Strietelmeier’s Words Captured in New Book

From the late 1940s through the mid-1980s, the late John Strietelmeier ’42 was a leading voice of faculty members at Valparaiso University, interpreting contemporary events that were often tumultuous, with originality, humor and insight.
Strietelmeier’s voice is no less relevant and astute today amidst a host of new challenges facing America and the world.

His words come to life in the new book “Witness to His Generation, Selected Writings of John Strietelmeier” edited by Richard Baepler, emeritus professor of theology and law at Valpo.

“If [former Valpo President] O.P. Kretzmann is Mr. VU No. 1, then Strietelmeier is No. 2,” Baepler says. “He took O.P.’s ideas and really carried them out. But he wasn’t just an echo. He also contributed a great deal. He thought of himself as an academic journalist and cultural geographer and was fully involved in the life of the university.”

Strietelmeier (1920-2004) joined the VU faculty as an instructor in geography and geology in 1947. Over the years, he served in many roles, including as managing editor of the university’s literary magazine The Cresset and as vice president for academic affairs. He retired in May 1985.
The book includes a thorough selection of Strietelmeier’s writings, featuring some of the foremost ideas he articulated with respect to education, the life of the empirical church, and the turbulent ’60s.

The book is being published by Lutheran University Press and is scheduled to be available this fall.