Lehre und Wehre St. Louis, Missouri — Juli 1911, Seite 315

German transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

Cited in Eckhardt's Reallexikon (1907) under: Taufe 34

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Kirchlich⸗Zeitgeschichtliches. 31⁵5

Die Vertreter der weltlichen Presse konnten es nicht verstehen, wie in
unserer Zeit rein religiöse Motive solch eine Begeifterung hervorzurufen
und eine so gewaltige Versammlung zustande zu bringen vermochten. Einem
Repräsentanten der Assoziierten Presse mußten wir die Aussage wieder⸗
holen, daß es sich bei dieser Versammlung nur um eine religiöse Feier ge⸗
handelt habe, und daß keinerlei andere Interessen mit eingespielt hätten.
In ihrem Bericht sagte die Assoziierte Presse: Wuat was declared to have
been the largest Lutheran devotional service since the days of Martin
Luther was held in the Coliseum this afternoon, where 16,000 persons
gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of tlie birth of Rev. Dr. C. F.
W. Walther, who is credited with reriving the Lutheran Church in the
United States.“ Das weitverbreitete Jugendblatt, TMe Voνισ Oompanion,
schrieb: Tutheranism in the Tnited States was at a low ebb when the
Rev. Carl F. W. Walther came heére with aà company of self-exiled Saxons,
in 1839, and settled in Missouri. Ender his leadership the Missouri Synod
became large and prosperous, and Lutherans throughout the cçountry were
heartened. When the one hundredth anniversary was observed in St. Louis
last month. sikteen thousand persons were preésent at the exereises, in⸗
eluding a chorus of four thousand voicés. Walther was not merely a great
Lutheran; he was one of the most distinguished religious leaders in the
middle West.“ Dafür kann man auch sagen: Walther hat der lutherischen
Kirche Amerikas das lutherische Rückgrat gegeben.

Die St. Louiser Tageszeitungen brachten am Montag nach der Feier
längere illustrierte Berichte über die Versammlung im Coliseum, aus denen
wir hier ebenfalls etliche kurze Auszüge mitteilen. Der Gobe- Democrat
schrieb: „One of the largest gatherings of Lutherans in the history of the
church packed the Coliseum yesterday afternoon in celebration of the
100th anniversary of the birth of Rev. C. F. W. Walther, founder of the
Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other States. The audience, ac⸗
cording to attachés of the Coliseum, broke all previous records for the
building. All the seats were filled, and several thousand persons stood
in the galleries through the exercises, wbich lasted three hours.“ Am
20. Mai brachte der 6ʃode noch ein editorial, in dem er Walthers Be⸗
deutung zu würdigen fsuchte. In demselben heißt es: It should not be
possible to slight the broad significance and value of such a man . ..; he
belongs among the intellectual builders of his timeé, and St. Louis and
Missouri should be the last to forget his efforts. That they will not be
forgotten nor lessened in the esteem of a later generation was made cer-
tain by the spirit with which his centenary has been observed.“ über
Walthers Konservatismus in der Theologie: In the language of an ora⸗
tion at the Coliseum he could not view as other than a failure the theo-
logian who considers it his primary task to construct a Bible rather than
teach the Bible.“ Das editorial schließt mit den Worten: „There are
many shades of theology in St. Louis, but the race itself can be thankful
for men as earnest, sincere, learned, and untiring as Walther.“ Ahnliche
Berichte erschienen in sämtlichen St. Louiser Tageszeitungen.

Walther „belongs among the intellectual builders of his time, and
St. Louis and Missouri should be the last to forget his efforts.“ Damit
hat der Globe nicht übertrieben. Tatsache ist eben, daß St. Louis keinen
zweiten Bürger nennen kann, der geistig an Walther heranreichte, und

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