Editing Seminex (section)

==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">{{Citation |last1=Bode |first1=Gerhard |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/8/ |year=2010 |contribution=03C 'Waking Up to Modernity?': The Influence of German Theology Part 3 |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |access-date=August 2, 2018 |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik}}</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">{{Citation |last1=Bode |first1=Gerhard |title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s |url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/2/ |year=2010 |contribution=02a. 'What is our Identity and Purpose?': The Americanization of the LCMS |publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]] |access-date=August 2, 2018 |last2=Herrmann |first2=Erik}}</ref><ref name="06A">{{Citation | last1 = Bode | first1 = Gerhard | last2 = Herrmann | first2 = Erik | year = 2010 | title  = The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s | contribution = 06a. "False Doctrine ... 'Cannot be Tolerated in the Church of God ... '": New Orleans, 1973 Part 1 | url = https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/15/ | publisher = [[Concordia Seminary]] | access-date = August 2, 2018 }}</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 | publisher = Issues Etc | date = October 27, 2017  | access-date = August 3, 2018}}</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">{{Citation|last1=Bode|first1=Gerhard|title=The LCMS: Controversy in the 1960s and 1970s|url=https://scholar.csl.edu/controversylcms/5/|year=2010|contribution=02d. "What is our Identity and Purpose?": The Americanization of the LCMS Part 4|publisher=[[Concordia Seminary]]|access-date=August 3, 2018|last2=Herrmann|first2=Erik}} {{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 the 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" />