LP Cruz was astonished Jay Webber had such a poor grasp of academics. Many Shrinkers have shown the same ignorance in different forms.
All this comes from a parochial education, which is why one WELS leader would like all the parochial schools shut down.
Parochial is synonymous with "close-minded" for a reason. As I mentioned to LP, each Lutheran seminary teaches its students to worship the fill-in-the-blank synod. ELCA too! May God have mercy on those who question the synod, because no one else will.
In the ELS and WELS, the only requirement to teach is an MDiv from their unaccredited seminary. Pope John the Malefactor did not even have an MDiv or a bachelor's degree when he was hired to teach New Testament at the Little School on the Prairie.
Joe Krohn and his bunch howl that I studied at Yale and Notre Dame. But a real university does not seek to convert someone overtly or force a student to share the same concepts as the instructors. That often happens because many graduate students never leave school and gladly follow the easiest path. However, Ralph Bohlmann's claim to fame was a PhD at Yale where he examined the theology of the Lutheran Confessions. They did not ask him to become a Congregationalist or worse.
Likewise, I had Hauerwas (Methodist) and Yoder (Mennonite) and Gleason (Roman Catholic) as doctoral advisors at Notre Dame. They were interested in whether I did a thorough job in research, not in rebaptizing me as Methodist, Mennonite, or Catholic. Was I harmed by having world-famous theologians as teachers? I think not.
I enjoyed discussing Lutheran doctrine in a room full of Catholic students, with two liberal professors leading the class. They were often far more receptive to Luther's doctrine than the ELS, Missouri, and WELS clergy I have known. One priest from that program, a PhD in liturgy, reminds me annually that he is still reading the set of Luther that I gave him.
Those who suffer from a parochial education never get over their need to find security in the canons of their own little group. WELS rests its confidence on the essay files at the Sausage Factory. One essay, on Church Growth, is by an avowed atheist. Another is by New Age theologian Mark Jeske.
The Little Sect on the Prairie (ELS) likes to act superior to WELS, more confessional, etc. They engage in the same tactics.
I have discussed this with several laymen, who scratch their heads over the obvious inconsistencies in ELS/WELS/LCMS arguments for UOJ. That does not matter to the Stormtroopers, because questioning UOJ is the deadly third rail of synodical politics.
"He denies UOJ!" is the ultimate accusation among these poor, deluded, confused Enthusiasts.
Stepping outside their little circle is doom in their eyes, because doom is good for their income.
The clergy are socialistic. If they can reduce their numbers, they have a greater chance to get the plush non-pastoral jobs. "Ah, no more catechism class. No more preaching, except the same sermon over and over as a guest. No more home visitations. Instead, people will visit ME and bow down in humility."
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Tim Felt-Needs:
"On Contemporary Lutheranism
In terms of contemporary Lutheranism there is nothing new out there to speak too (sic)."
