Rev. Fr. Burnell F. Eckardt Jr., MDiv, STM, PhD curriculum vitae
Burnell F. Eckardt Jr. is Pastor of St. Pauls Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Kewanee, Illinois, and editor-in-chief of Gottesdienst, a quarterly journal promoting the historic liturgy (for more, click here).
He holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from Marquette University, and
a Masters of Sacred Theology from Concordia Theological Seminary in
Fort Wayne, Indiana.
His doctoral dissertation, Anselm and Luther on the Atonement: Was it “Necessary”?, was published by Mellen Press (1992).
He is also author of Every Day Will I Bless Thee: Meditations for the Daily Office
(Sussex, Wis.: Concordia Catechetical Academy, 1998), a book of
meditations for every day of the year, which seeks to use the language
of faith, that is, to apply the medieval and patristic methods of
exegesis to meditational commentary.
Dr. Eckardt served parishes in Virginia and Wisconsin prior to his move to Kewanee in 1995.
Since
1985 he has also served occasionally as a visiting professor for
Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, both in
systematic and historical theology.
Twice since 2001 he has visited
the new Lutheran seminary in Novosibirsk, Russia, to teach historical
theology as part of the Fort Wayne seminary's Russian project.
He also served on the Commission on Adjudication for the South Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
His
areas of special scholarly interest also include Biblical hermeneutics,
patristics, liturgics, and music.
He has devoted particular attention
to “the language of faith,” a discipline concentrating on the study of
medieval and patristic sources to consider their way of attending to
the Sacred Scriptures in the framing of their own confessions of faith.
In addition, he is an associate editor of Luther Digest and a contributing editor of Logia. He has written articles for Cncordia Theological Quarterly, Lutheran Confessional Review, and The Bride of Christ.
He has also written several hymns, two musical plays performed in
Lutheran schools, and a Christmas cantata “Shepherd of Israel” for
mixed chorus, organ, and string ensemble, whose debut performance was
in Kewanee in January 2000.
Over
the years he has had numerous speaking engagements, including the St.
Michael Liturgical Conference (Detroit), the National Free Conference
of Confessional Lutherans (Chicago), several at the Concordia
Catechetical Academy (Waukesha, Wisconsin), the Southern Illinois
Pastors’ conference, the Heartland Region of Campus Parishes
(Milwaukee), the Augustana Ministerium conference (Peoria, Illinois),
the Evangelical-Lutheran Prayer Brotherhood (Chicago), the
International Anselm Conference (Canterbury, England), and at a
conference for Lutheran military chaplains (Heidelberg, Germany).
His
parish is also host to an annual Octoberfest conference and gathering in Kewanee, Illinois.
Dr.
Eckardt was born on July 14, 1955, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, one of four
children born to a physician. He and his wife Carol have six sons, one daughter-in-law, and one granddaughter.
1 May 2008
