Since the message of Christ brought into being one community of faith and worship, namely the church, it is necessary that the people of God identify with the church of all times and all places. The task of the Department of Historical Theology is to instruct in the life of the church of Christ as it has actually been lived.

Historical theology offers a thorough perspective of the origin and development of the Christian Church and the rich heritage of the Lutheran Church. Students develop an understanding of religious roots and the historical influences on the Lutheran Church.

"Historians are the most useful of people and can never be honored, thanked, and praised enough" - Martin Luther

"To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning. It is a very serious task, young man, and possibly a tragic one." - Father Jacobus, in Hermann Hesse's, The Glass Bead Game

"What is all knowledge too but recorded experience, and a product of history; of which, therefore, reasoning and belief, no less than action and passion, are essential material?" - Thomas Carlyle