“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” (attributed to Santayana). At the time of Seminex, the LCMS was preserved by the voluntary exodus of professors at the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis — not by disciplinary actions by the Seminary or by the Synodical administration. I doubt that the cleanup would ever have come about through doctrinal discipline, owing to the Gemanic lockstep, bureaucratic mentality prevailing in the Synod. By God’s unmerited grace, those profs created their own exodus. We can hardly rely on such to occur again.
If nothing is done about the current New Testament Department problem at Concordia Seminary, St Louis, there will be a repeat of the Princeton Seminary debacle early in the 20th century: the collapse of meaningful inerrancy in the New Testament area will spread to other theological disciplines and the students educated with such a philosophy will contaminate the parishes—and the LC-MS will go the way of virtually all other major denominations, into a vague social or pious religiosity that apes the culture and ceases to be witness to it."
Dr John Warwick Montgomery, Ph.D., D.Théol., LL.D. Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University Wisconsin; Director, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, Strasbourg, France
I ran into Ken Hunter (DMin Fuller Seminary, another degree from Chicago's ELCA seminary) on my way into the Purple Palace. We had already talked on the phone, where he assured me that Paul Kelm endorsed his Church Growth seminar when asked.
What was Hunter doing going into the Purple Palace, LCMS Headquarters? He was meeting with the Council of Presidents, to guide them in the ways of Church Growth. I thought the two directions we were going said it all. I was completely disgusted with Church Growth in the LCMS and WELS, not to mention the adulterous pastors supported by the officials. I resigned from WELS and intended never to serve a church again.
Hunter's pablum took over WELS and the LCMS completely, with the enthusiastic support of each Synod President, including Bohlmann, Barry, and Harrison (Otten blessed, Otten endorsed) and Mischke, Gurgle, and Schroeder (each one assigning handlers to Otten, to keep him in line).
I have great respect for Montgomery's learning and his work for the legal rights of Christians. But I have heard that he supports UOJ in his new book with some LCMS professor.
From someone:
"On a side note, I was reading a collection of essays edited by J.W. Montgomery and Gene Veith. They have obvious LC-MS ties, but, yet, take on a kind of outlier posture. My point is that in reading through J.W. Montgomery's essay, he simply assumes the categories of objective and subjective justification as the orthodox canon of Lutheran theologians."
Observing the Eighth Commandment, I think one reason for this lapse by JW is the widely held assumption that OJ is the same as the atonement, that SJ is justification by faith. I have taken that assumption apart in a few posts. OJ is universal forgiveness and salvation without faith. SJ is simply making a decision for OJ - it is faith in OJ!
And then - he could simply be wrong. He came from the LCA originally, and universal salvation was an assumption.
Wikipedia:
Montgomery is a scholarly maverick[12] who has 11 earned degrees in multiple disciplines: philosophy, librarianship, theology, and law. His degrees include: the A.B. with distinction in Philosophy (Cornell University; Phi Beta Kappa), B.L.S. and M.A. (University of California, Berkeley), B.D. and S.T.M. (Wittenberg University,Springfield, Ohio), LL.B. (La Salle Extension University), M. Phil. in Law (University of Essex, England), Ph.D. (University of Chicago), Th.D. Doctorat d'Universite (University of Strasbourg), LLM and LLD in canon law (Cardiff University). He also holds an honorary doctorate awarded in 1999 by the Institute for Religion and Law,Moscow.[3][11][13][14]
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| CFW Walther organized a riot to rob and kidnap the Pietistic bishop he followed slavishly. |
It Is All Over - And Christian News Has Only Made Matters Worse
The adoption and canonization of the LCMS Brief Statement of 1932 ended any hope for Missouri becoming a Lutheran synod. Instead, the sect has been divided among the Bronze Age Pietists, with statements and rules on everything, and the next generation product of Pietism - the Pentecostals and ELCA wannabees.
These are simply stages in Halle University Pietism:
- Halle UOJ
- Confusing hedonism with the Gospel - ELCA UOJ.
- Confusing tongue-speaking with evangelism - Pentecostal/charismatic movement.
What do they have in common? All three repudiate:
- The Book of Concord,
- The efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace, and
- The Chief Article - Justification by Faith.
Otten is at Stage 1, arguing with Stage 2, which is most of the the LCMS/WELS hierarchy and many of the clergy.
Many charismatics and Pentecostals believe in Biblical inerrancy - at least they think they do. In fact, many of their statements are diluted with various equivocations to allow those with rationalistic tendencies to associate with them.
So - having everyone stand up and cheer for inerrancy is not going to cure anything.
Also, a large segment of the American people, the Babtist tribe (but not the Baptists) adhere to the traditional text of the Bible and the KJV in its various flavors. However, a brief glance at the flavors show that very few of them are faithful to the text when Babtist dogma gets in the way. The KJV 21 is an exception and I am looking at the Third Millennium KJV as another possibility. Needless to say, the New KJV is dominant and decidedly Babtist and anti-Sacrament.
So let's all argue for the text - Rah, Rah, Make Disciples, Rah!
The problem in Missouri comes from lying about its history, mythologizing CFW Walther, and elevating the little sneak to divine status as the Great and Final Prophet of all Things Christian and Secular.
