Rev. Dr. Tom J. Egger

Dr. Thomas J. Egger is president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He also is a professor of Exegetical Theology.

Egger, a faculty member since 2005, was inaugurated as the 11th president of Concordia Seminary in 2021. He previously served as the Gustav and Sophie Butterbach Professor of Exegetical Theology, associate professor of Exegetical Theology, the chairman of the department of Exegetical Theology and the academic adviser for first-year students.

Egger served as pastor at Zion Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, Iowa, from 2000–05. He previously served as a guest instructor at Concordia Lutheran Seminary in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1999.

Egger earned a Master of Divinity at Concordia Seminary (1997), and received a Bachelor of Arts in English and German from Central College in Pella, Iowa (1993). He completed a Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia Seminary in 2019. His dissertation focused on the phrase “visiting iniquity of fathers upon sons” from the book of Exodus.

His areas of interest and expertise include biblical Hebrew, the books of Genesis and Exodus, “types” of Christ in the Old Testament, the theology of worship, divine justice, narrative and rhetorical analysis, the nature and authority of Scripture, and “objectionable” texts in the Bible (those often raising criticisms of divine violence and accusations of divine immorality).

He has made contributions in the area of American Lutheran history, especially the history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and its first president, Dr. C.F.W. Walther. Another area of special interest is the theology of Luther’s catechisms and the intersection of the catechism and the Bible in Lutheran teaching and piety.

He has written pieces for a number of publications, including “Concordia Journal,” “Modern Reformation,” “Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society,” “Concordia Pulpit Resources,” “The Lutheran Witness” and for the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR).

Egger serves on the LCMS Pastoral Formation Committee, the LCMS Pastoral Colloquy Committee, the LCMS CTCR and the board of the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg. He is a member of the Lutheran Historical Conference, the Lutheran Society for Missiology, the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature. He previously served on the Board of Regents for Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill., and on the Awards Committee and Walther Round Table Committee of Concordia Historical Institute. He was part of the seven-member LCMS Catechism Revision Committee that prepared the 2017 revision of the Synod’s explanation of Luther’s Small Catechism. For 10 years, he served on the Board of Directors of Providence Classical Christian Academy, a K–12 school in St. Louis, Mo.

His favorite pastimes are running, Cardinals baseball and Iowa Hawkeyes sports, birdwatching, golf, spending time with his children and grandchildren and – he is a little embarrassed to admit – doing jigsaw puzzles. He and his wife, Tori, have been blessed with six children, four children-in-law and four grandchildren.

Interests:

Biblical Hebrew
Books of Genesis and Exodus
“Types” of Christ in the Old Testament
Theology of worship
Divine justice
Narrative and rhetorical analysis
Nature and authority of Scripture
“Objectionable” texts in the Bible