Matthew Becker

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew L. Becker is a native of Salem, Oregon. He has taught at Valparaiso University since 2004. Before coming to Valpo, he taught at Concordia University, Portland, Ore. (1994-2004). His main academic interest is modern Christian theology, although he regularly teaches courses that attempt to engage the Christian tradition in its breadth and scope (especially the history of German-Lutheran theology). He also teaches in Valpo’s two-semester freshman program.

Dr. Becker is the author of The Self-Giving God and Salvation History: The Trinitarian Theology of Johannes von Hofmann (T&T Clark, 2004), which explores an important nineteenth-century Protestant theologian, and Fundamental Theology (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2015; 2d ed., 2024), which serves as an introduction to Christian theology. He has also edited several books, including Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016), a work that explores important thinkers from Schleiermacher to Soederblom. He is the editor and principal translator of Edmund Schlink Works, a five-volume collection of writings by Edmund Schlink, one of the most important Lutheran theologians of the twentieth century. The first volume, Ecumenical and Confessional Writings (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017), contains Schlink’s most important ecumenical essays and addresses, as well as his reflections on the Second Vatican Council. The large second volume, Schlink’s Ecumenical Dogmatics (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2023), provides one of the most important summaries of the Christian faith that has been written in the past half century. (Because of its length [1277 pages], this volume is divided into two half volumes.) The third volume offers a fresh translation of Schlink’s little book on the doctrine of baptism, while the fourth volume contains a translation of the fourth edition of Schlink’s book on the theology of the Lutheran confessions. The final volume contains a collection of Schlink’s addresses, essays, booklets, sermons, and letters.

Dr. Becker has also authored several journal articles and book chapters in the area of modern Christian theology, including two chapters for the book Twentieth-Century Lutheran Theologians (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), and a chapter on Schlink in Generous Orthodoxies (Pickwick, 2020). Dr. Becker’s essay on liberal Protestantism and German National Socialism will appear in The Churches in Nazi Germany (Little, Brown [forthcoming]). In addition, he has written encyclopedia articles for such reference works as the New Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology, the Dictionary of Luther and the Lutheran Traditions, and the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Dr. Becker is also the author of numerous reviews and essays, as well as a frequent presenter at pastoral and theological conferences. Alongside his more formal writing, he keeps an irregular blog, “Transverse Markings: One Theologian’s Notes” (matthewlbecker.blogspot.com), and he is the online editor of The Daystar Journal (thedaystarjournal.com).

Ordained into the Lutheran ministry in 1989, he has served as a pastor or pastoral assistant to congregations in Illinois, Oregon, and Indiana. Between 2000 and 2004, he was the secretary of the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. For two years (2007-09) he was the director of Valpo’s study-abroad program in Reutlingen, Germany. Since 2009, he has been an editorial adviser to the journal Lutheran Quarterly. Since 2023, he has been a member of that journal’s board of directors, on which he serves as the organization’s treasurer. In 2018 he became a rostered minister in the ELCA, and called by its Indiana-Kentucky Synod to teach theology at Valpo.

He and his wife have been married for more than thirty years. They have one son.

The epigraph to the published edition of the 1983 Jefferson Lecture (The Vindication of Tradition) by Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006), is a quote from Goethe’s Faust (here translated): “What you have inherited from your fathers, acquire it in order to make it your own.” Following Pelikan’s own example, Dr. Becker has tried to make this aphorism the motto of his work as a teacher and scholar.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., with distinction, The University of Chicago (2001)

M.A., Religious Studies, The University of Chicago (1990)

M.Div., Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. (1988)

B.A., Concordia University, Portland, Ore. (1984)

BOOKS

Author, Fundamental Theology: A Protestant Perspective, 2d ed. (Bloomsbury, 2024)

Editor and Translator, Edmund Schlink Works, vol. 2 [divided into two half volumes]: Ecumenical Dogmatics (V&R, 2023)

Editor, A Clear and Present Blessing: Devotional Reflections by David Michael Albertin (ALPB Books, 2021).

Editor and Translator, Edmund Schlink Works, vol. 1: The Coming Christ and Church Tradition and After the Council (V&R, 2017)

Editor, Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians (V&R, 2016)

Author, Fundamental Theology: A Protestant Perspective (Bloomsbury, 2015)

Editor, A Daystar Reader (Fountainhead Press, 2010)

Author, The Self-Giving God and Salvation History (T&T Clark, 2004)

Co-Editor, God Opens Doors (LCMS, 2000)

BOOK chapterS

“Liberal Protestantism and German National Socialism,” in The Churches in Nazi Germany, ed. Mark Ruff (Little, Brown, [forthcoming])

“Edmund Schlink’s Ecumenical Dogmatics,” in vol. 2 of Edmund Schlink Works (1 vol. in 2 half vols.: Ecumenical Dogmatics) (V & R, 2023), 2/1.37-59

“Edmund Schlink: Ecumenical Theology,” in Generous Orthodoxies: Essays on the History and Future of Ecumenical Theology, ed. Paul Silas Petersen (Pickwick, 2020), 23-41

“Edmund Schlink (1903-1984): An Ecumenical Life,” in vol. 1 of Edmund Schlink Works (2 bks in 1 vol.: The Coming Christ and Church Traditions and After the Council)(V & R, 2017), 7-35

“Introduction,” The Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small Catechism in Arabic (Diyar Consortium, 2017), 1-21

“Foreword,” Gift and Promise: The Augsburg Confession & the Heart of Christian Theology, ed. Ronald Neustadt and Stephen Hitchcock (Fortress, 2016), xi-xvi

“Introduction,” Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians, ed. Matthew L. Becker (V & R, 2016), 7-22

“Johannes von Hofmann (1810-77),” in Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Theologians, ed. Matthew L. Becker ( V & R, 2016), 189-211

“Werner Elert (1885-1954),” in Twentieth-Century Lutheran Theologians, ed. Mark Mattes (V & R, 2013), 93-135

“Edmund Schlink (1903-1984),” in Twentieth-Century Lutheran Theologians, ed. Mark Mattes (V & R, 2013), 195-222

“Beyond the Open Door: Twenty-first Century Trends and Issues in the LCMS,” in God Opens Doors, ed. Hans G. Spalteholz, Matthew L. Becker, and Dwaine Brandt, (Premier Press, 2000), 235-68

INTERESTS

Dr. Becker’s main academic interest is modern Christian theology, although he regularly teaches courses that attempt to engage the Christian tradition in its breadth and scope (especially the history of German-Lutheran theology).

COURSES TAUGHT

• Conflict and Consensus in the Christian Tradition
• Issues in Modern Christian Theology
• The Christian Doctrine of Creation
• Christians in Nazi Germany
• Luther and Bach
• Justice in Action
• The Human Experience: Empathy and Dialogue
• Theology since the Reformation

MEMBERSHIPS

• The American Academy of Religion
• The American Society of Church History
• International Bonhoeffer Society
• Lutheran Historical Conference
• Society of the Holy Trinity

RECOGNITIONS

• Valparaiso University Research Professorship (2022)
• O. P. Kretzmann Fellowship (2018-19)
• Associated Church Press Award of Excellence for a Theological Article (2017)
• Finalist, Arlin G. Meyer Prize (for the first ed. of Fundamental Theology) (2016)
• Award of Commendation (major publications) for God Opens Doors (CHI, 2001)