He was a major figure in the "Seminex" theological/political controversy, which resulted in a schism in the LCMS during the early 1970s.
[1] In 1969, Preus was elected president of the LCMS,[1] upsetting the incumbent, Oliver R. Harms.
This resulted in a schism in the LCMS, with a small group eventually leaving the synod to form the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in 1976.
He translated many of Chemnitz's works into English, including The Two Natures in Christ (1971), The Lord's Supper (1979), Justification: The Chief Article of Christian Doctrine as Expounded in Loci Theologici (1985), and Loci theologici (1989).
("Jake") Preus, was a politician who served as Minnesota's eighth state auditor and 20th governor in the 1920s.
His cousin David W. Preus served as president/presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church from 1973 to 1988.