Krauth, Charles Porterfield
KRAUTH, CHARLES PORTERFIELD
Lutheran leader and theologian; b. Martinsburg, Va., March 17, 1823; d. Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 2, 1883. After education at Gettysburg College and Theological Seminary, Pa., where his father, Charles Philip Krauth, was professor, he became pastor of churches in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In 1859 he moved to Philadelphia, where he was made editor of the Lutheran, and in its weekly columns he championed the conservative teachings and practices that were characteristic of the confessional revival of the mid-19th century. Krauth was a man of great learning and contributed to a variety of theological journals. When the Lutheran Theological Seminary was founded in Philadelphia (1864), he was elected professor of systematic theology. He was the leading organizer and first president of the General Council (1867), into which he hoped to gather all the conservative synods of English-, German-, and Scandinavian speaking Lutherans in North America. Although his hope was only partially realized, his leadership was widely respected. His position was set forth in his major work, The Conservative Reformation and its Theology (1872). Besides teaching theology, Krauth was professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, during his last 15 years.
Bibliography: a. spaeth, Charles Porterfield Krauth, 2 v.(v.1 New York 1898; v.2 Philadelphia 1909).
[t. g. tappert]