The first period of independence (1918-1940) was one of enormous socio-economic and cultural development in Latvia. The establishment of a national university in 1919 was a decisive step in the academic work and educational life of the newly independent Latvia. In 1920 the Faculty of Theology was established at the University of Latvia. Despite its success in creating a national Latvian theology, the faculty was unable to unite all the theologians of Latvia. The two most important factors in this process were the controversy between liberal and conservative theology and the ethnic conflicts within the Lutheran church.

Professor Jouko Talonen, a specialist in the church history of Latvia, gives a detailed picture of the history of Latvian evangelical Lutheran theology in the interwar period. Professor Talonen has researched the history of Latvian theology since the 1990s.