November 15, 2022

Seminex: A Discussion with Dr. Erik Herrmann

1 hour 13 minutes

"With any kind of history, there's a lot of empathy that has to be involved. You have to try to understand that there are objective issues but there's also the subjective: why people get caught up in this sort of thing, and any good history tries to deal with both."

This was a statement from our guest Erik Herrmann on this episode about the controversy that shook Concordia Seminary in St. Louis several decades ago that culminated in a walk-out of faculty and students. This is still a sensitive topic for faithful Lutheran Christians in the United States from different Lutheran denominations, and we pray for the day that Christ's Church may be united in confession, truth, and love. While we could not nearly get to every aspect of the Seminex story in this one episode, we do point you to the following resources (several which we discuss in the episode):

The video recordings of the entire course that Dr. Herrmann taught (along with his colleague Dr. Gerhard Bode) on Seminex "Controversy in the LCMS" can be accessed here: https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/

The article that Andrew referenced by Robert Benne near the beginning of the episode:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/05/the-trials-of-american-lutheranism

Frederick Danker's book No Room in the Brotherhood

*This book is from the perspective of a student involved in the walkout who later went on to be a New Testament scholar and professor in the ELCA.

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/No-room-brotherhood-Preus-Otten-Missouri/dp/091564410X?scrlybrkr=c3bf1423

Paul Zimmermann's book A Seminary in Crisis: The Inside Story of the Preus Fact Finding Committee

*This was written by chair of the committee that went to Concordia Seminary to interview the faculty.

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Seminary-Crisis-Inside-Finding-Committee/dp/0758611021

James Burkee's book Power, Politics, and the Missouri-Synod: A Conflict That Changed American Christianity

*This book is discussed at length in the episode and focuses on the role Herman Otten played in the events leading up to Seminex

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Politics-Missouri-Synod-Burkee/dp/1451465386/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AEDQQFTMPAYT&keywords=james+burkee+missouri+synod&qid=1668473964&s=books&sprefix=james+burkee+missouri+synod%2Cstripbooks%2C109&sr=1-1

A primary source: Exodus from Concordia: A Report on the 1974 Walkout

* The official report put out by the seminary in book form

Available digitized for free at: https://archive.org/details/ConcordiaSemBdOfControlWalkoutOf1974

James E. Adams' book Preus of Missouri and the Great Lutheran Civil War

*Biography of the president of the Missouri Synod at the time of Seminex and how he dealt with the issue

Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Preus-Missouri-great-Lutheran-civil/dp/0060600713

John Tietjen's book Memoirs in Exile: Confessional Hope and Institutional Conflict

*Book written by the president of Concordia Seminary at the time of Seminex

Available digitized for free at: https://archive.org/details/memoirsinexileco0000tiet

The early article from Martin Scharlemann on Scriptural inerrancy that Charlie referred to can be read here:

https://archive.org/details/ScharlemannMTheInerrancyOfScripture/page/n23/mode/2up

A related article on this topic written by the Concordia theology professor Arthur Carl Piepkorn (mentioned by Andrew) can be found here: https://scholar.csl.edu/ctm/vol36/iss1/48/

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