Missouri's Twin Traumas: II. The Seminex Crisis (1974–)

Abstract: The 1974 "Walk Out" of faculty and students at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, resulting in "Seminex," may be viewed as the second of twin traumas in the history of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Evidence that it has served to reinforce some effects of the trauma of the "Stephan crisis" of 1839 appears in post-Seminex assessments of the decades following World War II as a time in which the LCMS progressively drifted away from its "orthodox" religious heritage. Lasting effects of this pair of traumas can be seen in various efforts to safeguard Missouri's brand of Lutheran orthodoxy and to reaffirm C.F.W. Walther's insistence upon complete unity in doctrine and practice for any type of ecclesiastical fellowship. Equally telling is the tendency of post-Seminex Missouri to identify itself with features of the cultural backlash in American society in response to the tumultuous 1960s, one that has led to its retreat from addressing contemporary social justice issues and to seeing itself instead as a righteous remnant under siege in a hostile American environment.