The Various Views and Controversies on Church Polity in the Lutheran Church of America, to 1827

In order to present an accurate picture of that portion of Lutheran Church History to which this study is devoted, we must have some foundation from which to work common to all of the Lutheran bodies which come into consideration. The only fundamental of that kind we have been able to discover is the statement of the Lutheran position on church polity which is contained in the Lutheran Symbols. However, even this is hardly satisfactory. That is the case partly because the Lutheran Symbols were not held in high regard by some of the Lutheran groups in America; partly because other factors, such as the customs of their European antecedents, political and ecclesiastical conditions in America, experiences and developments during their early organizational life, etc., etc., play an important part in shaping the policies of most bodies concerned