author
Joseph Augustus Seiss
1823–1904
A 19th-century Lutheran preacher and religious writer, he became widely known for his vivid sermons, popular lectures on Revelation, and a long ministry in Philadelphia. His work ranged from hymn writing to more unusual subjects like prophecy and pyramidology, making him a distinctive voice in American Protestant life.
1 Audiobook
Luther and the Reformation: The Life-Springs of Our Liberties
by Joseph Augustus Seiss
About the author
Born in Maryland on March 18, 1823, Joseph Augustus Seiss was an American theologian and Lutheran minister who grew up in a Moravian family and later entered the Lutheran ministry. He studied at Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg and completed much of his theological training through private study before beginning a pastorate in the 1840s.
After serving churches in Virginia and Maryland, he became pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Philadelphia in 1858. Later he founded the Church of the Holy Communion in Philadelphia, where he continued his ministry for many years. He was known in his day as an eloquent preacher and a prolific author, and he also took on leadership roles within American Lutheran church life.
Seiss is remembered for a wide range of religious writing. He published works on prophecy and the Book of Revelation, including lectures later collected as The Apocalypse, and he also wrote on subjects such as dispensational thought and pyramidology. He died in Philadelphia on June 20, 1904.