Dr. Naomichi Masaki is associate professor of Systematic Theology and director of the Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) Program at Concordia Theological Seminary (CTSFW), Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Masaki joined the faculty in the spring of 2001 after serving as missionary-at-large and pastor in Ridgewood and Bergen County, New Jersey (1991–98), and engaging in doctoral study at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (1998–2000).

Born and raised in Kobe, Japan, he graduated from Rødde Folkehøgskole near Trøndhelm, Norway (1979), and received his B.A. (1985) and M.A. (1987) in Social Work and Counseling from Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Japan, and his M.Div. with an emphasis in Missiology (1991) and S.T.M. in Systematic Theology with a minor in Liturgics (1998) from CTSFW. In 2005, he successfully defended his dissertation, “The Confessional Liturgical Revival of Theodor Kliefoth and the Works of Liturgical Revision of the Preface in Nineteenth-century Sweden: The Vitality of the Lord’s Supper as Confessed in ‘He Alone Is Worthy!’” and earned his Ph.D. in Doctrinal Theology from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

The areas of his teaching include dogmatics, Lutheran Confessions, Luther studies and liturgics. While his particular interest remains in the doctrine of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, the Lord’s Supper and the Office of the Holy Ministry, his sense of appreciation for the legacy of Dr. Luther and the vitality of the Book of Concord is ever growing.

Dr. Masaki was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry in 1991, and has served for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as member of the Board for District and Congregational Services (1995–2004), the Liturgy Committee of the Lutheran Hymnal Project, the Commission on Worship (1998–present) and the Commission on Doctrinal Review (2010–present).

He is the author of Community: We Are Not Alone by Concordia Publishing House (2007) and He Alone Is Worthy!: The Vitality of the Lord's Supper in Theodor Kliefoth and in the Swedish Liturgy of the Nineteenth Century by Församlingsförlaget of Göteborg, Sweden (2013). His articles are found in Concordia Theological Quarterly, Lutheran Quarterly, Lutheran Theological Review, Logia, Homiletics, For the Life of the World, Concordia Pulpit Resources, Kwansei Gakuin Sociology Department Studies, Kyrka och Folk, and Journal of Lutheran Mission, for which he serves as contributing editor. He attends the International Congress on Luther Research regularly.

In addition to serving at the Seminary, Dr. Masaki has represented the Seminary and the Synod by teaching and presenting essays in Brazil, Haiti, India, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Dr. Masaki and his wife, Yohko, are blessed with three children: Yoshitomo Robert, Satomi Christine and Emi Sophia.