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Arthur Carl Piepkorn: Chaplain to the Greatest Generation
by John Hannah
Carl Piepkorn (1907–1973), Lutheran academic writer, beloved father, professor, and evangelical catholic leader, was widely known and honored in his time. He was a professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis for 23 years (1951-1973) and worthy of many accolades in that role. A catholic-minded Lutheran, his magnum opus was the posthumously published Profiles in Belief, a four-volume encyclopedia of The Religious Bodies of the United States and Canada, which covered Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox churches (I), Protestant denominations (II), Holiness and Pentecostal groups (III), and Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and other Christian bodies (IV). But many are unaware of his lengthy leadership as an Army chaplain. This slim volume adds that piece of the picture.
Carl's star rose early—but often shone in unexpected ways. Born to a Missouri Synod Lutheran family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1907, he graduated from Concordia College, Milwaukee, in 1925, at age 18, and then from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1928, at 21. He then became a staffer for Walter A. Maier, who was starting The Lutheran Hour radio show (first aired October 2, 1930), a pioneer in high-tech mass ministry, for which he occasionally wrote sermons and even preached.
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