Review of WELS Professor John Brenner's Dissertation - "The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems" - Marquette University, 2012

 John Brenner posed with his sisters at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, garnishing his Geneva gown with a device called preaching tabs or preaching bands.

John Wesley also wore preaching tabs, which can be found
on some Roman Catholic robes too.

A reader was kind enough to send me his copy of Brenner's book, published by Northwestern Publishing House - The Election Controversy among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century, 363 pages. I suspected from the title that it was a dissertation, so I eventually found the link.

Marquette University was founded as a Jesuit school. Marquette - as viewed in Wikipedia.

Brenner also wrote a history of the seminary at Mequon, which I will review after it arrives.

To make this review more convenient for the readers and my eyes, I will quote from the PDF of the dissertation,  published here.

The Missing Foundation - Book of Concord
I am not alone in wishing the Olde Synodical Conference would stop treating their mythical history as the norm for all doctrine and practice. Although Brenner claims his work is a "critical history," the book and dissertation are anything but critical. We can still read Thucydides and see both sides of an issue, varying causes and opinions. Brenner is no Thucydides.

Supposedly the election conflict began in the 19th century, but that ignores two matters of great importance -

1. The Chief Article of Christianity - Justification by Faith.
2. The article on Election from the Book of Concord.

For those two reasons, Brenner's work is useful for seeing the spiritual and academic blindness of the Olde Synodical Conference. Brenner simply assumes that the Walther-centric history of the Lutherans, as fashioned by the myth-makers, is the actual history of Lutherans in America. Of course, that is rubbish.

Useful Points in the Book

The mild Lutherans object to polemics, perhaps because polemical writing serves to bring up the real issues. "Error loves ambiguities," as Krauth wrote. 

• Brenner argues the WELS point of view and names a variety of mostly forgotten figures and institutions.
• The Chief Article of WELS - Universal Objective Justification (UOJ) - is the basic for this entire work.
• No one with average reading ability can ever claim again, "But I did not know WELS was attacking the Gospel."

 This is the explanatory note by the Calvinist translator of
Knapp's doctrinal textbook for Halle University. The double-justification language became popular in the Olde Synodical Conference and is often defended and used today.

Election and UOJ

Does anyone read this? 
13] Therefore, if we wish to think or speak correctly and profitably concerning eternal election, or the predestination and ordination of the children of God to eternal life, we should accustom ourselves not to speculate concerning the bare, secret, concealed, inscrutable foreknowledge of God, but how the counsel, purpose, and ordination of God in Christ Jesus, who is the true Book of Life, is revealed to us through the Word, Book of Concord, Formula of Concord, SD, Election.

I am not going to claim status as an expert in Walther, so I appreciate Brenner associating the Election issue with UOJ, which has been called Objective Justification (by the Calvinist translator of Knapp), General Justification (Hoenecke), and in Brenner's work - the Justification of the World.

All these terms have this in common - a divine (but unrecorded) decree that everyone in the world - past and present, with a special emphasis on unbelievers - is absolved of all sin.

The key explanatory word here is - decree. That concept is corruptly borrowed from Justification by Faith, which is God's declaration that people are forgiven - if they believe in the One Who raised Him from the dead. That is clearly individual, not universal, which shows how the UOJists conflate and confuse the Atonement with Justification by Faith.

Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Note that Romans 4:25 - by itself - is used by teachers to prove UOJ when the verse clearly teaches Justification by Faith in harmony with Abraham being justified by faith in Genesis 15.

Since Walther was anxious to teach Justification without Faith, or Easter as World Absolution without Faith, he promoted his Halle Pietism by declaring that Christians were elected without faith.

Thus Walther himself caused this great division in order to prop up and invalidate his false doctrine of UOJ.

 UOJ is the engine that drives Church Growth apostasy.

 You must make a decision to accept Walther's world absolution dogma! How many clergy have tried to force this on their congregations, who know better!

Justification in Brenner
Justification by Faith is used as a phrase 14 times in the dissertation. That can be checked by using control-f and putting that phrase in the window that appears. This handy feature counts the times it is used and takes the reader from one example to the next. By the way, it is an ideal tool for editing. That works on the PDF opened on the Net and also on Word documents.

Justification by Faith is quoted 15 times by Brenner in identifying the view of the opponents. Nota bene! Although he corrects notes that Luther told us to judge all doctrines by Justification by Faith, Brenner does not follow that rule at all.

Justification of the World

Brenner:

The topic was objective or universal justification (usually spoke of in Norwegian circles as the “justification of the world”). 
Brenner, p. 149.

The Augustana Synod was concerned that the expression “justification of the world” denied the necessity of justification by faith.
Brenner, p. 150.

Since Schmidt in the Election Controversy was contending for election in view of faith, he was beginning to have difficulties in speaking of a justification of the world apart from the faith of the individual. In fact, Schmidt declared that the real issue in conflict was justification. Schmidt’s essay on justification presented at the very first convention of the Synodical Conference, however, had clearly taught a justification of the world.
p. 150


The final free conference met in Goodhue County, Minnesota, June 27-July 4, 1883. The subject for discussion was the doctrine of absolution. One side historically taught universal or objective justification (justification of the world), contending that the pronouncement of forgiveness won by Christ and declared by God to the world leads people to believe in their Savior. The other side was not willing to speak of justification apart from faith (subjective or personal justification).
Brenner, p. 150. GJ - See Knapp's translator for this double-justification formula. But do not look for it in the Book of Concord, Luther, or the Scriptures.

Nowhere does the Bible speak of the Gospel being "everyone is already forgiven." No one is forgiven without faith in Christ. The foundational sin is unbelief. And yet Brenner correctly says that the Old Synodical Conference thought preaching universal absolution without faith actually promoted faith. But only if that faith was trust in this universal absolution without faith.

Conclusions
The real issue was Justification by Faith, as the conferences reveal in various ways and Brenner must concede. UOJ led to Walther's bizarre speculations on Election and divided Lutherans, benefiting Walther's struggle for power and control.

Brenner articulates Justification by Faith a bit and mentions the efficacy of the Word, but he is like a Mormon in dealing with the Gospel. He uses the words but he does not believe them. Like Brug, he writes about the Word without grasping the Biblical doctrine of the efficacy of the Word. Therefore, teaching forgiveness - without the Word, without faith, without the Holy Spirit at work in the Gospel Word - is no problem for him or Brug.

However, this puts the Olde Synodical Conference at the lowest point in its checkered history. The ELS/WELS/LCMS agree with ELCA, which is also going downhill and picking up speed toward its destruction. Mainline Protestantism in America came from Pietism and gradually became more rationalistic and Universalistic. The ELS/WELS/LCMS have nothing germane to say about ELCA or apostasy. They are the Me Too Lutherans.