Henry L. Lieske Research Collection, 1932-1999
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
The Rev. Henry L. Lieske, a retired Lutheran pastor of moderate theological views, spent his career in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LC-MS). Born on October 21, 1911, he was the son of Henry F. and Clara (Blaesing) Lieske of Henderson, Minnesota. He attended public and parochial schools before enrolling in 1925 at Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota, a combination four-year high school and two-year junior college. At Concordia, Lieske followed the preministerial training course of the Missouri Synod. From 1931 to 1935, Lieske attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, where he was active in the Student Missionary Society and the Lutheran City Mission of St. Louis.
After graduating from Concordia Seminary, Lieske served in Kendalville, Indiana as secretary and assistant to Dr. M.F. Kretzmann, Secretary of the LC-MS. In addition to his office duties, Lieske assisted in the local Lutheran parish by preaching and teaching Sunday School. He also worked with the youth organization known as the Walther League and its Camp Limberlost.
From 1938 to 1943, Lieske served as pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Warsaw, Indiana and Calvary Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Indiana, two mission congregations of the Central District of the LC-MS. In addition to his pastorate in Plymouth, Lieske served as pastor to Lutheran students at Culver Military Academy at Culver, Indiana. When a student from the academy, and his parents from Denver, members of the American Lutheran Church, attended services at Calvary, and also wished to commune, Lieske was forced to start reexamining the Missouri Synod theological position on “close” Communion in which he had been schooled.
While serving as the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Elyria, Ohio, from 1943 to 1955, Lieske witnessed the developing conflict within LC-MS. In 1945, a document known as “A Statement,” signed by forty-four moderate Lutheran pastors, prompted Lieske, initially opposed to the document, to study in a new light the New Testament and the writings of the sixteenth-century Lutheran reformers. He began to question the brand of inerrancy of Holy Scripture which he had been taught, “sinful unionism,” creation vs. evolution, and other points of controversy then divided moderates from conservatives within the Missouri Synod.
Lieske’s interest in the area of pastoral care and his contact with a variety of clerical viewpoints during his Ohio pastorate helped him to articulate his position as a moderate church man within the Missouri Church. In the early 1950s, he attended a week’s seminar conducted by Chaplain Granger Westberg (d. 1999) in a hospital setting in Chicago on counseling, mental health, psychosomatic illnesses, and related subjects. Subsequently, Lieske enrolled in courses in pastoral counseling at Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology in Oberlin, Ohio and contributed to a workshop program on pastoral counseling sponsored by the Central District of the LC-MS. Lieske developed a deep appreciation for the approach employed by the psychiatrists and counselors in their fields, with its emphasis on total acceptance of the individual “where he or she is at” quite apart from approval of their actions or ideas. It seemed to Lieske that was an approach very akin to that of Jesus Christ. Transferring the approach to the ecclesiastical sphere, he came gradually to adopt theological “slants” that were in some areas at variance with his own immediate tradition, but which were, he believed, directly descendent from the New Testament writers, Luther, and the Reformation reformers. Lieske’s attendance at numerous pastoral conferences in the Cleveland area brought him into contact with the (in Lieske’s words) “conservative” pastors from the Greater Cleveland area, the “moderate” clergy of Lorain County, and clergy of other Protestant denominations meeting in the Elyria Ministerial Association.
Lieske received a call in 1955 to start the St. Timothy Lutheran Church in east Portland, Oregon, at S.E. 145th and Powell. During his pastorate, Lieske served on the Board of Control (later called the Board of Regents) of Concordia College (1958-67), the Board of Social Welfare of the Northwest District of the LC-MS, and on a committee of the Lutheran Welfare Association of Oregon. His efforts, along with those of others, resulted in the inclusion of the LC-MS in the work of the association, which was later named the Lutheran Family Service of Oregon.
Lieske’s call to Burnsville, Minnesota in 1967 coincided with the heightening of the conflict in the LC-MS. According to Lieske, the LC-MS was beginning to narrow down its confessional basis, as spelled out in the Synod’s constitution, and increasingly resorted to “rules and regulations” as a means of enjoining doctrinal consensus. Lieske’s belief in retaining the Synod’s confessional basis was one sign of his identification with the moderate movement in Missouri. At Burnsville Rev. Lieske worked hard to encourage his congregation to study both sides of the growing conflict.
In 1976, Rev. Lieske retired from active parish ministry and moved to Golden Valley, Minnesota. There, he became a member of Christ Memorial Church in Plymouth, an LC-MS congregation that had joined the newly formed Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). Lieske occasionally preached and conducted services, taught Bible classes, conducted pastoral visits, and served on the congregational refugee-resettlement committee. In 1980, Prairie Lutheran Congregation of Eden Prairie asked that Lieske serve as its Interim Pastor. In addition to his occasional pastoral duties, Lieske over many years enjoyed collecting items relating to American postal history. His historical interest and archival bent, along with his affection for the Lutheran tradition, finally led him in the late 1970s to assemble a research collection documenting the moderate movement within the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
Henry Lieske married Marguerite Jones on June 7, 1939. They had six children: Jeanne, Jay, Joy, Janice, Jacquelyn, and Judy.
Rev. Lieske died on September 13, 2002 in Edina, Minnesota.
The Roots and Unfolding of the Moderate Viewpoint in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
by Henry Lieske
1847-1945 Sprinkled in with the largely conservative emphases of earlier Missouri are numerous evangelical, moderate, and more open statements and articles by eminent Missouri leaders which (along with emphases of Luther and the Reformation) provided the ideological base for the moderate “slant” within the LC-MS.
1931-45 Editors of The American Lutheran (Paul Lindemann, Adolf F. Meyer) and contributing editors stimulated the review of numerous positions and practices of the LC-MS, while at the same time retaining and promoting the central emphases of the Reformation heritage.
1945 Forty-four moderate-leaning pastors and professors issue a document entitled “A Statement,” denouncing the “narrow legalism” of the Missouri Synod, further detailing its seminal concepts in a booklet of essays, “Speaking the Truth In Love.”
1950-69 The Commission of Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) puts out numerous study documents and position papers which more and more reflect the moderate viewpoint.
1945-69 Martin Scharlemann presents an essay on “The Inerrancy of Scripture” for discussion purposes with fellow faculty members at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, “defending the paradox that the book of God’s truth contains errors.” The 1962 convention of Synod revolved around this and related issues. Scharlemann also stimulated widespread rethinking of other LC-MS positions.
1945-69 On the other hand, the spreading of such emphases aroused widespread and fierce opposition to them among individuals and groups, resulting in considerable ferment within the church body.
1959, 1962, 1973 In 1959, “The Brief Statement,” authored by Franz Pieper in 1932, which embodied several key ultra-conservative emphases, was made binding by synodical resolution as part of the LC-MS confessional basis. This action was rescinded in 1962; however, it was reenacted in 1973.
1955-69 All of the above stimulated widespread response by moderates in letters, circulars, and other publications. Moderate emphases appeared with increasing frequency in the literature and publications of the Synod itself.
1950-70 The Synod gradually ceased to insist that the Scriptures demanded that women could not vote or hold certain offices in congregations.
1965 The Synod approached the other Lutheran church bodies about jointly publishing a common Lutheran hymnal.
The LC-MS approves participation in the new “Lutheran Council of the U.S.A. (LCUSA),” a cooperative agency of the ALC, LCA, and LC-MS.
The LC-MS adopts the “Mission Affirmations” at its triennial convention, which embodies and applies the concepts emphasized by “A Statement” of 1945 and by the moderate movement in Missouri.
For a detailed “Chronology of the Conflict within the LCMS” for the years 1969 to 1987, during which the conflict reached its crisis, see the Appendix to this document.
Subjects (links to similar collections)Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (U.S.)--History
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America--History
Lieske, Henry L. (Henry Louis), 1911-
Lutheran Church--Clergy
Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod--History
Lutheran Church--United States--History
Lutheran Church in America--History
Preus, Jacob A. O. (Jacob Aall Ottesen), 1920-1994
Steunkel, Omar
Tietjen, John H.
United States--Church history
Wahlberg, Douglas
Wedel, Alton F.
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The research files assembled and described by retired Lutheran pastor, Henry L. Lieske, document the conflict between moderate and conservative members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) which resulted in schism in 1976. Folder and item-level notations provided by Pastor Lieske express the views of one moderate pastor who watched the conflict unfold from within the Missouri Synod. The papers reveal the extent of the moral and theological crisis provoked by the actions of conservative synod leader, Jacob A. O. Preus (b. 1920), who served as president of the LCMS from 1969 to 1980. (A chronology of key events in the conflict appears as an appendix to this finding aid.) Disagreement over issues of theology, biblical interpretation, missions, and church administration ultimately led to the departure of one hundred and seven moderate churches to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). The largest collections of records relating to the controversy are held by the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago and by the Concordia Historical Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.
The collection is arranged into three Subgroups: I. Historical Files: Development of the Moderate Movement in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; II. Responses to the Crisis; and III. Files of Individual Pastors. Within subgroups, files are organized into records series which are arranged in the order established by the donor in 1980. Lieske's descriptive and interpretive notes are maintained within original folders.
The moderate movement in the Missouri Synod traces its origins to a "Statement" signed in Chicago in 1945 by 44 pastors who took a moderate stand on doctrinal and church governance issues. Copies of the document are included in Series 2, Background and Development of the Moderate Movement, and in Series 3, under the heading, "Greater Chicago Area." The "Greater Chicago Area" lot was received by donor Henry L. Lieske from Pastor Henry C. Duwe, who served for many years as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Evanston, Illinois and, from 1938-42, as Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Oberlin, Ohio. Duwe's files contain important and scarce documentation of the September 1945 "free Lutheran Conference" in Chicago, including conference papers by W. Arndt, R. R. Caemmerer, O. P. Kretzmann, and O. A. Geisemann; mailings by the Continuation Committee to the signers of the Chicago Statement; materials relating to Theodore Graebner, one of the signers of the Statement; and files documenting conservative objection to various moderate positions, such as fellowship between the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Additional background to the moderate movement is provided by copies of various documents or "exhibits," selected by the donor as evidence of a moderate tradition within the Missouri Synod. These "exhibits," housed in Series 2, include the Constitution of the LCMS and seminal articles by eminent Lutheran theologians and church leaders. Henry Lieske provides a description of these materials and an account of his own theological development in his essay, "Background and Setting for The Moderate Movement in the LC-MS." Also present is an unpublished dissertation by Leland Stevens, "The Americanization of the Missouri Synod" (1986), and various writings of Seminex professor, the Rev. Erwin Lueker, including "Development-Tension-Crisis: A Study of Interaction of Event and Thought in the Missouri Synod, With Documents." These pieces provide valuable historical context for the conflict in LCMS.
The role of synod leader Jacob A. O. Preus in setting forth the conservative viewpoint and agenda is documented in Preus' official communiques, reports, and news releases. Files housed in Series 4 of Subgroup I document the charges of false doctrine and malfeasance of administration brought against the seminary's president, Dr. John H. Tietjen (b. 1930), as a result of the inquiry initiated by Preus. Materials include Preus' "Blue Book," (the report on the faculty of Concordia Seminary), transcripts of interviews between Tietjen and examining clergy, reports by examiners Gerken (1975) and Nickels (1977), statements and petitions of support for Tietjen issued by Concordia faculty and students, and newspaper and periodical clippings. Official correspondence, memoranda, and printed materials pertain to the 1974 establishment of the Concordia Seminary in Exile (Seminex) by the Concordia faculty and students who supported Tietjen. Also present are files relating to the parallel controversy over actions taken by the LCMS Board of Missions. For information regarding the 1973 New Orleans convention of LCMS, at which conservative doctrinal statements on biblical interpretation were adopted, see the files housed in Subgroup II, Series 1, Responses to the Crisis. Proceedings of this convention and the subsequent convention in St. Louis are recorded on four cassette tapes.
The bulk of this research collection consists of files documenting the responses of moderate Lutheran pastors who remained within the Missouri Synod throughout the conflict. Files contain monographs, correspondence, writings, memoranda, brochures, mailings, and clippings reflecting the views of pastors, district synods, congregations, laymen, journalists, and religion writers. Well documented is the formation and work of Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELIM), a group established in the tumultuous aftermath of the 1973 New Orleans convention. Materials include statements and reports adopted at the first ELIM meeting, annotated by Henry L. Lieske. For minutes of ELIM meetings (1974-76) and related materials, consult the files of Omar Stuenkel and Alton F. Wedel, housed in Subgroup III. Those moderates who felt they could no longer minister within Missouri Synod broke with LCMS in 1976 and formed the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC) and five constituent synods. Files housed in Series 3, Subgroup II document the formation of the AELC, its founding convention, and the establishment of the AELC English Synod out of the English District.
Conservative response to the moderate outcry is reflected in publications, newsletters, conference reports, and official church mailings, housed in Series 2 of Subgroup II. Individuals on the extreme right include the editorial group at the conservative publication "Affirm" and Walter A. Maier, Robert Preus, Edgar Rehwaldt, Martin Scharlemann, E. C. Weber, and Waldo Werning. Files also document the views of other current conservative members (1979-80) of the Missouri Synod relating to fellowship, "unionism", close communion, inerrancy, the ordination of women, and the use of the Lutheran Book of Worship. The issue of the certification of Seminex graduates in LCMS is highlighted by files (1973-88) pertaining to the ministerial career of Pastor Douglas Wahlberg (b. 1950), housed in Subgroup III, Series 2.
Information about the donor of these papers, Henry L. Lieske, is housed in Series 1, Subgroup I, Donor Files. Included are autobiographical materials on Lieske and correspondence from pastors expressing interest in submitting material for inclusion in Lieske's collection. Lieske's professional, largely incoming correspondence (1948-83), including letters exchanged with Jacob A. Preus, is housed in Subgroup II, Series 1.
SUBGROUP AND SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Henry Lieske's Research Collection on the Moderate Movement in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is arranged into three subgroups: I. Historical Files: Development of the Moderate Movement in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; II. Responses to the Crisis; and III. Files of Individual Pastors. Subgroups I and II are comprised of files received in the original 1980 accession, together with those received in the subsequent seven shipments (1988-90) which were interfiled in 1992. Subgroup III contains files of individual pastors, received in the later shipments, which were not interfiled.
Subgroup I. Historical Files: Development of the Moderate Movement in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), 1932-89, n.d. (1.8 l.f.)
Organized into four records series according to the arrangement established by the donor: 1. Donor Files; 2. Special Files: Background and Development of the Moderate Movement; 3. Special Files: Resolutions of the Synodical Conventions; and 4. Special Files: Sources of Conflict in LCMS.
Series 1. Donor Files, 1932-ca. 1988 (0.2 l.f.)
Includes photocopies and originals of ms. typescripts, printed materials, and H. Lieske's incoming correspondence relating to Lieske's assembly of the present collection. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by name or organization. Files are arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Series 2. Special Files: Background and Development of the Moderate
Movement, 1945-86, n.d. (0.6 l.f.)
Originals and photocopies of ms. typescript drafts and correspondence, monographs, periodicals, reports, leaflets, booklets, newspaper clippings, various other printed materials, and an unpublished dissertation with annotations. Arranged in the order received.
Series 3. Special Files: Resolutions of the Synodical Conventions, 1959-77
(0.2 l.f.)
Originals and photocopies of portions of published convention workbooks and proceedings, annotated by the donor. Chronologically arranged.
Series 4. Special Files: Sources of Conflict in LCMS, 1947-80 (0.8 l.f.)
Official church correspondence, reports, and news releases; select issues of religious periodicals; originals and copies of journal and newspaper articles; and miscellany documenting the areas of conflict within the LCMS and the specific charges made against John Tietjen. Many folders are individually described by the donor in accompanying notes.
Subgroup II. Responses to the Crisis in the LCMS, 1948-89 (7 l.f.)
Organized into four records series according to groupings established by the donor: 1. Responses of Moderates; 2. Responses of Conservatives and Conservative Publications; 3. Files Relating to the Formation of the AELC; and 4. Published Accounts of the Crisis.
Series 1. Responses of Moderates, 1948-88, n.d. (5.4 l.f.)
Originals and copies of official correspondence received and sent by various pastors and church organizations; periodical articles; single issues of religious periodicals and bulletins; convention publications; reports; and slides and cassette tapes. Materials are alphabetically arranged by name or title. Many folders are individually described by the donor.
Series 2. Responses of Conservatives and Conservative Publications,
1961-89 (0.8 l.f.)
Includes originals and photocopies of official church mailings and personal correspondence among pastors; select issues of and individual articles from religious periodicals; newsletters, conference reports, and pamphlets. Arranged alphabetically by topic, title, or type of material.
Series 3. Files Relating to the Formation of the Association of Evangelical
Lutheran Churches (AELC) and its Synods, 1975-80 (0.4 l.f.)
Official church correspondence and news releases; published convention proceedings; select issues of periodicals; copies of ms. typescript reports and addresses; and pamphlets and church bulletins. Arranged alphabetically by name of organization and thereunder in the order established by the donor.
Series 4. Published Accounts of the Crisis, 1975, 1977, 1979 (0.4 l.f.)
Five hardcover and two paper-bound monographs, arranged alphabetically by title.
Subgroup III. Files of Individual Pastors, 1969-88 (2.4 l.f.)
Includes files which, due to their bulk or content, were not integrated with Subgroups I and II. Organized into three records series, alphabetically arranged by pastor: 1. Files of Omar Stuenkel; 2. Files of Douglas Wahlberg; and 3. Files of Alton Wedel.
Series 1. Files of Omar Stuenkel, 1969-76 (0.8 l.f.)
Originally materials from "Supplementary Shipment #1," received in 1988 and described in the donor's correspondence of January 19, 1988. Contains files assembled by the Rev. Stuenkel pertaining to the Lutheran Church in Mission (LCM) and the Evangelical Lutherans in Mission (ELIM). Includes incoming and outgoing correspondence, chronologically arranged; ms. drafts and printed copies of minutes of ELIM meetings; special reports from Seminex (1974) and from Jacob Preus (1976); select issues of periodicals; newsletters; and clippings. Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Series 2. Files of Douglas Wahlberg, 1973-88 (1.2 l.f.)
Originally materials from "Shipment #7," received in 1990 and described and inventoried by the donor in an attachment housed in Box 4, Biographical Materials. Files include photocopies of transcripts of interviews (1973) between John Tietjen and various clergy; originals and photocopies of official church correspondence; clippings; various printed materials; and miscellany relating to Wahlberg's ministry. Arranged in the order established by the donor.
Series 3. Files of Alton Wedel, 1973-75 (0.4 l.f.)
Originally materials from "Shipment #3," received in 1988. The bulk of this shipment was interfiled in Subgroups I and II, following the donor's recommendations. The remainder is filed here and consists of clippings, reports, and miscellany relating to the crisis in LCMS. Arranged alphabetically by subject.