The Legacy of Bernhard M. Christensen

October 21, 2001, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernhard M. Christensen, Augsburg graduate, professor, and president from 1938–62. Through the work of the Christensen Endowment—the tangible legacy that has been made possible by Augsburg alumni and friends—the principles and commitment of Bernhard Christensen to academic integrity and Christian community can continue to shape our vision. The following excerpts from a column written in 1976 by President Oscar A. Anderson eloquently illustrate Bernhard Christensen's legacy to Augsburg.

—Philip A. Quanbeck, assistant professor of religion and member of the Christensen Endowment Committee

"Augsburg Confessions," President Oscar A. Anderson

Dr. Christensen was president of Augsburg for 24 years and before that served as a professor here. He, perhaps more than any other person, brought Augsburg College into the modern era as an accredited American college.

The book he has written [The Inward Pilgrimage], however, is a powerful reminder to all of us at Augsburg today that Dr. Christensen's most significant contribution was to the essential spirit of this institution—the essential Christian spirit of Augsburg College. He knew that this college had as its purpose the freeing of the mind for the rigorous and relentless pursuit of truth.

He knew, also, that this college required a body, so-to-speak, namely, the physical and programmatic facilities essential to the fulfillment of its mission. He was, in every way, a builder. But most important of all, he will be remembered as a president who was dedicated to the proposition that a college is essentially spirit—that mind and body function according to inner dictates, that education without direction is dangerous, that "out of the heart are the issues of life."

Now, I confess to a present and personal uneasiness at this point. Have I been as dedicated to "the inner pilgrimage" as I am to the outward progress at Augsburg College? When all is said and done, have we at Augsburg maintained some peculiarity of the heart which imprints those who teach and learn and earn here? Or are we simply living off the "spiritual capital" which others before us have amassed, enjoying the interest but not replenishing the principal? Are we content to let the Christianness of Augsburg be simply an old historical notion rather than a present day reality?

The real future of this college lies not in a prestigious faculty, a brilliant student body, a splendid campus, or a balanced budget with all the emoluments everyone desires. It lies beyond these, in the nurture of distinctive attitudes toward truth and life, toward God's good Creation and His beloved human family. It lies in an unapologetic bias toward the Spirit of Jesus, whose Living Presence we have just celebrated at Easter.

—Excerpts from "Augsburg Confessions," Augsburg Echo, April 30, 1976.