Inventory of the The Rev. Winfred B. Schaller Collection
David Stiver
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, California, 94709
Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
Email: archives@gtu.edu
URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
© 2011
Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the The Rev. Winfred B. Schaller Collection
Collection number: GTU 2010-12-01
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
Berkeley, California
- Processed by:
- David Stiver
- Date Completed:
- January 7, 2011
- Encoded by:
- David Stiver
© 2011 Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: The Rev. Winfred B. Schaller collection
Dates: 1958-1990
Bulk Dates: 1958-1970
Collection number: GTU 2010-12-01
Creator:
Schaller, Winfred B. (Winfred Bernhard), 1922-1983
Collection Size:
.7 linear feet (1 5" and 1 2" box),
1 image, 2 documents
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Abstract: Rev. Winfred B. Schaller was a leader in the creation of the Church of Lutheran Confession (CLC). He served as editor of the
CLC's first periodical,
The Lutheran Spokesman, from June 1958 until he was forced to resign in August 1970. He left the CLC in 1972 and finished his ministry in service
to a congregation of the Missouri Synod in Indio, California.
Physical location: 1/G/4
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
The Rev. Winfred B. Schaller collection, GTU 2010-12-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Susan Schaller on December 2, 2010.
Biography / Administrative History
Winfred B. Schaller Jr. (December 16, 1922 - March 4, 1983) was a Lutheran minister and leader in the Church of Lutheran Confession
(CLC). Due to unresolved differences with the leaders and sensing that he no longer represented the thinking of the CLC, he
left the organization in 1972.
One of a long line of Lutheran ministers and professors, Schaller graduated in 1947 from the Wisconsin Synod Seminary at Thiensville,
Wisconsin. He served as pastor in Gresham, Nebraska. In 1949, he founded Redeemer Church and a day school in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
While there he wrote,
Concerning Church Fellowship. With a few edits, this became an essential part of the Church of Lutheran Confession organization. Schaller and others
objected strongly to the later interpretation of the document that was slanted to exclude everyone not in the CLC, which appeared
in E. Schaller, "Omnes Christiani de Evangelio Consentiunt,"
Journal of Theology (Church of Lutheran Confession), No. 1, February 1961, 8-24.
The CLC was formed as a response to doctrinal differences with members of the Synodical Conference: the Wisconsin Evangelical
Lutheran Synod, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (Norwegian). The central concern was
that no union should take place with other Lutheran synods without total agreement on doctrine. When the Wisconsin Synod broke
from the Missouri Synod, the CLC maintained that there was still a significant difference in doctrine. Schaller considered
this difference an invention in order for the CLC to remain as a separate organization.
In 1963, he moved to California and served under the direction of the CLC Board of Missions in San Fernando Valley. There
he assisted the Servant of Christ Church. He also helped found St. Stephen Lutheran in San Francisco Bay peninsula and a
group in Fresno.
He served as editor of
The Lutheran Spokesman from its initial issue in June 1958 through his final issue in June 1970. In the first issue, he writes about why a new
periodical is needed: "Lutheranism has fallen on evil days. One Lutheran body after another has lost its confessional character
or is in the process of losing it."
In his last issue, in August 1970, he expresses concern over the issue of unionism. He writes: "In the early years the pen
pointed directly at laxity in doctrine and the unionistic spirit of the day. In the latter days the editorial concern was
more and more directed at the excesses and extremes of those fighting for confessionalism and doctrinal purity. The cures
for unionism were all too often more fatal than the disease. Had we who fought for orthodoxy, confessionalism and truth created
monsters of legalism, pietism and sectarianism? I confess today that this remains my chief concern." He concludes, "Our last
prayer is that the Church of Lutheran Confession be both confessional and ecumenical."
He left the CLC in 1972. In a letter on "Why We Left the CLC," Schaller writes that he was censored more and more and then
forced to resign from the periodical (See
Why We Left the CLC ). He finished his ministry serving a congregation in Indio, California, of the Missouri Synod. He died in 1983.
Biographical notes taken from Rollin A. Reim, "First Editor of the Lutheran Spokesman Dies,"
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 25 (10), April 1983, 12-14.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains three documents by Schaller and nearly all issues of
The Lutheran Spokesman from its initial publication in June 1958 through the last issue that Schaller edited in June 1970.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged by personal papers and then by published journals, which are arranged chronologically.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Church of the Lutheran Confession - Doctrines
Lutheran Church - United States - Clergy
Lutheran Church Catechisms and creeds
Index
Schaller Jr., Winfred B. (1922-1983)
Church of Lutheran Confession
Synodical Conference of North America
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
box 1:1 - 2:4
Collection Contents
1958-1990
Physical Description: 17 folders
box-folder 1 : 1
Biographical materials
1983, 2010
box-folder 1 : 2
Schaller, "A Century of Judgment and Grace" from address given to convention of CLC in 1964
1965 Feb 26
box-folder 1 : 3
Schaller, "Why We Left the CLC"
circa 1970
box-folder 1 : 4
Schaller, "The Essence of the Church and True Ecumenicity"
circa 1990
box-folder 1 : 5
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 1, No. 1-6
1958 June - 1959 March
box-folder 1 : 6
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 2, No. 1-6
1959 June - 1960 April
box-folder 1 : 7
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 3, No. 1-12
1960 June - 1961 May
box-folder 1 : 8
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 4, No. 1-12
1961 June - 1962 May
box-folder 1 : 9
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 5, No. 1-12
1962 June - 1963 May
box-folder 1 : 10
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 6, No. 1-12 (missing #2)
1963 June -1964 May
box-folder 1 : 11
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 7, No. 1-12
1964 July - 1966 May
box-folder 1 : 12
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 8, No. 1-12
1965 June - 1966 May
box-folder 2 : 1
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 9, No. 1-12
1966 June - 1967 May
box-folder 2 : 2
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 10, No. 1-12
1967 June - 1968 June
box-folder 2 : 3
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 11, No. 1-12
1968 July - 1969 June
box-folder 2 : 3
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 12, No. 1-12
1969 July - 1970 June
box-folder 2 : 5
The Lutheran Spokesman, Vol 13, No. 1-2
1970 July - 1970 August
