Paul McCain on Steadfast Enthusiasts
He has a need to be regarded as some sort of expert on all things Lutheran. Suffice it to say, Mr. Jackson never understood Robert Preus, for he never, at any point, in spite of the many academic credentials he loves to mention, received a thorough orthodox and confessional Lutheran education.
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Paul McCain, who is not a pastor, should not be so windy when he is off his medication. The more he writes, the more he exposes his ignorance. I am happy to provide some fact-checking, although I cannot take all evening.
I was often at Concordia, Ft. Wayne, when he, Jay Webber, and Jim Heiser were students. I took two classes there, attended some lectures besides, and went to conferences when I could.
Let me turn back the time machine for the Lutheran Orthodoxy of "The Fort." Here is a quotation from Robert Preus, which Jack Cascione and others have reproduced to show how orthodox UOJ the president of the seminary was (1981):
All this is put beautifully by an old Lutheran theologian of our church, "We are redeemed from the guilt of sin; the wrath of God is appeased; all creation is again under the bright rays of mercy, as in the beginning; yea, in Christ we were justified before we were even born. For do not the Scriptures say: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them?'’ This is not the justification which we receive by faith...That is the great absolution which took place in the resurrection of Christ. It was the Father, for our sake, who condemned His dear Son as the greatest of all sinners causing Him to suffer the greatest punishment of the transgressors, even so did He publicly absolve Him from the sins of the world when He raised Him up from the dead." (Edward Preuss, "The Justification of a Sinner Before God," pp. 14-15) [GJ - Edward Preuss turned Roman Catholic, so he was not exactly an old Lutheran theologian!] Source - Reclaiming Knapp.
I attended a Kadai class. He was a mainline liberal who adored Karl Barth the Red.
I met Waldo Werning, the most fanatic of many Church Growth professors at Ft. Wayne. Kincaid Smith said his entire DMin at Ft. Wayne was Church Growth. For that reason Kincaid really resented my book Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure. Smith said so in the ELS journal of record, The Lutheran Sentimental.
Later I met Gene Bunkowske, another CG professor at Ft. Wayne. He started the missiology program at Ft. Wayne - more CG.
I recall one Ft. Wayne professor who became a Roman Catholic later. I think he was Klemet Preus' first father-in-law.
"The Fort" is famous for turning out graduates who join the priesthood or the Eastern Orthodox soon after. That was supposed the reason why Robert Preus wrote his last book, to stop the leakage to Rome, a flow encouraged by David Scaer and Bill Weinrich.
McCain did not attend graduate school, so he may be pardoned for his lack of knowledge about matters beyond the Bachelor of Divinity degree, his highest achievement. That is the real designation, changed only to suit the posturing of the clergy. The three professional degrees are bachelor's degrees (law, medicine, divinity), so an MD earns an MA when he becomes a specialist. A DMin is a drive-by STM, and no one wants an STD from any school, even though the truth about Stephan is not that well known.
My dogmatics professor, Otto Heick, was a favorite author for the Synodical Conference, and he often published in the Concordia Monthly. Ulrich Leupold was a world-famous musicologist. Nils Dahl, Paul Holmer, and Sydney Ahlstrom--all at Yale--are required or recommended reading. I attended Bainton lectures, who was so loved for his Here I Stand that one seminary made him an honorary Lutheran. I could drop a few more names, but that is enough for now. In fact, my real education in the Confessions came in Columbus, Ohio, when the WELS clergy showed their abhorrence for the Confessions and the Sixth Commandment.
I noticed McCain's slobbering reference to taking courses from Bob Preus on Steadfast Enthusiasts. It moved me to tears...of laughter. I was sitting in McCain's Purple Palace office when he bragged about pulling the rug out from under Preus. That arrogance and scorn came after two years of parish experience as Barry's duplicitous campaign manager. Shortly after that boast he was giving an award to Mrs. Preus, honoring the same man he bragged about sandbagging.
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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Those Glory Days of Lutheran Orthodoxy at The Fort...":
>I noticed McCain's slobbering reference to taking courses from Bob Preus on Steadfast Enthusiasts. It moved me to tears...of laughter.
I am crying now too, tears flowing down my cheeks, but my mouth just keeps on laughing.
LPC
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GJ - The UOJ Enthusiasts cannot stop blabbering about their one and only dogma, but they want to silence anyone who questions them. A discussion board (Steadfast Enthusiasts, LaughQuest) is for them to post dozens of remarks about how wise, loving, patient, and orthodox they are. The only thing missing is, "Thank God we are not like other men, like those Ichabodians." Oh, they say that too.
Best of all, the UOJ hive is just as spiteful with each other and they are with their opponents. Every so often they start biting and devouring each other on LQ. Everyone on the ALPB Forum laughs about it.
