Good schools prevent academic inbreeding.
Lutheran schools do not,
and the results can be frightening,
as seen above.
I wonder why.
Universities do not like to use their own graduates to teach their classes, because this leads to academic inbreeding and uncritical thinking. If someone receives a PhD from Yale, the new professor is expected to teach somewhere else even if the school wants him back as a valued teacher.
Just the opposite is true in the Lutheran synods. They want graduates of their own little seminaries, although Ft. Wayne has been known to load up on Notre Dame graduates.
The Sausage Factory would never want an ELS pastor to teach at their school. He might not have enjoyed the physical and emotional abuse or GA. Even worse, he might know only 99% of the 6,418 unwritten rules of WELS. In short, that will never happen.
The ELS is far more comfortable hiring a New Testament professor with no college degree (and the right DNA) than calling one with a graduate degree and outside influences. The Little Sect on the Prairie suffers from always having a sidecar of WELS influence. WELS pushes its favorite heresies. If the ELS gets something right, such as the Word consecrating the elements, the Wisconsinites have to water it down so the Book of Concord is never taken too seriously.
Missouri has plenty of short-circuits in its thinking too. Many people think of Harrison's election as a triumph of Walther. No one is allowed to suggest that CFW was ever wrong about anything. Walther represents the zenith of
Everyone is going to be saying, "But WELS has to make sure the right people teach."
What does Mequon teach? The WELS professors advocate Groeschel, Sweet, Stanley, Wagner, McGavran, and Driscoll. WELS is terrified of LCMS education but promotes Fuller Seminary, Trinity in Deerfield, and Willow Creek. Instead of cross-pollinating in Missouri and the Little Sect, they are planting weed seeds funded with the offerings of their own members.
No one can question that because every single pastor in WELS is related to the rest of them.
Missouri is just the same. They are either genuflecting to Walther or sinuflecting to Mary. If you want your son to become a priest, send him to the Concordia seminaries. If he learns quickly, he will become Roman Catholic. If he is a little slow and timid, he will become Eastern Orthodox.
Inbreeding is not all bad. Look at how happy the boys in the photo are. They just finished an update on their newest video. They may not have much of capacity in Lutheran doctrine, but do they need it in the Emergent WELS? They only need to copy and paste, to parrot all the repeat-after-me responses they learned in the system. They are not going to question anything.
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Daniel Baker has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":
I agree with your premise, but in practice, it proves hard for the synods I'd imagine. With such strict fellowship practices, how could they rationalize inviting in professors from other synods? For example, WELS/ELS could trade as you suggested, but in the end that wouldn't help much as far as diversity in thought is concerned.
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GJ - "With such strict fellowship practices..." That is pretty funny. WELS members still believe that myth, and the ELS may also.
Professor Al Sorum got his DMin from Wesleyan. Bivens, Valleskey, and Gerlach went to Fuller Seminary.
WELS had beaten a door to Trinity in Deerfield so often that the sect was named twice in the Trinity catalogue. Yet people hoot at ELCA's Southern seminary training Methodists and Babtists.
The president of the Little School on the Prairie, Seminary Division, earned an STM from a gay feminist Episcopal seminary.
Missouri voted overwhelmingly to work with ELCA.
They are all unionists. The definition of a unionist is "Someone who loves every denomination except his own."
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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Academic Inbreeding in the Lutheran Synods":
Pr. Greg,
What you say is so true about academic in-breeding. My observation is that Lutheran Seminaries including ours here, do not train pastors to do independent thinking. They do not seem to be exercised at the tools so they can evaluate things on their own.
Fundamentalist Cultism is the end result of in-breeding.
Some faculties here also do not like to hire their own PhDs though most are less afraid of this. It is because the norm here is that your thesis is passed externally by international examiners from another university. In effect, it is actually blind peer reviewed and so you are actually passed not by your internal faculty but the examiners from somewhere around the world.
There are so many funny points in this post. As you explained, I now know why they are not laughing.
God bless,
LPC
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GJ - Walther wanted to monopolize seminary education and almost succeeded. He managed to be synod president and seminary president at the same time, an idea so bad that they repeated it with Francis Pieper, who was culled from the herd by Walther to be a Walther clone.
Al Barry was a one-man Lutheran Federation. His official bio only admits to his membership in two synods, Missouri and WELS, but he also studied in two others - the ELS and one of those mini-micros where the school was the church basement. I can see why Barry said he was "building a foundation" in his first term. He had been there before.
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This is a photo which Ski published on his blog.
Strict Fellowship Practices in WELS: Ski's sermons at The CORE
http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/3683
From Twitter @GoToCore:
A new series begins this Sunday at 5:30. Join us for Elijah - "Making of a Man of God". See you then. #fb 6:15 AM Aug 20th via SocialOomph
Week 2 will be:
"Which God Do You Serve"
Week 3:
"Elijah Prays"
Week 4:
"Depression"
How relevant...
13 comments:
I agree with your premise, but in practice, it proves hard for the synods I'd imagine. With such strict fellowship practices, how could they rationalize inviting in professors from other synods? For example, WELS/ELS could trade as you suggested, but in the end that wouldn't help much as far as diversity in thought is concerned.
When you visit another WELS church during travels, you'll sometimes meet a pastor without any relations in the ministry or in teaching, past or present. Everyone in the WELS is so used to figuring out relations upon meeting a pastor that he has to tell people upfront he's not related to anyone to get that out of the way. This situation doesn't happen that often, so visitors don't even know what to say to a pastor without relations, or what to make of him, and the conversation often stops right there.
Oops! Now what are the congregations going to do that sold the parsonage next to the church? Many pastors convinced their congregations to sell the parsonage and let the pastor build a nest egg by buying a home in some leafy neighborhood, often miles from church. Now the idea of building a nest egg via one's home is a thing of the past, will the congregations try to buy the parsonage back?
Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth, Analysts Say
By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: August 22, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/business/economy/23decline.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage
-------------
One Couple's New American Dream: Rent, Don't Buy
by NPR STAFF
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129331482&ft=1&f=1001
Pr. Greg,
What you say is so true about academic in-breeding. My observation is that Lutheran Seminaries including ours here, do not train pastors to do independent thinking. They do not seem to be exercised at the tools so they can evaluate things on their own.
Fundamentalist Cultism is the end result of in-breeding.
Some faculties here also do not like to hire their own PhDs though most are less afraid of this. It is because the norm here is that your thesis is passed externally by international examiners from another university. In effect, it is actually blind peer reviewed and so you are actually passed not by your internal faculty but the examiners from somewhere around the world.
There are so many funny points in this post. As you explained, I now know why they are not laughing.
God bless,
LPC
I don't have any issue with academic inbreeding. I don't believe that is the problem with the apostasy and lack of Confessional backbone (read spinelessness) in the Lutheran [self sic] synod churches.
If the synodical schools were faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions [in case you graduated from a (W)ELS school that statement is redundant] in a world of apostasy one could only pull from the student body for faithful stewards of the Truth.
The problem is with the laity who didn't curb the clergy's appetite for false doctrine, false practice and filthy lucre. (W)ELS fell asleep and is paying the price for being unfaithful with the blessing given it by God, a heritage of the Pure Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions. Now they gladly feast on the carrion of false doctrine, false teachers, false practice. Glende and Ski are but the tip of the apostate iceberg as the (W)ELS croon their conservatism and purity they give money to the very people who openly use it to murder men, women and children around the world - in their name.
The glory of the (W)ELS.
This does, however, completely discount the numerous MLC/WLS professors who have either acquired or will acquire masters/doctorates from OTHER universities (real ones, not Fuller).
Classics degrees from University of Florida, Hebrew/Aramaic studies from Wisconsin-Madison, numerous courses of studies at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and/or Marquette, Spanish immersion programs, overseas study at the ELFK Seminary...
Hey Brett
I disagree with your perspective. I think that what Jackson is saying is that the academic inbreeding is the cause of the apostasy that you cite. As with genetic inbreeding, all sorts of funky problems pop up when the family tree circles back on itself. Academic integrity demands a free flow of information, and the WELS system has instituted strictures that control information on many levels.
A curious and morbidly humorous point of note is that a tiny genetic pool is, on some level responsible for the void of spiritual and doctrinal and academic integrity in the WELS. If "Testing the Spirits" means ruining my relationship with half or all of my family, chances are good that I'll never criticize "Uncle so-and-so" for his newfound proclivity towards Fuller. And that's no shame: It's easy to understand how a man might be torn between his family and his job/church. If either relationship goes south (synod or family) he may lose both. The adage "Don't get your Honey where you get you money" is, for some reason coming to mind. It's especially understandable when you consider that most of these pastors are afflicted, to some degree, by the Stockholm Syndrome where the WELS is their captor.
I traveled to Appleton this past Sunday to see how bad the CORE really is for myself. I am going to write a formal review of my experience at a later date, but suffice it to say he didn't even try to hide the reference to that lifechurch site. He used the EXACT same image of the ravens, only he added a small "CORE" logo on the top right.
I really tried to give the service an honest, open assessment. But between popcorn chewing during the prayer, the watery, emotionless, doctrine-less songs, and the law focused sermon (I can count the words which referenced Christ and the gospel in the sermon on one hand), I left the "service" nauseated.
You want to practice strict fellowship? Mark and avoid Ski, Jeske, Glende, and Parlow. Then again The Core is just a "little bit" of a WELS church. "Little bit" is defined as "exploratory" in the official WELS church listings. There is nothing wrong with starting a mission or daughter congregation if we are motivatated by the Holy Spirit. These new exploratory churches are just code words for pastors in jeans, contemporary services, entertainment music, and worst of all, copying unorthodox sectarian sermons. These teachers are guilty of liberalism. When these teachers start demanding that all are to conform to these practices, the issue of "liberal legalism" will stand before us. Intrepids has a new post taking up the issue of adding to God's Word.
I'm with Brett on the descision to hire teachers from within. Of course you may bring in those from the outside, such as Bill Hybels, Leonard Sweet, Martin Marty, Arch Bishop Weckland, and Ed Stetzer. We need the teachers that are within our ranks. By this I mean those teaching the Word in its purity and teaching the confessions as stated in the BOC.
For further detail I commend you to read The Third Use Of The Law.(Armin W. Schuetze) This can be found in the WLS essay file. It is thirty pages and an excelent appendage to Pastor GJ's and Intrepid's latest posts. Schuetze's communication skills surpass those of the church lady's. You can't go wrong when you use Scripture and Luther's Works as your sources.
In Christ,
from WELS church lady
Bored states, "And that's no shame: It's easy to understand how a man might be torn between his family and his job/church."
I disagree, it is a complete shame because a Christian is called to serve Christ, to be a slave to Christ and no other. A Christian is one who hears the Shepherds voice and follows Him alone and not his mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, professor or fellow church member. Is it understandable - yes. Is it excusable - never.
It's important to remember what the root problem of apostasy is. The root problem is placing something above Christ, above the Word, and thus not trusting in the Word alone. Is that lack of trust caused by academic inbreeding - no it's caused by sin and since everyone sins in the flesh (unbelievers sin in flesh and spirit and believers continue to sin in the flesh) it is the Church's Christian responsibility to call the sinner to repentance, be it clergy or laity, with the Word of the Law and in contrition comfort them with the Word of the Gospel. This will keep the teaching pure from father to son, from Pastor to laity and from professor to student - nothing else will. There are certainly examples of faithful students becoming faithful professors that stand as examples against your claim.
Yo Brett:
you got me
My language was admittedly feeble. You got me there. It's shameful to turn a blind eye to doctrine. It's pitiful to doing nothing out of fear. It's pathetic to pretend to be the last good church on earth, and spew doctrinal platitudes and falsehoods from the pulpit.
But it's not shameful to be torn between church and family.
Bored, as I said, "Is it understandable - yes. Is it excusable - never."
Christ declares in Matthew 10:37, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."
To be torn between family and being faithful to Christ is a reality for many. To chose family is shameful and a rejection of Christ. To chose, by the grace of God, Christ, is a blessing and to be praised.
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