LOGIA A JOURNAL OF LUTHERAN THEOLOGY HOLY TRINI1Y 1996 VOLUME V, NUMBER 3 CONTENTS CORRESPONDENCE ..................................................................................·..........·....·................··....·..·....·......··..........·.. ·· ......·....·..···3 ARTICLES A Sermon on Revelation 7:13-17 By Dr. Robert D. Preus: .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 In Memoriam: Robert David Preus By David P. Scaer .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Commemoration Sermon for Dr. Robert D. Preus By David P. Scaer .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Robert David Preus: In Memoriam By Wilhelm W. Petersen ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Robert Preus, Historian of Theology By John Stephenson .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 The "Realist Principle" of Theology By Kurt Marquart .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 Solus Christus By Daniel Preus .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Luther Battles the Fanatics By Arnold J. Koelpin.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Selective Fellowship By Hermann Sasse ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 A Call for Manuscripts .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 37 The Other Story ofLutherans at Worship? By Rick Stuckwicsh .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 The Church in AC VII: An Exegetical Overview By Randy Asburry ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 45 COLLOQUIUM FRATRUM ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 William P. Grunow: Response to "Communion in Holy Things . .." Alan Ludwig: Author's response REVIEWS .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 REVIEW ESSAY: Testing the Boundaries: Windows to Lutheran Identity. By Charles P. Arand. Lutheranism and Pietism: Essays and Reports 1990, Lutheran Historical Conference. Vol. 14. Edited by Aug. R. Suelflow. The Other Story ofLutherans at Worship: Reclaiming Our Heritage ofDiversity. By David S. Luecke. The Word Goes On: Sermons by Dr. Siegbert vv, Becker. Compiled by James P. Becker. Studies in the Augsburg Confession. By John Meyer. Galatians: A Continental Commnentary. By Dieter Liihrmann. Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living in Between. By Stanley Hauerwas. BRIEFLY NOTED LOGIA FORUM ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 71 The Ministry in Genesis • Protestant Sacerdotalism • Confess Christ or Celebrate Schweitzer? A Sure Word • Not By Morals • Battle for the Gospel • The Power of the Keys • Silent Women Who for Us Men • On Being Put • Timely Communion Practice In Memoriam Robert David Preus DAVID P. SCAER -------------------------------t----------------------------- V R. ROBERT D. PREUS WILL GO DOWN in the 150 -year his recruited emeriti from Saint Louis and colleagues from Springfield tory of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as one where he would become president in May ofthat same year. c - of its most remarkable and influential theologians and The 1975 synod convention moved the Springfield seminary to . churchmen. He was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Fort Wayne, where it had been founded in 1846. During his presi known as "the little Norwegian Synod;' whose predecessor synod dency the seminary had large enrollments and was financially sol his great -grandfather had founded and in which his grandfather vent. (At times it was one of the few schools in the church that served. For thirty-eight years Dr. Preus served the Missouri Synod were.) Faculty and students were recognized for loyalty to the as a professor of systematic theology, first at Concordia Seminary, Lutheran Confessions. St Louis (1957-1974) and then at Concordia Theological Semi In July 1989, at age 64, Dr. Preus was retired from the presidency nary, Springfield, later Fort Wayne (1974-1995), of which he was by as-3 vote of the Board of Regents, after a prior vote of 4-1-3 in also the president (1974-1989; 1992-1993). History cannot now May failed. During a lecture Dr. Preus was delivering at the January render a verdict, but at this time no other person has a claim to be 1991 symposium, he was notified by a fax letter delivered by the recognized as the most significant theologian of this period. seminary security officer that the synod president and vice-presi His Inspiration of the Scriptures, a doctoral dissertation pre dents were requesting his removal from the ministerium of the sented to the University of Edinburgh, was the first detailed synod. He was noticeably shaken, but continued with the second study of this doctrine in the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy. It part of his lecture. A district vice-president soon acceded to this provided the Missouri Synod with an analysis of the view that request and for a time Dr. Preus was not considered a minister of was essential to understanding its theology. He pursued his stud the church. During this same time he was charged with false doc ies with another dissertation at the University of Strassbourg trine for defending a colleague's statement that all theology is chris that analyzed the theology of the same period. This was pub tology. He was cleared ofall charges and returned to the presidency lished as The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism. A sec of the seminary by the 1992 synod convention. It was understood ond published volume with the same title covered the doctrine that after leaving that position in April 1993, he would remain as of God and was the promise of a complete set covering all the professor ofsystematic theology until his retirement. But seminary doctrines of this period. officials intervened and again he was not allowed to teach or preach During his Saint Louis days he was recognized as the leading in chapel. In April 1994 he and his wife, Donna, after seventeen COIlltes:Sl0Jl1al professor when certain others were entertaining years in Fort Wayne, left for Minnesota. At sixty-nine he was the :JIlf:th()ds that cast doubt on the historical nature of the Bible. same age as some colleagues and younger than others. He took a his reading of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics he was an prominent part in the July 1995 synod convention, where he was ,,"tihm'itv on neo-orthodoxy, a theological approach that avoided narrowly deprived ofelection to the synodical praesidium. historical issues by relegating everything in the Bible to a doc His wide success as a theologian and organizer and his popu of revelation that was defined in existential terms. His broad larity with students and lay people may have been underlying rea of theology and his confessional convictions attracted stu sons for his removal. All charges against him were found to be who as pastors became church leaders. without substance. Although some questioned his administrative His late brother, Dr. J. A. O. Preus, held to the same fundamen competency, he had in 1989 garnered enough funds to eliminate beliefs and was elected synodical president in 1969. By 1974 the tuition for students. Men of lesser stamina might have retreated, lJ)PC)SlIlg approaches represented by the Preus brothers and the but he was determined to rebuild funds intended for tuition that precipitated a crisis in which nearly all the professors left had been depleted after his removal in 1989. positions in Saint Louis. When the acting president, the late When the 1995 synod convention voted by large majorities for Martin Scharlemann, could no longer carry out his duties, Dr. a change in the membership of the Fort Wayne Board of Regents, Preus was called upon to administer what was until then this was widely interpreted as another vindication. The new largest Lutheran seminary in the western hemisphere. With board intended not only to let Dr. Preus return as an active pro two other regular faculty members as instructors, he fessor, but also to confer on him the title of president emeritus. He took an active part in the September faculty meetings, in which he resolved a thorny issue raised by a district president p, SCAER, a contributing editor for LOGIA, is Professor ofSystem Theology and New Testament at Concordia Theological Seminary, about pastors' loyalty to the synod if they did not support women Wayne, Indiana. as congregational presidents. During these same three months 7 8 LOGIA after the convention, he made plans to resume teaching in the fall of 1996 and to reactivate some off-campus sites. He was going to take a prominent part in the 1996 Symposium on the Lutheran Confessions, an idea he had originated in 1978, and to layout plans for the seminary's future. Beginning in 1989 he laid plans for the Luther Academy, which he served as president. Among its purposes were sponsoring the confessional journal Logia; publishing the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series, of which he was the editor and for which he himself was writing volumes on the Scriptures and justification; and conducting scholarly meetings. Annual gatherings were held in Chicago, and a few days before he died he was in Saint Catharines for the Sasse Symposium, of which the Luther Acad emy was a sponsor. At the time of his removal from office, Dr. Preus also had plans for the seminary to offer the Doctor of Theology and Doctor of Missiology degrees, which reflected his great loves. Plans for the Doctor of Theology, which involved a chair of confessional Lutheran studies, were consistently thwarted, though it was widely recognized that under his leadership the seminary had the resources. After he returned to the presidency in 1992, he again took up this dream of a chair of confessional Lutheran studies, which he would hold for a year or two. This offer was declined, and again he was no longer allowed to teach any seminary courses. In the morning ofthe day he died he was laying down plans to estab lish this chair, though he no longer desired it for himself. The semi nary board in cooperation with the Preus family is carrying out his wishes to create the chair he was not allowed to hold. In his honor it will be called the Robert D. Preus Chair ofConfessional Studies. Dr. Preus was a significant figure in Evangelical circles, where his commitment to the Scriptures was admired. He was wel comed into their societies, where he played a leading role and contributed to their anthologies. His staunch defense of biblical inerrancy and what he had done for the Missouri Synod in 1974 attracted the admiration of those who would later fight the same kinds ofbattles in their churches. He was credited with starting a revolution towards a more conservative Christianity in other denominations. After participating in the September faculty meeting, he lec tured in Finland and laid plans for a seminary extension in Cam bridge, England. Dr. Preus's obvious vitality left his family, friends, and admirers unprepared for his death. His calendar years stood diametrically opposed to his extensive plans for writing and teach ing. The six years of controversy provided his church with a focal point to clarity the newer theological issues, but they had taken a toll on him. His vigor and zeal for theology and for the seminary were still there, but to those who had known him only a few years before he had noticeably aged. He seemed to be unaware of the price he had been forced to pay. The year 1974 with its controversy over the Bible in which Dr. Robert Preus was a prominent factor has been considered the watershed year for the Missouri Synod. His removal from ,the presidency in 1989 and the following six years in which he worked to exercise his position as a teacher of the church at the seminary may give historians reason to reevaluate the importance of the earlier date. The confessional theology of the Missouri Synod and the Fort Wayne seminary remain as tributes to what he has done. Our tribute to him is maintaining his heritage. III1!lII The CJ300k ofConcord edited by Henry Eyster Jacobs in two hard-bound volumes Volume I: The Lutheran Confessions Volume II: Supporting historical documents, such as the Schwabach and Torgau Articles, the Roman Confu tation, Eck's 404 Theses, the non-Lutheran confessions ofAugsburg, the Variata, the Leipzig Interim, the Catalog ofTestimonies, a historical introduction by Jacobs, and other items. $60 for both volumes, $35 for a single volume. Please add $1.50 handling for each volume purchased. Illinois residents add 6.25% sales tax. • The Johann Gerhard Institute • 34 S. Country Club Road • Decatur, IL 62521 (217) 428-2380