ABSTRACT
The Lutheran concern for higher education is rooted in the theological and educational work of Martin Luther and the Reformation of the church in sixteenth-century Germany. As a university professor himself, Luther’s emphasis on higher education in general is self-evident. Gettysburg Theological Seminary opened in 1826. From the outset it became clear that the more basic classical preparation would be needed for proper study of theology. Consequently, Samuel S. Schmucker, the young president of the seminary, first established a “gymnasium,” on the German model. The German emigration to America in the 19th century differed in many ways from that of the 17th and 18th. Most of the earlier immigrants were refugees, either economic or religious. Many actually came as indentured servants. They had no organized leadership. The later immigrants were more often prosperous farmers, merchants, and professionals, dissatisfied with economic, political, or religious conditions in Germany.
