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Well, yes, but who are you?

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Oh, I'm just a layman like yourself.

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I've been around quite a bit and have found that a lot of people take for granted their

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pastor and the good he does for them.

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Have you ever investigated the training process your pastor underwent to enable him to do

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so many things?

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Well, no, frankly, I haven't.

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Do you realize that your pastor combines the skills of many different professions?

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Besides being a public speaker required to address the same people week after week, he

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must be a teacher imparting truths fundamental to spiritual development.

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His skills include the art of ministering to the sick and confidential personal counseling.

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He must be a student of God's word and literature of all ages, including the present.

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Frequently, he becomes a supervisor and guiding spirit over large building programs.

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He must readily adapt himself to the interests of any age level, youthful fun, as well as

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adult business, where the ability to get along with other people is all important.

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So you see, the ministry is quite a task, isn't it?

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It certainly is.

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But what about that training process?

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Where could one go to learn so many skills?

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You and I support an institution for just that purpose at Maywood, Illinois.

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In 1891, Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary was founded upon the insistent urging of

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Dr. William A. Passivan.

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Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, was the first site of the seminary.

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The pictures box is now where the first building stood.

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Move to Maywood, west of Chicago in 1910.

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Your seminary boasts a beautiful campus, with Wagonall's administration building providing

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classroom, recreation, and library facilities, besides administrative offices.

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Passivant Dormitory, now used exclusively by married students, is one of two fine resident

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halls guarding corners of the campus.

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It perpetuates the sacred memory of the Passivant family.

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Single men are lodged at the other end of the walk in Lindop Dormitory, which pays tribute

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to the generous gifts of the Cummings Lindop family.

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Widener Coons, once the president's home, was built by Joseph C. Coons to honor Dr.

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Revere Franklin Widener.

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It is now used by couples with children.

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Stretching along one side is faculty row with residences for four of the five professors

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and another apartment for married students.

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One professor and his family live off the campus in a seminary-owned duplex, also the

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home of the widow of Dr. Franklin Gruber.

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Completing the campus picture is the heating plant and caretakers' home to one side of

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the administration building and on the other side, the refractory, one end of which has

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been set apart as a place of worship.

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The student body has grown through the years to 52 undergraduates and 30 graduate students.

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Admission is open only to those with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and spiritual, intellectual

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and personal qualifications of applicants must meet with final approval by the faculty.

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Whether in recreational moments or in solemn chapel periods, when one of the students leads

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the worship service, development of Christian character receives primary emphasis during

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the three years of training.

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At these daily prayers, the seminary life reaches its climax before the Henry Phelps

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Memorial altar, the first gift for the new chapel that is so urgently needed.

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This is your seminary, and these are the men who will fill the vacant pulpit of our churches.

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This is where they learn to be ministers of the gospel, to serve us in so many ways.

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Will you agree with me that Chicago Lutheran Seminary deserves our full support?

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Well yes, but I'd like to see more of what goes on there.

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Well, how about you and your friends going with me when I make my next visit to the seminary?

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That's a good idea.

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Don't you think?

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It's a beautiful day at the seminary, just the right kind of a day to call it an institution

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devoted to magnifying the Lord for all his works and all his ways.

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Everybody's busy.

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Pastor Berthold Corte, the registrar, is getting out his reports, and behind this door a conference

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must be going on.

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But let's go in anyway.

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The president of the seminary, Dr. Armand George Wang.

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Oh, hello there.

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I'm glad to see you.

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Come on in.

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We're having a meeting of one of the committees of the seminary board.

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But I'm mighty glad you came in anyway.

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Sit down, make yourself comfortable.

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He seems to be quite busy.

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Problems of the church do not solve themselves, as every member of a synodical board knows.

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The men are faced with the need for expansion of present facilities, and here comes some

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concrete evidence of what they are discussing.

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Plans are taking shape for new buildings at the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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I get the impression that the matter is one of grave concern to those charged with administration.

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Let's leave them to consider the problem while we take a look at life in the seminary.

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In the comfortable rooms nicely furnished by the seminary guild, interested congregations,

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and individuals, the students have an atmosphere conducive to difficult and prolonged application

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to books.

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Homework is not the term to describe this type of out-of-class study.

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Rather it is a matter of extensive reading and serious research, combined with just good

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hard thinking.

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In passive dormitory, one or two single rooms have been converted into apartments for married

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students without children.

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Service in the war interrupted the education of many students, but though older in years

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and with family obligations, they still move forward to the attainment of their life's

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goal.

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Couples with children occupy apartments in a faculty row residence where they may live

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and study on the campus.

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A missionary on furlough taking graduate courses in preparation for further service abroad

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is provided with quarters in one of the Widener-Koon's apartments where he resides with his wife

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and child.

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Thus the seminary, keeping in step with the times, adapts itself to the changing requirements

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of those who look to it for training and knowledge.

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Another student physical need is met by the seminary boarding club presided over by officers

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elected by the students.

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A cook is employed to manage the kitchen and through the use of student help and careful

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purchasing wholesome food is served family style at a minimum cost.

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Married students and their wives, most of whom are employed, also avail themselves of this convenience.

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The student body officers discuss a varied program of activities carried on by subcommittees.

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One plans chapel services.

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Another collects offerings to send to the Lutheran seminary at Kiel University, Germany.

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Still another has hung plaques in the dining hall for each college or university from which

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students have come.

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There is one for Carthage, Wittenberg, Roanoke, Lenore Rine, Kiel, and many others.

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The student body organization also arranges a program of recreation for the limited leisure

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time available.

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There are game room contests, student faculty parties, and a schedule on a local circuit

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for the seminary basketball team coached by the same faculty member who directs a seminary

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choir, also a project of the student body.

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The colorful procession of seminary faculty and visiting representatives opens the service

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formally inaugurating two men recently called to professorships.

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Broad experience and high scholarship mark the men under whom the ministers of the future

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will prepare for a lifetime of service to God.

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Dr. Um Ha Wolk, professor of Old Testament interpretation, leaves early for a first hour

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class in Hebrew.

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His educational background includes Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and the University of Chicago.

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He also served in the United States Army chaplaincy.

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After opening the class session with prayer, Dr. Wolk leads the students to an understanding

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of the depth, color, and meaning of the Old Testament through the original Hebrew text

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of the Bible.

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In another class, the Greek of the New Testament is studied under Dr. Arthur Vavis, professor

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of New Testament interpretation, until recently a professor in the Baltic University in exile

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at Hamburg, Germany.

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He also studied and taught at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

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Deep insight to spiritual truths of scripture follows familiarity with the language of the

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Gospel writers.

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A seminar in Reformation history is conducted informally by professor of historical theology,

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Dr. Robert H. Fisher, who allows free discussion among students.

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Christian history shows how the living Christ and his Gospel have been at work in the world

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and relates the Church's past to the faith of believers today.

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The theological field of seminary training demands serious concentration in the classroom,

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where the professor of systematic theology leads his students through the labyrinths

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of religious thought.

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Let us listen for a moment to Dr. Joseph Sittler, Jr.

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The task of systematic theology is to look deeply into the faith of the Christian Church,

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now almost 2,000 years old, in order to understand what the Christian faith really is.

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People have, you know, all kinds of strange ideas about religion.

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It is the specific task of Christian theology to disengage the particular character of the

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Christian faith from religion in general.

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And now all of this is done, you see, not in order that we may here engage just in academic

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speculation or amuse our minds by going over what men have thought about religion in the

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past, but in order that the minister may be equipped to declare to men now living what

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God has to say about man, about himself, about society, and that all this may be said pointedly,

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relevantly, clearly, and in an orderly way.

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Practical preparation for the ministry includes careful instruction in the proper rendition

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of the liturgy.

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Classes move to the chapel, where the men take turns conducting a simulated church service.

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They face the altar at the proper time, but do not go into the chancel.

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Under the direction of Professor of Functional Theology, Dr. Grady Davis, attention is given

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to proper orientation, pitch of voice, enunciation, manner, timing, and inflection.

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In his home, Professor Davis continues his liturgical materials class by discussing and

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then playing different musical settings of the church service.

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A custom-built high-fidelity amplifier provides reproduction of unusual quality through the

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great speaker in its specially built cabinet.

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The music of Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, and Verdi fills the room as the men listen.

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The communication of the gospel is taught to the student minister in a special pericope's

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course, where each man in turn preaches on the gospel for the day.

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The class and several professors are the congregation.

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The sermon is recorded on tape for later more detailed criticism.

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The scripture lesson upon which the sermon is based has been discussed during the preceding

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week by professors in different fields.

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Dr. Davis gave an exegesis from the Greek the first two days, and Dr. Sittler furnished

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the theological analysis on the third day.

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On the fourth day, the preaching techniques and sermon structure were discussed by Dr. Davis.

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Now as the student concludes his sermon, Dr. Davis again takes charge and leads the group

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in a searching critical analysis.

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But her frankness rules as theology, biblical interpretation, and delivery come in for close scrutiny.

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Humor seems to be appreciated by everyone except the preacher for the day.

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Pioneering in many directions, Chicago Lutheran Seminary has established a graduate school

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of theology.

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At the summer session, over 100 men take courses under such visiting lectures as Dr. Theodore

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Tappert, professor of history at Mount Airy Lutheran Seminary, Philadelphia.

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Increasingly, congregations grant their pastors time and expenses in addition to their vacations

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to attend the graduate school.

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Another section of the group is led by the president of Gustavus Adolphus College, St.

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Peter, Minnesota, Dr. Edgar Carlson.

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Stimulating contacts are afforded by the varied backgrounds of those who come for credit toward

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advanced theological degrees.

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And now we are back again with the committee in the president's office.

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Your seminary with all its many activities must look to the future, and the immediate

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future demands the erection of a library.

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26,000 volumes crowded into rooms on the second floor of the administration building take

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space needed for classrooms and professors' offices.

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Even the hallways have been utilized.

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Bookshelves must be kept near the walls to avert danger of collapse because the building

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was not designed for such weight.

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Many books, because of overfilled shelves, must be stored in the attic, out of reach,

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or laid on top of the shelves, and otherwise improperly stacked.

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The valuable L. Franklin Gruber collection of New Testament and Reformation history manuscripts

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is locked in a bank vault, unavailable for research use.

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The rapid growth of the library through the constant addition of new books is necessary

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to properly serve the students and faculty, and to meet the strict requirements of the

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accrediting association.

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Where to put them is a problem that becomes increasingly serious with every shipment.

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The only answer, the committee concludes, is a new building.

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It will be simple in design and construction, but completely fireproof because the manuscripts

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and many of the books can never be replaced.

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It will contain reading rooms, work rooms, and adequate stack space for present and future needs.

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But the matter of finances for such a project comes up for earned consideration by members

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of the committee.

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Will the church rally to the seminary support in this crisis, they ask each other?

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We are entirely dependent now upon what the members of our congregations will do.

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Am I right?

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You are exactly right.

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It is upon us that the individual responsibility rests.

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The United Lutheran Church in America is engaged in a great endeavor to raise five million

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dollars for its colleges and one million for its seminaries.

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The Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary at Maywood will receive from four supporting

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synods, the Illinois, the Wartburg, the Indiana, and the Michigan, the sum of $100,000 in the

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Christian Higher Education Year Appeal.

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That much and more is needed for a modest library.

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The library is the nerve center of an educational institution.

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The young men who are in training should have the best possible facilities that they may

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serve you better as they go out in the ministry.

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To accomplish this means sacrificial giving on the part of all of us.

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But you who are the church will not fail us.

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The result will be a better seminary and a greater ministry.

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Hello there.

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Oh, it's you again.

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I guess you're one layman that won't take his pastor for granted after this.

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You're right.

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And what's more, from now on I'm all for our seminary.

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And don't forget, the seminary needs our support in the Christian Higher Education Year Appeal.

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Yes, only last Sunday.

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Pastor was saying he needed more helpers for the Che campaign in our congregation.

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Well, how about a little action?

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Huh?

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Oh, all right.

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I'll show you.

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A hundred thousand dollars for our own seminary in Maywood.

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Well, it certainly would be nice to see that new library.

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Oh, hello pastor.

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I think you said you needed more helpers for the Che Appeal.

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Well, here's one you can count on because I believe in Christian Higher Education

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and the future of our seminary.

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The Che Appeal