View source for Seminex

{{Short description|Lutheran seminary, 1974–1987}}
{{use American English|date=August 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox university
| name              = Christ Seminary-Seminex
| image             = [[Image:Seminex.png]]
| image_alt         = 
| caption           = The Seminex logo, circa 1974, depicting new life springing from a dead trunk. Design by Seminex faculty member Robert Werberig.
| former_name       = Concordia Seminary in Exile
| type              = 
| established       = {{start date|1974}}
| closed            = {{end date|1987}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches]]
| president         = [[John Tietjen]]
}}
'''Seminex''' is the widely used abbreviation for '''Concordia Seminary in Exile''' (later '''Christ Seminary-Seminex'''), which existed from 1974 to 1987 after a [[schism]] in the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]] (LCMS). The seminary in exile was formed due to the ongoing [[Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy]] that was dividing Protestant churches in the [[United States]]. At issue were foundational disagreements on the [[Biblical Inerrancy|authority of Scripture]] and the role of [[Christianity]]. During the 1960s, many clergy and members of the LCMS grew concerned about the direction of education at their flagship seminary, [[Concordia Seminary]], in [[St Louis, Missouri|St. Louis, Missouri.]] Professors at Concordia Seminary had, in the 1950s and 1960s, begun to utilize the [[Historical-Critical Method|historical-critical method]] to analyze the [[Bible]] rather than the traditional [[historical-grammatical method]] that considered scripture to be the inerrant Word of God.

After attempts at compromise failed, on January 20, 1974, the seminary Board of Control chose to suspend the seminary president<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schurb |first=Ken |title=Rediscovering the Issues Surrounding the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walkout |date=2023 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7586-7423-4 |location=Saint Louis, MO |page=8}}</ref> [[John Tietjen]], leading to a walkout of most faculty and students, and the formation of Seminex. Seminex existed as an institution until its last graduating class of 1983 and was formally dissolved and merged with [[Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago]] in 1987. Concordia Seminary quickly rebuilt and by the late 1970s had regained its place as one of the largest Lutheran seminaries in the United States.

The after effects of the controversy were vast. Before the split, the LCMS had both [[theological liberalism|liberal]] and [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] wings. After Seminex, 200 liberal and moderate congregations split from the LCMS to form the [[Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches]] (AELC), leaving the LCMS a more conservative body than it had been in 1969. The AELC itself would later merge with other liberal and moderate Lutheran churches to form the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] (ELCA).

==Background==
===Formation of the LCMS===
In the 1830s, a group of [[Kingdom of Saxony|Saxon]] Germans immigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis and in [[Perry County, Missouri]]. They were fleeing the [[Prussian Union of Churches#Old Lutheran schism|forced union]] of German churches by royal fiat. Seizing the opportunity to [[Freedom of religion in the United States|freely practice their confession]], these immigrants, eventually led by [[C. F. W. Walther]], established what would eventually become known as the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Reacting against the rise of theologians such as [[Albrecht Ritschl]] and [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]], Walther emphasized the [[Biblical inspiration|inspiration]] and [[sola scriptura|authority]] of the [[The Bible|Bible]] as well as a [[Confessional Lutheranism|strict adherence]] to the [[Lutheran Confessions]].<ref name="03C">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/8/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 2, 2018 |contribution=03C 'Waking Up to Modernity?': The Influence of German Theology Part 3 |work=Controversy in the LCMS}}</ref>

In addition to a strict adherence to the Lutheran Confessions, Walther also sought to ensure that the new synod was decentralized and [[Congregationalist polity|congregational]]. No congregation could be compelled to accept any resolution from a synodical convention or presidential decree that was contrary to the Word of God and the [[Lutheran Confessions]]. Each congregation is to be properly [[Catechesis|taught]] by a [[pastor]] who has been certified for the ministry by one of the official seminaries of the synod. The seminaries themselves are overseen by the synodical president, but he could not take any action against any official of the synod unless empowered by a resolution passed by the synod in convention. It was this governing structure that was to be sorely tested in the Seminex crisis.<ref name="02A">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/2/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 2, 2018 |contribution=02a. 'What is our Identity and Purpose?': The Americanization of the LCMS |work=Controversy in the LCMS}}</ref><ref name="06A">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/15/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 2, 2018 |work=Controversy in the LCMS |contribution=06a. "False Doctrine ... 'Cannot be Tolerated in the Church of God ... '": New Orleans, 1973 Part 1}}</ref>

=== Rise of theological modernism ===
Beginning in the middle of the 19th century in Germany, a group of philosophers at the [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|University of Erlangen]] and the [[University of Tübingen]] began applying a [[Historical Criticism|new method]] of interpretation of Biblical texts. Supernatural elements of the Bible, such as [[miracles]] and the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|Virgin Birth]], were dismissed or explained away in [[Naturalism (philosophy)|natural terms]]. Historical accounts in the Bible such as the [[Hittite Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]] were assumed to be unreliable, and figures such as [[Abraham]], [[Moses]], and [[Noah]] were held to be entirely fictional.<ref name="issues">{{Cite interview |last=Feuerhahn |first=Ronald |interviewer=Todd Wilken |title=Encore: Confessional Lutheranism and Liberal Lutheranism |url=http://issuesetc.org/podcast/2430102917encore4.mp3 |access-date=August 3, 2018 |publisher=Issues Etc |date=October 27, 2017}}</ref>

Not limited to just the Bible, [[theological liberalism]] also sought to change the way that the Lutheran Confessions were understood. The Confessions themselves do not use the term ''inerrancy'' with regard to the Scriptures.<ref name="piepkorn">{{Cite journal |last=Piepkorn |first=Arhur Carl |date=September 1965 |title=What Does Inerrancy Mean? |url=https://media.ctsfw.edu/Text/ViewDetails/8699 |journal=[[Concordia Theological Monthly]] |volume=36 |issue=8 |page=577 |access-date=November 17, 2021}}</ref>

{{Blockquote |text=The most defensible strategy, it would seem, would be to refrain from using the term "inerrancy" in our presentations. In contexts where we should normally make a statement on this point, we should instead affirm positively that the Sacred Scriptures have the Holy Spirit as their principal Author, that they are the Word of God, and that they are true and dependable. But what if we are explicitly challenged? Then we should first refuse to reply to loaded questions with "yes" or "no." | author=Arthur C. Piepkorn |title="What Does Inerrancy Mean?" |source=''[[Concordia Theological Monthly]]'' (1965)}}

During the synodical presidency of [[Franz Pieper]], these new theological methods had only limited support within the LCMS. In 1932, Pieper authored the ''Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod''. In that booklet, Pieper attacked the new theologies, with the statement being circulated widely within the synod. So popular was Pieper's position that well into the 20th century, a majority of LCMS pastors described themselves as Pieperians. Despite Pieper's popularity and resolutions by several synodical conventions endorsing the ''Brief Statement'', theological modernism slowly made inroads in the LCMS.<ref name="02D">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/5/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 3, 2018 |contribution=02d. "What is our Identity and Purpose?": The Americanization of the LCMS Part 4 |work=Controversy in the LCMS}} {{Time needed|date=July 2021}}</ref>

=== Rise of student activism ===
Concordia Seminary was affected, as were many institutions of higher education in the United States, by the rise of student activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s relating to the [[Vietnam War]] and the [[civil rights movement]]. On February 10, 1969, about 250 students petitioned the seminary for a three-day moratorium from classes in order to discuss student issues and grievances. One of the main issues was the definition of "full-time" enrollment, which determined whether a student was eligible for deferment from the [[military draft]] for the war. Later that year many students wanted to participate in the [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam]] on October 15.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Rast Jr |first=Lawrence R. |date=July–October 2016 |title=Forty Years after Seminex: Reflection on Social and Theological Factors Leading to the Walkout |url=https://ctsfwmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/CTQ/CTQ%2080-3%2C4.pdf |journal=[[Concordia Theological Quarterly]] |volume=80 |issue=3–4 |pages=201–214}}</ref>

The [[Kent State shootings|killing of four students]] at [[Kent State University]] on May 4, 1970, led to Concordia students holding a vigil for the Kent State victims on May 6. Four crosses were erected in the seminary quadrangle, the bells were tolled, and barbed wire was strung.<ref name=":0" />

During the 1969–70 school year and thereafter, the student newspaper, the ''Spectrum'', urged students to take action to [[Delano grape strike|boycott California table grapes]], work for social justice, and fight discrimination. The student response to the events leading to the establishment of Seminex borrowed from the previous activism. For example, the crosses erected for the walkout and the tolling of the bells replicated the response to the Kent State killings.<ref name=":0" />

==Early tensions==
===Concordia Seminary===
Under the presidency of [[Alfred O. Fuerbringer|Alfred Fuerbringer]] from 1953 to 1969, Concordia Seminary had developed a reputation as a more [[liberal Christianity|liberal]] institution within the LCMS due to its teaching of [[historical-critical method]]s of biblical interpretation. Though the charges were reformulated in several different reports, they generally held that the faculty (and, particularly, members of the [[exegetical theology]] department) were using historical-critical methods for [[Bible|biblical]] interpretation, and that these professors improperly stressed the importance of the doctrine or teaching of the [[Good news (Christianity)|Gospel]] (forgiveness of sins in Christ) over the importance of the whole of the Christian Bible. The September 1, 1972, ''Report of the Synodical President'' states:

{{Blockquote|text=While the issues are many and complex, the St. Louis Seminary faculty and the synodical President at a meeting on May 17, 1972, agreed that the basic issue is the relationship between the Scriptures and the Gospel. To put the matter in other words, the question is whether the Scriptures are the norm of our faith and life or whether the Gospel alone is that norm?|author=J. A. O. Preus|title=''Report of the Synodical President of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod''|source=I. Preface}}

Sensing that the LCMS was changing its theological position, two other conservative Lutheran church bodies, the [[Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] and the [[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod|Wisconsin Synod]], who had been in [[altar and pulpit fellowship]] with the LCMS for a century, suspended that fellowship with the LCMS in 1955 and 1961, respectively,<ref name="WELS2011">{{Cite speech |last=Schroeder |first=Mark |event=Emmaus Conference |location=[[Tacoma, Washington]] |date=May 6, 2011 |access-date=September 7, 2019 |title=Walking Together with Jesus |publisher=[[Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod]] |url=https://essays.wls.wels.net/bitstream/handle/123456789/3003/SchroederWalking.pdf?sequence=1}}</ref> and withdrew from the [[Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America|Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference]] in 1963, a body the synods had co-founded in 1872.<ref name="WELS">{{Citation |last=Brug |first=John |title=The 33rd Annual Reformation Lectures |date=October 26, 2000 |page=9 |url=https://essays.wls.wels.net/bitstream/handle/123456789/788/BrugBiblical.pdf?sequence=1 |chapter=Biblical Interpretation in 20th Century Lutheranism |publisher=[[Bethany Lutheran College]]}}</ref>

Beginning in 1959 and continuing through 1973, the laity in the LCMS reacted to the growing modernism at Concordia Seminary by passing a series of seventeen resolutions either affirming full [[biblical inerrancy]] or condemning the spread of "antiscriptural teaching" in the synod.<ref name="luthersem">{{Cite thesis |last=Wilson |first=Donn |title=The Word-of-God Conflict in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in the 20th Century |date=2018 |access-date=August 7, 2018 |degree=Masters |publisher=[[Luther Seminary]] |place=St. Paul, Minnesota |chapter=Moderate Missouri 1932-1969, Part 2 |chapter-url=http://digitalcommons.luthersem.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=mth_theses}}</ref> Fuerbringer ignored these resolutions as well as the growing discontent in the synod. Many conservatives in the LCMS asked whether the seminary was serving the denomination or the denomination was serving the seminary.<ref name="06C">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/17/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 7, 2018 |work=Controversy in the LCMS |contribution="06c. "False Doctrine ... 'Cannot be Tolerated in the Church of God ... '": New Orleans, 1973 Part 3"}}</ref>

===Ascension of John Tietjen===
At the end of 1968, Fuerbringer announced his retirement as president of Concordia Seminary, triggering the selection process for his replacement. Presidents of the LCMS seminaries at that time were elected by a vote of the following four entities, with each entity having one vote: the president of the LCMS, the president of the [[Districts of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod|LCMS district]] in which the institution was located (in this case, the [[Missouri District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod|Missouri District]]), the seminary's Board of Control, and the LCMS Board of Higher Education. At the time, these positions were all under the control of either supporters of the ecumenical movement or theological modernists.<ref name="05A">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/12/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 7, 2018 |contribution=05a. 'A Very Different Understanding of What Lutheran Is': 1969 Part 1 |work=Controversy in the LCMS}}</ref>

Among this group, there was increasing concern that the incumbent synodical president, [[Oliver Raymond Harms|Oliver Harms]], was going to lose his reelection bid. Harms was a key supporter of the [[Lutheran Council in the United States of America]] (LCUSA) and other inter-Lutheran cooperation, and the modernist faction was concerned that confessional insurgents would disrupt the process of selection for presidency of Concordia Seminary; hindering the greater goal of Lutheran unity. In addition, members of the seminary's Board of Control would be elected at the convention. There was great urgency to complete the process of selecting a new seminary president before the upcoming synod convention could interfere.<ref name="05A" /><ref name="05C">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/14/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 7, 2018 |contribution=05c. 'A Very Different Understanding of What Lutheran Is': 1969 Part 3 |work=Controversy in the LCMS}}</ref> While the procedure for actually electing the seminary president was normal, the timing was unusual in that it was the first time a new president of the seminary would be elected before the actual retirement of his predecessor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zimmerman |first=Paul A. |title=A Seminary in Crisis: The Inside Story of the Preus Fact Finding Committee |publisher=[[Concordia Publishing House]] |year=2007 |isbn=9-780758-611024 |location=St. Louis, Missouri |pages=29–30}}</ref>

In May 1969, [[John Tietjen]] was selected president of Concordia Seminary after sixteen years as a minister in [[New Jersey]] and three years heading the public relations division of LCUSA. Although a virtual unknown among the broader synod, Tietjen was well known in the ecumenical movement. The selection of Tietjen caused great excitement among the faculty of Concordia Seminary and in wider Lutheran circles. In the words of the wife of Ed Schroeder (then a professor at the seminary), "Tietjen is the one we wanted".<ref name="05A" />

===Election of Jacob Preus===
Two months later, [[J. A. O. Preus II|Jacob Preus]]—then the president of the other LCMS seminary, [[Concordia Theological Seminary]] in [[Springfield, Illinois]]—was elected president of the synod in an upset over the incumbent Harms. Preus's 1969 campaign for the LCMS presidency was supported by conservatives within the church body who opposed moves by Harms to institute altar and pulpit fellowship with the [[American Lutheran Church]] (ALC), which did not hold the Bible as infallible and inerrant. Preus's supporters wanted to see the LCMS, and especially its colleges and seminaries, adopt more uniform orthodox and confessional theological stances.<ref name="CTQ74">{{Cite journal |last=Rast |first=Lawrence |date=October 2010 |title=J.A.O. Preus: Theologian, Churchman, or Both? |url=https://ctsfwmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/CTQ/CTQ%2074-1%2C2.pdf |journal=Concordia Theological Quarterly |location=[[Fort Wayne]] |publisher=[[Concordia Theological Seminary]] |volume=74 |pages=65–66 |access-date=August 24, 2010}}</ref>

Within a year of assuming office, Preus established a Fact Finding Committee to examine the teachings of the seminary's faculty. The committee presented this complete report to Preus on June 15, 1971. Two weeks later, Preus sent the entire report to the seminary Board of Control and seminary president Tietjen.<ref name="SemCrisis">This report is available in its entirety in the appendix of ''Seminary in Crisis'', [[Concordia Publishing House]], 2007.</ref>

That report,<ref name="SemCrisis" /> called "The Blue Book" due to its cover, was later mailed to all congregations and pastors of the LCMS in September 1972. The main bulk of the report consisted of a large number of quotations from the transcripts of the interviews with the seminary faculty members, whose anonymity was protected. The Blue Book had a powerful effect in the LCMS. Based upon the committee's findings, the seminary's board of control was instructed "to take appropriate action on the basis of the report, commending or correcting where necessary ... That the Board of Control report progress directly to the President of Synod and the Board for Higher Education".<ref>Resolution 2-28, Proceedings [1971], 122</ref>

The seminary's board of control however had a 6-5 majority in favor of Tietjen and the faculty, and in February 1973 by a 6–5 vote, the board commended each member as faithful to Scripture and the Lutheran confessions. But the 1973 LCMS convention in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] condemned the seminary's faculty in a resolution that charged them with "abolish[ing] the formal principle, ''[[sola Scriptura]]'' (i.e. that all doctrines are derived from the Scripture and the Scripture is the sole norm of all doctrine)".<ref name="LCMS1973">{{Citation |title=1973 LCMS Convention Proceedings |pages=138–139 |year=1973 |url=https://files.lcms.org/file/preview/92033691-8EDE-4AD3-A88A-9C95A440CF39 |place=[[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] |publisher=[[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]]}}</ref> A new, more conservative seminary board of control was also elected at that convention, and the new board quickly proceeded to suspend Tietjen from the presidency of Concordia Seminary in August 1973. The suspension was initially delayed and then "vacated" while various groups in the LCMS attempted to find a route toward reconciliation, but Tietjen was again suspended on January 20 of the following year.

==Synod in schism==
===Formation of Seminex===
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2019}}
The day after Tietjen's second suspension, some of the seminary's students and faculty registered their protest. A group of students organized a moratorium on classes (which had been planned in the fall but was delayed because of the death of [[Arthur Carl Piepkorn]], the graduate professor of systematic theology on December 13, 1973, causing the Board of Control to cancel its December 19 board meeting).

A large majority of the seminary's students voted on the morning of February 19, 1974, to continue their education under the targeted faculty at an off-campus site. Immediately after the students passed their resolution, they and the majority of the faculty staged a dramatic walkout, inviting the local press for the event.<ref name="CTF151974">{{Citation |last=Doyle |first=Barrie |title=Missouri Synod: The Showdown |date=February 15, 1974 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |volume=18 |pages=45 |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1974/february-15/missouri-synod-showdown.html |access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref><ref name="issuesJAN52010">{{Cite interview |last=Preus |first=Daniel |interviewer=Todd Wilken |title=The Aftermath of the Battle for the Bible in the LCMS |url=https://issuesetc.org/tag/seminex/ |access-date=14 September 2019 |publisher=Issues Etc |date=5 January 2010}}</ref> Singing "[[The Church's One Foundation]]", they processed out of the seminary grounds, where students had planted white crosses bearing their names. The event attracted a great deal of media attention. However, the seminary's Board of Control subsequently accused the students of disingenuous posturing, noting that the students had returned to the seminary cafeteria for lunch immediately after their supposed departure and continued to live in student housing for the remainder of the term.

The next day, classes officially began at Concordia Seminary in Exile (Seminex) in facilities provided by [[Eden Seminary]] and [[Saint Louis University]]. Since Seminex was not yet an accredited school, an arrangement was made with the [[Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago]] (LSTC) whereby the first class of Seminex graduates would officially receive their diplomas from LSTC. The first graduation was held in the neo-Gothic quadrangle of [[Washington University in St. Louis]]. John Tietjen, who in October 1974 was finally removed as president of Concordia Seminary, was elected president of Seminex in February 1975.

Within a year and a half of its inception, Seminex had acquired its own facilities at 607 North Grand Boulevard and then, following water damage to that building, at 539 North Grand. The institution also immediately received provisional [[accreditation]] through the [[Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada|Association of Theological Schools]].<ref name="NYT1974">{{Citation |last=Blau |first=Eleanor |title=Fate of Lutheran Body Lies in New Seminary |date=March 18, 1974 |work=[[New York Times]] |pages=24 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/18/archives/fate-of-lutheran-body-lies-in-new-seminary.html |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> No longer acknowledging the legitimacy of Concordia Seminary and its new administration led by Martin Scharlemann, Seminex faculty and students referred to that institution simply as "801", after its address at 801 DeMun Avenue. However, facing legal action from Concordia, the exiled seminary eventually changed its official name from "Concordia Seminary in Exile" to "Christ Seminary-Seminex" in October 1977.

===Widening rift===
In the wake of conservative advancements at the 1973 LCMS convention, opponents had convened a conference in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] to chart out strategies. The conference's 800 delegates promised moral and financial support for church members who faced pressure due to their opposition to the actions of the LCMS convention. They also formed a new organization, [[Evangelical Lutherans in Mission]] (ELIM), to serve as a network and rallying point for the liberal wing of the LCMS. ELIM provided financial support to Seminex, along with public-relations assistance via its twice-monthly newspaper, ''Missouri in Perspective.''<ref name="TIME1975">{{Citation |title=Preus' Purge |date=July 21, 1975 |work=[[Time Magazine]] |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913312,00.html |access-date=August 24, 2019}}</ref>

In an attempt to drum up support for their cause, Seminex students barnstormed the nation as part of "Operation Outreach", meeting with LCMS congregations to explain their perspective of what happening in the rapidly evolving situation in St. Louis. Tietjen and the other Seminex faculty also contacted various congregations of the LCMS to enlist their support. Tietjen fully expected that a minimum of 1200 congregations of the synod would leave when asked.<ref name="05C" /><ref name="TIETJEN">{{Citation |last=Tietjen |first=John |title=Memoirs in Exile: Confessional Hope and Institutional Conflict |page=269 |year=1990 |place=Minneapolis |publisher=[[1517 Media|Augsburg Fortress]] |isbn=0-8006-2462-9 |author-link=John Tietjen}}</ref>

As part of the process of [[ordination]] in the LCMS, a prospective pastor must be certified for ministry, and per the LCMS constitution, only an official seminary of the synod could issue those certifications.<ref name="CTM101974">{{Citation |last=Plowman |first=Edward |title=Seeds of Schism: The Misery of Missouri |date=May 10, 1974 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |volume=18 |pages=48 |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1974/may-10/seeds-of-schism-misery-of-missouri.html |access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref> In 1974, there were two institutions in Saint Louis claiming to be the official seminary, with both of them issuing certifications for the ministry.<ref>{{Citation |last=Plowman |first=Edward |title=The Man without a Church |date=April 12, 1974 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1974/april-12/man-without-church.html |access-date=August 17, 2019}}</ref> The expectation of Seminex backers was that if they could place enough of their graduates into pastoral positions, the overall synod would be forced to recognize Seminex as an official seminary of the LCMS.<ref name="05C" /> Privately, more than half of the district presidents gave their support to the Seminex faction and indicated that they would place graduates of Seminex as vicars and pastors, giving Seminex good reason for hope that they would eventually prevail.<ref name="NYT1974" /> Beginning in 1974, presidents of eight of the [[Districts of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod|35 LCMS districts]] (equivalent of a [[diocese]]) began placing graduates of Seminex as pastors in violation of the LCMS bylaws and constitution. Outraged, the delegates to the next LCMS convention passed a resolution demanding that those districts cease placing Seminex graduates and granting the synodical president the power to remove a district president if the latter refused. Four of the districts subsequently ceased, while four defied the convention's resolutions. By 1976, the four dissident district presidents had been removed from office and they subsequently resigned from the synod.<ref name="NYT1976">{{Citation |last=Briggs |first=Kenneth |title=A Lutheran Leader Quits District Post |date=September 15, 1976 |work=[[New York Times]] |pages=17 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/15/archives/a-lutheran-leader-quits-district-post-hopes-to-found-dissident.html |access-date=August 23, 2019}}</ref>

After the expulsion, a movement to leave the synod took shape among dissident congregations and church officials, most of them members of ELIM or congregations that had ordained a Seminex graduate.<ref name="NYT1976" /> The largest number of departures came from the LCMS' non-geographical [[English District (LCMS)|English District]]. In the end, more than 200 congregations left the LCMS,<ref name="NYT1982">{{Citation |last=Austin |first=Charles |title=Lutherans' Missouri Synod Healing from Bitter Political Dispute of 70's |date=December 13, 1982 |work=[[New York Times]] |pages=20 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/13/us/lutherans-missouri-synod-healing-from-bitter-political-dispute-of-70-s.html |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> a small fraction of what Tietjen had expected.<ref name="TIETJEN" />

===Separation of the AELC===
In December 1976, the departing congregations formed a new independent church body, the [[Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches]] (AELC). The AELC proved to be a more socially and theologically liberal church than the LCMS, and shortly after its inception, it departed from LCMS practice on ordination by opening the [[ordination of women|ministry to women]]. Furthermore, the new body immediately declared [[Altar and pulpit fellowship|full communion]] with the ALC and the [[Lutheran Church in America]] (LCA), and declared its intent to join the [[National Council of Churches]] and the [[Lutheran World Federation]].<ref name="CTJ71977">{{Citation |last=Plowman |first=Edward |title=America's Newest Denomination |date=7 January 1977 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |volume=21 |pages=36 |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1977/january-7/americas-newest-denomination.html |access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> To ministers and parishioners who remained with the LCMS, this and other moves by the fledgling AELC validated earlier concerns about the faculty majority at Concordia Seminary.

With congregations totaling about 100,000 members, the AELC represented less than 4 percent of the 2.7 million members of the LCMS. In consequence, the break-away organization could not provide nearly enough pastoral positions for all the graduates of Seminex, whose enrollment began to sharply decline.<ref name="CTN51976">{{Citation |title=The Lutherans: Fractured Fellowship |date=November 5, 1976 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |volume=21 |pages=81 |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1976/november-5/lutherans-fractured-fellowship.html |access-date=September 5, 2019}}</ref>

===End of Seminex===
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2019}}
[[File:Humboldt Building (7483946492).jpg|thumb|Humboldt Building at 539 N Grand Blvd in 2012. Seminex moved to this building in 1982.]]
Starting in 1974, the LCMS made clear to prospective students that there was no chance of ordination in the synod unless course credits were obtained in official LCMS seminaries.<ref name="CTA261974">{{Citation |last=Doyle |first=Barrie |title=The Balm after the Storm |date=April 26, 1974 |work=[[Christianity Today]] |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1974/april-26/balm-after-storm.html |access-date=August 24, 2019}}</ref> The synod also barred Seminex recruiters from the [[Concordia University System]].<ref name="CTA261974" /> In 1975, the LCMS convention voted to close [[Concordia Senior College]] in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which had allegedly served as a pipeline for students into Seminex.

Due primarily to its difficulties placing graduates in ministerial positions, Seminex enrollment sharply declined over the next decade.<ref name="FIRSTTHINGSM2011">{{Cite journal |last=Benne |first=Robert |date=May 2011 |title=The Trials of American Lutheranism |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/05/the-trials-of-american-lutheranism |journal=[[First Things]] |access-date=September 15, 2019}}</ref> By the end of the 1970s, any hope that a large number of LCMS congregations would leave had been extinguished, forcing Tietjen, who was now president of Christ Seminary-Seminex, to begin laying off faculty who had walked out. In addition, the seminary was torn between positioning itself solely as the seminary for the AELC, which would have made it difficult to continue to solicit donations from supporters in the LCMS who had remained in that synod, and reshaping itself as a "pan-Lutheran" seminary that would serve many different Lutheran church bodies. By the beginning of the 1980s, it was clear that there was no possibility of Christ Seminary-Seminex's continued existence as a stand-alone institution.

In anticipation of the merger that resulted in the formation of the ELCA, Seminex ultimately dispersed its faculty and students to several seminaries of the ALC and the LCA around the country, including the [[Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago]] (LSTC), [[Wartburg Theological Seminary]], and [[Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary]].<ref name="FIRSTTHINGSM2011" /> The last St. Louis commencement was held in May 1983, although Seminex continued to exist as an educational institution on the LSTC campus in Chicago through the end of 1987.<ref name="CTRIBUNE87">{{Cite news |last=Eisenstadt |first=Todd |date=June 19, 1987 |title=Lutheran Bishop Brings Humor to the Job |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-06-19-8702150153-story.html |access-date=September 15, 2019 |work=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> Several professorial chairs at LSTC are still named after Christ Seminary-Seminex.

==Legacy==
After their separation, the AELC catalyzed the formation of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]].<ref name="RAST2013">{{Citation |last=Tiede |first=David |title=Review of Pastor and President: Reflections of a Lutheran Churchman |date=November 2012 |work=Lutheran Quarterly |volume=452 |pages=26}}</ref> Many pastors and graduates of Seminex became prominent bishops and leaders in the ELCA; for example, in 2009, three of eight seminary presidents were Seminex graduates, as were a number of bishops.<ref name="FIRSTTHINGSM2011" /> Decades later, theologian [[Carl Braaten]] wrote that the transfer of so many [[theological liberalism|modernist]] professors to future seminaries of the ELCA permanently altered the DNA of those institutions, resulting in what he perceived as the root cause of the slow [[progressive christianity|progressive]] slide of the ELCA.<ref name="BRAATEN">{{Citation |last=Braaten |first=Carl |title=Because of Christ: Memoirs of a Lutheran Theologian |date=2010 |place=Cambridge |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |language=en |isbn=978-0-8028-6471-0 |author-link=Carl Braaten}}</ref> Theologian Robert Benne concurred, writing in ''[[First Things]]'';
{{Blockquote
|text=Whatever the case, from the beginnings of the ELCA that leadership of former Missourians has been instrumental in pushing the ELCA in the revisionist direction. They and the others who created the new church did all they needed to do to insure that liberal Protestantism was the ELCA's destination.
|author=Robert Benne
|title="The Trials of American Lutheranism"
|source=''[[First Things]]'' (May 2011)<ref name="FIRSTTHINGSM2011" /> 
}}

Because Seminex and the related departures of the AELC congregations removed many liberals from the LCMS, the controversy left the synod considerably more conservative by the mid-1970s than it had been a decade earlier. This allowed the LCMS to begin the slow and painful process of rebuilding its confessional heritage.<ref name="BROCK">{{Cite journal |last=Brock |first=Matthew |date=November 11, 2017 |title=A Rose in Bloom: Luther's Reformation at 500 |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/11/a-rose-in-bloom-luthers-reformation-at-500 |journal=[[First Things]] |language=English |access-date=July 27, 2021}}</ref> In 1977, the synod's convention voted to severely restrict its involvement in LCUSA, a body the synod had been instrumental in founding in 1966,<ref name="LCMS1977">{{Citation |title=1977 LCMS Convention Proceedings |pages=126–127 |year=1977 |url=https://files.lcms.org/wl/?id=iskV7khp2mV1mVskPB8Q1IXOCXKFRytD&path=1950-1998%2F1977-LCMS-Convention-Proceedings.pdf |place=[[St Louis, Missouri]] |publisher=[[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]]}}</ref> in effect declaring that the synod would not participate in any further merger discussions. In 1981, the synod's convention ended the fellowship agreement with the [[American Lutheran Church]] that had been reached in 1969.<ref name="LCMS1981">{{Citation |title=1981 LCMS Convention Proceedings |pages=153–155 |year=1981 |url=https://files.lcms.org/wl/?id=iskV7khp2mV1mVskPB8Q1IXOCXKFRytD&path=1950-1998%2F1981-LCMS-Convention-Proceedings.pdf |place=[[St Louis, Missouri]] |publisher=[[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]]}}</ref> However the LCMS emerged from the crisis bitterly divided.

The 1977 LCMS convention also abruptly withdrew from the [[Lutheran Book of Worship|joint hymnal]] project with the [[Lutheran Church in America|LCA]] and [[American Lutheran Church|ALC]].<ref name="LCMSHYNAL">{{Citation |last=Schalk |first=Carl |title=A Brief History of LCMS Hymnals |date=April 26, 1997 |page=3 |url=https://files.lcms.org/wl/?id=2ptHOjSEOjgDTq4iaBHmJ0QY0X18hp8y |access-date=September 15, 2019 |author-link=Carl Schalk}}</ref> Thus the ''[[Lutheran Book of Worship]]'' was published in 1978 without the participation of the very denomination that had initiated its production, angering leaders in the other church bodies.<ref name="GRANQUIST">{{Cite book |last=Granquist |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OkcBgAAQBAJ |title=Lutherans in America: A New History |publisher=[[Fortress Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4514-7228-8 |location=Minneapolis |page=314}}</ref> Congregations of the LCMS objected to the use of the 1977 revision of the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' in the hymnal and the hymnal's use of the [[Revised Standard Version]] as well as many other concerns. The hymnal committee of the LCMS attempted to address these concerns as well as remove much of the objectionable content and published a recension of the objected hymnal in 1982, ''[[Lutheran Worship]]''. However a high level of mistrust in the LCMS between its congregations and denominational leadership meant that the new hymnal was poorly received.<ref name="DGHART">{{Cite book |last=Hart |first=Darryl |author-link=D. G. Hart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRFvAAAAQBAJ |title=The Lost Soul of American Protestantism |date=August 27, 2004 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0-7425-0769-2 |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |pages=154–157}}</ref> A study commissioned by the LCMS in 1999 found that 36% of congregations used the [[The Lutheran Hymnal|older hymnal]], with the rest using some combination of both and only a few exclusively using the "newer" hymnal published 17 years prior to the study. Thus the synod entered the 21st century lacking unity even in its own hymnal.

[[Concordia Seminary]] was widely pronounced as dead in the spring of 1974.<ref name="08a">{{Cite AV media |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/20/ |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |last=Bode |first=Gerhard |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |year=2010 |access-date=August 26, 2019 |contribution=08. After the 'Funeral': 'Alive and well and living in Clayton' |work=Controversy in the LCMS}}</ref> The stress and turmoil generated by the controversy wrought an enormous toll on all participants, Martin Scharlemann, who had been appointed to replace Tietjen, resigned from the presidency of [[Concordia Seminary]] a mere three months into his term due to mental and physical exhaustion.<ref name="CTM101974" /> Seminex sympathizers such as [[Martin Marty]] stated that the LCMS would be forced to close the school and sell the campus.<ref name="08a" /> However, under the leadership of [[Ralph Bohlmann]], who had succeeded Scharlemann as president, enrollment quickly rebounded.<ref name="08a" />
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Enrollment
|-
| Fall 1974
| 194
|-
| 1975–76
| 284
|-
| 1976–77
| 354
|-
| 1977–78
| 432
|-
| 1978–79
| 561
|-
| 1979–80
| 664
|-
| 1980–81
| 724
|}

At Concordia Seminary's fall convocation in 1974, [[Francis Schaeffer]] addressed those of the student body who had not walked out. Schaeffer commended the synod for its faithful stance and noted that this was the first time in history that a church body had resisted the influx of [[theological liberalism|modernism]] and retained its [[Confessional Lutheranism|confessional]] heritage.<ref name="SCHAEFFER">{{Citation |last=Schaeffer |first=Francis |title=Concordia Seminary Fall 1974 Convocation Address |work=Synod History |year=1974 |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/synodhistory/Synodical_History/Year/25/ |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |author-link=Francis Schaeffer}}</ref> The success of the confessional insurgents in the LCMS later inspired a similar group within the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] and provided a template for the ultimately successful [[Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence|Southern Baptist conservative resurgence]] of the 1980s.<ref name="PATTERSON">{{Cite conference |last=Patterson |first=Paige |author-link=Paige Patterson |date=August 11, 2015 |title=Consequences of Revolution: The Conservative Resurgence in the SBC |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWeK0oBAYs |conference=ISCA 2015 |publisher=International Society of Christian Apologetics |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/EBWeK0oBAYs |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Further reading==

===Books, articles, and reports===
*Adams, James E. ''Preus of Missouri and the Great Lutheran Civil War''. New York: [[HarperCollins|Harper and Row]], 1977. {{ISBN|0-06-060071-3}}
*Baker, Tom. ''[[iarchive:BakerTomWatershedAtRivergate/mode/2up|Watershed at the Rivergate : 1,400 vs. 250,000]].'' Sturgis, Michigan, 1973
*Board of Control, Concordia Seminary, ''Exodus From Concordia: A Report on the 1974 Walkout''. Saint Louis: [[Concordia Seminary]], 1977.
*Burkee, James C. ''Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod: A Conflict That Changed American Christianity''. Philadelphia: [[Fortress Press]], 2011. {{ISBN|978-1451465389}}
*[[Frederick William Danker|Danker, Frederick William]]. ''No Room in the Brotherhood: The Preus-Otten Purge of Missouri''. Saint Louis: Clayton Publishing House, 1977. {{ISBN|0-915644-10-X}}
*Krentz, Edgar. ''The Historical-critical Method''. Philadelphia: [[Augsburg Fortress|Fortress Press]], 1975. {{ISBN|1-57910-903-9}}. A Seminex professor's overview of the interpretive methods behind the conflict.
*[[Kurt Marquart|Marquart, Kurt E.]] ''Anatomy of an Explosion: A Theological Analysis of the Missouri Synod Conflict''. Fort Wayne, Indiana: [[Concordia Theological Seminary|Concordia Theological Seminary Press]], 1977. {{ISBN|0-8010-6049-4}}
*Schurb, Ken (editor). ''Rediscovering the Issues Surrounding the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walkout''. St. Louis: [[Concordia Publishing House]], 2023. {{ISBN|978-0758674234}}. A 50th anniversary retrospective published by the LCMS.
*[[John Tietjen|Tietjen, John]]. ''Memoirs in Exile: Confessional Hope and Institutional Conflict''. Minneapolis: [[Augsburg Fortress]] Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8006-2462-9}}
*Todd, Mary. ''Authority Vested: A Story of Identity and Change in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2000. {{ISBN|0-8028-4457-X}}
*Zimmerman, Paul A. ''A Seminary in Crisis: The Inside Story of the Preus Fact Finding Committee''. St. Louis: [[Concordia Publishing House]], 2007. {{ISBN|0-7586-1102-1}}. This book contains two primary source documents in its Appendix: Report of the Fact Finding Committee Concerning Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, to President J.A.O. Preus (June 1971); and Report of the Synodical President to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (September 1, 1972).

===Archival collections===
*{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=David |title=Seminex in Print: A Comprehensive Bibliography of Published Material and Selected Archival Resources for Historical Research |last2=Harmelink |first2=Daniel |publisher=[[Concordia Publishing House]] |year=2021 |location=St. Louis}}
*ELCA Archives, ''[http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG30/SG143/index.html Research Collection on the Moderate Movement in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, 1932-89],'' assembled by the Rev. Henry L. Lieske.

===Online materials===

* {{Cite web |last=Klein |first=Ralph W. |date=June 24, 1999 |title=Biblical Studies after Seminex |url=http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/seminex.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116021659/http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/seminex.htm |archive-date=November 16, 2018}} Transcript of a speech.
* {{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb-Zr0ETRs0 |title=Seminex Memories of a Church Divided |date=2015 |last=Frakes |first=Tim |type=Videotape |publisher=Tim Frakes Productions, Inc.}}
*A layperson's account of the Seminex controversy's effects within St. Louis's Bethel Lutheran Church, to which a number of the Concordia professors belonged: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720025141/http://www.crossings.org/thursday/2003/thur071003.shtml Part I] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720025207/http://www.crossings.org/thursday/2003/thur071703.shtml Part II].

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:20th-century Lutheranism]]
[[Category:Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod]]
[[Category:History of Christianity in the United States]]
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