Wilhelm Loehe and North America

“Nessan is a thorough and gifted scholar, whose grasp of Wilhelm Loehe is not just historic, but lived. Nessan embodies the Loehe legacy, describing its effectiveness for building communities of faith and service today. This book brings to life a tradition that endures and holds great promise for reforming the church and the world.”


—Louise Johnson, President, Wartburg Theological Seminary





“At a time when the struggles, missteps, fresh impulses, and contributions of missionaries and missiological thinkers of earlier times are relegated to quick summaries or tucked away in footnotes, it’s gratifying that we have this solid and thorough analysis of the work and witness of Wilhelm Loehe. Dr. Neesan writes with the conviction that amidst the realities of our times, a rediscovery of his legacy will enliven and challenge our thinking as well as energize and kindle our praxis.”


—J. Jayakiran Sebastian, Dean and H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures, United Lutheran Seminary





“Using original sources, including archival material, Nessan looks at multiple aspects of Loehe’s influence on mission, liturgy, and church life in nineteenth-century American Lutheranism. Students of Lutheran history and theology will welcome this well-crafted study of a remarkable pastor and missional leader and the legacy which he left in North America.”


—John T. Pless, Concordia Theological Seminary





“This volume offers us the abundant harvest of Nessan’s writing on the impact of Wilhelm Loehe’s worship-centered, ecclesial, and missionary theology on Lutherans in North America. Here you will find readable, well-informed history, and illuminating theological discussion of Loehe and those who followed his lead. And more—you will see the impulses from Loehe for imagining the renewal of the church in its life and mission today. Nessan is a superb guide into this territory.”


—Thomas H. Schattauer, Professor of Liturgics and Dean of the Chapel, Wartburg Theological Seminary





“Wilhelm Loehe and North America is a must-read narrative of the origins of the Lutheran church in the Midwest. The book is a conversation—using primary sources with a keen hermeneutical eye—where we can dialogue with the protagonists about their struggles and hopes as they mirror many of ours today.”


—Francisco Javier Goitía Padilla, Program Director for Theological Formation, Seminaries and Schools, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America