Ruth Rethemeyer
I recently had the honor of attending the Reformation Lecture Series at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN where my daughter Hannah is a senior. I graduated from the same school in 1994 and my mother, Grace Otten, attended it for high school. I was especially drawn to the event this year because of its topic, “The Fiftieth Anniversary of Seminex”—The LCMS Perspective, Pres. Matthew Harrison, The WELS Perspective, Dr. Mark Braun and The ELS Perspective, Pres. Glenn Obenberger. I was only 4 months old when the Walkout happened, but lived through the after math of it, through my father Pastor/Editor Herman Otten.
As a child I, along with my other siblings, attended many conventions and helped in various capacities to share the news through the pages of Christian News. As was brought up in two of the three speeches, some of the news was received with open arms and others not. I recall many times the hateful responses from people, but likewise the encouraging words. This was again the case at the Lecture series. I heard the first two speeches say encouraging words and then not so encouraging words about Christian News and Herman Otten. A long time reader of Christian News, who grew up as a young child during those days, told me of how Christian News was a staple in their house. They looked forward to every issue and thanked God for it.
At Christian News we pray that we may continue to do that for households as the world and our country continues to go against Scripture in the current days we are living. We at Christian News continue to maintain that the Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant Word. There are no myths in it; the miracles really happened; and Lord willing Christian News will be able continue for many years, telling the world this news.
Now to the lectures. Rev. Matthew Harrison presented the first lecture, from the LCMS Perspective. I will highlight some of his lecture. To view it and all the other lectures go to https://blc.edu/campus-life/annual-events/reformation-lectures/. They will be printed in the March 2025 Lutheran Synod Quarterly.
Seminex-LCMS Perspective from Pres. Matthew Harrision:
It took years to build up and years to recover from. It was the most costly failure in the history of the Missouri Synod. According to the ELCA it is triumphalism—Harrison disagrees.
It was all by illuminated by the sexual revolution which had dropped the birth rate in half.
The task before them was to do everything to advance God’s Word and advance the saving word of God to the peace and tranquility of Christian Schools and churches. The LCMS was trying to console confused minds—“the Seminex movement failed at all of those.”
Harrison was 12 years old when Seminex happened.
He noted families were split and divided over Seminiex
The LCMS lost 250 congregations. Lost was the identity of several LCMS colleges and some never recovered. Harrison is very pleased, aside from the challenges with Ann Arbor, to report that they are in the best shape with our universities that we have been for 60 years or more. He said, “The new system for governing the schools is working…Everything is codified…I am so thankful as I meet with CUS and everything they are doing.”
“You can say that Concordia, Texas is a casualty, of Seminex. When I first became president there was a vacancy at Texas. The leadership was brought up in the Seminex era.” Harrision mentioned they called a president without the (CUS) president’s approval. “He refused to abide by the bylaws, and they elected without [proper] approval. So what did I do—I didn’t want a fight, just after becoming president. That individual lead a movement to steal that college—I maintain that is a loss of Seminex.”
Since Seminex, the LCMS has brought three (TLH, LW and LBW) different hymnals into one LSB and got that into 94% of our churches. It was an amazingly costly challenge brought to us by Seminex.
Lutheran World Relief—“It hasn’t been Lutheran for many years, or anything near it. When I was on the board for 10 years, I told them, ‘I don’t want you to get involved with the Gospel because you get it wrong.’ One thing I and Bishop Hanson (ELCA) agreed on was that our church bodies globally have capacity to care for people in times of disaster or other crisis. That is all we agreed on. They do a lot of good, but there is no name of Christ.”
He spoke of losing many institutions. He specifically mentioned Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital. He said by the time the Hospital was sold there was not one shred of Lutheranism to it. One ELCA church has the majority of board members and they gave a grant to a gay/lesbian dance. He mentioned the LCMS now has a 2 to 1 dominance on the board and they still struggle to get things done.
The LCMS lost international schools and social ministry agencies.
Harrison said, “Al Barry had a harder time, harder than I do.”
When Harrison took office, after Pres. Kieschnick, “Every social service ministry agency, old folks home, etc., in the State of Missouri that was LCMS was in joint fellowship with ELCA. Seminex was costly and we continue to wind our way out of all that nonsense, with diligence, great diligence.”
He also mentioned costly long term effects: the Yankee Stadium blow up, 20 years ago. Harrison said, “The council of presidents (at that time) never discussed the theology surrounding that incident…. That generation viewed theology as a negative controversial thing…. I am a product of post Walkout Fort Wayne. I love theology and love to talk about it. …Theology is everything. I am happy to say our council of presidents today does exegetical study every meeting, confessional study every meeting, other studies every meeting, lead by council members themselves.”
When the issue of licensed lay readers came to question, much discussion followed. They ended up changing their bylaws on that issue, so that those who are actually carrying out the function of the office on a regular basis need to be ordained. Then President Harrison noted that during some of their early talks about the office of the ministry with the Council of Presidents, he noticed he hadn’t heard one Bible Verse, not one reference to the Lutheran Confessions and not one reference to Luther. So they began studying Walther and Luther on ordination and office. He says they have now made much progress.
Harrison then went onto say, “Seminex made hard ball politics acceptable in the Missouri Synod. I talked to Ralph Bohlmann numerous times before he died. I felt somehow that it would be the honorable thing for me to do. I agree with him on everything up to Robert Preus’s removal. Ralph talked about coming to the seminary to teach. John Behnken took him around the quad where the crosses would be placed, 15 years later. Behnken told him that we needed what Ralph had. Ralph’s really good book [Principles of Biblical Interpretation in the Lutheran Confessions] was written under Robert Preus. Robert Preus asked CPH to print it.
“After being defeated by Al Barry, Ralph never advocated women pastors and intensely opposed the Seminex movement. Ralph had personal challenges in his family, a daughter who is married to her lesbian spouse, who is a UCC pastor. Ralph loved his daughter and his grandchild. So he struggled with that issue. He believes the Missouri Synod was right, but there has to be some way we can approach it. So he really wrestled with that.
“Ralph said ‘Herman Otten was right to publish those things in his paper because they were public.’ I was surprised that he said that. I was surprised to hear Ralph say anything positive about Herman whatsoever. He didn’t attack Herman.
Harrison then went on to say “Herman was right to publish those papers and it is hard to believe the turn around would have happened in Missouri without his action or assistance. Unfortunately, Herman’s repertoire became very much problematic, through the years, and if like me, you were subject to his reporting, and actually knew what was going on, you recognized what was actually reported actually had very little to do with what was happening or had happened. “And that made interactions with Herman very difficult and challenging. There was a lot said, a lot of hard hitting stuff. I think, Herman had an obsessive-compulsive personality.
“I think what happened in the LCMS in those many years of controversy, was that certain individuals with obsessive-compulsive personality traits, who were willing to step up and lather forth the most outrageous accusations, were used by either side instead of saying stop doing that, that is not acceptable. That caused a lot of consciences to be hurt in the Missouri Synod.
“The human issue of the Reformation is the conscience, not to mention certainty—conscience is to be involved if you don’t believe your church’s confession, but you can’t tell people you don’t believe your church’s confession—that causes the conscious to be seared.
This became a problem for the Seminexers because they had been lying prior to the walkout. ‘Yes, we are Lutheran. Yes, nothing has changed. No, we don’t believe that.’
“John Pless has shown in his article in the book on Seminex [Rediscovering the Issues Surrounding the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walk Out] that what happened after Seminex was that they all came out with radical positions. The conscience also works very negatively among conservatives if you’re part of a church body, that is so, so horribly affected by false doctrine and controversy and you in good conscience know that you associate with a church body that teaches and preaches the truth and throws you into a conscience difficulty. I view myself as part of the confessional revival of the Missouri Synod post Seminex. I work for it every single day of my presidency. I work for it every single day of my pastoral 33 years….
“We have made progress. It is a miracle that the LCMS still exists. The issues continue.”
The entire left push of Missouri confused so many pastors. The difference between “close” and “closed” communion—that issue is a gift that keeps on giving.
Anti-Institutionalism from Seminex
Institutions need to be reformed. Institutions exist for good. When people come together for holy goals, biblical goals, they tend to accomplish goals. That is the spread of the Gospel.
We have spent so much money spreading the gospel around without planting churches, where is that work now?, where are the converts?, where is the church there?, where is baptism going on?, It’s not!
He stated we are pro-institution.
“Well, when you do theological education at a seminary people actually learn Greek, they learn Hebrew, they might even learn a little Latin and German. He remembers being told by his teachers that now that you are going out into the world you don’t need Greek. You need the newspaper. Ridiculous! Thankfully we are moving past that.”
Harrison closed by saying, “Seminex was extremely costly for us.”
He mentions having a strong global mission. That it is strong and getting stronger with partner churches, though “with challenges there.”
He boasted of a synod convention that voted 95% against women’s ordination and 88 % for closed communion. “We are so blessed: Two seminaries with the leadership we have. We have many challenges, but we are so blessed.”
Book of Concord Lutherans
All Harrison wants is the Book of Concord and the inerrant scriptures. “The authority of the Church is the divine Scripture. Robert Preus, wrote in “The Power of God’s Word”: the Scriptures participate in all the attributes of God, Eternally True, Divine, Powerful, able to convert, Eternal.”
Harrison wants “Book of Concord Lutherans.” Lutheranism doesn’t need to be supplemented by episcopacy from someone else. Lutheranism does not need Roman Catholicism, obscure Roman Catholic rights; we are not lacking anything. Lutheranism doesn’t need liturgical help from the Anglicans, to be what we should be. The Lutheran Book of Concord doesn’t need Evangelicalism. We may borrow certain things that are not forbidden that may be wise or unwise to use. My point is the Book of Concord does not need to be supplemented by infant communion.”
Harrison wants Book of Concord Lutheranism. “The Book of Concord tells us who God is very clearly.” He went on to talk about Article IV and V, that in Article IV the Gospel comes from outside of me, so in order to sustain such faith (Article V), the Office is given. The office is a divine office, through the Pastor and the Church/Congregation together. He also touched on the importance of Communion.
Harrison closed by thanking the ELS for their prayers. “Our working together, your folks and the WELS people, the talks we have with you, has been the highlight of our lives, ecumenically—although you guys don’t like to use the word ecumenical.”
“I should say we are unofficially having an unrecorded marvelous time together. No threat of fellowship anytime soon. So don’t worry about that, the issues that remain are women serving in the church and boards voting and issues of fellowship. The church and office of ministry should not divide. If we are ever going to get back together it would be a completely divine act of grace. The Lord can work surprising things. It won’t be forced by us or anybody. The conversations we have with your people, the WELS and ELS—we have talks with An
Christian News 