George Unangst Wenner

Background

George Unangst Wenner was born in Bethlehem, Pa. , the son of George and Sarah Ann (Unangst) Wenner.

Education

After attending public schools and several private academies he was a student at Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg), 1860-61, at Yale University, 1861-65, where he received the A. B. degree, and at the Union Theological Seminary 1865-68.

Career

He was ordained in 1868 by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of the State of New York, and the same year he became the pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in New York City, the outgrowth of a small group of Lutherans whom he had addressed in a blacksmith's shop on East Fourteenth Street, while a student in 1866. He remained pastor of this church until his death. It is claimed that this pastorate of sixty-six years is the longest on record in the United States. Though he was active in many fields in the church, he considered preaching and pastoral service his life work. He was a pioneer in weekday religious education. In his German parish paper, Der Sonntags-gast, of July 1874, he announced the beginning of regular religious instruction for children. This work was probably largely responsible for his almost unparalleled achievement of maintaining a congregation on the Lower East Side in New York City for two-thirds of a century. In November 1905 he read a paper on weekday religious education before the Interchurch Conference (forerunner of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America), which was highly commended. Since then weekday religious education, in addition to catechization, has been a recognized field of church work. As a young minister in 1870, he planned and organized extensive home missionary programs, especially in Greater New York. He sought to promote Lutheran unity by organizing intersynodical ministerial groups, and was one of the leaders in establishing the deaconess work in the General Synod of the Lutheran Church. From 1904 to 1908 he was president of the Synod of New York and New Jersey; from 1908 to 1910 he was president of the Synod of New York. He was sensitive to proprieties in the services of the church, and became one of the few liturgical scholars that the Lutheran Church in America has produced. Early in the eighties of the last century, he sought by conference and correspondence to develop a Lutheran liturgical consciousness. There were other leaders of like mind and purpose, among them James W. Richard. This growing interest in liturgics resulted in the adoption by the General Synod of the Common Service. A lengthy discussion between him and Professor Richard concerning the Lutheran character of certain features of the Common Service promoted liturgical interest and knowledge throughout the Church. Wenner was chairman of the liturgical committee of the General Synod from 1883 until 1915. Later he doubted the historical justification of the Confiteor and Introit in any Lutheran liturgy, and regretted certain extreme liturgical trends in the Lutheran Church. When he died he left the unfinished manuscript of a volume on liturgics.

Achievements

• He was the author of numerous articles of importance, many of which were published in the Lutheran Quarterly, and of three books, Religious Education and the Public Schools (1907); The Lutherans of New York (1918); and Sixty Years in One Parish (1928). In the course of his pastorate Wenner baptized more than 8, 000 individuals, confirmed 2, 140, performed marriage ceremonies for 4, 575, and buried 3, 291.

Works

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  • Religious Education and the Public School: An American Problem (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Religious Education and the Public School: A...)

  • The Lutherans of New York, Their Story and Their Problems

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • The Lutherans Of New York: Their Story And Their Problems (1918)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The Lutherans of New York, Their Story and Their Problems

    (High Quality FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION: :Wenner, George U. (...)

  • The Lutherans of New York, Their Story and Their Problems: -1918

    (Originally published in 1918. This volume from the Cornel...)

Religion

Though conservatively Lutheran in his theological opinions and in his attitude toward church usages, Wenner's catholic Christian spirit and church statesmanship made him a recognized leader in interdenominational enterprises. He was secretary of the Evangelical Alliance for forty years, and was one of the founders of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America.

Personality

He was a devout, sympathetic, genial, and scholarly leader of his people.

Connections

On April 14, 1880, he was married to Rebecca Pullman. After her death in 1902, he was married, on Feburary 8, 1915, to Mary Wilson Marshall, who died in 1931. He had no children.

Father:

George Wenner

Mother:

Sarah Ann (Unangst) Wenner

Spouse:

Mary Wilson Marshall

Spouse:

Rebecca Pullman