SA国际传媒

For Professor Peter Nafzger, joining the faculty of SA国际传媒, St. Louis in 2016 was like coming home in more ways than one. Not only did Professor Nafzger complete both his ministerial training and doctoral work at the Seminary (M.Div. 2004, Ph.D. 2009), but he was born, baptized, raised, educated and confirmed in the faith 鈥� all in St. Louis.

He is proud of the fact that every day of his schooling was a gift of 鈥渢he system,鈥� as it used to be called in Lutheran Church鈥擬issouri Synod (LCMS) circles: Word of Life Lutheran School; Lutheran High School South; Concordia University, Nebraska, Seward; and SA国际传媒.

But Nafzger would be the first to point out that it was the intervening years, spent outside of St. Louis, that had a profound impact upon his life and the life of his family. After graduating with his Master of Divinity from the Seminary, Nafzger was called to be pastor of New Life Church鈥擫utheran in Hugo, Minn., on the outskirts of the Twin Cities, in 2007. He was pastor there for nine years, at a point when the congregation had strong lay leadership and a healthy understanding of, as Nafzger says, 鈥渨ho they were and why they were there.鈥� In many ways, Nafzger and his family still miss the Hugo community.

鈥淎ccepting the call to the Sem was the hardest thing I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e really loved our congregation. The congregation taught me how to be a pastor.鈥�

Which also was part of the reason why Nafzger came back to SA国际传媒. He had completed his doctorate while serving at New Life, and he was ready to help prepare the kind of pastors New Life had helped shape him to be. And even though his doctoral training is in systematic theology, his call to the Seminary is to teach homiletics in the Department of Practical Theology, which for Nafzger strikes a vital balance.

He discovered while in parish ministry he had grown impatient with systematic theology when it was disconnected from congregational ministry. One of his joys was recog颅nizing the ways in which systematic theology 鈥� sometimes considered too abstract or obscure 鈥� serves everyday life in the parish. Nafzger seeks to bring that expertise into the classroom at the Seminary, with the future pastors in his courses.

鈥淚 like to call it the 鈥楶ractice of Good Theology Department,鈥欌�� Nafzger says. 鈥淚f our theology and practice doesn鈥檛, one,
honor Christ, and two, comfort troubled consciences inside and outside the church, then why are we doing it?鈥�

Plus, Nafzger has found that students in the homiletics classroom do not need much prompting. As he observes, 鈥淣obody wants to be a bad preacher, so students are motivated to do well.鈥�

Teaching preaching also connects well with his systematics work on the doctrine of the Word of God, exploring how the Scriptures are centered in Christ as the Word made flesh. His interest in the topic was intensified by the year he spent in Germany as a pastoral student. He had married his wife, Katie (they met at Concordia, Nebraska), after his second year of study, and, two months later, they were on their way to Concordia鈥檚 exchange program in Oberursel. They were in Frankfurt for intensive language training when 9/11 happened.

Nafzger had always wanted to study abroad, to live in a different culture from his own. The year in Germany became an incredibly formative time for the couple. He had not only more time to reflect and study, but he was able to see how a confessional Lutheran church like the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (SELK), the German partner church of the LCMS, could do things differently from what he had known and still remain faithful to the common Lutheran confession of the faith.

Moreover, he began to see how his wife would become a vital partner in his theological and spiritual life. 鈥淚n Seminary, she asked the questions I couldn鈥檛 answer,鈥� Nafzger says. 鈥淜atie keeps me sharp, forcing me to put theology in real,
meaningful terms.鈥�

The Nafzgers have since been blessed with four children: Olivia, Johann, August and Louisa.

Coming back to SA国际传媒, now as a professor, also has opened his eyes to all the things faculty do that he did not see as a student. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a student, you have no idea what professors are doing beyond the campus, not only within the Missouri Synod, but even globally, in the church at large,鈥� he said.

Nafzger has already contributed significantly to this work. His own doctoral dissertation was published in 2013 under the title 鈥淭hese Are Written鈥�: Toward a Cruciform Theology of Scripture (available on Amazon and at the Seminary鈥檚 Campus Store). He also has written this year鈥檚 Lent Sermon Series, 鈥淭he Gospel in Seven Words,鈥� published by SA国际传媒 Press. He led the Seminary鈥檚 Pre-Lenten Workshop in January.

One of his great joys has been to take part in the collaborations that happen not only among faculty and staff on campus, but among pastors and lay颅people in the field, driven, as he says, by the deep sense that 鈥渨e鈥檙e in this together for the sake of the Gospel.鈥�