I have put together an entirely different type of article today. Instead of my usual post telling the story of people, I will be discussing buildings. More specifically, I will be focusing on a special type of interior church architecture…the pulpit altar.

Before I proceed, I want to tell you how I was inspired to write this story. I have an account on X. the popular social networking program. Several of the people I follow on that site are Lutherans. This weekend, a post showed up on my feed that described what are called pulpit altars that included a large amount of photographs displaying this architectural feature. Since some local churches here in Perry County have such pulpit altars, including my own church here in Altenburg, I decided that I wanted to share these photos with our readers.

The person who submitted these photos on X is a young man in Germany who uses the handle, Luthers Erbe. Google Translate tells me that term is “Luther’s Legacy” in English. He also uses @gerecht_suender to describe himself. That term means “righteous sinner”. This young man also describes himself as a theologiestudent (theology student) and is a member of the Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (SELK). That church body is an independent Lutheran synod, not part of the state Lutheran church in Germany. SELK is a confessional Lutheran church body that is also part of the International Lutheran Council, of which the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is a member. I am also able to show you a photo of the man who submitted this post about pulpit altars.

However, I do not know this young man’s name. Perhaps if he sees this post, he will let us know his name. I certainly want to give proper credit for the work he did in gathering together all of these photos of pulpit altars.

Just what is a pulpit altar, you may ask. It is an altar in a church that includes a pulpit right above it. This type of architecture found its way into churches after the Lutheran Reformation. It is designed to emphasize that the Word of God stands together with the sacraments, Holy Communion and Holy Baptism. I know that when I was growing up, I had Lutheran pastors that pounded into our brain that the Means of Grace as described by Martin Luther were made up of Word and Sacraments.

At this point, I am going to include a large gallery of photos from the Luthers Erbe post on X. The thumbnails are clickable. I cannot help but describe these photos as “Lutheran Eye Candy”.

Most of the above pulpit altars are found in churches in Germany, although there are Lutheran churches in other places around the world that exhibit pulpit altars.

You can see in several of the above photos that many of these churches also contain balconies, some of which wrap around the whole sanctuary. The elevated pulpit above the altar enables those who sit in the balcony during the worship service to see the pastor when he preaches. These churches, which were built long before microphones and sound systems, included a canopy over the pulpit which in German is called a schalldeckel (sounding board). This structure helps the pastor project his voice to the congregation.

I also found it interesting that in a few of the churches, you find organ pipes above the pulpit. Pipe organs are often found in Lutheran churches, but they are mostly found in the rear of the church. Even though the pipes are found above the pulpit in some photos, I could not determine where the organ console was located.

I know of three Lutheran churches found here in Perry County that have pulpit altars. Here is the one found in Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. This church was dedicated in 1886.

Next, here is a photo of the interior of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. That church was dedicated in 1874.

The church located next to our museum is Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Here is a photo of their pulpit altar as it was adorned for this year’s Advent/Christmas season. This church building was dedicated in 1867.

The carpenter who constructed the altar and pulpit area in Trinity’s church was Carl Groh. He likely also did the interior of Concordia, Frohna and Salem, Farrar. I wrote a post about Carl titled, Trinity’s Tischler. Here is a photo of him.

Perhaps Carl was influenced by the Lutheran churches he experienced in Germany before arriving in America in 1855.

There was also a Wendish German immigration that settled in Texas. Several Lutheran churches in that area have been described as “painted churches”. Here is the pulpit altar found in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Serbin, Texas.

I am fascinated by these churches with pulpit altars. There is so much symbolism included in them. Back in the days when several of these churches were built, many people were illiterate. The art work in these churches as found in their altar areas and in their stained glass windows very often told Bible stories and instructed the people about their beliefs. I know that I thoroughly enjoy worshiping at my church here in Altenburg. The building itself teaches its members about their Lutheran doctrine.

Here is another link which directs you to more photos of pulpit altars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulpit_altar

If you know of a church that has a pulpit altar and have a photo of it that you would like to share, please place it in the comments on this post after it shows up on Facebook, or email it to blog@lutheranmuseum.com. Make sure you tell us where it is located.