Looks like an important and helpful work for those interested in American Lutheranism.
https://www.cph.org/p-35190-seminex-in-print-a-comprehensive-bibliography-of-published-material-and-selected-archival-resources-for-historical-research.aspx
One would think the best source for the bibliography would be/have been the Christian News storage facility and archives, not so? The first sentence of the blurb stuck out for me: Nothing has shaken American Lutheranism more than the conflict within the Missouri Synod in the early 1970s. Agree or disagree?
Dave Benke
It would be interesting to see if he references CN in anyway. But I'm not going to buy the book to find out.
I think one could argue that the LCMS conflict of the 70s was a watershed event in American Lutheranism. For the LCMS, it began a generation of infighting and political intrigue that still continues (e.g. the United List dominance in our conventions). As for the ELCA, Carl Braaten has argued that the Seminex faculty had a profound impact on LSTC, and the ELCA as a whole, taking them further into liberal Christianity than they would be otherwise. I've sometimes wondered if the ELCA would exist as it does today if the AELC had not been involved. In that regard, Berger's thesis could be correct.
I greatly enjoyed reading Tietjen's memoir about the conflict. I really wish that Jack Preus had written a memoir from his perspective as well as some others who were involved. I think there are lots of stories from that era that have never been told and, sadly, never will be.
Another trajectory that would have changed American Lutheranism were those working at uniting the three major Lutheran bodies in the U.S. Our joint work on LBW and in LCUSA. Fellowship that had been established with the ALC. That was a trajectory, too; that may have heightened the LCMS squabbles.
I am certain that the loss of those who formed the AELC removed the moderating influence from the LCMS and it became more conservative. I'm not sure that those AELC folks were more theologically liberal than the LCA folks. What they did do was to push the ALC, who had been holding out for a tri-Lutheran fellowship/unity, to recognize that it was impossible. The conservative faction in LCMS would never let that happen.
The ALC president at the time, David Preus, was not in favor of the new church, but agreed to go along with it if that's the direction the church body took.
Just before the ELCA formed in 1988, there was the first breakaway, with a few ALC congregations forming TAALC. It was mostly over omitting "infallible and inerrant" in the ELCA constitution that had been in the ALC constitution. Such departures weakened the conservative influence within the ELCA.