I began the program in the fall of 2010, right after I concluded my first call as a pastor. I completed the required coursework in the first two years, and the timing of things was impeccable. At the end of 2011, my wife received a call to serve as pastor of two small Lutheran churches in eastern South Dakota. We moved in early 2012, and I continued working on the rest of the degree from a distance. I completed my language exams and comprehensive exams by 2014, and I planned on getting to work on my required dissertation shortly thereafter, hoping to be done with the entire degree by 2016 at the latest.
As they, say, "life happens." Our first child was born in 2011, and we added another child in 2014. This would be followed by a third child in 2018. But I also unexpectedly received a call to serve as a part time pastor at a small congregation an hour south of us into the state of Nebraska at the beginning of 2015. Needless to say, progress on my dissertation did not flow as easily as I had hoped.
However, I trudged along with it, completing most of my research in 2015. In early 2016, I began writing. By the spring of 2018, I was ready to finalize the dissertation and defend it, which I did in early April of 2018. By the time I was done, I was not sure I wanted to look at the document ever again!
We have now lived in Ohio for over two years, and one day I decided to revisit the text of my dissertation. I realized that what I had written is actually a significant contribution to the field of American Lutheran history. I recounted the history and the enduring ethos of the Haugean tradition from Norway on American Lutheranism, a project that no one had yet undertaken. This "low-church" movement of Haugeanism is often derided, but as I argue, it has provided important energy in the areas of mission and evangelism. Hence, I submitted a publication proposal to Wipf and Stock Publishers, and they indeed offered to publish my dissertation as a book. With a few minor revisions, the book is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. You can also purchase the book at a much discounted rate directly from me. Contact me at [email protected] for details.