The Rev. Otto Paul Kretzmann was president of Valparaiso University from 1940 to 1968. During his administration a new campus was developed, enrollment grew from 400 to 4,000, and the University became nationally recognized.
Before coming to Valpo, O.P., as he was affectionately known, had been executive secretary of the international Lutheran youth organization, the Walther League, for six years. Prior to that, he had served for ten years on the faculty of Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Illinois.
A 1920 graduate of Concordia Collegiate Institute, Bronxville, New York, he received the Master of Sacred Theology degree in 1924 from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and pursued further graduate study at Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Chicago Universities. He was the recipient of ten honorary doctorates. He died on Holy Cross Day, September 14, 1975, in his 75th year.
This collection consists of 226 files within 53 folders containing addresses, sermons, and speeches created between the years 1921 to 1971. These documents are part of a larger collection of O.P. Kretzmann's personal papers and are housed within the Valparaiso University Archives and Special Collections.
Timeline
A chronological listing of Kretzmann's work is available here.
Collection Records
Notes: Christmas Vesper: God in a Stable, 1954, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Going Home for Christmas, 1963, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: He Came Down from Heaven, 1952, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Pleasure and Happiness, 1946, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Point and Counterpoint, 1951, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Songs for the Child, 1953, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Songs in the Night (Fragments), 1969, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: The Logic of Christmas, 1946, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: The Logic of Christmas, 1965, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Christmas Vesper: Time and the Child, 1955, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Colleges/Other Campuses: Indiana University Baccalaureate Address: Invitation to Pilgrimage (Fragments), 1956, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Colleges/Other Campuses: University of Chicago Chapel Address: To Whom Shall We Go, n.d., O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Commencement Address, 1953, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Commencement Address, 1968, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Commencement Address: June 1952 (Fragments), O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Commencement Address: One Final Rap, 1970, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Dedication: Our Unseen Guests, n.d., O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Final Yearly Chapel Address: Well and Good, 1956, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Gloria Christi Chapel Dedication: The Beauty of Holiness (Psalm 96:9), 1959, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Art Thou Not Also (John 18:25), 1950, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Barabbas (Matthew 27:20-22), 1946, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Barabbas (Matthew 27:20-22), 1957, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Dismas Preaches (Luke 23:42-43), 1944, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Good Friday 1939, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Good Friday (Luke 23:33), 1940, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Great Moments in Lent (Luke 22:53), 1956, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Holy Week: Friday: Brought Back to God (Revelations 5:9), 1941, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Holy Week: Monday: Glorified in Them (John 17:10), 1941, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Holy Week: Thursday: What Does Prayer Do? (Luke 11:5-13), 1941, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Holy Week: Wednesday: Gospel of Another Chance (John 8:11b), 1941, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: It Is Finished (John 19:30), 1943, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: It is Finished (John 19:30, Luke 23:46), 1955, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Luke 23:24, 1942, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me (Matthew 27:46), 1947, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Pilate Preaches (Matthew 27:2), 1944, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Question and Answer (Matthew 27:22-29), 1945, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: The Agonized Look (Luke 22:44), 1949, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: The Cross and Your Prayers (1 Timothy 2:5), 1962, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: The Mystery of the Cross (Luke 23:33), 1945, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Today Thou Shalt be with Me (Luke 23:42-43), 1943, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Two Lenten Vignettes (Fragments), 1964, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lenten Address: Understanding Look (Luke 22:61-62), 1949, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: A Larger Ministry, 1948, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: Ebenezer and Beyond, 1967, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: Orlando, 1971, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: The Church (Christian Unity), 1967, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: What is the Picture, n.d., O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Lutheran Unity: What Now, 1969, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Matins Address: The Sunrise of Hope, 1939, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Matins Address: The Sunrise of Humility, 1939, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Matins Address: The Sunrise of Life, 1938, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Matins Address: The Sunrise of Power, 1939, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Memorial Address: Alan Schroeder, 1968, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Memorial Address: A Whole God (Julius Klein, Bonnie Jean Ullrich, and Douglas Farney), 1964, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Memorial Address: Frederick Konrad Kruger, 1954, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Memorial Address: Martin Luther King, Jr. Service, 1968, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Memorial Address: Presidents Vesper [John F. Kennedy], 1963, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Opening Convocation, 1964, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Opening Convocation, 1966, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Opening Convocation: The Power of the Hidden (Fragments), 1965, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Opening Convocation: What is Required of Us (Fragments), 1946, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Reformation (Fragment), 1967, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Reformation Homily, 1967, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Reformation Vespers California, 1963, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Seminary Address: A Relevant Theology (John 8:31-32), 1962, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Seminary Address: Our Ministry, 1966, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Seminary Address: St. Louis, 1962, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Seminary Address: The New Age, 1964, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Sermon: The Love of Christ Constraineth Us, 1940, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Thanksgiving Address, 1947, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Thanksgiving Address: Gratitude for Grace and Heaven, 1958, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Thanksgiving Address, n.d., O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Themes: Prayer (1 Peter 4:7), 1940, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Themes: The Abundant Life (John 10:10b), 1940, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Christian Worship (Fragments), 1945, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Conscience and Competence, 1955, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Conscience and Competence, 1956, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Conscience and Competence, 1964, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Death Be Not Proud, 1963, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Our Great Tradition, 1955, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Sir Winston Churchill, 1965, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: The Cross and Your Prayers (Fragments), 1962, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: The Day of Remembrance (John 16:4) (Fragments), 1969, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: The Loneliness of Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:40), 1959, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: The Price of Achievement, 1947, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Thunder on the Left (Fragments), 1966, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Truth for Tomorrow, 1945, O.P. Kretzmann
Notes: Various Themes: Waiting for Godot, 1963, O.P. Kretzmann
Opening Address and Matins Sermons of the Forty-Seventh International Walther League Convention, 1939, O.P. Kretzmann
Ordination Service of The Rev. A. W. Huth: John 9, 10, 11, 1931, O.P. Kretzmann
Our Greater War: Time and Eternity (Draft), 1943, O.P. Kretzmann
Paul Lindemann Funeral, 1938, O.P. Kretzmann
Proverbs 23:26, 1927, O.P. Kretzmann
Psalm 27: 1-6, 1921 - 1926, O.P. Kretzmann
Radio Address: From Heaven Above (Church of the Air), 1940, O.P. Kretzmann
Radio Address: The Importance of the Individual (Valparaiso University Hour), 1943, O.P. Kretzmann
Radio Address: The Quest for Certainty (WGN), 1943, O.P. Kretzmann
Radio Address: Truth (WAAF), 1935, O.P. Kretzmann
Radio Address: Will America Be First?, 1935, O.P. Kretzmann
Sermon on Christian Higher Education: Proverbs 8:11, n.d., O.P. Kretzmann
