Herbert W. Chilstrom
Herbert W. Chilstrom (October 18, 1931 – January 19, 2020) was an American religious leader, who served as the first Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He was re-elected to a four-year term at the 1991 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando, Florida. He served as bishop of the Minnesota Synod of the Lutheran Church in America, one of the three church bodies which merged to form the ELCA on Jan. 1, 1988. Education and career Chilstrom graduated in 1954 from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. He went on to receive a bachelor of divinity from Augustana Theological Seminary (later merged with other seminaries to form the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago) in 1958. In 1966, he graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a master of theology. He earned a Doctor of Education from New York University and received honorary doctorates from Northwestern Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1979 and Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, in 1987. Chilstrom served as pastor of the Faith Lutheran Church in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, and Augustana Lutheran Church in Elizabeth, Minnesota. In 1962 he became a professor of religion and academic