Dr. Gunnar Alksnis was born in Riga, Latvia in 1931 and moved to the USA with his family in 1949. He received his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia South Carolina in 1955 and was ordained at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russell County, Kansas in 1956. Gunnar received a Master of Sacred Theology from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 1965, and completed his Doctorate of Philosophy at Kansas State University in 1970 with his thesis on Ludwig Klages (Republished by Theion Publishing as Chthonic Gnosis in 2015). Professor Alksnis taught theology at Washburn University, KS for 30 years until his retirement. A well respected historian, professor, minister and author he passed away in 2011.