I started this project of Lutheran works after re-reading the LCMS's Brief Statement. I know enough Lutheran History that it is pretty obvious that it reflects animated theological discussion that happened in 19th Century Lutheranism, especially the Predestination Controversy. This ground is very not very familiar to most people, and so I thought I would release some works that give a context for this all.
For multiple reasons I wanted to start with the American Lutheran Controversy of east coast Lutherans in the 1850's. Granted, the LCMS was not a party in this discussion - they instead generally reacted with horror what was taught by them. That said, these issues have not gone away and there are still echos of the issues discussed in both ELCA and LCMS circles to this day.
I wanted to start with the "Definite Synodical Platform" for this collection, but have yet to find an electronic copy to convert. So, for better or worse, I started with Rev. Mann's reply to it. But I wanted a voice from the other side as well, namely Samuel Simon Schmucker, if for no other reason than that of his historical influence. Preparing this etext version has reminded me that S.S. Schmucker was not someone who just ignored the Lutheran Confessions. He is a quite competent historical theologian in many respects. I have learned things from him. Unfortunately, much of the reason I am Lutheran, and key parts of my Lutheran identity are either ignored or denied by him.
The following work is largely based on the version complied by a major Internet free etext project named after a quite famous early printer. I hesitate to be more specific because of their license which they have to protect the quality of documents that have their name attached. In addition the Google Books version was consulted and is the source for page breaks, etc.
The proofreading of the original leaves a little to be desired. I have chosen to leave in the errors found in the original manuscript without comment. The original book has footnotes numbered BY PAGE. This is not practical in this edition. I tried to do this in the docx, but when complied into Logos, it is converted into numbering for the whole document. If someone can tell me how to make it at least restart with "1" for each chapter, I would appreciate it.
An appendix to the document includes a version of the Definite Platform, so I guess I got my wish in this respect after all.
Future works in various stages of completion on my computer include William Julius Mann's reply to this work, as well as _The Broken Platform_ by Rev. Hoffman, and and earlier SS Schmucker work - _The American Lutheran Church_
SDG,
Ken McGuire
