Joel D. Heck (born 1 October 1948) is a retired pastor and professor, formerly Executive Editor of Concordia University Press. He is the

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of sixteen books, most recently publishing ''No Ordinary People: Twenty-One Friendships of C. S. Lewis''. He currently serves as Interim President of

Concordia Lutheran Seminary Concordia Lutheran Seminary (CLS) is a Lutheran seminary situated on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, the provincial capital of Alberta, Canada. The seminary is located near the campus of Concordia University of Edmont ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, Canada.

Biography

Early life

Joel D. Heck was born in

Seward, Nebraska Seward is a city in and the county seat of Seward County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,643 at the 2020 census. Seward is part of the Lincoln, Nebraska metropolitan area. History Seward was platted in 1868. It was named from ...

, and raised in a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

's family in

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. His father, Donald E. Heck (1916–1991), was a pastor of the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

(LCMS) who served congregations in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The elder Heck and his wife Lucille (1915–2004) raised five children, with Joel the oldest son and third child overall (siblings Barbara, Doris, Christine, and Thomas). Donald Heck was especially known for his translations of C. F. W. Walther's sermons from the German, published by

Concordia Publishing House Concordia Publishing House (CPH), founded in 1869, is the official publishing arm of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, at 3558 S. Jefferson Avenue, CPH publishes the synod's official monthly maga ...

in two volumes, and for his bulletin insert service.

Career and family

Heck holds the A.A. from

Concordia University Wisconsin Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) is a private Lutheran university in Mequon, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Concordia University System operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). The university is organized into ...

, the B.A. from

Concordia Senior College Concordia Senior College was a liberal arts college located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and affiliated with the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). It was founded in 1957 and closed in 1977. The senior college was a new type of institution fo ...

, the M.Div. from

Concordia Theological Seminary Concordia Theological Seminary is a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Lutheran seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It offers professional, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees affiliated with training clergy and deaconesses for the Lutheran Churc ...

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, the Th.M. from

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is the divinity school of Trinity International University, an evangelical Christian university headquartered in Bannockburn, Illinois. The divinity school was founded in 1897. In April 2025, Trinit ...

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, Lake and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A northern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, Deerfield is located on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore, ...

(where he studied under Gleason Archer and Walter Kaiser), and the Th.D. in Exegetical Theology from

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

, St. Louis (Horace Hummel, advisor). He spent his seminary vicarage year serving under Rev. Walter Martin at Trinity Lutheran Church in

Bogota, New Jersey Bogota is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,778, an increase of 591 (+7.2%) from the 2010 United Sta ...

. He served as pastor of Zion Lutheran Church,

Valley Park, Missouri Valley Park is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,885 at the 2020 census. History Descendants of the Mississippian culture still had a settlement along the Meramec River in the mid-18th century, until the ...

, from 1975 to 1984, chairing the LCMS's Missouri District Board of Evangelism for much of that time. He then served as a theology professor at Concordia University Wisconsin from 1984 to 1998, and as chief academic officer and then full-time theology professor at

Concordia University Texas Concordia University Texas is a private university in Austin, Texas, United States. The university offers undergraduate, Graduate school, graduate, and online degrees as well as an adult degree program for part-time and returning students. Conc ...

from 1998 to 2022. For the 2022-2023 year he served as Assisting Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. During his sabbatical in Oxford, England, in 2004, he worked with

Walter Hooper Walter McGehee Hooper (March 27, 1931December 7, 2020) was an American writer. He is best known as the editor of many posthumous books by C. S. Lewis, as the joint author of a biography of Lewis and as the literary advisor of Lewis's estate. He w ...

on Volume III of ''Collected Letters'', the third and last volume of the letters of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

, by transcribing letters written by Lewis, convincing Walter Hooper to include the Great War letters, and doing bibliographical work on the book. A second sabbatical in 2012, this time in Cambridge, England, allowed him to do more work on Lewis, especially Lewis's essay "Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism" and Lewis's service on the Council of Westcott House, while staying at

Westfield House Westfield House is a Lutheran theological college in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1962, it is the theological studies centre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (ELCE) and is part of the Cambridge Theological Federation. The central ...

, a theological college of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of England The Evangelical Lutheran Church of England (ELCE) is a confessional Lutheran synod in the United Kingdom. It has Wiktionary:congregation, congregations in England, Wales and Scotland. The ELCE's oldest congregations date back to 1896, and the E ...

. During the decade between 1987 and 1997, Heck edited a quarterly periodical called ''Evangelism'', devoted to encouraging and equipping Christian people for outreach. Besides authoring or editing fifteen books, he has written numerous articles, book reviews, and essays, most notably on topics related to C. S. Lewis. He has donated the Joel D. Heck Collection at the Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College. This is a collection of letters related to Lewis and originally written to Heck about the experiences of former students of Lewis and their impressions of Lewis as a teacher. Heck has researched events in the life of C. S. Lewis, catalogued day by day and year by year throughout Lewis' life, an extensive database of more than 700,000 words and more than 1,300 pages of biographical information called "Chronologically Lewis" that is available on his website. This database has led to the publication of a C. S. Lewis calendar through Concordia University Press, several articles, and at least three books. The research also contains the military record of Lewis' brother,

Warren Lewis Warren Hamilton Lewis (16 June 1895 – 9 April 1973) was an Irish historian and officer in the British Army, best known as the elder brother of writer and professor C. S. Lewis. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corp ...

. Heck and his wife Cheryl have three adult children and have a home in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. They currently live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Honors

*Winner of the Faculty Laureate award at Concordia University Wisconsin, 1994. *Alumnus of the Year, Concordia University Wisconsin, 1998. *Recipient of a Marion E. Wade research award for the research done that led to ''Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education'' (2005). *Voted as the Faculty Member of the Year by the athletic teams of Concordia University Texas for the school year 2008-2009 and again for the school year 2010-2011. *Recipient of the first faculty scholarship award from

, 2015.

Writings

In addition to articles published in ''The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society The ''Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society'' (''JETS'') is a refereed theological journal published by the Evangelical Theological Society. It was first published in 1958 as the ''Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society'', and ...

'', ''The

Journal of Biblical Literature The ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' (''JBL'') is one of three academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academ ...

'', and ''

Bibliotheca Sacra ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' (colloquially referred to as "BibSac") is a theological journal published by Dallas Theological Seminary, first published in 1844 and the oldest theological journal in the United States. It was founded at Union Theological ...

'', Heck has written many book reviews and more than forty articles for ''CSL: The Journal of the New York C.S. Lewis Society'',For example, "JBS: The Life and Work of J.B.S. Haldane, Intersections with C. S. Lewis." ''CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society'', Nov/Dec 2007. ''Sehnsucht'', ''The Lamp-Post'', and ''The Chronicle of the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society''. *''Make Disciples: Evangelism Programs of the Eighties'' (

, 1984). *''New Member Assimilation'' (

, 1988). *''The Art of Sharing Your Faith'' (

Revell Revell GmbH is an American-origin manufacturer of plastic model, plastic scale models, currently based in Bünde, Germany. The original Revell company merged with Monogram (company), Monogram in 1986, becoming "Revell-Monogram". The business op ...

, 1991). *''All of the Above: Your Choice to Collegiate Success'', editor (Concordia University Press, 1992). *''264 Great Outreach Ideas'' (

, 2001). *''Evangelism and the Christian College'', editor and author (''Evangelism'', 1994). *''From Guest to Disciple'' (

, 2001). *''Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education'' (

, 2005). *'' The Personal Heresy: A Controversy'', editor (authored by

and

E. M. W. Tillyard Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall Tillyard (19 May 1889 – 24 May 1962) was an English classical and literary scholar who was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1945 to 1959. Biography Tillyard was born in Cambridge. His father Alfred Isaac ...

, Concordia University Press, 2008). *''History & Literature of the Old Testament'' ( Kendall Hunt, 2010). *''Learning at the Foot of the Cross: A Christian Vision for Education'' (Concordia University Press, 2011). *''In the Beginning, God: Creation from God's Perspective'' (

, 2011). *''Socratic Digest'' (Concordia University Press, 2012, available only at www.Lulu.com). *''From Atheism to Christianity: The Story of C. S. Lewis'' (

, 2017). *''No Ordinary People: Twenty-One Friendships of C. S. Lewis'' (Winged Lion Press, 2021). *''The Lion That Roared'' (published with co-author Brenda Nauss at Lulu.com, 2023). He also has written several devotional booklets (two for Advent and one for Lent) based on the writings of C. S. Lewis (2009: "A Grand Miracle," 2016: "Peace, Hope, Light," and 2015: "Mercy, Passion, & Joy") from Creative Communications for the Parish. These booklets collectively have sold nearly a half-million copies.

References

External links

* *https://www.concordiasem.ab.ca/about-us {{DEFAULTSORT:Heck, Joel D. Living people American Lutheran theologians Trinity International University alumni Concordia University Wisconsin alumni Concordia Theological Seminary alumni Concordia University Texas faculty 1948 births People from Seward, Nebraska People from Ozaukee County, Wisconsin People from Austin, Texas Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod people Concordia Seminary alumni