wfn.org | Tiede Announces Retirement As President Of Luther Seminary

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 27, 2004

Tiede Announces Retirement As President Of Luther Seminary
04-202-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. David L. Tiede announced Oct. 25 that he
plans to retire June 30, 2005, as president of Luther Seminary, St. Paul,
Minn.  Tiede will complete 18 years as president and 34 years as a
professor of New Testament at the seminary.
     Luther is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA).  Tiede is the longest-serving president of an ELCA
seminary.
     "We are deeply grateful to Dr. Tiede for his outstanding service to
the seminary," said Dr. Susan C. Jenkins, chair of the seminary board.
"He has led the seminary through years of significant change within the
seminary and the larger church, always adhering to the seminary's mission
to prepare leaders to serve Christian communities.  He has seen to the
strengthening of the seminary's financial position and has articulated a
visionary understanding of how seminary education must change to meet the
changing needs of the church."
     "I am blessed," Tiede said.  "The boards have worked carefully with
me to discern the best moment for the succession in the seminary's life
and mine.  Luther Seminary is ready to call a new leader to help fulfill
its promise for the church's future.  I am looking forward to time for
renewal of my vocations -- a student of the New Testament, husband,
grandfather, and a friend of the callings of the institutions of the
church and their leaders."
     Dr. Paul J. Dovre, vice chair of the seminary board of and president
emeritus of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., chairs a search committee
to find Tiede's successor.  "We are thankful for plenty of lead time in
planning for this presidential succession and we shall use this time
carefully," he said.
     Dovre said the seminary has initiated a nationwide search for its
next president.  "We solicit the prayers and counsel of all as we look for
 a leader with a deep commitment to Luther Seminary's mission, strategic
direction and theological tradition," he said.
     Born June 29, 1940, in St. Peter, Minn., Tiede is a graduate of St.
Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.  He attended Princeton Theological
Seminary, Princeton, N.J., and he earned a bachelor of divinity degree
from Luther Seminary and a doctorate from Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass.
     During his studies at Harvard, Tiede was a summer instructor in Greek
at Harvard Divinity School and a teaching fellow in New Testament at
Harvard University.  He was a part-time instructor in religion at
Northeastern University, Boston, an assistant professor of religion at
Scripps College, Claremont, Calif., and an assistant professor of New
Testament at Claremont Graduate School, Claremont.
     Ordained in 1971, Tiede served as associate pastor of Trinity
Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, while teaching at Luther Seminary.  He was a
visiting professor and Society of Biblical Literature scholar at the
Institute of Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, and a visiting
professor at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn.
     Tiede became president of Luther Seminary in 1987.  In 2000 he was
elected vice president of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) in
the United States and Canada.  In 2002 he was elected president of ATS.
He serves on the board for In Trust magazine.
     Tiede's books, articles and lectures often focus on the leadership
that the church needs in a new era of mission in a world of many cultures
and religions.	"Jesus and the Heritage of Israel," "Jesus and the Future"
and "Luke: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament" are among the books
he has authored.
-- -- --
     The home page of Luther Seminary is at http://www.luthersem.edu/ on
the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news