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Chicago (ELCA)-FI — The Rev. William H. Weiblen, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and former president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, died April 19 in Dubuque. He was 85. Wartburg is one of eight seminaries of the ELCA.
"In perhaps a most appropriate sense of Lutheran irony, Dr. Weiblen was an unusually effective force of basic Christian humility and love of neighbor," said the Rev. Duane Larson, president, Wartburg Theological Seminary. "This has evoked in return the highest regard for Bill."
"These qualities made of his leadership in the church and at Wartburg Theological Seminary, even through challenging times, a style and vigor of missional pastoral identity that innumerable colleagues and students aspire still to emulate," Larson said. "His vision will guide us for many years to come."
Born March 2, 1919, in Miller, S.D., Weiblen was a graduate of Wartburg College, Waverly, Iowa, and Wartburg Theological Seminary. He earned a master's degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and a doctorate from Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Wartburg College is one of the 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA.
Ordained in 1943, Weiblen served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Bryan, Ohio. He was a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force from 1950 to 1953, including one year of service in Korea. He was pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Waverly, until Wartburg seminary called him in 1958 as an assistant professor of systematic theology.
In 1971 Weiblen was elected the seminary's 10th president. During the 21 years since his retirement in 1983, he has continued to serve the seminary as president and professor of systematic theology emeritus.
As president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Weiblen gave the seminary a global focus. As a result, Lutheran churches especially throughout the African continent are led by a number of Wartburg-trained pastors, bishops and lay-workers. Wartburg seminary also became the organizational center for the Namibian Concerns Network, which worked integrally for the independence of Namibia.
Weiblen represented the American Lutheran Church in its Lutheran-Reformed Dialogue and the Lutheran Council U.S.A. in its Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue. He piloted an ecumenical theological education consortium in Dubuque that included common curriculum and faculty collaboration with the Roman Catholic Aquinas School of Theology, the Presbyterian University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, the Department of Religion at the University of Iowa, and Wartburg.
In 1970 the American Lutheran Church began ordaining women, and Wartburg was quick to welcome women into the seminary's master of divinity program as students and faculty under Weiblen's leadership.
During Weiblen's presidency Wartburg established two extension sites for theological study — the Denver House of Studies and the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, Austin, Texas. The Denver program closed with the formation of the ELCA in 1988; the Austin program is sponsored jointly by Wartburg and the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.
A history of Wartburg seminary and Weiblen's life and ministry are the subjects of "The Air I Breathe is Wartburg Air: The Legacy of William H. Weiblen," a book edited by the Rev. Craig L. Nessan, academic dean and associate professor of contextual theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary. Nessan said the book "offers the memories of a man whose life links the generations at Wartburg seminary in a unique way."
Weiblen is survived by Ilah, his wife of 61 years, son William, Boston, daughters Carolyn, Detroit, and Faith, Plano, Texas, a sister, two brothers and several grandchildren. A funeral service is planned for 2:30 p.m., April 21, at the seminary, followed by interment at St. John Cemetery and a reception at the seminary.