at the next Concordia, Ft. Wayne, conference.
The four pictured above have something in common, besides having known me.
All four began in the LCMS. In fact, Neuhaus and Wilken staged a coup at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, forcing Otten and Marquart out of the student editorship.
Otten was never declared kosher and does not receive Holy Communion from his fellow pastors. (WELS to Otten - Join a real orthodox synod: ours. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.)
Martin Marty left the LCMS for ELCA.
Jaroslav Pelikan left the LCMS for ELCA, then joined Eastern Orthodoxy. He won a $500,000 theology prize and gave it to St. Vladimir's Seminary. Take that - St. Louis. Yet he will be memorialized at The Fort's gathering of conservatives. A gathering of eagles? No, a warren of rabbits wearing rabats, sinuflecting to Rome.
Neuhaus left the LCMS for the AELC/Seminex crew, known for its "superfluity of mini-bishops and its portable seminary." The AELC took over ELCA in a leveraged buy-out, or perhaps a sell-out. Their gay seminary set the stage for ELCA's Lavender Mafia power play. Neuhaus left the lavender ELCA for the straights in the Church of Rome.
All four men above were always rostered in their various church bodies, never ousted. In contrast, Otten was never accepted in the LCMS, and Marquart was barely tolerated by the big boys in Missouri.
The Fort will feature the Lutheran Forum guys, including Richard Koenig, who (I believe) left Missouri for ELCA, too.
The Fort will devote most of their conference to honoring Rome and Constantinople, the Neuhaus and Pelikan circles, with the climax - Roman Catholic Robert Wilken giving an address on Pelikan. They have caught up with WELS inviting the Roman Archbishop and the Little Sect on the Prairie inviting the Roman Bishop. The Fort has stolen a march on both synodical partners, because they have their own LCMS apostate lecturing on their own LCMS apostate.
Dr. Robert L. Wilken (Church of Rome)
University of Virginia
Topic: "A Pilgrim from Wittenberg to Constantinople: Jaroslav Pelikan"
Wilken's lecture is the theological equivalent of Church and Change inviting me to speak about Martin Luther. They would stick needles in their eyes before that ever happened.
The four apostates (and lesser lights) have won. Their agenda rules The Fort while the Bronze Age Missourians fade away.
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Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.
Cardinal Newman left the Church of England to become a Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the hymn above. The hymn's content is so vague and nebulous that a conference on religions selected it to sing, because every religion in the world could sing it without hesitation. I hope they use it for the services at The Fort.
