Dr. Naomichi Masaki

Dr. Naomichi Masaki is The Reverend Victor H. and Lydia Dissen Professor of the Lutheran Confessions, a chair he has held since 2024. He also serves as director of the PhD in Theological Studies program (PhD-TS), director of the Master of Sacred Theology program (STM), and director of Concordia Pastoral and Diaconal Training Program (CPDTP). He was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry in June 1991 and joined the faculty in the spring of 2001. The areas of his teaching include dogmatics, Lutheran Confessions, and Luther studies.

Born and raised in Kobe, Japan, Dr. Masaki graduated from Rødde Folkehøgskole near Trondheim, Norway (1979) and received his BA (1985) and MA (1987) in social work and counseling from Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan. He earned his MDiv (1991) and STM (1998) degrees at CTSFW and holds a PhD (2005) in doctrinal theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

He is the author of He Alone Is Worthy!: The Vitality of the Lord’s Supper in Theodor Kliefoth and in the Swedish Liturgy of the Nineteenth Century (Göteborg, Sweden: Församlingsförlaget, 2013), and
Community: We Are Not Alone (Concordia Publishing House, 2007). His articles and sermons are found in numerous books and scholarly journals.

Dr. Masaki has served the LCMS as a member of the Board for District and Congregational Services (1995–2004), the Liturgy Committee of the Lutheran Hymnal Project, the Commission on Worship (1998–2006), the Commission on Doctrinal Review (2010–2019), and the Commission on Theology and Church Relations (2019–present). For the International Lutheran Council (ILC), he has served as the director of the Lutheran Leadership Development Program (LLDP) since 2017.

Dr. Masaki has visited over twenty-five countries on behalf of CTSFW and the LCMS, and regularly teaches in Africa, Nordic countries, Asia, and elsewhere. He and his wife Yohko are blessed with three grown children, Yoshitomo Robert, Satomi Christine, Emi Sophia, and one grandson, Junya Chen.