The Rev. Dr. Philip D. W. Krey, Dean of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, was elected the Seminary's President on October 27 in an action taken by the Seminary Board of Trustees.

Krey, who assumed the post of Dean in July of 1997, will succeed the current President, the Rev. Dr. Robert G. Hughes, who steps aside at the end of 1999 to resume his teaching career.

Krey has served on the Seminary's faculty since 1990, when he was named Professor of Church History. During his Seminary career, he has served as co-director of the school's Urban Program and has served as a mentoring pastor, both at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Philadelphia's revitalized Southwark section and for St. John's Lutheran Church in the city's Overbrook section. Krey has been an interim pastor for Trinity Lutheran Church in Philadelphia's Germantown section and served as pastor for churches in Chicago and Baltimore.

"I'm excited and honored to be named President to serve a Seminary with such a historically significant tradition in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America," Krey said today. "I think the Seminary is ideally positioned to be a mediating educational influence across the wider church because its students come from such dynamically diverse backgrounds and because it is part of a region that spans urban, suburban and rural communities. I'm humbled to be following Dr. Hughes, who has been a devoted and visionary President. Under his leadership the Seminary has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence and historic growth." The Seminary opened a new facility, the Wiedemann Center, in the fall of 1998. The Center houses 66 residential apartments, a high-technology classroom and an Augsburg Fortress Bookstore. In addition, the Seminary recently received a $500,000 Lilly Endowment grant for a dramatic new initiative to encourage high school youth to engage in theological reflection about life issues. 

The new President compares the societal setting of today's church to that of the late antique world of the Second and Third centuries. "We are in a pluralistic, multicultural time much like that of the Roman Empire of that period," Krey says. "People have many choices about religion. They see a secular government failing to deliver programs and institutions that society needs in order to be fully civil. This kind of time calls upon many traditions and institutions -- religious, non-profit and public -- to be able to collaborate and combine their resources to bring about a better world. Traditions that cling too rigidly to their traditions may actually lose them."

Dr. Hughes said he is "excited" about Krey's appointment. "He is a highly qualified, trusted colleague and a valued friend. The Seminary will really be in capable hands."

Dr. Robert Blanck of Philadelphia, who chairs the Board of Trustees, said the Seminary had conducted a wide search for a successor to Dr. Hughes and had discovered in the process across the country "a perception that we had in our midst the candidate. The response of the entire community here at the Seminary was overwhelming. I am convinced that in the election of Dr. Krey we have chosen wisely and well."

"The students are really excited with the decision of the Board to select Dr. Krey as the next President," said Susan D. Ruggles of Easton, PA, President of the Student Body. "He has many gifts, and his interest in and interaction with the students is one of them."

Krey, a graduate of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (M.Div., 1976) is a resident of Philadelphia's East Mount Airy section. He holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts (1972), an M.A. from Catholic University of America (1985), and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1990). His key interests have included the urban church and Medieval and Byzantine Studies. He is a rostered member of the ELCA's New England Synod and worships at St. Michael's Lutheran Church in the city's Germantown section.

Born in Brooklyn, he hails from a family strongly rooted in the Lutheran tradition. His father, the Rev. Rudolf Krey, was a pastor serving congregations in Germany, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Three of his brothers are ordained. His mother, Gertrude, and his older brothers and sisters have always been leaders in their congregations.

Krey is married to Rene Diemer, the Seminary's Registrar. The couple are parents of five children -- Jessicah, a first year student at the Seminary; Lindsay, a senior at the University of Chicago; and Jordan, 18; Noah, 14, and Micah, 8.

The Seminary is one of eight affiliated with the 5.2-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1864. More than 400 students are on its rolls.