Veteran international journalist and lay theologian speaks at Concordia

Published by Concordia University, Nebraska 8 years ago on Fri, Apr 17, 2015 9:42 AM
International journalist Uwe Siemon-Netto tied his professional experiences to his faith as a Christian during an event at Concordia on April 15.

Uwe Siemon-Netto, a Lutheran lay theologian and veteran international journalist, spoke at Concordia University, Nebraska on April 15 about his life and vocation, explaining it in terms of Martin Luther’s doctrine of the Two Kingdoms.

“We are the masks of God. … the masks are the ones through whom He acts,” Siemon-Netto said. Siemon-Netto explained that the job of journalists is to objectively report facts to help people understand what’s happening around the world. From the Two Kingdoms perspective, a Christian called to the vocation of journalist serves other people by honestly and objectively helping them to understand what’s going on around them, and thereby that journalist serves God.

Siemon-Netto, 78, began his journalism career in 1958 as an editor for The Associated Press in Frankfurt and then Bonn and Berlin in Germany and covered the story of the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

He later worked as a correspondent for Springer Foreign News Service, during which he spent five years covering the Vietnam War, including the Battle of Ia Drang and the Tet Offensive. He also covered the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War in 1967, reporting from the Jordanian side, and he covered China’s Cultural Revolution from Hong Kong.

Siemon-Netto told the audience how the vocation of being a responsible, objective journalist can be connected to theology and faith.

“Journalists have to ask questions,” he said. “Then why would you want to stop at the ultimate questions?”

Siemon-Netto has published numerous articles during his career. He is the author of eight books, including “Triumph of the Absurd: A reporter’s love for the abandoned people of Vietnam” and “The Acquittal of God: A Theology for Vietnam Veterans.”

He is director emeritus of the Center for Lutheran Theology and Public Life and earlier was religious affairs editor for United Press International. He also has been a freelance correspondent and consultant to numerous publications, including Scientific American, Die Welt, Welt am Sonntag and Lutheran Witness.

In 1969 Siemon-Netto became a North American correspondent for Stern magazine, based in New York and Washington, and in 1973 he became managing editor of the “Hamburger Morgenpost,” a daily newspaper in Hamburg. From 1975 to 1986 he worked as a freelance correspondent for major publications in Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States. He also taught at two journalism schools in Hamburg.

In 1986 Siemon-Netto decided to study theology and began work on a master’s degree at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. He finished the degree in 1988 and began work at Boston University on a Ph.D. in theology and the sociology of religion. Siemon-Netto received his Ph.D. in 1992. He also received an honorary doctorate from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 2004.

Siemon-Netto ended the presentation by talking about his childhood in Leipzig, Germany, during the first years of World War II.

Siemon-Netto and his wife, Gillian, reside in Laguna Woods, California, and also have a home in Gurat, France.