Valpo and Lutherans

[vu72]

I'll have to come back to this thread when I have some spare time - it's gotten fairly meaty.

A couple of quick Q's.  What forum were those quotes taken from?

And, re Norman Nagel.  The mention of his accent reaffirms my memory of his nationality.  What's his history with the LCMS?  Was he LCMS before coming to Valpo?

P.S.  I think he was a neighbor of my grandparents down in St. Louis, but I've been known to lose track of exactly who lived in that particular retirement community.

As I recall he is Australian and came to Valpo from Cambridge University in England.  He was Dean of the Chapel (University Pastor) from 1968-1983

[historyman]

And, re Norman Nagel.  The mention of his accent reaffirms my memory of his nationality.  What's his history with the LCMS?  Was he LCMS before coming to Valpo?

P.S.  I think he was a neighbor of my grandparents down in St. Louis, but I've been known to lose track of exactly who lived in that particular retirement community.

For those that never heard Dean Nagel give a sermon at the chapel the sound of his voice is somewhat similar to the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who gave the sermon at the Prince William & Kate Middleton royal wedding in April, the exception being he had an Australian accent.

For those who don't remember what I like to call the "high" times of the chapel I refer you to the letter Rev. Nagel wrote to the University community on the 50th anniversary of the chapel:

A LETTER FROM DR. NAGEL

    To the Valparaiso University Community on the occasion of the

    50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Chapel

     

    Dear Friends of the Chapel of the Resurrection,

    How I wish I could be with you this morning, in this time set apart to celebrate not only the dedication of the University's Chapel, but also all that has been shared in this very special place for over 50 years. And yes, it has actually been the heart and center of the campus for more than 50 years, because when I came to Valparaiso in 1968, the Chapel had not yet received its name. That was to come a year later. And before I came, of course, OP's dream of the Chapel as the vibrant center of much of the University's life had already become a reality. It was beautiful, and it told the world what we were about.

    How many unforgettable times here do you remember? The Sunday morning Eucharist with the musical glories of the organ and the choirs? The rich roster of preachers and the teams of acolytes, ushers and altar guild? Holy Week and Easter Vigil with superabundant liturgy and baptisms? Song Fest? The Societies'Fair? Baccalaureate and, when it rained, Graduation? Nurses' Pinning? Hundreds shaking the west gallery during Wednesday night Folk Service? OP's poetically evocative Christmas Sermons? Counseling every night in the Dean's Room? Christmas Gift Night when you brought your own gift to the altar and Hoelty-Nickel always offered his variations on Three Blind Mice? Morning Prayer? Recitals in Gloria Christi and on the great Chapel organ? Offertory processions composed of students from the dormitories, the sororities and the fraternity houses? Band and orchestra concerts? Lectures, programs, exhibits? The chiming of the campanile bells given by the Guild? Funerals? Baptisms? Weddings? The inauguration of our University presidents? Christmas Advent Vespers? Perhaps the one when walking to the Chapel you saw Professor Brauer's play of light on the outside of the west wall? Perhaps the one when the faces of the Brown Field's football crowd were projected on the inside walls? Perhaps the one when laser balls of light spurted up the piers in the chancel, confessing creation's "Let there be light," and the bright mist welled up from the dry ice in Gloria Christi? Or perhaps, when leaving the Chapel afterwards, you remember joining the hundreds who kept singing Fleming's "Song in the Night" or, on another occasion, "Donna Nobis Pacem" as you walked home in the falling snow?

    But I hope – and pray – that what everyone of every generation at Valpo, past and future, will most remember about the Chapel is what was so beautifully illustrated by artist Richard Caemmerer in a work commissioned as a gift for me when I was leaving Valpo to serve at the seminary here in St. Louis. It was a painting of the great building, and bursting out of the roof, right over where the pulpit is (if one could have seen it), was the Christ – huge and embracing. May that Christ, our Lord, preached in this Chapel of the Resurrection through generations past and future, be every Valpo student's blessed memory and strength.

    Norman Nagel

    Dean of the Chapel, 1968 - 1983   


Here are some things I found posted about the ministry of Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel:

About the Author

Norman E. Nagel is Professor Emeritius at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. Previously, he served Valparaiso University (Indiana) as a professor of theology and as dean of the Chapel of the Resurrection. He also served congregations in England, most notably at Westfield House at Cambridge. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Adelaide (Australia), a master's degree from Concordia Seminary, and a doctorate from the University of Cambridge (England).

Here is a website to the sermons of Dr. Nagel:
http://audio.holdenvillage.org/node/2483


His book of selected sermons sold by Concordia Publishing House in St.Louis has a picture of the resurrected Christ from the Chapel of the Resurrection:
http://www.cph.org/p-421-selected-sermons-of-norman-nagel.aspx


This website includes a picture of Dr. Nagel from his days at the Westfield House of Theological Studies at Cambridge:
http://www.westfieldhouse.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=15

Here is some history of Valpo at Cambridge from the Cambridge website:
Students came from England, Canada, the United States, Poland and Australia. At first just a few. Of the first, Richard Kraemer is now President of Concordia College in Edmonton and William Erat is with Liberty Lutheran Services in Philadelphia. They came to us from Valparaiso University, as did Walter Keller for his Ph.D. Valpo later established its overseas study programme with Westfield House. In 1968 Nagel was called to be the Dean of the Chapel of the Resurrection and Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University, and in 1983, to be Professor of Doctrinal Theology at Concordia Seminary in St Louis where there are now six professors there by way of Westfield House. Professor Franzmann came from there, while Elmore Leske, another Australian, was the next Preceptor. And so on to yet more fruitful days. 

[FWalum]

Dr. Nagel's Groucho Marx style of lecturing is one of the most vivid images I have of class time at VU.  He is still interviewed occasionally on Issues Etc.  They generally make a pretty big deal about having him on the show.

[StlVUFan]

Unless I'm mixing him up with someone else, wasn't Nagel also among the 45 professors accused of teaching "that which is not fit for the church of God" in 1973?  I may be confusing him with Norm Habel, but both might have also been in that category.

[agibson]

Interesting - like Nixon's enemies list!  Who came up with the list?  Is there a copy?

The number 45 turns up on wikipedia as significant: it was the number of faculty voting with the St. Louis seminary majority to walk out and form Seminex.

There was a lot of resonance at Valpo around these issues in my student days: with Dave Truemper chair of the theology department, etc.  Not sure who's still around at Valpo now, from those days.

[FWalum]

Unless I'm mixing him up with someone else, wasn't Nagel also among the 45 professors accused of teaching "that which is not fit for the church of God" in 1973?  I may be confusing him with Norm Habel, but both might have also been in that category.

While I am not sure, I doubt that Dr. Nagel was on that list.  He was the leader of the commission that developed the LCMS's Lutheran Book of Worship that was published in 1983.  He left Valpo to serve Concordia Seminary St. Louis as a visiting professor (1981-83), professor (1983-92), graduate professor since 1992 and chairman of the department of systematic theology (1986-92, 1994-95). He retired from the seminary in February of 2006.

I remember hearing about the list but have no idea who was all part of that group.

[agibson]

Was 8-10 years long enough for the LCMS and the new management at St. Louis to calm down after Seminex?  Quite possibly not...

[VU75]

Was 8-10 years long enough for the LCMS and the new management at St. Louis to calm down after Seminex?  Quite possibly not...

Not really.  At ITunesU you can download a history class taught at the St Louis seminary  on the seminex controversy and they don't seem to care much for a couple of professors who came out of Valpo and especially don't like Kretzmann who "transformed Valpo's Religion Department into a Theology Department."  Lots of good stuff on the history of the LCMS from it's the original Saxon immigrants up to the 70's and beyond. 
My LCMS pastor was not happy I went to Valpo and that was three years before the walkout. So even then Valpo was seen as too liberal.

[vu72]

Was 8-10 years long enough for the LCMS and the new management at St. Louis to calm down after Seminex?  Quite possibly not...

Not really.  At ITunesU you can download a history class taught at the St Louis seminary  on the seminex controversy and they don't seem to care much for a couple of professors who came out of Valpo and especially don't like Kretzmann who "transformed Valpo's Religion Department into a Theology Department."  Lots of good stuff on the history of the LCMS from it's the original Saxon immigrants up to the 70's and beyond.  
My LCMS pastor was not happy I went to Valpo and that was three years before the walkout. So even then Valpo was seen as too liberal.

I will watch it.  It sounds very interesting.  For me, it shows why I'm a former LCMS member, now happy in the ELCA.  Look, it isn't that I would be unhappy in ANY LCMS church but I would be if I heard that Valpo was too liberal.  In the same way my church has had no discussion about homosexual clergy.  It just doesn't apply to us or the vast majority of ELCA churches.

[agibson]

The ELCA's a big tent, for sure.  For that matter, so is the LCMS.  Visiting one the big LCMS churches here in Valpo, it might not be too far out of the mainstream in the ELCA.  The same can be said for LCMS churches I've visited on the west coast.

[mj]

This is a little off topic but I was recently wondering if the most active Valpo alumni tended to be Lutheran. I didn't know if the alumni office had that kind of information.

[agibson]

Like what fraction of donors are Lutheran?  I bet they do have the number, not sure if it's public.

[historyman]

Valpower, your take on Valpo and the Lutherans?