Walter A. Maier

Walter A. Maier

3 Sermons
Walter Arthur Maier (October 4, 1893 – January 11, 1950) was an American Lutheran preacher, radio pioneer, and scholar whose Lutheran Hour broadcasts made him one of the most influential religious voices of the 20th century. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to German immigrants Wilhelm and Anna Maier, he was the fourth of five children in a devout Lutheran family. Educated at Concordia Collegiate Institute in Bronxville, New York, he graduated as valedictorian in 1912, then earned a B.A. from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (1916), an M.A. from Harvard University (1919), and a Ph.D. in Semitic languages from Harvard (1929), mastering Hebrew, Aramaic, and Assyrian. Ordained in 1917, he served as a military chaplain during World War I before teaching at Concordia Seminary from 1922 until his death. Maier’s fame soared with The Lutheran Hour, launched in 1930 on CBS Radio as the first coast-to-coast religious broadcast. By 1935, his fiery, Christ-centered sermons—delivered in a booming voice—reached 40 million listeners across 36 countries via 1,200 stations, making it the world’s largest regular broadcast. Preaching salvation through faith alone, he tackled sin, war, and social issues, drawing 700,000 letters annually and funding the show through listener donations ($2 million by 1950). His books, like For Christ and Country (1942), and 2,000+ published sermons amplified his reach. A staunch conservative, he opposed liberalism and communism, yet his compassion shone in personal replies to thousands of correspondents.
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