Eight "Conservative" Lutheran Jesuits - 2022 Reprint

Erik Ankerberg, PhD - Marquette University, Jesuit to its core. Will he hire back Gregory Schulz, a fellow Jesuit PhD?

John F. Johnson, got his PhD from the Jesuit St. Louis University, because he thought his Concordia St. Louis ThD was useless outside of the Missouri Synod. He sports the lopsided smile so familiar in the Olde Synodical Conference.

I visited Johnson in his office at Concordia, St. Louis, and got him to start raving about how great the adulterous Karl Barth (Swiss theologian) was. He saw I was not on his adulatory wavelength and immediately switched to another topic. He discussed having a ThD from the LCMS was worthless outside of the LCMS, so he earned a PhD at St. Louis University to be more marketable in academics. No wonder Missouri was so eager to make Johnson a higher education leader.

Guided by our enduring Jesuit mission, we offer our nearly 13,000 students a highly rigorous and deeply transformative education that helps them develop into bold, confident leaders. Rated among the nation’s top research universities, SLU boasts 15 graduate and undergraduate programs ranked among the top 50 in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

I could not find David Luy on LinkedIn so I just googled his name + Lutheran. That brought up the page from his previous job at Trinity Divinity. He got his PhD from the Jesuits - Marquette! All roads do lead from Rome nowadays. I need to build a gallery of Jesuit PhDs:

1. John Sparky Brenner - WELS professor at Mordor, Dean of GA Hazing Rites.
2. Jack Kilcrease - Our Lady of Sorrows Convent School (a nominal LCMS guy trained in ELCA albeit born in a WELS parsonage).
3. Gregory Schulz - LCMS ex-professor, C.U. Mequon.
4. Karl Fabrezius - LCMS pastor.
5. David Luy - NALC Seminary.
6. Charles Cortright - Wisconsin Lutheran College, WELS.
7. John F. Johnson and.......drum roll
8. Erik Ankerberg, Marquette U. PhD

Sparky Brenner proves that WELS is in fellowship with everyone except Martin Luther.
The Jesuits were organized to destroy the Reformation.

Not one of these Lutherans would admit knowing that I exist, and I know four of them one way or another (fewer is better).

Maybe if I wore all black and always played word games with the truth...

The Pope is a Jesuit, not a Franciscan.

Marcus Manthey on Facebook - Only Two Misspelled Words

WELS MLS Cheerleaders

Marcus Manthey  You are free, Greg, to continue to regurgitate your anti-Gospel bile. But to exploit this family photo to illustrate your screed is not only lazy. It's loveless. The ladies in the photo have nothing to do with the thelogical (sic) point you're trying to make. They no more deserve to be dragged into your pulic (sic) posturing than your family members do. You embarrass yourself with this. Do better.

Answering this article on Denying Justification by Faith

Electrifying Thoughts - Errors - From John Sparky Brenner

The Election Controversy Among Lutherans in the Twentieth Century: An Examination of the Underlying Problems 
John Sparky Brenner - WELS
Marquette University - Jesuit

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1200&context=dissertations_mu

"The doctrine of election serves to guarantee salvation sola gratia and to give comfort to the sinner." p. 12

"Schmidt addressed the relationship of universal justification and the individual’s appropriation of justification in several of his theses." p. 61

"The topic was objective or universal justification (usually spoke of in Norwegian circles as the “justification of the world”). This doctrine had been a point of contention for some time. The Norwegian Synod taught that absolution “is a powerful impartation of the forgiveness of sins.” The Norwegian Synod, pointing to 2 Corinthians 5:19, taught that if the world was reconciled to God because he did not count men’s sins against them, then the world was justified or forgiven." p. 149

Ichabod Lutheran Lexicon - Walther's Election without Faith

 John Brenner's tabs say - Calvin won, you lost!
He admitted in his dissertation that Election without Faith is another argument for Objective Justification, which he calls The Justification of the World. What is his term for Justification by Faith? - The Individual Appropriation of Forgiveness - right out of Romans 5, in the New, New, WELS NIV.

Election without Faith

CFW Walther must have had a great struggle promoting the Objective Justification of Halle Pietism. His second assault on Justification by Faith came from his series of dogmatic presentations, not Scripture studies, where he argued that God’s election must be without any consideration of faith, because that would make faith a work of man. This circular reasoning had a three-fold effect on the Synodical Conference. Those who disagreed with Walther broke off in disgust, making him the pope of the Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Synod, and the future Evangelical Lutheran Synod, relieving him of significant opposition within the conference.[1] The third effect was the use of Objective Justification and Election without Faith as double-weapons against Justification by Faith.

Documents prove that the Missouri Synod did not teach Objective Justification in its early, official catechisms and dogmatic work.[2] That developed slowly and blossomed here and there, but bore bitter fruit in making canonical the works of Walther, Pieper, and Edward Preuss - who became a Catholic. The Brief Statement of 1932, a political document, enshrined Objective Justification with unsupported claims and erroneous Biblical citations.

Article XI in the Formula of Concord, Book of Concord, warned against the very thing Walther promoted, speculating about predestination.[3]

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.

Walther’s Calvinism, Unionism, Pietism, Rationalism

The end result can be seen in Walther’s Calvinism, which is so much like the Geneva chameleon’s dogma. Calvin pretended to be Lutheran so he could prosper in Luther’s shadow, but that also included a jealous rivalry concerning the doctrine of the Bible. Calvin taught against the efficacy of the Word and downgraded the Sacraments to ordinances reflecting man’s obedience. Calvinists pressed for church unions on their terms, so unionism was the cradle of Walther’s Christian education. He grew up in a rationalistic pastor’s household and received a rationalistic university education, seeking relieve in the Pietism of Pastor Martin Stephan - a Pietist, cell group leader, and promiscuous adulterer. Calvinism and Pietism do not last long in the original form, but degenerate into rationalism, lacking the anchors of the Word’s efficacy in the Means of Grace.

Between Objective Justification (without faith) and Election without faith, Walther became the New Calvin, not the American Luther. Forgiveness has nothing to do with the Gospel Word or faith, because everyone has been declared forgiven (OJ). God determined this with no regard to faith. Should anyone wonder that the more this took over, the worse Missouri, WELS, and the ELS became?

---

[1] Their work is The Errors of Modern Missouri, which is conveniently available as a free ebook from The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, lutheranlibrary.org.

[2] These documents are listed and quoted in The Path to Understanding Justification.

[3] The article on Election can be found here - http://bookofconcord.org/sd-election.php.

Someone Missed the Point - No Surprise

Joel Lillo (Fox Valley AA Circuit) crowed that he tricked me into responding to him, because he deliberately spelled something wrong. Haha. That was funny. WELS has such a superior educational system that the leaders, like Gurgle, routinely get basic grammar and spelling wrong.

He boasted that he got me to obsess about this blog's statistics, so he missed the joke - on himself - entirely. My emphasis on statistics is based on Paul saying, "You suffer fools gladly, so I will be a fool."

That was last week's epistle, for those who use the historic pericopes. It is often used to complain about Paul bragging, but they miss Paul's satire of the false teachers boasting. The Pauline lesson is to emphasize we can only boast of the cross.

2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 


If a few people catch onto Justification by Faith in my lifetime, that is enough. There is just one doctrine, one Truth taught in the Scriptures. That involves such categories or topics as 

• the efficacy of the Word, 
• the Means of Grace, and 
• Justification by Faith, 

but they belong together and cannot be separated.

I am content that a few people already knew the Gospel from their own study and worship, only needing a little guidance about the clowns of Church Growth and UOJ - how the leaders have betrayed their Savior and rejected the Word of God.

I put the statistics up because no other blog ever dared to admit their feeble following. And yet, the false teachers promoted their dogma "Because God wants His Church to grow." And what have they done?

1. They emptied the pews.
2. They decimated the seminaries.
3. They sold absolution to rich adulterers.
4. They published their garbage and called it treasure, collecting all kinds of cash for nothing more than kindling.

I call them Church Gropers because so many of their lupine disciples have preyed upon the members. One does not need to outside the Fox Valley wolfpack to find them. But do not object to their drunken and loutish behavior! They will take you to court for telling the truth.

Is this not the Age of Apostasy?

Another Insight from the History of Mordor - aka Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary

Sparky Brenner's Jars of Clay, The History of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

Mordor faculty lounge: "He reviewed your book again?"
Sparky: "Who?"
Bivens: "Ichabod, the enemy of our gospel."
Sparky: "A complete review?"
Wendland: "No, I fear it's the death of a thousand cuts. One more tidbit."

Forget Q. I can read the minds of the unfaithful and predict their responses.

On display today is the logical fallacy of poisoning the well. WELS practices it 24/7, as the graphics show. The idea is to make the source so untrustworthy that anything from that source is automatically toxic. That also warns the clergy to stay away from that topic, that source, that blog.

As I mentioned before, Sparky Brenner is an Ichabod unawares. He has published information backing my intuition that the so-called Election conflict was really about (really against) Justification by Faith. Notice that Walther and his cronies chose to attack Pontopiddan rather than deal with the Scriptures. Slogans are so useful - "He teaches intuitu fidei! in view of faith." The Latin is so obscure that the Fox Valley Fools wrote it as inuitu fidei - which I imagine is pig Latin for the faith of Eskimo.

 Fox Valley raged against this insightful graphic.
I should not pick on them for their bad spelling and worse Latin, but they never stop bragging about their superior educational system. Evidence? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

The origin of the blacklisted phrase is - "in view of the merits of Christ apprehended by faith." How exactly is that bad? Nevermind, the UOJ Stormtroopers say. So a slogan was invented, in Latin no less, to flail Justification by Faith. That is poisoning the well. Since then, Synodical Conference discussions have resembled drunken bar fights more than efforts to clarify Scriptural doctrine.

Here Is the Passage
As those within and without WELS should know, all WELS stories concerning the LCMS illustrate the staggering superiority of WELS over Missouri, so this tale shows how Hoenecke helped out when Walther's poor choice of words alienated so many.

Walther argued that Election is without faith, because otherwise faith would be a work. CFW was heavily influenced by Pietism and by his rationalistic education. UOJ is full of rationalistic logic, such as - "If Christ became sin for us, the entire world is pronounced forgiven and saved." The trouble is, they have no Scriptural or Confessional basis for that. Nevermind.

Here is the poisoning of the well, as practiced by Sparky Brenner. When Schmidt disagreed with the Great Walther, it was a "personal struggle." That is a dog-whistle for those who know the old LCMS canard. Schmidt did not get the call (Walther made faces at the mention of Schmidt's name) but F. Pieper did, so the Election conflict was Schmidt's revenge for not getting the call. That makes SynCon ears perk up, even if no one else catches the hint. Brenner calls it a "personal struggle" between Walther and Schmidt in Jars, p. 83.

When someone argues that WELS is teaching false doctrine 24/7, one of the faithful apostates will snap, "You are judging hearts, and that is a sin." They may say, "You are shredding the Eighth Commandment" or "Have you ever read Matthew 18?"

Claiming that Schmidt disagreed with Walther because he did not get the call is poisoning the well. Somehow an enormous book came from those hurt feelings - The Error of Modern Missouri. Everyone fell in line because Schmidt did not get that call? That is a strange claim to make.

In truth, Walther manipulated the call to get F. Pieper placed as his personal choice. Pieper enlarged the UOJ bridgehead established by Stephan and Walther until that dogma became Chief Article of Missouri, WELS, and the Little Sect on the Prairie.

Note this from the Sparky dissertation -
"Schmidt addressed the relationship of universal justification and the individual’s appropriation of justification in several of his theses." p. 61

Oh no! Sparky almost said Justification by Faith, but his careful phrasing avoided those toxic words.

Friends, relatives, and WELS clergy - mark how easily the details reveal the script.

Sparky's dissertation really hammers Schmidt for no longer going with the Walther position -

Schmidt seems to have sought the call to become Missouri’s English professor of theology in 1878.296 He seems to have been hurt when he did not receive that call.297 On January 2, 1879, Schmidt notified Walther of his objections to his 1877 essay. He told Walther, “I can no longer go with you. . . I dare no longer keep silence.”298 Schmidt soon contacted President Schwan of the Missouri Synod to let him know that he was going to make his objections public unless circumstances changed.

The accusation is made in the main body of the dissertation, but refuted in the footnote -

Schmidt’s brother-in-law, Pastor Henry Allwardt, disputes this accusation. He claims to have spoken with Schmidt about Walther’s essay in March 1878, fully two months before the convention that failed to issue the call to Schmidt. Both he and Schmidt at that time were one in their concerns about Walther’s essay. Henry A. Allwardt, “Appendix to A Testimony against the False Doctrine of Predestination recently introduced by the Missouri Synod,” translated by R.C.H. Lenski and W.E. Tressel in The Error of Modern Missouri: Its Inception. Brenner, p. 79.

Another GJ nota bene - Lenski's family was kicked out over objecting to UOJ, so that is why WELS continues to rave that "Lenski is not good on justification." Haha - they poison that well with every class at Mordor.

For those who are unaware of Schmidt, he was quite talented, fluent in Norwegian. If not for Walther's dogmatic blundering, more Lutherans would have been united behind Justification by Faith. But this way, Walther made sure he was the Missouri Pope and later the Synodical Conference Pope.

To this day, all doctrinal matters are settled by Holy Father Walther, among the stalwart - and synod president elections (each one an election without faith) hinges on one's Waltherian fidelity, whether real or feigned. "But let's keep working with ELCA." That makes more sense than people realize - ELCA teaches the same UOJ from the same bosom of Pietism - Halle University.

The point of the Brenner story in Jars is to say that Hoenecke helped smooth out Walther's language and cement friendship between Missouri and the Wisconsin Sect. Walther needed Hoenecke's help and friendship.

More Glimpses from the Past - The Sparky Brenner Hagiography - Jars of Clay

Roland Bainton, Yale University,
author of Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

My approach to reading history is to look for the telling detail. However an author might organize his material, certain things give away the agenda.

I have three heroes in the field of history:

1. Thucydides -  History of the Peloponnesian War remains the greatest analytical history ever. Written 2400 years ago.
2. Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This is the greatest history written in the English language. The volumes came out as America was gaining independence, so it profoundly affected the American leaders who were trained in the classics. Imagine that today - political leaders fluent in Latin.
3. Roland Bainton - Many call him an anecdotal historian. He collected vast amounts of material first, using stories to capture key points he wanted to teach about a given era. Fortunately, I was able to meet him and hear him lecture several times. He helped me when I was writing my dissertation and offered to do some xeroxing for me. Imagine the pampered peacocks of higher education doing that today. Bainton knew 20+ languages, so I borrowed his method for teaching Latin, Greek, German, any language.

I appreciate John Sparky Brenner's work because any scribe, rummaging through the closets, will throw out precious bits of data, which are valuable - even when left on the floor.

I am enjoying the narratives about various WELS leaders of the past. Hoenecke is one of my favorites. He was not translated into English until nobody was left who cared about doctrine. Brenner told about Hoenecke defending the "correct" position on Election. Missouri loved that.

"Now. I. Am. Interested."

Yes, I am a Kenda fan. So I pick up the cigar butt left on the floor and wonder - "Why is it on the floor and not thrown away? Was it deliberate? Accidental? DNA? Brand? Smoking habits?" A cigar butt can be a file cabinet full of information to investigate.

The cigar butt in this instance in "the correct position on Election," which is dropped and left alone. The main point was that our WELS guy became an instant hero to Missouri. That is often stated, so this is more of a point in a seminary class.

The "correct position" is Walther's divisive obsession about Election without Faith - to provide some foundation for the quicksand of his Justification without Faith/UOJ/OJ/General Justification.  

For people in WELS and for the desperately seeking UOJ in Missouri, Hoenecke is magical. He is little known and seldom quoted because WELS did not want to translate his Dogmatics into English, then took 10 years to complete the project. But he is one more expert to add to the Synodical Conference UOJ roster.

Hoenecke's environment was mostly rationalistic, and he graduated from Halle University when rationalism was dominant. His mentor Tholuck was a Universalist. I see Hoenecke as a man who came a long long from his educational background and was far better in his work than F. Pieper.

I do not think we have anyone left who really knows the German and Latin sources, as Lenski and Hoenecke did. They are both invaluable for their use of sources.

Jarring Admission

Brenner does not like Schleiermacher being quoted so much by Hoenecke, but Schleiermacher was the man who made OJ/SJ come of age, theologically speaking, by dropping the SJ. Barth and all the modern theologians followed. Everyone is forgiven and saved - there is nothing else to say.

I would not put Hoenecke in the same camp as the foaming-at-the-mouth UOJ Enthusiasts. I found his section lukewarm on the subject, but he added a horrible notion to the dogma - OJ "protects the Gospel." Nothing "protects" the Word of God, which is always effective in carrying out and prospering His will. If a claim goes against the clear teaching of the Bible, it cannot be maintained as Christian.

For Justification by Faith we have the entire New Testament, the Augsburg Confession, the Apology, the Formula of Concord, and that special book commended by the Formula - Luther's Galatians Lectures. Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Calov are also clear and compelling, but the Synodical Conference was a muddle and now is united with ELCA in teaching Universalism.

Why Read Sparky's Jars of Clay

Those who want to make sense of WELS-ELS-LCMS claims should study the details of the past. It is easy for some to cite a self-serving story to prove their case, knowing that most are supposed to be in worshipful awe about well known figures, even if they are mostly forgotten. 

Remember that every WELS anecdote about the LCMS has the Missouri Synod in awe of the Wisconsin sect's superiority. However, I never saw a hint of that in the Missouri Synod. Listening to WELS story-telling will reveal that self-serving habit, learned in seminary, polished to a fine sheen from never being rebutted.

 You question the superiority of WELS?

If you question the myths, you are no longer in fellowship and deserving of the stink-eye, the shun button, or the Left Foot of Fellowship.

People Are Noticing the Enormous Swindle Called UOJ/OJ/General Justification

John Brenner, Mequon aka Mordor
His father was a great guy - John Slick Brenner.
His grandfather was John W. O. Brenner.

 John Slick Brenner was energetic and lived to be 94. He asked me, "Why do you understand the issues and our own guys don't?"

Crucial Section from Jars of Clay, 
His History of Mequon

August Pieper Reflections, 1922
"Make no mistake," Pieper insisted, "The secret of Walther's power lay in his clear, popular, joyful, and convincing presentation of objective justification. That was also Luther's power , Paul's power, and the power of the Gospel itself, the power of God which creates faith unto salvation." 


He goes on to explain -
In contrast to the justification scheme of later dogmaticians, Walther taught, not a justifying act of God in view of faith, but rather a faith in view of God's justification. God's act of justification [GJ - OJ] forgiveness of sin] precedes faith. It is not that the sinner must first believe [and only then that God forgives sin]. In this connection Walther repeatedly cited Luther's example of a royal castle that was actually bestowed on a beggar, whether he accepted it or not.

Jars of Clay, pp. 64-5

August Pieper became president of the seminary
after Kohler was removed.

"God's act of justification" is August Pieper's filter than places a gauzy layer of distortion over the Four Gospels. As Pieper admitted, Walther did not draw his dogmatic lectures from the Bible, not did he lead students into the Scriptures. He simply declared his statements, quite the opposite of Luther.

Luther did not preach a man-made institution, as the Synodical Con-men did. Each one was better than the other, yet they all agree against the Chief Article of Christianity - Justification by Faith. 

Their use of the "Justification" is a smokescreen for Absolution of the World - Without Faith. That might seem to protect them from the charge of Universalism, but OJ is Universalism with a different set of words for the same content.

The treasure of the Gospel, as the Book of Concord says - using the words of Luther - is the Atonement, Christ dying for our sins. To confuse that with Justification by Faith is a crime of stupidity or one of gross deception.

Stealth UOJ versus UOJ Unawares

 Did this event ever happen? These brave souls were going to foist Walther, Hoenecke, and Koren - each hero as a "Luther Unawares." I copied this graphic and the fervid news of the next Emmaus flop, but...nothing came of this.

Stealth UOJ is the normal mode of this fervid false doctrine, its energy derived from the flames of perdition. Did Jesus say that wolves would arrive in lupine costumes? No, they wear their ovine fleece, appearing meek, gentle, and eager to help. When asked about what they really teach, they use flattery and change the subject. But when pinned down, the fangs and claws come out.

Typical examples of Stealth UOJ can be found in the duplicity of Mark Zarling and Frosty Bivens. Justification in the Bible always means:

• Justification by Faith.
• Justification of the individual.
• God's declaration of forgiveness to an individual who believes in Christ (Romans 4:24 - Rolf Preus).

So these deceivers take a Biblical term used for individual forgiveness (Justification) and apply the language of Luther - and others - their precious dogma of Universal Absolution without Faith. Their UOJ is:

1. The Chief Article of Christianity (never was, in fact).
2. The Master and Prince (only of fools who teach it).
3. The doctrine that judges all other doctrines of the Bible (but in reality is refuted by every verse of the Bible).

But - some of you are objecting - what about Christ dying for the sins of the world? Is that not universal? Are you not embracing Calvinism? No, the first Lutheran UOJist was a "former" Calvinist at Wittenberg, Samuel Huber, who was exposed for his false teaching and expelled from the faculty.

The Bible clearly teaches throughout that Christ died for the sins of the world, so there are many synonyms for the Atonement - 

• redemption, 
• ransom,
• expiation, 
• propitiation, and 
• reconciliation.

The Gospel - throughout the Bible - is not that the entire world is forgiven without faith - but that Christ paid for the sins of the world. The UOJists want to have people imagine that their message of billions of pagans forgiven and saved without faith will somehow convert people to the same absurd notion. The only laity I know who fall for UOJ are those who have been thoroughly and savagely brainwashed by the WELS-ELS-LMCS dogma bullies. That is why the UOJ Stormtroopers cloak their demonic dogma with the flimsy and tattered remains of the Reformation they despise so fiercely. The UOJists grab the words of Luther and abuse their meaning, just as they snatch terms from the Scriptures to turn them inside out.

In short, the UOJists turn the universal act of Atonement into universal absolution and salvation. Let us pause and read carefully the words of CFW Walther and David Valleskey...

 Valleskey is either hopelessly stupid or devilishly clever, turning Justification by Faith into "universal justification." Look at the results. The leadership of WELS is Fuller Seminary trained. The clergy lawsuits and arrests are countless. And they love, love, love Church Growth to this day.

 

 Cascione and others are happy to quote Edward Preuss, who left Concordia St. Louis and joined the Church of Rome, becoming a major Catholic leader in America. The march to Rome continues from the same school, the same UOJ dogma, which joyfully undermines Creation.

UOJ Unawares

Clergy and laity will use UOJ terms without knowing what they really mean, thanks to the efforts of the stealth army of false teachers.

Objective Justification is not a Biblical term and its meaning is anti-Scriptural. World absolution and salvation are concepts dear to the apostates. All the mainline denominations and virtually all modern theologians teach that concept, using various terms for it.

Subjective Justification is not faith and not justification. Look at Walther's idiotical claim: SJ is a decision to accept universal- absolution-without-faith. He did not use the double-justification terms from the Knapp translation at first, but he did like the labels, which became standard in the Olde Synodical Conference.

The true UOJists want this confusion and promote it, so people mistakenly use OJ for the Atonement (wrong!) and imagine SJ to be faith in Christ (wrong twice over, because it means faith in Walther and JP Meyer).

UOJists like to say that Hitler, Stalin, and Mao
are guilt-free saints.

The UOJists correctly state that Justification is a declaration, and it is. Lutherans have called Justification "forensic justification" - like unto a judge declaring someone not guilty. Ah yes, but God has never "declared the entire world forgiven and saved." Forensic Justification is God declaring the individual forgiven if he believes.

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.

 Sparky Brenner uses the term
Justification of the World - OJ.

From the Sparky Brenner dissertation at the Jesuit school:

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

Note Sparky Brenner's almost effortless slide into UOJ on the same page - 

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). p. 150

Sparky aligns SJ with faith - but Pope JP Meyer called SJ a decision for OJ, not faith. "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

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.