Background
Tietjen was born in New York City as a son of German immigrants, and he attended Stuyvesant High School, Concordia Collegiate Institute (now Concordia College, Bronxville), and Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri.
theologian university professor
Tietjen was born in New York City as a son of German immigrants, and he attended Stuyvesant High School, Concordia Collegiate Institute (now Concordia College, Bronxville), and Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Stuyvesant High School.
He also earned master"s and doctorate degrees at Union Theological Seminary in New New York After being ordained in the LCMS in 1953, Tietjen rose through the Synod ranks and eventually was chosen as president of its largest seminary, Concordia Seminary, in 1969. While president of Concordia Seminary, Tietjen and many of the Concordia faculty members faced opposition from a new, more conservative administration of the LCMS. The faculty"s use of Historical-Critical Method for biblical interpretation was cast by conservatives as being at odds with the historic theological position of the LCMS. Tietjen was accused of allowing the teaching of false doctrine, and he was suspended from his duties as seminary president in January 1974.
Seminex existed in Saint Louis until August 1983, and on the campus of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) until December 1987.
Meanwhile, Tietjen and many of his supporters left the LCMS to form the more liberal Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches (AELC). John Tietjen married Ernestine Dammitts and had four children, Catherine, Laurence, Mary, and Sarah.
He also has seven grandchildren Jessica, Jennifer, Carrie, Rachel, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Chase. John Tietjen battled lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, blood clots, and finally a brain tumor.
He died in the comfort of his own home.
During the last few months before his death he was working on a final book titled "The Gospel According to Jesus". The original transcripts were typed, edited by his peers, and published by a private individual to create his new book