Read the Efficacy Mother-lode here.
The Synodical Conference was founded on Pietism rather than Lutheran Orthodoxy.
Walther wrote this in 1878:
""My dear God-fearing father had taught me from earliest childhood that the Bible is God’s Word. But I had to leave my father’s house very early, in my eighth year, to live in unbelieving circles. I did not lose the historical faith. Like an angel of God it accompanied me through life. But during those more than eight years of Gymnasium life I was unconverted."
Thus Walther recorded, when he was 67, that he had faith but was unconverted. Therefore, he was still writing as a Pietist at the peak of his career. I have not read the collected works of Walther hagiography, but I do realize he struggled with the Pietism which seemed to rescue him from rationalism while delivering him to Law bondage.
Listening to various members of Christian sects, I have often heard them say, "I was baptized and a regular church member but I was not a real Christian until..." Sometimes the event is the experience of being born-again (as they call it, misusing John 3). For Pentecostals, the conversion is to tongue-speaking and falling on the floor.
Walther himself criticized levels of faith in Law and Gospel, and told how he struggled with the norms of Pietism he learned. The confession quoted above is typical of Pietism, believing and yet being unconverted. Walther described the Bible as having only two categories - believers and unbelievers, but Walther added believers who are converted and believers who are unconverted.
The triumphalism of Walther when crowing about the Missouri Synod is apparent in his published speeches. I heard a recent version when a Missouri writer wrote to me: "The Missouri Synod is the best one because it was least affected by Pietism." Ahem - that response is a good Pietistic statement, emphasizing works and spiritual superiority.
The original Wisconsin Synod was created by Pietistic, unionistic mission societies. The Michigan Synod that joined up with Wisconsin (becoming WELS in the fullness of time) was just as anti-confessional and unionistic at first. Due to the influence of Walther, Bading, and Hoenecke, Wisconsin moved away from its Pietistic roots.
All the Scandinavians left the womb of the state church via Pietism, the Norwegians included. Pietism was the supposed answer to spiritual lethargy, alcholism, and apostasy in the state churches. In Sweden, one pastor became a leader in the temperance movement when a drunken fight between two women broke out during the sermon. Alcolism was a major social issue, and the Pietistic Methodists had a cure for everyone - the Law - take a pledge. In addition, Pentecostalism was not unknown.
The anti-confessional basis of Pietism--"doctrine divides, service unites"--contributed greatly to free thinking among the Midwestern Lutherans. The Swedish Lutherans, who eventually created the Augustana (Augsburg Confession) Synod, the struggle meant moving away from their servitude to revivalism, legalism, and Methodism. The Pietists had proven to Augustana how unreliable they could be. Like WELS, Augustana continued its lover's quarrel with Pietism, never quite divorced and yet quick to criticize. After WWII, Augustana debated whether to allow dancing on the college campus - a typical Methodist concern.
Proving and dating a born-again experience was a common requirement for Pietistic Lutherans during this time. That experience was the requirement for full membership in many cases, replacing fidelity to the Book of Concord.
