power without being doctrinally faithful or even apt to teach.
Bjarne's Book
The Chemnitz book is scholarly and very detailed. Each paragraph is filled with clear analysis about the history of every detail connected with the controversy. Teigen mastered all the historical data. This alone is a valuable contribution to Lutheran studies. Few have the time, ability, and resources to repeat his effort.
The Doctrinal Issue
Many in the old Synodical Conference (LCMS, WELS, ELS) taught that the elements of Holy Communion were not the Body and Blood of Christ until they were received by the communicant. This debate was raging in the ELS especially and discussed in Christian News in the late 1980's, when our family joined the Wisconsin sect.
Becker or Bjarne
The Teigen book made Wisconsin choose Sig Becker over Bjarne Teigen when the issue should have been, "What does God's Word say?" Becker was the WELS hero because he had a real doctorate and left Missouri, making them look good. Unfortunately, Becker was hopeless on two different issues - justification and the Lord's Supper. Both are connected and relate to the decline of the Lutheran Church in general, the ELS-WELS in particular.
Efficacy of the Word
The foundational issue in the Synodical Conference is its neglect and abandonment of the efficacy of the Word. In the Old Testament there is no difference between God's will and and God's Word. Isaiah 55:8-10 expresses this with great clarity. The efficacy of the Word is central to both Testaments. The Holy Spirit never works apart from the Word, the Word never apart from the Spirit. "That is sound doctrine," as Hoenecke wrote.
The ELS and WELS tried to end the debate about consecration by saying, "We are not sure when the elements are the Body and Blood of Christ." That is why so many articles were about the Moment of Consecration, an awkward term.
After the Consecration, are the elements on the altar the Body and Blood of Christ? The Teigen book's answer is clearly, "Yes, according to Chemnitz and the Book of Concord." The Wisconsin sect said, "We are not sure. Becker is the ruling norm on this issue."
Teigen, as a faithful theologian and good scholar, showed that the old, weird Synodical Conference position was wrong. The Wisconsin sect could not abide this, so they had Orvick and the ELS act as if they smelled a skunk. Their behavior toward Teigen and his family was disgraceful.
One of the clever techniques used by errorists was to howl about this conflict tearing up the church. Herman Otten, who published many articles on the topic, joined in the cries of pain. But doctrinal conflict is good, separating bad doctrine from sound doctrine.
But no, the era of compromise was established by Orvick. He was good at throwing a bone to one side and then to the other side. Pope John the Malefactor has carried on the tradition of obfuscating issues rather than addressing them. Thus the decline continues. Now that the efficacy of the Word has been permanently detached from all Lutheran doctrinal discussions, the Means of Grace are empty words and any foul error can rush in to dominate the next decade.
One Lutheran pastor asked me in Ft. Wayne about the issue, to see what I believed. I said, standing near copies of Thy Strong Word, "The efficacy of the Word means there is no issue. The Word consecrates the elements. They are the Body and Blood of Christ through the power of the Word."
Some Lessons To Be Learned
The Synodical Conference has been and continues to be damaged by hero-worship of the worst sort. So many human idols have been set up that no one can discuss a doctrinal issue without stepping on the toes of these plaster saints. Walther was weak on the efficacy of the Word, his Pietism leading him completely astray on justification. Walther's minion, Pieper, established UOJ with many bizarre statements that would have gotten a seminarian burned at the stake in better days. Sig Becker piled on the errors.
UOJ, consecration, and Church Growth have revealed the weakness of the Synodical Conference on the Biblical doctrine of the Word. Now the idolators make sure that no one can maneuver through the forest of plaster saints guarding their favorite false doctrine. The heresiarch Leonard Sweet spoke at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and the school's president listened in holy awe. Thus we have a video of the man who helped train bigot and race-baiter Jeremiah Wright sitting with the descendant of a Missouri leader and theologian.
The favorite hobby of the mini, micro, and nano sects is to deplore the doctrinal aberrations in the more established synods. Those errors are visiting and have already visited the tiniest and most works-righteous groups as well. The ELS would like everyone to believe they are the Synod of the Book of Concord. And yet, when one of their own professors wrote brilliantly about the Book of Concord, they put him into intellectual exile while falling at the feet of David Valleskey, whose only merit was his ability to deny or brag about his study at Fuller Seminary.
Voting Has Not Helped
Perhaps some feminists in the ELS are working for the right to vote. I would look around at what the men have voted into office, what the men have approved as doctrinal statements. I would not want to share in the blame.
A better way to select the ELS pope would be to toss a dart at a bedsheet covered with the names of qualified clergy (no felony arrests or DUIs). The ELS president-elect would not think of the office as his right but as a stroke of fortune. Other elections and appointments could be handled the same way, breaking the lock of a few families on the decisions of the synod, ending the tyranny of WELS.
The telescopic orthodoxy of WELS, seeing error at long distance but never at home, would have to end.
