by Norma Boeckler
From an ELCA pastor, who sent a very polite email, signed it, and gave the name of his congregation:
Also you are clear about who are the past greats in Lutheran theology. What I would like to know is this: Are there any living published Lutheran theologians whom you would endorse as completely orthodox in their teaching and consistent in their practice of fellowship? Similarly, what would you suggest a young man who has graduated from college and wished to study for the Lutheran ministry in the USA do? Is there any seminary that is safe to go to and if not does that mean it is impossible to study theology under the instruction of others and one must do it completely on one's own?
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GJ - My view of theological writers is summed up in a few words - the deader, the better. I am sure there are some, but I pay no attention to current writers. I agree with Walther - Not many but much. I would rather read Luther and Chemnitz over again than pick up a new book. Here is another good saying - The closer to Luther, the better the theologian. I find it interesting that there is so much blather about everyone except Luther and Chemnitz. Gerhard is a fine theologian, but he does not compare to those two major contributors to the Book of Concord.
Which seminary? They are all over-priced. I wonder where the clergy have been while the tuition was jacked up everywhere. Debt-ridden graduates cannot afford to buck the system. They have an expensive degree which is useless in the business world.
I used to like the two Concordias, but their product has gone Fuller/Roman/Eastern Orthodox. The so-called Confessional Lutherans from those seminaries are really Recessional Lutherans, leading their members to Pasadena, Rome, or Constantinople.
Bethany and the Sausage Factory teach Universalism via UOJ. Their graduates seldom, if ever, think about issues. The Bethany graduates who think are expelled from the Little Sect on the Prairie.
No, I would not waste a fortune on the Lutheran seminaries. The alternative to a formal education at a synodical school would be one of university divinity schools, like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Duke. Sometimes a good deal on tuition is available. The faculty is going to be apostate for the most part. All my professors at Yale were conservative: Dahl, Malherbe, Wilson, Holmer. They were much more conservative than my LCA seminary and college professors, and they were also known as conservative at Yale. The dean vowed never to hire another Lutheran. Now those professors are retired or dead. Two Yale professors began each class with prayer, something that never happened in the LCA.
Self-study or study with an expert is possible. In colonial days a young man lived at a parsonage and studied with the minister. They called these arrangements the School of the Prophets. Often the young man spirited away the parson's daughter in the bargain. I am sure the parson and his wife wept and winked at the same time.
Perhaps the entire synodical enterprise must come unglued for it to be reborn. I know ELCA has spawned more break away congregations in population than the entire Little Sect on the Prairie.
Some say the mini-micros are a good argument against leaving: LCR, CLCs, ELDONA. I believe there is no excuse for financial or personal support for wrongful activities. No more giving to synodical slush funds is a good start. Better would be non-attendance at events. Imagine a gathering where only half showed up. The pall over the meeting would be, well, appalling.
