The Future of Academic Freedom in ELCA Seminaries and Theological Education

Introduction

[1] Over the past several decades, theological education has undergone significant changes due to declining enrollment and more recently a global pandemic. In response there have been seminary mergers with undergraduate institutions, widespread use of hybrid and on-line models of education, and closures. While changing winds have affected all seminaries, the ones who have undergone the most change are the seminaries within mainline Protestantism. This is significant because in addition to providing theological education, these mainline Protestant institutions are often the front lines of advocating for justice. Moreover, these institutions are preparing the leaders of churches where conversations about justice will be happening. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that seminaries teach students how to have these conversations.

[2] As a notable example, there have been campus wide protests across the United States, and at some theological institutions, in support of Palestinians during the current Israeli-Hamas war that begin after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel from Hamas. During the spring of 2024, campuses (and some divinity schools housed within a wider university system) began organized protests. As some examples, Princeton Theological Seminary students pushed for the wider Princeton system for Princeton University’s Board of Trustees to “divest the endowment from Israel.”[1] In a later article, Elena Eiss, mentioned how there was not sustained dialogue on the wider Princeton campus on this issue.[2] Union Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees voted in favor to divest from companies who supported Israel.[3] Also during this time, students from other divinity schools prepared meals for the student protestors.

[3] The campus protests elicited responses across the nation, and raised several questions, concerning the nature of academic freedom. During the protests, students and professors themselves caught between different opinions on this issue; have been expelled or lost their jobs.  For example, an anthropology professor at Muhlenberg College, an ELCA College and University, was fired after posting a poem from a Palestinian poet.[4]

[4] Institutions of higher education have faced scrutiny from the second Trump administration regarding these protests. New questions have been shaped by the campus protests concerning the legacy and durability of academic freedom and freedom of expression.

[5] Academic freedom has long been held as an essential right and responsibility held by professors to teach diverse positions within their classrooms without fear of reprisal. In some ways it seems that the response to the campus protests of U.S. military aid to Israel has all but killed the sense of academic freedom on universities. Yet, this was not the real beginning. Over the past decade, the hyper-activity of the culture wars and failure to engage in meaningful dialogue has contributed on campuses to the decline of academic freedom.[5]

[6] ELCA seminaries are laboratories for future church leaders to enter the wider denomination. While the ELCA has the perception of leaning progressive, the denomination is moderate, akin to its Mainline Protestant siblings. To prepare future leaders in the church, ELCA seminaries should begin forming their students to engage honest and difficult conversations beyond the parish and into more public life.

Luther’s Educational Philosophy

[7] Before unpacking Luther’s educational philosophy, it might be helpful to unpack the educational environment which formed Luther: the university. In the three centuries before Luther, universities emerged in cities like Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, and later Germany, and these institutions had four traditional faculties or learning centers: Arts, Law, Medicine, Theology.[6] Luther’s educational rearing came at a time when the medieval institutions began shifting away from the Scholastic curriculum, which gained notoriety during the High Middle Ages, towards a more humanistic enterprise, which coincided with the Renaissance and Reformation.[7]

[8] Luther made serious gains in improving the educational system within the Wittenberg community, through the government, the church, and the family. These are also known as Luther’s three orders of creation: status publicus, status ecclesisus, and status economicus.[8]

[9] Luther’s educational reforms began within the family. Luther stressed the teaching of the Catechisms in his sermons and in the homes.[9] However, he noted the great importance of local governments taking responsibility for providing the educational opportunities for the children.[10] Luther had a positive view on education, and believed that without educating certain professionals (lawyers, pastors, and doctors), society would crumble.

[10] Robin Rosin notes that while Luther had a positive view on education, he realized that education would not create some utopia—a view that later scholars imputed on Luther.[11] Despite recognizing his limitations, Luther’s educational endeavors left a surprising legacy of academic freedom. Luther’s humanistic education largely shaped his perspective on the need to investigate the world and broadening the cultural horizons.[12] Luther and Melanchthon’s views informed the future German universities that they might take seriously the question of academic inquiry.

Lutheranism in North America

[11] The most consequential debate that emerged during the mid-19^th Century in the Lutheran seminaries was the role of the Lutheran Confessions. This debate was also in the backdrop of the wider cultural conversations around slavery, church authority, and congregational life.[13] These debates were also immersed in the wider conversation of American Lutheranism, which DeAne Lagerquist rightly notes became divided.[14] On the one hand, Samuel Simon Schmucker, founded the Lutheran School of Theology at Gettysburg and published his Definite Synodical Platform, which included his Recension of the Augsburg Confession. On the other hand, Schmucker found his views challenged by more conservative leaning Lutherans who wanted to ascribe to a more traditional reading of the Confessions. These opponents were led by Charles Porterfield Krauth, whose work The Conservative Reformation, provided a robust, conservative, and confessional theology to challenge the influence of Schmucker. However, Krauth’s views did not win out at seminary, and he and other like-minded Lutherans left to form their own church body and seminary.[15]

[12] There are some recorded cases of issues of academic freedom within the early days of Lutheran seminaries. Richard Solberg highlights one case where the President of Roanoke College defended the case of Herman J. Thorstenburg. The latter, who taught U.S. History, selected a textbook, the contents of which drew the ire of a local judge. President Morehead, then head of Roanoke College, rigorously defended Thorstenburg from external attacks. By then, Thorstenburg had withdrawn the text.[16] Solberg notes this event “stands as one of the landmarks in the defense of academic integrity in American higher education,” with Morehead saying, “There cannot be loyalty to the truth in scholarly work without freedom to investigate, to think, to review all phases of a subject—the truths, the half-truths, and the untruths about it—and to form and to express independent judgments. This is the principle of academic freedom.”[17]

[13] Around this same time, John Dewey and other intellectuals within the academy were exploring of ways of preserving academic freedom. This concert of minds led to the formation of the American Association of University Professors, who, like Morehead, were committed “to investigate truth; critically to verify fact; to reach conclusions by means of the best methods at command, untrammeled by external fear or favor, to communicate this truth to the student; to interpret to him its bearing on the questions he will have to face in life—this is precisely the aim and object the university.”[18] The AAUP advocates that teachers “make students take a honest account of his stock of ideas, throw out the dead matter, place revised price marks on what is left, and fills his empty shelves with new goods.”[19]

[14] One of the few critiques against John Dewey is that his view on education was largely informed by his view on progress; he believed that a highly educated citizenry would push society towards a utopia. Dewey grounded his educational reforms in the proper role of the citizens in a democratic environment, by saying, “I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.”[20] While Luther believed that education was critical for a well-functioning society, he did not have such utopic visions.

Academic Freedom in ELCA seminaries

[15] ELCA seminaries are currently surviving and forming pastors, deacons, and lay scholars to serve Christ’s Church at work in the world. One of the perceptions of the ELCA, and by extension, their seminaries, is that their push towards a more social justice-oriented world leans to the left. Are seminaries and the leaders they produce pushing the denomination further to the left or are the wider cultural moments pushing the denomination and its seminaries towards a more progressive ethos? There is certainly a call to service of the neighbor in the Gospel, but the push towards a specific political type of social progressivism is not necessarily rooted in theological endeavors

[16] While there is no quantifiable metric for determining the political stances of seminarians and seminaries, certain stereotypes do emerge during conversation. In the lead-up to the 2020 election, for example, there were seminarians who expressed concern over the election. They also stated their concern with having those conversations with those who identify as conservative.

[17] Also, seminarians who self-identify as conservative in their views on marriage, human sexuality, masculine language of God, and those who identify themselves as politically conservative sometimes say they are less likely to engage in conversation about these issues with other seminarians. These same seminarians will repeat what the professor says in class and not voice their actual views.

[18] This fear of dialogue, however, runs counter to the role academic freedom plays within the seminary. By taking seriously the spirit and letter of Luther’s view on academic freedom, there is importance in engaging in dialogue with those who disagree with us. Part of the mission of the seminaries ought to be to foster and nurture robust conversation inside and outside the classroom.

[19] Teaching seminarians how to have such conversation is necessary for the broader church. The ELCA politically and culturally, is a redder shade of purple. Ryan Burge, noted sociologist of Christianity in North America, notes that within the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, 53% of survey respondents who identify as members of the ELCA voted for Donald Trump.[21] Taking these results at face value, there is an indication that the wider denomination has a redder tint politically. Pastors need to know how to have conversations with their parishioners and encourages these conversations among them. Some seminarians, who self-identify as progressive, will either refuse to serve a conservative congregation, and if they do, will likely push their congregation to the left.

Conclusion: Having the conversation

[25] While the perception of ELCA seminaries is that the faculty and students do not reflect the wider political positions of most congregations within the ELCA, the opportunity presents itself for seminarians to begin learning the language of viewpoints that differ from their own views. This may involve some code switching. There is also the opportunity for seminaries to fully embrace the breadth of academic freedom by learning how to dialogue with one another. The art of debate and thoughtful conversation, even within theological education, has slowly dissipated.

[26] In typical Lutheran fashion, the question then arises: What does this mean? As the nation solidifies within their respective echo chambers, then conversations diminish. Seminaries form leaders to serve in their respective settings, and especially within the ELCA, the call to engage the world becomes crucial.

[27] As Lutherans the first place we begin the conversation is with the Bible as it points us to who God is revealed in Jesus Christ. Not every issue is addressed by the Bible, so for ELCA leaders, the next place to continue the conversation is through the social statements, which are the guiding documents of the church. In Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective, communities of faith, which includes seminaries, are called to moral deliberation, and that “Christians struggle together on social questions in order to know better how to live faithfully and responsibly.”[22]

[28] As the seminaries of the ELCA prepare future leaders to serve Christ’s church in the world, may they have the tools to become effective leaders in moral deliberation until the day Jesus comes again.

[1] Miriam Waldvogel. “Israel divest group submits formal proposal to the University.” The Daily Princetonian. July 1, 2024. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2024/07/princeton-news-adpol-divestment-israel-proposal-resources-committee-cpuc. (Accessed August 26, 2025).

[2] Elisabeth Stewart and Luke Grippo. “Campus groups react after Resources Committee rejects dissociation proposal.” The Daily Princetonian. March 7, 2025. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025/03/princeton-news-adpol-divestment-from-israel-campus-groups-palestine#:~:text=Max%20Meyer%20’27%2C%20President%20of%20TFI%2C%20wrote,the%20Resources%20Committee’s%20criterion%20for%20campus%2Dwide%20consensus. (Accessed August 26, 2025).

[3] Union Theological Seminary. “Union Theological Seminary Board of Trustees Endorses Divestment and Other Strategies for Companies Profiting From War in Palestine/Israel.” https://utsnyc.edu/blog/2024/05/09/union-theological-seminary-board-of-trustees-endorses-divestment-and-other-strategies-for-companies-profiting-from-war-in-palestine-israel/. (Accessed August 26, 2025).

[4] Anemona Hartocollis. “Professors in Trouble Over Protests Wonder if Academic Freedom Is Dying.” The New York Times. October 23, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/us/faculty-protests-academic-freedom-tenure-discipline.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fE8.OGKq.IaKephjeKxrU&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare. (Accessed August 17, 2025); Dennis Romero. “Arizona State scholar on leave after verbal attack on woman in hijab.” NBC News. May 7, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/asu-scholar-leave-video-verbal-attack-woman-hijab-goes-viral-rcna151165. (Accessed August 29, 2025).

[5] Ryan Quinn. “Many Faculty Say Academic Freedom is Deteriorating. They’re self-censoring.” Inside Higher Ed. November 13, 2024. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2024/11/13/many-faculty-say-academic-freedom-deteriorating. (Accessed August 29, 2025).

[6] Richard Solberg. Lutheran Higher Education in North America. Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1985. 12.

[7] Oxford History.

[8] Carl Braaten. “God in Public Life: Rehabilitating the “orders of creation.” First Things. December 1, 1990.

[9] Solberg. Lutheran Higher Education. 15.

[10] Martin Luther. “A Sermon on Keeping Children in School.” Luther’s Works: American Edition, Vol. 46. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fortress Press. 230-244.

[11] Rosin, “Luther on Education.” 129. Rosin footnotes how Gerald Strauss’ works Luther’s House of Learning: Indoctrination of the Young “is an example of missing the point of Luther’s approach and expecting something more akin to the radical’s expectations.” Rosin then also goes on to mention that universities today create high expectations, and they also know that those goals are lofty.

[12] Solberg, Lutheran Higher Education, 17-20.

[13] L. DeAne Lagerquist. The Lutherans: Student Edition. Westport, Connecticut. Prager. 1999. 64-76.

[14] Lagerquist, The Lutherans, 70-77. She also notes that these divisions were not entirely consuming as the movers and shakers in Lutheranism were also occupied exploring other avenues.

[15] Lagerquist, The Lutherans, 75.

[16] Solberg, Lutherans in Higher Education, 269-270.

[17] President Morehead, quoted in William Edward Eisenberg’s The First Hundred Years: Roanoke College (1842-1942) Salem: Virginia. Roanoke College. 1942 in Richard Solberg. Lutheran Higher Education in North America. Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota.

[18] John Dewey, “Academic Freedom.” Educational Review quoted in George Marsden. The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief. New York. Oxford University Press. 1994.

[19] William T. Foster. The Nation. 1915. Quoted in the American Association of University Professors’ Declaration of Principles. 1915.

[20] Peter Gibbon. “John Dewey: Portrait of a Progressive Thinker.” National Endowment for the Humanities. Spring 2019, Vol. 40, No. 2.

[21] Ryan Burge. “Cooperative Election Study: Presidential Vote Choice Among Mainline Denominations, 2008-2024.” 2025.

[22] Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Church in Society: A Lutheran Perspective. 1991.