1924-29 - The Protes’tant Controversy

The seminary faculty became involved in the Protes’tant Controversy that had its beginnings at Northwestern College in March 1924 and quickly spread throughout the synod. There was intra-faculty strife over a Gutachten (opinion) that they had issued concerning a conference paper that a young pastor named William Beitz had presented in 1926. Professor Gerhard Ruediger was forced to resign from the seminary faculty in January 1927 for his involvement in the controversy. When Koehler withdrew his name from the Gutachten, he was given a year’s sabbatical in 1929 and eventually dismissed from the seminary faculty in 1930.

Northwestern Faculty 1925

Professor Gerhard Ruediger

Professor Joh. Ph. Koehler