{"id":10311,"date":"2011-12-16T05:45:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T10:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=10311"},"modified":"2011-12-16T05:45:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T10:45:26","slug":"the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

That Paul and Bachmann used to be Lutherans is common knowledge, but I did not know about Gingrich.\u00a0 (The article, below, says that he grew up in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, which has three ELCA congregations, not that that body existed back then.\u00a0 Paul also was raised in a non-LCMS congregation, as I recall, but perhaps someone else knows the details.\u00a0 Bachmann was a lifelong member of the Wisconsin Synod until very recently, when she left that church body because her opponents were making much of its teaching that the pope is the antichrist.\u00a0 Paul is now a Baptist.\u00a0 Gingrich left Lutheranism in college to become a Baptist and recently converted to Roman Catholicism.\u00a0 Huntsman, of course, was never a Lutheran, but in any Lutheran elementary school he would have studied the Small Catechism.)<\/p>\n

\nI thank my friend Aaron Lewis for alerting me to these facts and for going to the trouble to find sources for the information (below).\n

So what are we to make of the fact that four of the seven Republican candidates for the presidential nomination have some sort of Lutheran backgrounds?<\/p>\n

Aaron finds a common theme:\u00a0 \u201cIt could be that their proclivity for constitutionalism could go back to the ad fontes mood of the Small Catechism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe.\u00a0 On the other hand, I\u2019m dismayed at the prospect of voting for anyone who can not be trusted to keep his or her confirmation vows!\u00a0 (\u201cDo you as members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, intend to continue steadfast in the confession of this Church, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?\u201d\u00a0 That confession, by the way, is earlier defined in the rite as holding to the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God and as agreeing with the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as taught in the Small Catechism as being drawn from those Scriptures.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Probably the ELCA doesn\u2019t use that kind of vow anymore.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what the different churches that merged to form that body in 1988 did in the old days.\u00a0 Does WELS have that confirmation promise?\u00a0 We Missouri Synod Lutherans do, as does the ELS.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to discuss again whether requiring such a life-long promise is a good practice.\u00a0 But surely if someone makes that commitment, it is a commitment!\u00a0 To say it is \u201cjust a ritual\u201d or \u201cjust something we make kids do\u201d is to beg the question:\u00a0 A promise is a promise, and it is wrong to take it lightly.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, what do you make of all of this Lutheran background of the candidates?\u00a0 (To me, this is not Lutheran triumphalism but rather the opposite!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you see any trace of a\u00a0Lutheran influence \u00a0in any of the candidates?\u00a0 Are they testimonies of the need for better catechesis than they perhaps received?\u00a0 Or does this just show that Lutheranism more or less\u00a0lets people have whatever politics they want?<\/span><\/p>\n

Newt Gingrich \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Gingrich\u2019s Faith Journey<\/a><\/p>\n

Jon Huntsman\u2013Wikipedia<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles. That Paul and Bachmann used to be Lutherans is common knowledge, but I did not know about Gingrich.\u00a0 (The article, below, says that he grew up in Hummelstown, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,36],"tags":[65,551,1350,1578],"class_list":["post-10311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-government","category-politics","tag-2012-presidential-election","tag-confirmation-vows","tag-lutheranism","tag-newt-gingrich"],"yoast_head":"\nThe ex-Lutheran Republican primary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/\",\"name\":\"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary","description":"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary","og_description":"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00","author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/","name":"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00","dateModified":"2011-12-16T10:45:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"Newt Gingrich grew up Lutheran!\u00a0 So did Ron Paul.\u00a0 So did Michele Bachmann.\u00a0 And Jon Huntsman, though a Mormon, went to a Lutheran school in Los Angeles.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/the-ex-lutheran-republican-primary\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The ex-Lutheran Republican primary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}