James Ambrose Lee II teaches classes on various topics in Church History, including Christianity and the Modern World, Women in the History of Christianity, and Martin Luther. He also teaches Encountering Religion In America and Introduction to Christianity.

Degrees

  • PhD, Historical Theology - Saint Louis University; Saint Louis, MO
  • STM, Liturgical Theology - Yale Divinity School & Yale Institute of Sacred Music; New Haven, CT
  • MDiv - Concordia Theology Seminary; Fort Wayne, IN
  • BA - Concordia University Chicago; River Forest, IL

Academic and Professional Highlights

Awards

  • Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture Graduate Seminar, “Genealogies of Modernity II: Possible Worlds, Medieval to Enlightenment,” June 2018, Collegium Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior Professional Positions

  • Adjunct Faculty, Department of Theological Studies, Saint Louis University (2015–2017)
  • Assistant Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Worden, Il, and Zion Lutheran Church, Carpenter, Il (2012–2018)

Research

  • Neolutheranism and the Confessional Revival
  • Nineteenth-Century German Theology
  • Lutheran Worship and Liturgy

Publications:

  • "Theodosius Harnack and Confessional Subscription," in Concordia Theological Quarterly 89, no. 1 (January 2025): 61-83.

  • "The History and Development of Doctrine: Loehe's Posture Towards Nineteenth-Century Theological Trends," in Currents in Theology and Mission 51, no 1 (January 2024): 23-39.

  • “Issues in Religious Freedom: The Cologne Affair and the Kniebeugungsstreit,” in The Oxford History of Modern German Theology, vol. 1

  • Confessional Lutheranism and German Theological Wissenschaft: Adolf Harleß, August Vilmar, and Johannes Christian Konrad von Hofmann (De Gruyter, 2022).

  • "The Burden of Kneeling: The Bavarian Kneeling Controversy and the Debate Between Ignaz von Döllinger and Adolf von Harleß," Concordia Theological Quarterly 86, no.2 (April 2022): 141-170.

  • "August Vilmar (1800-1868) against German Theological Wissenschaft," Lutheran Quarterly 34, no.2 (Summer 2020): 171-193.

  • “Luther among the Neo-Lutherans Gottfried Thomasisus and Johannes von Hofmann,” Lutheran Quarterly 32, no. 3 (Autumn 2018): 249–269.

  • “Shaping Reception: Yves Congar’s Reception of Johann Adam Möhler,” New Blackfriars 97: 1072 (November 2016): 693–712.

  • “The Institution Narrative in Current Liturgical Scholarship,” Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology 23:4 (Reformation 2014): 33–41. 

Presentations:

  • "The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Lutheran Confessional Revival in the Nineteenth Century: Johannes von Hofmann and Gottfried Thomasius." Concordia Theological Seminary Symposium on the Lutheran Confessions, Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana. January 23, 2025.

  • "The Nineteenth-Century Confessional Revival and the Development of Doctrine: Gottfried Thomasius's Conception of a Nineteenth-Century Theological Trend." LCMS Theology Professors Conference, Concordia University Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan. May 21, 2024.

  • “Theodosius Harnack’s ‘Nachwort’ and his Posture towards the Lutheran Confessions.” Confessionalism Seminar, Concordia University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. June 2, 2023.

  • “The Science of the Atonement: Johannes von Hofmann’s Theology of the Atonement.” Nineteenth Century-Theology Unit, American Academy of Religion. Denver, CO. November 20, 2022.

  • "Dogmengeschichte und Dogmenentwicklung: Löhe's Posture Towards Nineteenth-Century Theological Trends." Presentation at the 5th Conference of the International Löhe Society, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. July 25, 2022

  • "The Burden of Kneeling: The Bavarian Kneeling Controversy and the Debate Between Ignaz von Döllinger and Adolf von Harless." Presentation at the Scholarship Symposium of Concordia University Chicago. November 4, 2020.

  • "Issues in Religious Freedom: The Cologne Affair and the Kniebeugungsstreit." Presentation at the Author's Workshop for the Oxford Handbook of Modern German Theology, San Diego, CA. November 22, 2019.

  • “August Vilmar and Theology for Today” and “Theodor Kliefoth and the State of Private Confession in the 19th Century.” Invited presentations to the St. Mark’s Conference, Baltimore, MD. April 29–30, 2019. 

  • “Luther Among the Neo-Lutherans. The Reception of Luther by Gottfried Thomasius and Johannes von Hofmann.” Nineteenth Century-Theology Unit, American Academy of Religion. Boston, MA. November 19, 2017.

  • “From Symbolik to Einheit: Recasting the Legacy of Johann Adam Möhler through Yves Congar.” Lonergan on the Edge 2016, Marquette University, September 23, 2016.