SOURCE: Tappert, Theodore G. “Melanchthon in America.” In Luther und Melanchthon, edited by Vilmos Vajta, pp. 189-98. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961.

In the essay below, Tappert explores the influence of Melanchthon in the United States in the twentieth century.

Any attempt to trace the interpretations and the influence of Philip Melanchthon in America must take into account the fact that he did not become an object of independent scholarly investigation until the very close of the nineteenth century. It was in 1898 that the first substantial life of the reformer was published.¹ This is not to suggest that Melanchthon was wholly unknown or remained entirely unmentioned before 1898, but it means that when he was cited or appealed to this was often done to secure the support of his authority for some preconceived position. Astonishing caricatures of Melanchthon sometimes appeared, not only in such polemical Roman Catholic literature as pictured...