Authority Vested: A Story of Identity and Change in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

by Mary Todd

Like other major Protestant denominations in the United States, the 2.6-million-member Luther Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), founded in 1847, has struggled with issues of relevance and identity in society at large. In this book Mary Todd chronicles the history of this struggle for identity in the LCMS, critically examining the central--often contentious--issue of authority in relation to Scripture, ministry, and the role of women in the church. In recounting the history of the denomination, Todd uses the ministry of women as a case study to show how the LCMS has continually redefined its concept of authority in order to maintain its own historic identity. Based on oral histories and solid archival research, AUTHORITY VESTED not only explores the internal life of a significant denomination but also offers critical insights for other churches seeking to maintain their Christian distinctives in religiously pluralistic America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1999

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Todd's review of the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod's struggles with authority and its application to feminist concerns is insightful, but flawed. She correctly identifies many of the internal tensions that have characterized the Synod, and the adoption of provisional solutions to issues of polity and ministry that have sometimes been understood as final. The weakness of some understandings have been exposed by the challenges of the feminist movement. Unlike other Lutherans who have embraced feminist thinking (especially Todd herself), the Missouri Synod embraced traditional understandings of Biblical authority, order of creation and an exclusively male clergy.

In Mary Todd's view, this is a tragedy. She summons all the tools of feminist scholarship to explain it. She utilizes special pleading, faulting Conservatives for change, and for not changing; for utilizing "Calvinist" theological ideas while freely utilizing feminist theological ideas herself; presuming to speak for women in the Missouri Synod without bothering to inquire who (if anyone?)speaks for the men. She offers psychological explanation for why a prominent liberal (Scharleman) changed his position, but not for a conservative leader who changed his. The feminist conspiracy theory of men shutting out women is prominent in her discussion of the work of various women's commissions. She describes a church dominated by clergy as if it were a bad thing (wouldn't we want the hospital to be dominated by doctors?). She claims that the issue of women's ordination was never "examined" although what she really means is that it was examined, discussed at many forums, and rejected. Like Socrates who found it hard to conceive that anyone who really understood the right would reject it, Mary Todd characterizes the conservative leadership of the Missouri Synod as either naves or fools, the former when she is in a bad mood, the latter when she is feeling charitable.

She does have insight, however. The issues of Biblical authority, ministry, polity, and women's issues are intertwined. She accurately notes that Synod leadership tended to cling to outdated compromises which no longer held and by failing to set consistent (if provisional) answers to practical issues (Could women serve as elders? It depends...) women received mixed messages as to what was and what was not acceptable in the Synod. She exposes the inconsistency of the Synod's claim to be more democratic than it really was.

The problem with timely writing is that it soon becomes dated. Already, Feminism is not quite the issue for younger women, trying to juggle jobs & children (often without a husband), that it was for women of Todd's generation. She cited a conservative church's overture as rediculous because it connected the ordination of women with substituting fast foods in the Lord's Supper, and the marriage of homosexuals. The latter has come to pass in Todd's "new" church, the ELCA. Perhaps the old conservatives weren't paranoid so much as prescient.

[Judith Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this book for a long time, but only read it now. The author is a college friend of mine, and the story involves my family’s history; two of my uncles are key players. Published in 2000, based on Todd’s 1996 Ph.D. dissertation, the book is detailed but readable; it presents a history of the Missouri Synod, with a focus on the place of women in the church. There’s a lot here I didn’t know, from the synod’s origin in the immigration of several hundred Saxons, following a charismatic (but soon discredited) leader, to the refusal until 1969 to authorize woman suffrage in the church. I’m glad to have read it, at last.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shed some light on some recent experiences I've had in the LCMS, unfortunately it seems things never change. Interesting to read about their "quarantine" mentality even as we are dealing with Covid-19. I felt the book was very diligently researched and the findings consistent and even-handed. Too bad that in the ensuing almost 20 years, not much is different. Would love an update!

[Nancy Meier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lack of acceptance of equality between the brothers and sisters of LCMS is still evident today. Very much like the Catholic Church, LCMS believes that ONLY men can lead, after all Jesus was a man. I find it interesting though that women played a major role in His brief life on earth from Mary, the mother to Mary Magdalene. LCMS has from the start, only been willing to acknowledge a "limited" role for females. In many congregations women weren't even allowed to vote in church meetings until the early 1970's. Even then, at that time, the Synod couldn't bring it self to lead from the top but instead left that decision or "hot potato" up to individual congregations. While Mary Todd may not speak to every theological point, she certainly enlightened me about the status of women in the world of the LCMS.

[Ferg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting. Mary Todd brings many thought-provoking points about the beginning years of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Some points are interesting and encouraging and others are embarrassing. But all around a very good book, just read it with a grain of salt.