The Heinrich Vogel Collection

Collection

Identifier: B004

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Records in this collection can be divided into three different groupings. First, there are a number of records from Vogel’s time at the Seminary, both as a student and as a professor. Included are hand-written class notes and papers from 1930, as well as documents relating to the Seminary from the 1960s and 1970s. Second, there are a number of records dealing with the WELS’ relationship with SELK—a German Lutheran free church founded in 1972. These records reflect Vogel’s work on the Commission on Interchurch Relations and describe difficult fellowship situations that resulted from the WELS’ break with the Missouri Synod in 1961. Third, a number of records deal with that break with the Missouri Synod, especially with the doctrines of church fellowship and church and ministry.

Dates

1920 - 1982

Creator

Vogel, Heinrich (Person)

Conditions Governing Use

Biographical / Historical

Heinrich Vogel was born in Jefferson, WI on April 7, 1908. He grew up as a member of St. John’s congregation in Jefferson, attended Northwestern College in Watertown, WI, and graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in 1931.

Vogel’s first assignment was as an instructor at Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac, WI. In 1947, he accepted a call to serve as pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cudahy, WI. In 1956, he was called to serve as professor of Old Testament and Dogmatics at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, a position he held until his death of a heart attack in March 1982. Vogel served in the public ministry for over 50 years.

Besides his duties as pastor and professor, Vogel served for the last ten years of his life as the Secretary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). He was a member of the board of directors of Northwestern Publishing House and of the board of control of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Finally, he served for 25 years on the WELS Commission on Interchurch Relations.

The majority of the records in this collection come from Vogel’s time as a student and professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, and from his time on the Commission on Interchurch Relations.