An abridged chronicle of the saga of Luther’s Large Catechism with Contemporary Applications

The following is a highly distilled digest of the relevant facts pertaining to the LCMS controversy over the publication of Luther’s Large Catechism with Contemporary Applications (LCACA). In some cases, more complete information can be found by following the embedded links. With thanks to the various compilers who provided the information and the images in this piece (you know who you are).

The commissioning of the project, such as it was, happened in Resolution 5-12 during the 2016 LCMS National Convention.

Significantly, per the language of this resolution, the Synod was only to explore the creation of an annotated and expanded edition of the Large Catechism. The Synod appears to be guilty of running where it had not been sent in proceeding with the project without delegate authorization (such as the 2017 Small Catechism volume had).

Nevertheless, John Pless and Larry Vogel were subsequently appointed (no doubt at the discretion of Synod President Matthew Harrison, under whose purview it fell) as the editors for the project. As the editors, they selected the contributors, including those who wrote the annotations to Luther’s original Large Catechism text, as well as those who authored the essays purporting to exposit the text for “contemporary applications”.

By August 2022 the project was in a stage of substantial completion, such that Concordia Publishing House (CPH) was able to release a preview. This is the first public questioning of the judgement of the the project directors on record. As the text was not yet released, the early criticism was focused solely on the involvement of certain authors with denominational membership not in altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS—as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America/ELCA (to which belongs Steven Paulson) and North American Lutheran Church/NALC (to which belonged James Nestingen) are deemed heterodox, if not heretical).

The volume was released in toto as of January 2023. Shortly after its publication, LCMS layman and pundit Ryan Turnipseed tweeted out (non-twitter users click here) a thread identifying what he saw as flaws in the compendium. To date, that thread has been viewed over 340,000 times.

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Screenshots of and links to the thread were rapidly disseminated via social media, and debate ensued in the various corners of the internet, from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, to forums (see here, and here), and elsewhere Synod-wide. The product was quickly dubbed “the Large Cataclysm” on social media. T.R. Halvorson, member of the Concordia Publishing House Board of Directors, was quick to distance the publishing house from the volume as he carried out his vigilant moderation of the largest Facebook Lutheran group (Confessional Lutheran Fellowship):

Within a day, a contingent of anonymous pastors organized an email campaign to petition Synod president Matthew Harrison—who was vacationing in the pacific islands at that time—to pull the product from publication.

On January 23rd, 2023, President Harrison did pause distribution of the volume, issuing the following statement:

That same evening, Mr. Turnipseed hosted a LCACA review stream with several others who had articulated further criticism on Twitter—Corey Mahler, pseudonymous “Woe”, and pseudonymous “Askeladd”—to discuss the volume. These personalities will come up again.

Mr. Turnipseed and the other critics spent time at the top and bottom of this broadcast praising President Harrison for his actions in halting publication of the volume. Nevertheless, they were immediately branded as divisive (a pejorative straight out of the Seminex-era liberal faculty’s mouth) and slandered by the current year LCMS intelligentsia who had the President’s ear. Already on-edge Facebook Lutheran groups turned into war zones overnight, and everyone among the very-online had an opinion, or was in search of an opinion.

Below is a larger sampling of opinions taken from this period of contention—a careful reader will also discern the counter-narrative that the pro-LCACA contingent had begun crafting. Namely: that the first critics were anonymous, “alt-right” or “neo-Nazi” in ideology, and that no critic (whether early or late) had read the volume or considered its statements in context.

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At the same time, many of the in-the-know were out in force ensuring that the credit (blame?) for the project went to the appropriate parties. (Note: DR = Doctrinal Review; CTCR = Commission on Theology and Church Relations)

An email support campaign for LCACA was organized by Pastor Ben Squires.

And indeed, as of February 2, 2023, President Harrison did re-release the volume for distribution, admitting that he did not technically have the authority to halt or recall the volume. His rationale can be read here, and echoes his sentiments from the foreword of the Catechism proper, stating: “Frankly, I think each reader will be astounded at the content and quality of the volume.”

President Harrison also included the note that: “I deplore the unchristian attacks on the servants of the church who edited and contributed to the production of the volume, including the editors, our faithful members of the CTCR, CPH and more. At the same time, we invite thoughtful critique and criticism, which will be given due consideration moving forward.”

Despite the burgeoning counter-narrative painting the critics as illegitimate, the beacons had been lit, and the ranks of the critics were swelling.

Whether on Facebook:

The blogosphere:

The Large CRTechism, January 22 — Rev. Larry Beane
Why This Stuff Matters, January 24 — Rev. Larry Beane
Subverting Luther’s Large Catechism, January 24 — Matthew E. Cochran
In Case You Missed It: Kudos to President Harrison, January 24 — Rev. Burnell Eckardt
Theology is Too Important to Be Left to the Experts, January 24 — Rev. Jason Braaten
Does Context Avert the Large Cataclysm? January 27— Matthew E. Cochran

Or podcasts:

Did Turnip Change the New Lutheran Catechism? January 27 — Ryan Turnipseed, Clossington*, Settler’s Lament*, ST*, and Jonathan McK*
Anatomy of a Confusion (Large Catechism Edition), February 1 — Rev. Jason Braaten and Rev. David Ramirez (in which the epithet “LCACA” was coined)
Is Social Justice Making Inroads in the Missouri Synod? February 2 — Rev. David Ramirez and John Harris*
The LCMS Large Catechism Controversy | A Post Mortem, February 4 — Rev. Brandon Warr*
Context Matters (LCACA), February 9 — Rev. Jason Braaten and Rev. David Ramirez
The Fifth Commandment, February 11 — Lloyd and Padre

As per the above asterisks, denoting individuals who are not LCMS, the controversy was soon spread even outside of the denomination’s narrow circles. On February 7, 2023, Christianity Today picked up the story in their article, A Mighty Controversy Is This Lutheran Catechism. Tellingly, although several LCMS Lutherans are quoted from blog and podcast sources, the sole LCMS Lutheran to have been directly interviewed for the piece was Josh Salzberg, the co-founder of the activist group “Lutherans for Racial Justice” (LRJ). This group, which is not an LCMS recognized service organization, exists to agitate within the LCMS for redress of alleged racial grievances it claims were and are perpetrated by the denomination, and seeks to organize Lutherans to combat an alleged culture of racism within the United States as a whole. (See links for further information and citations.) Some saw here an indication that Salzberg himself orchestrated the CT publication, and positioned himself as the representative of orthodox LCMS Lutheranism, where he furthered the emerging narrative that opponents of the LCACA were “extreme far right voices in the LCMS.”

Salzberg went on to pen his own piece regarding the Catechism controversy, defending the essays charged by critics as promoting Critical Race Theory, and even tipping his hand toward a desire for the matter to result in a changing of the Synodical presidential guard (as LRJ rather obliquely favored Pat Ferry in the 2023 Synodical election).

On February 17, 2023 the CTCR issued this statement in order to clarify questions about the volume, stating, “…while we acknowledge that certain things could have been worded differently, better or more precisely (as is true of any publication, especially one of such massive size and scope), we remain firmly supportive of this volume, its contents and its usefulness for our church body.”

This, however, was far from the last word on the matter. To back the chronology up slightly, the Synod’s offensive against the critics launched its first operation on February 10, 2023, when a group calling themselves Machaira Action posted a dox article against Corey Mahler (a member of the panel in the initial LCACA review stream hosted by Ryan Turnipseed, see above). Inside of a week, Mr. Mahler’s presence was required for a meeting. As he recounts:

When I arrived at the ‘meeting’, it was more an ambush. I was not apprised of the nature of the meeting, despite inquiring more than once of Edward Maanum the previous Sunday both after the service and during the chili cook-off that followed. Instead, I arrived — blind, as it were — to a room with the aforementioned cast[ — pastor Edward Maanum, David Graves (pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Wartburg, and circuit visitor for the Mid-South District of the LCMS), another local pastor, and (most of) the elder board of First Lutheran, Knoxville —] present. 

A young man named Zak, who was Mr. Mahler’s fellow congregant, was subsequently interrogated by the same individuals for several hours straight about his association with Mr. Mahler, and ultimately left the LCMS. In the end, Mr. Mahler was banned from church property and, subsequently on February 19, threatened with arrest should he attempt to attend services in-person—in direct violation of the written bylaws of his congregation. Mr. Mahler has twice recounted his story in exhaustive detail, and these are available here (written) and here (spoken). He also penned an open letter to the Missouri Synod corporation here, and the matter was also the subject of this hostile piece from Rolling Stone.

In conjunction with this, on February 21, 2023, President Matthew Harrison issued the following pronouncement:

Dear friends in Christ,

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, its president, vice-presidents and all 35 district presidents, along with its ministerium and congregations, categorically reject the horrible and racist teachings of the so-called “alt-right” in toto (including white supremacy, Nazism, pro-slavery, anti-interracial marriage, women as property, fascism, death for homosexuals, even genocide).

….

We were shocked to learn recently that a few members of LCMS congregations have been propagating radical and unchristian “alt-right” views via Twitter and other social media. They are causing local disruption and consternation for their pastors, congregations and district presidents. They have publicly stated that they seek the destruction of the LCMS leadership. They have made serious online threats to individuals and scandalously attacked several faithful LCMS members. Through these social media posts, even our wonderful deaconesses have been threatened and attacked.

This is evil. We condemn it in the name of Christ.

These “alt-right” individuals were at the genesis of a recent controversy surrounding essays accompanying a new publication of Luther’s Large Catechism. This group used that opportunity to produce not only scandalous attacks and widespread falsehoods, but also to promote their own absolutist ideologies.

President Harrison Denounces Disturbing Ideologies, February 21, 2023, emphasis not original

The aforementioned Lutherans for Racial Justice was on this statement immediately with their own commentary. Tellingly, they include the following sentence: “As indicated by President Harrison’s letter, there have been LCMS pastors and Districts who have, over the past month, sought disciplinary actions with several of these individuals.” This at a time when the only parties who should have been aware of the church discipline embroiling particular members were the congregational leadership and the individuals themselves—suggesting possible coordination between synodical apparatchiks and the LRJ organization.

On February 23, 2023, Matthew Cochran published his response to President Harrison’s pronouncement: Excommunicating the Alt-Right.

That same day, another member of Ryan Turnipseed’s LCACA review stream, Askeladd, was ambushed by his own pastor and elders and informed that the Synod president had demanded his resignation as an elder of his congregation, which instructions had been conveyed through the District President to the pastor of the congregation. He was also informed that the Synod had called law enforcement authorities on each of the individuals who appeared on Mr. Turnipseed’s LCACA review stream, which included the FBI. His story is recounted here.

Mr. Turnipseed himself was the next target for reprisal, as his pastor began proceedings against him (non Twitter users click here) on March 1st. Mr. Turnipseed states the following in his March 4 article, “Here I Stand: The LCMS Subverted“:

Corey and Zak are not the only ones that have been targeted so far. A now-former elder of an LCMS congregation was forced to resign his position for merely associating with Corey online. This now-former elder was told that his removal was urged from the top of the synod to his district president and then to his pastor. There is no doubt that I will be the next target of this inquisition, but that is not what I care about. The LCMS, the once conservative, confessional Lutheran Church, has entirely shunned its own theology and history, which I do very much care about.

The proceedings against Mr. Turnipseed dragged on for months, as he was pressured to “disavow the entire persons” of Mr. Mahler and Woe in the face of the Catechism stream and another collaboration. His experience is recounted in his own telling here (non Twitter users click here). He was also interviewed by Jon Harris on Conversations That Matter about the ordeal. He was also interviewed on the YouTube channel PlainSpoken. The ordeal is also covered in the Tablet Magazine piece, “How to Get Excommunicated in 2023“. Mr. Turnipseed subsequently published his article, “Subverting Protestantism“, in Chronicles magazine in September 2023.

Mr. Mahler and Woe responded to President Harrison’s above letter on their podcast, Stone Choir (as too did Jon Harris on Conversations That Matter, and Rev. David Ramirez and Rev. Jason Braaten on The Gottesdienst Crowd). Subsequently, they disclosed the Timeline of Recriminations, recounting the LCACA events and the subsequent actions taken against the LCACA critics by Synod corporate. Two hours after this four-four episode went live, Antifa (as Machaira Action) pushed live Woe’s dox, which included very specific erroneous information which would have existed only in the private corporate records of the LCMS. This, hence, can only possibly have been sourced from within the LCMS corporation, denoting cooperation between the two entities.

It is vital to note that this was a four hour long episode, which means that whoever gave the order for Antifa to publish heard Woe say “I’m still in good standing in my congregation” eight minutes before the dox went live, and sought to change that.

Leaving behind the matter of recriminations against critics (and be assured there are other stories that we are not at liberty to publish at this time, these saints know who they are), LCACA was now going to have to be addressed at the LCMS’s Triennial Convention.

According to the convention workbook, no fewer than 13 overtures submitted were LCACA related, whether directly or orthogonally.

Namely:
4-12 To Condemn Use of Internet Forums for Dispute Resolution and Grievance Airing within the Synod
4-13 To Condemn Use of Internet Forums for Dispute Resolution and Grievance Airing
5-30 To Commend Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications
5-31 To Commend Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications
5-32 To Cease and Desist Publication of Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications
5-33 To Encourage Christian Collegiality in Theological Discussion, Including Discussion Related to Large Catechism Volume
11-04 To Speak Gospel Clearly in Cultural Context of Critical Race Theory
11-05 To Affirm Biblical Doctrines of Creation, Original Sin, and Redemption and to Reject Critical Theory
11-07 To Reject and Condemn Critical Theory, Its Theologies and Ideologies, and to Rebuke Its Proponents
11-08 To Reject Critical Theory and Its Proponents, Theologies, Ideologies, and Worldviews
11-09 To Reject Critical Race Theory and Its Worldview in the Church
11-10 To Exhort Those in Authority to Identify and Eliminate Social Justice (Woke) Ideology
11-11 To Prevent Harmful Philosophies, Ideologies, and Contemporary Movements Contrary to the Christian Faith from Damaging Our Congregations, Schools, Colleges, and Seminaries

There were also a considerable number of overtures regarding the matter of anti-racism, in at least several instances sponsored directly by Lutherans for Racial Justice.

11-02 To Reject Racism and Advance the Gospel
11-03 To Reject Bigotry and Advance the Gospel
11-12 To Advance Racial Equality and Great Commission
11-13 To Support Racial Equality and Great Commission
11-14 To Build Diverse Synod United in Christ
11-15 To Foster Multiculturalism in Exercise of Great Commission
11-16 To Provide Christian Resources in Addressing Racism
11-17 To Reject All Forms of Racism and Affirm Our Witness to All People
11-18 To Affirm Biblical Anthropology and Denounce Racism as an Anti-Gospel Belief
11-19 To Condemn Racism, White Supremacy, and White Nationalism and Reaffirm Biblical and Confessional Common Humanity of All Peoples
11-20 To Reject Racism, Rectify Past Wrongs of Commission and Omission, and Recognize Pacific Southwest District Successes, Failures, and Opportunities in Ministry within Communities of Color
11-21 To Recognize Atlantic District Successes, Failures, and Opportunities in Ministry with Communities of Color
11-22 To Recognize the Synod’s Successes, Failures, and Opportunities in Ministry with Communities of Color
11-23 To Recognize the Synod’s Successes, Failures, and Opportunities in Ministry with Communities of Color

Rev. Seth Mierow, author of overture 5-32, To Cease and Desist Publication of Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications (see above), was interviewed by Rev. Jason Braaten on his overture and on the stakes of the matter.

In due time, the overtures were edited down into their resolution forms to be put forward at convention. Overtures 5-30 through 5-33 above became resolution 5-14 in the convention Today’s Business Issue 1.

In response to this proposed form of this resolution, attorney T.R. Halvorson (who in July wrote a preliminary assessment of the most pressing issues going to convention, including LCACA) delivered a speech to floor committee 5 (in charge of this resolution) asking for modifications. The text of this speech can be read here, and one cannot help but see that Mr. Halvorson has taken a considerable portion of his argument from Mr. Cochran’s piece (linked above and also here).

Resolution 5-14 was then amended—possibly as the result of Mr. Halvorson’s arguments—into resolution 5-14A, as follows, in Today’s Business 2B.

This was accompanied in Today’s Business 2B with the following pre-proposed amendment:

In addition to that, Today’s Business 2B also contained the following substitute resolution:

As the convention opened, President Matthew Harrison acknowledged the elephant in the room, promising that the matter of LCACA’s place in the LCMS’s canon would be discussed in due time.

In the end, floor committee 5 withdrew resolution 5-14A, ending discussion of the matter, despite attempts to reverse the decision from some in attendance.

At this time, LCACA is considered by most in the LCMS to be a dead issue. Sales of the volume are reportedly abysmal, and it is dubious whether the work will qualify for a second print run—despite attempts to move copies by making the tome a required purchase for all seminarians, at least at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne.

As indicated by their actions at convention, Synod leadership seems to prefer for the entire matter to fade away. Better to be rendered obscure than have to acknowledge the project (with its undoubtedly astronomical budget) as an abject failure.

In the end, the saga of LCACA is as a signpost in the history of the LCMS. It is an anthology of the present day spiritual state of the denomination, in all its varied textures and flavors, serving to denote “you are here.” As such, it will be a valuable resource for future generations of church historians who seek to trace the course of Missouri’s Lutherans. For the rest, it will surely fade from memory, and has even now become something “I heard about once.”

But for those sons of Issachar, who understand the times, they alone may understand what these things portend. One such man, Patrick Casey, penned the article “Lutheranism Drifts Leftward“, which is a worthwhile followup read to the present piece, as it goes into greater detail on many points that this piece skimmed over. We end with a quote from Casey’s article, and echo its sentiment.

[A] Christian institution with a reputation for conservatism is equivocating between pedophilia and heterosexuality, countersignaling gun rights, adopting the New York Times’ anti-white capitalization format, and parroting woke talking points about race. Any conservative… should pray that the LCMS does not continue down this path.

Indeed, and Amen.