Frederick J. Gaiser
Professor of Old Testament
Editor of Word & World
As a research chemist, Fred Gaiser studied physical change and transformation. In his personal life, he has also experienced the effects of change, as he moved first from industry to the seminary, then from the University of Heidelberg where he did his doctoral studies to Humboldt, South Dakota, where he served as pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church for five years before coming to Luther Seminary in 1973.
"It was a total transplantation," he says. "I was involved with altogether different social, economic and political questions. It was a creative moment."
During the mid-1990s, Gaiser served as visiting professor at Africa University and the University of Zimbabwe. He calls that year "life-transforming." There he found "an incredible sense of Christian community. Most Africans have a direct sense of God's involvement in daily life. I found it profoundly moving and inspiring, and it brought me closer to the experience of the Biblical world."
Gaiser tries to teach his Old Testament students the importance of "spending sufficient time with the Bible so they can learn to hear it speak." This is particularly important for pastors and church leaders who interpret the Bible for others. "The function of exegesis is that it slows you down and forces you to read carefully," Gaiser says.
As director of graduate studies, Gaiser is committed to combining the academic rigor he experienced in Germany with the simple and profound proclamation of the Gospel that he witnessed in Africa. In secular universities, he points out, Biblical and religious studies can function only as historical or objective disciplines. But in an institution of the church, academic disciplines and confessional theology can merge into a seamless whole.
For that reason, Gaiser believes the seminary's graduate program is essential. "It's not a frill, not an auxiliary enterprise. Preparing teachers for the church is part of our vocation," he says.
This commitment to serious theological work for the sake of the church's ministry is also the concern of Word & World: Theology for Christian Ministry, the seminary's quarterly journal edited by Gaiser. "Both the 'and' and the 'for' in our title are intentional," he says. "The conversation between word and world is open and capable of mutual surprise. Yet the conversation has a purpose; it is for ministry, for the gospel, for God's people."
Frederick J. Gaiser Biography
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In his classes on the Old Testament, Gaiser tries to teach his students the importance of "spending sufficient time with the Bible so they can learn to hear it speak."
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