Letters to a Fort Wayne LC-MS professor - Eugene F. Klug (Part 1)

This post will be a little different than the harsh letter I wrote to the St. Louis professor in the previous post.   This is because in Prof. Eugene F. Klug († 2003), there remained vestiges of the old (German) Missouri Synod.  O how sweet the fragrance of that church body! Although my last letter to him contained a warning, yet it was a softer warning than the warning I gave the St. Louis professor.
Below is the first of four letters to him:

10/29/96

Rev. Eugene F. Klug

1554 Colony Dr

Fort Wayne  IN  46825

Rev. Klug:

You state in your preface to Handbook of Lutheran Theology that you were the amanuensis for Theo. Engelder during 1941-1942.  You called him a giant like F. Pieper.  Then you say that it was likely to be expected that he be a somewhat the unsung also-ran of Missouri Synod following F. Pieper.  Why would this be so?  Why was not Engelder the successor to Franz Pieper as head of the St Louis Seminary?

Dr. Engelder was alive when the Statement of the 44 in 1945 was issued.  What was his response?  And what is your response?

Dr. Engelder was alive when the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod was in discussions with other church bodies for the purpose of union.  What was his position?

Dr Engelder was the bastion of defense of true Christian doctrine, especially objective justification and the Scriptures.  He was a true student of Walther/Stöckhardt/Pieper.  Dr. Klug - what do you say?  Do you believe objective/universal justification (allgemeinen Rechtfertigung)?

Signed, Xxx Xxx

Professor Klug responded wistfully that it just was not to be that Engelder would succeed Pieper as the seminary president.  As my letter indicates, that was most unfortunate for the LC-MS.

My second letter to Prof. Klug zeroed in on a very important point of doctrine:

12/22/96

Rev Eugene Klug

6600 N. Clinton St

FortWayne, IN  46825-4996

Rev. Klug:

I received your letter of November 4 some time ago and am thankful for your first-hand report of Dr. Engelder.

Perhaps it was overlooked, but I did not see a specific response to my last question though.  It was: “Do you believe objective/universal justification (allgemeinen Rechtfertigung)?”  This refers to the doctrine specifically taught by C.F.W. Walther himself and carried on uninterrupted by his successors - Franz Pieper and Georg Stöckhardt.

Signed, Xxx Xxx

Can you, dear reader, see where I am leading?  More in my next post where I publish my third letter in Part 2...