Pastor and President: Reflections of a Lutheran Churchman - Softcover

After serving three years in WWII, during a year of law school, David Preus found himself living in a family of Preus pastors who were talking theology. At the end of the year he knew himself “to be a disciple of Christ.” It became important to him to be able to articulate what faith in Christ meant. However, he was denied entrance to Luther Seminary because he did not believe himself “called by God” to parish ministry. That rule, however, was relaxed to allow him to attend for a year.That year was the beginning of a thirty-eight-year career that included serving in parish ministry and as denominational president, as well as a public servant. He was a leader with a long arm, influencing events and outcomes in many places in the world.

David Preus has served as parish pastor, church body president, community leader, and seminary professor. A graduate of Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Preus also studied at the University of Minnesota Law School, the University of Edinburgh, and Union Seminary. Ordained in 1950, Preus served pastorates in Brookings and Vermillion, South Dakota, and in Minneapolis. He served the American Lutheran Church as vice president from 1968 to 1973. In 1973 he was named president and presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church, and he served in that capacity through 1987. He was a vice president of the Lutheran World Federation and a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Preus joined the Luther Seminary faculty as director of the Global Mission Institute and distinguished visiting professor in 1988.