“Stodgy, old, German Lutheran theologians of the nineteenth century” and… Concordia Publishing House

     I ran across the above phrase in the "Introduction" to the 2004 CPH book Fire and Staff: Lutheran Theology in Practice. Author Pastor Klemet Preus († 2014) reported that The Rev. Fred Baue, Preus's original editor at Concordia Publishing House (CPH), spoke this phrase to him in a discussion on how to name his new book. One can read the full account on pages 13-14 in the "Look Inside" file.

      I was surprised that Pastor Preus, son of Robert Preus, seemed somewhat reluctant to contradict CPH editor "Fritz" Baue to his face. It is apparent why Preus, an orthodox pastor and teacher, initially "had an argument with [his] editor", why he was "unconvinced" and "agonized" about this for some time. He was uncomfortable about this characterization from the CPH Editor, and rightly so. Preus confirms this when he eventually "thought the description 'stodgy' might be a bit harsh. (p. 14).

      Preus revealed in print just who Concordia Publishing House editor "Fritz" was thinking of as 

"stodgy, old, German Lutheran theologians of the nineteenth century":

C. F. W. Walther 

and others like him.

One is reminded of a report in the 2017 Christian News newspaper that CPH had dropped its support of an early translation of Walther's book: Pastoral Theology. — May this blog be thought of as "old", "stodgy", "German Lutheran". That would put me in good company.