Heh, what about Springfield? That was the question we received after our previous issue on the Walkout. The Summer 2024 issue of Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly (Volume 97, Number 2) answers that question! It does this with remembrances of the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walkout from seminarians and faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois at the time. It accomplishes this through six articles.
ARTICLES
First of these articles is by the Rev. Dr. David P. Scaer, entitled, “Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis in the Spring of 1974”. He provides a description of the campus of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis from the perspective of a professor at Springfield who was traveling the 100 mile distance to assist with teaching classes for the reduced student population.
Dr. Scaer also provides us with the second article, entitled, “The Law-Gospel Debate in the Missouri Synod”. This article first appeared in The Springfielder, Volume 36 (1972). It provides an analysis of the debate which started in the 1940s and fostered the thinking at the time of The Walkout.
The third article, entitled, “Personal Memories of the Seminex Years—Prelude and Fulfillment”, is by the Rev. Dr. Dean Wenthe. He provides a perspective of having been a student at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in the late 1960s and then becoming a faculty member at Springfield in the early 1970s.
The fourth article, entitled, “Seminex and the Springfield Seminary”, is by the Rev. Robert Dargatz. He was a student at Springfield, one of the small number of students who attended the Senior College at Ft. Wayne but opted to attend Springfield for their seminary education.
The fifth article, entitled, “A Seminex Story”, by the Rev. Dr. David Stechholz, provides his recollections on the transition from Springfield to Ft. Wayne as a “Spring-wayner”.
The final article, entitled, “One Pastor’s Experience of the Walkout at the Concordia Senior College”, is by the Rev. Daniel Fienen. He provides a perspective of concluding student at the Senior College at the time of the Walkout.
BOOK REVIEWS
The first review, by Molly Lackey, is for “The Emigration of the Saxon Lutherans in the Year 1838 and Their Settlement in Perry County, Missouri“, by J.F. Koestering.
The second review, by C. George Fry, is for “God on Three Sides: German Pietists at War in Eighteenth-Century America“, by Jonathan M. Wilson.
The third and final review, by Thomas Manteufel, is for “Pietism and the Sacraments: The Life and Theology of August Hermann Francke“, by Peter James Yoder.
The Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly is sent to all members of the Institute. Single copies for issues published during the past three years are $10.00, with issues older than three years at $4.00. Shipping and handling are extra for back issues.
CHI Quarterly Back Issues Available
