Tiede Announces Retirement As President Of Luther Seminary

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.
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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