A journal essay written by a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastor that addresses the role of women in the early church and sexism in the church today might lead to formal heresy charges against its author, Daniel Bruch. Bruch, 50, teaches sociology at the synod’s Concordia College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Conservatives in the LCMS have indicated they view the article as a challenge to the synod’s ban on ordaining women. At least one synod clergyman, Matthew Thompson of Lewisville, Minnesota, has indicated he will file charges of false doctrine against Bruch.
Bruch said the article in dispute was requested by Inter-Connections, a journal of the Missouri Synod’s campus ministry division. At the time of the article’s publication (last May), Bruch was a campus pastor for the LCMS at the University of Wisconsin.
In accordance with Missouri Synod policy, Bruch submitted the piece to the synod’s commission on doctrinal review, which gave its approval prior to publication. But anonymous critics subsequently questioned Bruch’s use of Scripture and called successfully for a second review. Last October the review commission withdrew its “doctrinal certification” of the essay. Bruch has since revised the article.
In the published version of the article, Bruch, who holds Ph.D. and doctor of ministry degrees, offered a sociological analysis of society’s changing view of women. He suggested the church ought to follow society’s lead in allowing women the freedom to perform roles other than traditional ones. Noting that most churches currently place males in positions of authority, he wrote that society “values diversity and inclusiveness” and ultimately will “destroy centuries of oppression and exclusiveness” against women.
Bruch told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch that his intent in writing the article was to “strip away the sexism of the church and get back to the root of how Jesus and the apostles treated women.” He continued, “It is my opinion that we are wearing cultural blinders. I wanted to ask the church, ‘Do the beliefs we hold reflect the biblical message? And can we divorce ourselves from the centuries of conditioning, set our blinders aside for a minute and look at how our Lord considered the role of women?’ ” The article did not specifically address women’s ordination.
One of Bruch’s critics, John Fehrmann, a Missouri Synod pastor in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and a member of Minnesota Confessional Lutherans, a conservative group within the LCMS, said he agrees with the concerns expressed in the article. But Fehrmann added that for several years Bruch has taught that Scripture is silent on the question of women’s ordination. Fehrmann said he believes Scripture forbids women from holding the pastoral office.
Prior to Bruch’s move to the University of Wisconsin as a campus pastor, he taught at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he encountered conflict with seminary president Robert Preus. In 1984, the seminary decided not to renew Bruch’s teaching contract, though he had the support of both the academic dean and his division chairman. Bruch said he sent through the synod’s commission of adjudication to contest the reasons Preus gave for not renewing his contract. As a result of this process, he said, “those reasons were expunged from the record” and replaced with a “statement of commendatory service.”
By Willmar Thorkelson.
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