SCHMUCKER, SAMUEL SIMON

Lutheran educator and pioneer advocate of church union; b. Hagerstown, Md., Feb. 28, 1799; d. Gettysburg, Penn., Aug. 26, 1873. He was the son of a Lutheran clergyman and was educated in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and Princeton Theological Seminary, N.J.; as well as under private tutors. From 1820 to 1826 Schmucker was pastor of five small congregations in and near New Market, Va. Largely in response to his urging, the Lutheran Theological Seminary was established in Gettysburg in 1826 and Gettysburg College, in 1832. He served as a professor and administrative head of the seminary from its founding to his retirement in 1864. At a time when Lutherans in America, chiefly cut off from sister churches in Europe, were floundering theologically and ecclesiastically, Schmucker gave them vigorous leadership. He provided them with an articulate, though deficient, theology in his Elements of Popular Theology (1834). He framed synodical and other constitutions, collaborated in the preparation of a hymnal and catechism, organized missionary societies, and wrote extensively for the church press on social and political questions of his day. By the middle of the 19th century the Lutheran Church, strengthened by large new immigrations from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, moved beyond Schmucker, criticized his latitudinarianism, and finally repudiated his leadership. He was remembered, however, not only for his organizational talent and his contributions to Lutheran institutions, but also for his tireless promotion of Church union. Notable in this respect was his Fraternal Appeal to the American Churches, with a Plan for Catholic Union (1838).

Bibliography: v. ferm, The Crisis in American Lutheran Theology (New York 1926). a. r. wentz, History of the Gettysburg Theological Seminary (Philadelphia 1927).

[t. g. tappert]