LCMS moderate didn't "Walkout", but should have (on Science and the Bible)

     While reviewing the latest book in the Concordia Historical Institute's (CHI) "Monograph Series", Rediscovering the Issues Surrounding the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walkout, (only $19.99!). I discovered a reference to a book, authored by an LC-MS pastor, that I was previously unaware of.  The reference was made by Rev. Dr. Armand Boehme in his essay "Creation and the Fall".  The essay is generally commendable in revealing the history of the change of doctrine by the teachers in the LC-MS, although I would suggest that the door to evolutionary teaching began even before the 1950s (p. 175). His references to support the literal meaning of Genesis 1-3 from Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions was most helpful. My upload of the famous "Blue Book" to the Internet Archive will also aid readers to follow the many references to that book by Dr. Boehme, and also by the other CHI essayists. 

 

Rev. William John Hausmann

    The book in question was Science and the Bible in Lutheran theology: from Luther to the Missouri Synod authored by Rev. Dr. William John Hausmann (1930-2015, obituary, Legacy) in 1978 (free to borrow for 1-hour periods).  This book, along with several other references in the CHI book, are available to read for free for 1-hour borrowing periods on the Internet Archive. This book was a dissertation for his PhD degree from Drew University.  When one researches his affiliation, we find that not only was he born into the LC-MS, he evidently did not leave it during the infamous "Walkout" of 1974, since one finds that he was an "Interim Pastor" at an LC-MS church in Pennsylvania after his retirement in 1990. 

      What is significant about this is that Dr. Boehme reveals on page 179, footnote # 43, that Hausmann gave a "positive view of [Prof. Norman] Habel’s essay". Who was Prof. Habel?  He was one of the Concordia Seminary professors who joined the "Walkout" of 1974.  What did Habel teach? According to Dr. Boehme, he taught according to the "historical-critical method" (p. 74, 177) and that Genesis 3 was a "symbolic religious history". 

       So Hausmann's public "positive view" in 1978 of Habel's and Concordia Seminary's teaching, 4 years after the "Walkout" in 1974, demonstrates that although the LC-MS seemed to have won the "Battle for the Bible", it had not fully done so — by disciplining those who still sympathized with the "Walkout" teachings. Hausmann speaks of his own duplicity in his pastorate on pages 113-114, saying that although he would not preach about his actual belief of "accommodation" with "science" in his sermons, yet 

"Bible classes, Sunday school, confirmation instruction appear to be the place to discuss in detail the relationship between science and Scripture, the theological, philosophical, and scientific problems, questions, and possible solutions that would arise from such a dialogue", 

… that is, the "accommodating" relationship between Scripture and "science falsely so-called" (1 Timothy 6:20).

      This seemingly small situation has larger implications, for it demonstrates that Dr. Boehme is in fellowship with the Synod that found room for pastors, such as Hausmann, who publicly did not believe the official Scriptural teaching of the Synod. (Hausmann even claimed Luther for his "accommodating" cause.) It demonstrates that the "Issues" addressed in the CHI book were never fully resolved… to this day, not withstanding CHI's efforts to speak otherwise. 

      More on the CHI book on the "Walkout" to come…