Rev. Otten was the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, New Haven, MO from 1958 to 2013. He received his elementary education in the public schools of New York. He was a graduate of Concordia Prep and Concordia Junior College, Bronxville NY. In 1957 he graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO with a Master of Divinity and Washington University with a Master of Arts in history. In 1958 he received a Master in Sacred Theology from Concordia Seminary. He also took a few graduate courses at Columbia University in NY and the University of Rochester. From 1962-2019 he edited Christian News, a weekly newspaper with readers in all 50 states and many foreign countries. He is the author of several books and is the co-editor of An American Translation of the Bible by Dr. William Beck. He lectured widely throughout the U.S. He married the former Grace Anderson, a Deaconess and graduate of Valparaiso University, in 1960. They had 7 children, all whom obtained college degrees and are active in their local Lutheran Churches. Herman was taken to His Lord in glory on April 24, 2019.
Christian News is a newspaper that covers current events in the theological secular arenas and how they affect your church and life.
Christian News is not an official organ of any church-body, but an independent publication designed to supply rank and file Christians with information needed to face the present crises in Christendom.
Christian News is not a doctrinally neutral observer, but is committed to the full historic Christian faith, as it is authoritatively revealed in the written Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and correctly set forth in the Confessions of the Orthodox Church to wit, the Book of Concord in 1580.
CHRISTIAN NEWS is therefore unalterably opposed to the various fashionable "theological" systems which sacrifice the supernatural mysteries of the Christian Faith to the proletarian prejudices of "Modern Man's" computerized mentality. CHRISTIAN NEWS holds that the continued use of Christian words and phrases, and the lip-service paid to "the Scriptures and the Confessions" by the practitioners of this new anti-Christian "theology" are totally dishonest and hypocritical.
Given the radical, indeed mortal nature of the doctrinal conflict and the need to reach and undeceive millions of rank and file Christians who have no idea of the fate being prepared for their churches under cover of pious-sounding slogans and platitudes, strong straight forward, and sustained criticism is to be expected. Those who decry this as "negativism" either do not understand the gravity of the crisis or are themselves in league with the enemy. Scripture is extremely "negative" whenever it deals with apostasy and hypocrisy! And these are dominant features of modern church life.
The writers of CHRISTIAN NEWS claim no sort of infallibility for themselves. They therefore invite readers to notify them of any errors of fact, judgment, or theology, which may occur from time to time, so that suitable corrections may be made.