David Scaer's Inadvertent Confessions - Surviving the Storms - Lulu and Kindle

Surviving the Storms. Get the Kindle, which is only $10.
Lulu for $35? An Amazon author's price would be about $5. Did Amazon refuse to print it? Just kidding.
Logia sells the PDF for $20! Schwan got them started, one of many indulgences he purchased in exchange for forgiveness. Team Ichabod gives everything away, including all of Lenski.

Did David Scaer shop his autobiography around? LCMS or WELS could have published it - both denominations are equally corrupt in doctrine, especially concerning the Chief Article.

An editor is listed, but this book defies careful reading. Scaer's use of pronouns is so sloppy that one can hardly figure out the antecedent. Some historical anchors could be used because few today lived through those events.

His description of graduate study suggests the basis for his obnoxious behavior in the classroom. He is the son of a Missouri pastor and related to two more Scaer's in higher education. That comprises most of the requirements for teaching in Missouri. He was planning on being a simple parish pastor, but he traveled to Germany for a doctorate. In those days, that meant almost certain teaching assignments in the LCMS. However, he failed his dissertation (not uncommon). Robert Marshall the LCA President, hinted to me in a letter that he also failed his dissertation (which can happen for a variety of reasons). Scaer came home to get a rescue ThD at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, using his German dissertation.

John F. Johnson, who helped ruin Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, told me a ThD from St. Louis was useless for any career outside of the LCMS. He earned a second doctorate from St. Louis University (Jesuit, so fitting). Johnson loved the Swiss Karl Barth and began raving about him - until he noticed my reaction, which was probably like unto one who has opened a bottle of spoiled buttermilk. Johnson quickly changed the subject. One faculty member said, "He lets us teach whatever we want. We had to be very careful when Barth was president." Bohlmann drove the LCMS Barth out of the presidency so Johnson could Seminexify the school, picking 40 of the 45 professors there.

Mr. Rude

The extraordinary rudeness of Scaer in the classroom comes from his massive insecurities. His lack of parish experience, with an eye on the prize, is only slightly better than Paul McCain's. Missouri and WELS seem to favor teachers who enjoy sticking their thumbs in people's eyes. Kurt Marquart was an exception, in his grasp of the material and his parish experience.

As I showed in great detail, Scaer's discussion of Justification is wrong, befuddled, dishonest, and anti-Lutheran. 

As bad as the autobiography is, the discussion of events is valuable. The historical-critical movement (HCM), which sprang from Halle University (home of the OJ Burger), peaked after WWII and led to  the Society of Biblical Literature meetings being "an exercise in creative writing," as Scaer said in class. The text no longer mattered, but Scaer got into that and even had Willie Marxen (redaction criticism) as a professor in Germany.

Fiorenza thought redaction criticism was a hoot.

I was exposed to a lot of HCM, from my home parish (JEDP) on - college, seminary, Yale, Notre Dame. My New Testament professor, Nils Dahl, studied under the celebrity scholars of the time - Bultmann, Mowinkel,etc. Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza went from Notre Dame to a feminist seminary to Harvard, teaching HCM.

That is the big break in doctrinal and Biblical work. While the old scholars - like Lenski, Keil-Delitzsch - sought to explain the content of God's Word faithfully, the new ones are rationalists/Calvinists who seek to establish their theories in order to enhance their careers. "The most daring volume on 3 John - ever! Everyone is reading this book!!"

Scaer - A Basket of His Favorite Ideas

Most people have not read hundreds of books of modern theology. Bless your hearts - you have been spared. All of the moderns, including Scaer, are individually invested in their own hobby-horses.

What bothers me most is Scaer's treatment of "his theology," which is exactly what plagues all of modern theology. Everyone picks a position, a favorite theologian, and proceeds to knit a new cathedral of thought out of the used and worn-out rationalism of the last two centuries - especially Schleiermacher and Barth. Just as Barth-Kirschbaum taught their thinly disguised apostasy and Marxism, Scaer teaches Scaer. Rate My Professors has some interesting comments about him. "His schtick gets old quick."

If someone dares to disagree with a professor in graduate school or seminary, he or she may be doomed. I disagreed with Elizabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza in class (Apocalyptic literature) and one student said, "Nice knowing you, Greg." He assumed I was finished at Notre Dame. She later commended me for standing up for myself. She said, and I paraphrase, "Most of these people have never left school, so they do not think on their own."

Therefore, an insecure and tenured professor is very dangerous in delivering his lectures - or rambles - ex cathedra, with a host of hangers-on listening to every word. Moreover, his theological journal becomes a vanity press that publishes every word. If this book is any clue, the rest of Scaer's work is unreadable and unedifying.

 Waldo Werning fashioned himself as a Doctor. He was listed in the Who's Who in Church Growth, as Valleskey noted, glaring at me. Both clowns denied going to Fuller, though they admitted they did. Bivens is another one in this class.

Let's Talk about Waldo Werning - 

The Mouse That Squeaked and Sqawked

Scaer's book has a long section on Werning's war against him. Kincaid Smith (LCA, charismatic, LCMS, ELS) took me down to Ft. Wayne to meet Waldo Werning, Robert Preus, Kurt Marquart, and others, about 1986. Smith's DMin program at Ft. Wayne was all Church Growth, as he told me. He was offended at first that I criticized CG in Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure.

Werning stayed in contact with me, from that time on, with some gaps, until his death in 2013. I pay attention to the way people communicate, and I noticed he went from anti-Bohlmann to pro-Bohlmann. I told Otten, who disbelieved me. Sure enough, Werning targeted Otten for a time.

Werning went after a student I knew. As a pastor, he was driven out of LCMS, WELS, and ELS by Werning. Bishop James Rodham Heiser told me he was afraid to criticize Werning, warned that Werning would never stop pursuing him in the LCMS or elsewhere.

When I was in WELS, I asked Werning if he went to Fuller Seminary. He said he did and I copied that down on the date in my Daytimer. I began doing that with WELS clergy since they lied so often. When Werning later denied what he had confessed, I read my note and gave him the date. An ELS pastor told me soon after that Werning was going bonkers, running me down.

I was shocked that anyone took Werning seriously. His behavior was simply atrocious toward Scaer. I posted Werning's ridiculous false doctrine in Christian News in the midst of Waldo's Scaer war. The professor walked by me and said thanks.

I fault the LCMS that a lot of these kidney punching peewees like Werning are allowed to do the work of the leaders. Bohlmann doubtless gave Werning the flattery the man craved and aimed him at Ft. Wayne, Scaer, Otten, anyone. Remember - Bohlmann was one of many disasters promoted by Otten.

There were plenty of reasons to laugh Werning out of the seminary, but they let him file charge after charge. But Werning is just as much a product of rancid Pietism as Scaer is. The quote below is worth memorizing:

"Justification by Faith in Christ together with its twin truth, the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, are the keystone and the cornerstone of Protestantism. Neglect one or both and the whole structure will fall into ruin." 
Dr. Walter A. Maier, Maier Still Speaks, Back Cover

 The quote above is from the back cover of Otten's book on Maier.

Scaer seemed to fashion himself as a modern Biblical scholar, and he definitely rejects Justification by Faith. Why should we wonder that all the mainline seminaries are emptying just as the feminist-gay liberation people are taking over?

The spineless leaders keep doing whatever will appease the radicals of the moment - or in many cases - simply living out their own preferences. The era of creative destruction is upon us. Little will remain in a few years - with special thanks to the "conservatives" who fished for the Church Growth Kraken and found themselves devoured by it.

How about Robert Preus, Church Growth, and OJ?

Scaer repeatedly refers to the late Robert Preus as a great theologian but fickle administrator.

How did this collection of "confessional, conservative Lutheran" professors mange to create a Church Growth program, 100% CG as Kincaid Smith said?

Clearly Preus and Scaer were not watching the store while it was being robbed of its credibility. Preus liked to be a hero among the non-Lutheran Protestants, who admired someone who stood up for inerrancy. They were a mixed bag of stray cats about Justification, so that was no scandal for them. Preus went to Calvinists for help on Objective Justification.

At the time of the faculty’s conversations with Maier II, Robert Preus looked for support and found it among conservative friends in the Evangelical movement who admired him for his defense of biblical inspiration and inerrancy, including several faculty members of Westminster Seminary—Escondido, California, with its renowned Reformed [Calvinist] scholar Michael Horton (b. 1964). Preus must have been aware, but chose to ignore that the Reformed see objective justification as a component of their doctrine of election, but it was hardly universal in scope as Lutherans have historically held it.

Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer (Kindle Locations 5655-5659). Luther Academy. Kindle Edition.

That is like going to Fuller Seminary for help with evangelism!

 Ur rite, Pete. LOL. Where's my DMin?

Why was Neuhaus invited to speak to Ft. Wayners on "Becoming the Roman Catholic I Always Was"?

One dogmatic point is sure - because I invented it - The non-reciprocity of the false teachers. The Shrinkers want to draw everyone into their sect and buy their stinking books and programs, but they will never budge an inch toward the genuine, Reformation, Bible-centered, Means of Grace honoring Gospel. Therefore, they flatter and seduce insecure Lutherans into poking their toes into the Church Growth swamp, so easy when no one - and I mean no one - is teaching the efficacy of the Word.

Confidentially - you do not need to send me an email or leave an anonymous voice-mail - do you think this metastatic cancer of Church Growth was ever intended to increase the number of believing Christians? No, they were advancing their anti-inerrancy views from the start. Fuller Seminary began with a weak view of inerrancy (docrine only - not history or geography!) They repudiated that when hiring NCC-WCC spokes-radical  start their Church Shrinkage program, which they diplomatically called Church Growth. He was Disciples of Christ. WELS Pastor Jon Balge said to me, a bit irritated, "Weren't you Disciples of Christ, Greg?" when I made that point. Yes, I left that sect for the Lutherans. That does not count. One must be born in a WELS parsonage in Wisconsin to be truly and fatally WELS.

The only growth from Fuller was their growth in revenue, and even they - with their supposed marketing savvy - had to cancel expansion plans. Haha.

Where were the genius leaders during all this? They protected and paid Bunkowski, Werning, and the rest.

On Preus and OJ.
Robert was OJ all the way - until his last book, never mentioned by Scaer in his Confessions. Given the LCMS hagiographies of Herman A. Preus and Walther, we could expect that. But Preus clearly repudiated OJ in Justification and Rome - never mentioned by Scaer, who also forgets Luther almost entirely.

Tietjen the Destroyer

I lived through the Tietjen era, which made me skeptical about the LCMS being much different from the LCA. Scaer has interesting historical observations about the Concordia St. Louis president who created Seminex and facilitated ELCA, aka the Extended LCA.

Only four electors chose Tietjen. As I have said, the battle is for control of those little committees and commissions that make the decisions. Tietjen did not have to leave with his liberal professors, but he did impulsively. Jack Preus read him like a cheap tabloid, and Otten sold a lot of papers.

Tietjen next failed as Seminex president, though he did include the gays training for lavender career in the Metropolitan Community Church, with help from Jungkuntz - WELS OJ Professor - as chairman of the board. Deppe was the St. Louis professor who came out in the exodus from the seminary. He was arrested for soliciting a male police officer in a park in St. Louis. Deppe went on to teach at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. Married with children, he joined Metropolitan Community Church as a pastor.

Seminex's AELC got a special deal on the merger commission because they were so small. Y'all could see where this was going. They pushed for gay and female quotas, which was like building a skyscraper on top of garbage and effluent. Who needs bedrock?

Seminex failed and the faculty largely moved to LSTC (LCA, then ELCA). I am not sure when Tietjen gave up his position, but he was voted in as Bishop of the the Metro Chicago District.

Tietjen insisted on a lady assistant who was part of the Seminex crowd. I am not sure whether she was ordained or not. The people who elected him said "No!" and the big guys at headquarters had to intervene. Tietjen would not budge, so after one month of His Holiness, ELCA gave him a parish call to Texas. He actually led a revolt against ELCA forming an expensive Church Growth start nearby. Tietjen was better at forming boycotts than enduring them. ELCA gave up and moved the "experiment" - as they and WELS called these things - to Yorba Linda, where it flopped faster than the snowshoe store in Yuma, Arizona.

Richard John Neuhaus was like many LCMS pastors, raised in the Missouri flavor of Ecclesia Immaculata. They decided Rome was the fulfillment of all they had been taught - anti-Creation, anti-Justification by Faith, and in favor of philosophy and the historical-critical method of bending the Scriptures to fit one's mood and agenda.