In brief…

It’s summer: a time to celebrate graduations and awards, conduct special events, bring new faculty on board – and more. You can read about “summer vacation” at our seminaries in this issue of the Seminary Update E-Newsletter.

 

Princeton Seminary hosts World Alliance of Reformed Churches consultation

Heads of theological schools from 35 countries met June 18–22 at Princeton Theological Seminary to discuss the future of theological education, including how to equip people to press for more economic and ecological justice, peace and gender equality in a changing world.

 

Dialogue between the “global North” – Europe and the United States – and the “global South” – Central and South America and Africa – was a key feature of this first-of-its-kind consultation among seminaries affiliated with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). WARC is a fellowship of 75 million Reformed Christians in 214 denominations in 107 countries. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the PCUSA, currently serves as president of WARC.

 

“The world is changing,” says Iain Torrance, president of Princeton Seminary. “We are a resource for the world and we must listen to the global church.”

 

For more information, visit http://www.ptsem.edu/news/pr-bin/2006-2007/warcconsultation06.php.

 

Two new Bible faculty join San Francisco Theological Seminary

Annette Schellenberg and Annette Weissenrieder have joined the faculty at San Francisco Theological Seminary as assistant professor of Old Testament and assistant professor of New Testament, respectively.

 

Schellenberg, who completed her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, has spent the last two years lecturing at the university. She has also served as a visiting scholar and lecturer at UCLA. Her research interests include Old Testament anthropology and wisdom literature. 

 

Weissenrieder comes from Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg in Germany where she was a post-doctoral research associate in New Testament and Practical Theology. She also served as a visiting scholar at McCormick Theological Seminary. Weissenrieder is working on a two-volume sourcebook on ancient medical texts and the New Testament to bring medicine and New Testament exegesis together.

 

Johnson C. Smith awards honorary doctorate to Bettie Durrah

On May 5, at its annual graduation ceremony, Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, to Bettie J. Durrah for her commitment and service to the PCUSA.

 

An elder at Atlanta’s Radcliffe Presbyterian Church, Durrah has served in numerous capacities, such as moderator of Greater Atlanta Presbytery, a member of the Johnson C. Smith board of trustees, president of Church Women United and a participant in the Beijing World Conference for Women and the All Africa Conference of Churches in Ethiopia. Durrah was instrumental in organizing the National Black Presbyterian Caucus in her presbytery and, after retiring from the public schools as a science teacher, was associate for Women Ministries, serving the Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, Living Waters and Trinity synods in the South East Region. 

 

Durrah has received numerous recognitions, including the Women of Faith Award from Women Ministries. She is also known for her creative writing, including Color Me Human.   

  

                                                                                                    

Union-PSCE student Jessica Tate wins national preaching award

Jessica Tate, who received both the Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Christian Education degrees from Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (Union-PSCE) in May, was awarded the 2007 David H.C. Read Preacher/Scholar Award. The $10,000 national prize is given by Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City to a final year Master of Divinity seminary student who demonstrates distinction in preaching and biblical scholarship and is committed to pulpit ministry. Tate is the first graduate of Union-PSCE to receive the national award which was established in 1989.

 

To read more, visit: http://www.union-psce.edu/news/publications/enews/may_07/index.shtml.

 

 

Auburn to release new study of seminary graduates

Results from a new study of seminary graduates will be published this fall by Auburn Theological Seminary’s Center for the Study of Theological Education. The report will be based on data from a survey of five- and 10-year graduates conducted by Auburn, augmented by information from the database and surveys of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).

 

Findings have been previewed at ATS events and at a meeting of the PCUSA’s Committee on Theological Education (COTE). One of many significant discoveries: Seminaries, often accused of steering students away from the practice of ministry, in fact, have the opposite effect. Almost twice as many graduates minister in congregations as planned to when they entered seminary.

 

For copies of the report, contact Sharon Miller at slm@auburnsem.org.

 

 

Nine Austin Seminary ’07 graduates receive awards

Sixty-seven students received Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Theological Studies and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in May. Commencement exercises included the granting of special awards:

 

 

Thompson, Murry named to key positions at Dubuque Seminary

Melinda Thompson, currently instructor of Old Testament at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), has been named director of distance learning and assistant professor of Old Testament. Thompson has served as the interim director of the distance learning program since the retirement of John Jewell last fall. The program was established in 1999.

Thompson, who holds a PhD in Old Testament from Luther Seminary, has extensive experience in theological education through distance technology.

 

Harold Murry has been appointed director of field education and instructor of ministry, succeeding Henry Fawcett who served as interim director of the program for the past year. The UDTS office of field education oversees the seminary’s supervised practice of ministry program and seminary placement; four semesters of supervised ministry are required of all Master of Divinity students.

   

An ordained PCUSA minister, Murry has served for the past 13 years as executive presbyter of John Knox Presbytery. He was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, for nine years, and earned his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

 

 

ESPR initiates Reformed theological program for new immigrant Presbyterian lay leaders

The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico has initiated a Reformed theological program for new immigrant Presbyterian lay leaders in partnership with the PCUSA’s Office of New Immigrant Groups Ministries in the USA and its associate, Angel Suárez-Varela.

According to Suárez-Valera, new waves of immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and East Europe are coming to the United States as refugees, asylum seekers, migrant workers, students and religious workers. The Reformed theological formation program, created with and for the new communities of faith, will run as a pilot project and then be assessed for extension as an interdenominational, international program.

For more information, visit www.se-pr.org/oficinas/planning.htm

 

 

For summer reading, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary recommends the following books, authored or edited by members of the faculty and published during the 2006-07 academic year. Each publication is available through the seminary’s bookstore at 502-894-2289, or toll free 800-264-1839, or by ordering through your favorite online resource.

 

Feminist and Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), edited by Amy Plantinga Pauw, Henry A. Mobley Professor of Doctrinal Theology, and Yale Divinity School’s Serene Jones. 

 

Suicide: Pastoral Responses (Abingdon Press, 2006) by Loren L. Townsend, professor of pastoral care and counseling.

 

As Those Who Are Taught: The Interpretation of Isaiah from the LXX to the SBL (Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series 27), edited by Patricia K. Tull, A.B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament, and Loyola College in Maryland’s Claire Mathews Mcginnis.

 

Esther and Ruth (Westminster John Knox Press) for the Interpretation Bible Series, by Patricia K. Tull, A.B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament.

 

Christianity and Human Rights: Influences and Issues (Suny Press 2007), edited by Frances S. Adeney, William A. Benfield Jr. Professor of Evangelism and Global Mission, and McGill University’s Arvind Sharma.

 

Hope in Conflict: Discovering Wisdom in Congregational Turmoil (The Pilgrim Press, 2007), by David R. Sawyer, professor of ministry and director of lifelong learning and advanced degrees.

 

Great Themes of the Bible, Volume 1 (Westminster John Knox Press 2007), written by W. Eugene March, A.B. Rhodes Professor Emeritus of Old Testament. 

For more book and author information, visit www.lpts.edu/News-Events/article.asp?intid=194.

Pittsburgh Seminary’s Summer Youth Institute celebrates 10 years

The Summer Youth Institute (SYI) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will celebrate its 10^th anniversary during “SYI X: A Celebration of 10 Years of the Summer Youth Institute,” June 29-July1. Previous SYI participants, along with former staff, will return to campus for three days to reconnect with friends, meet new ones and further explore their faith.

SYI is a two-weeks-in-July program designed for students to explore theology, consider future careers in ministry and form lasting friendships. Since the program’s inception in 1997, 315 high school scholars from 39 states and Puerto Rico have participated.

Kicking off the anniversary event with a concert will be David M. Bailey, who has been working with the SYI community since 2000. Dale Allison, Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis, will offer the keynote address, while other faculty will provide a variety of workshops. Worship will be led by Ronald Peters, Henry L. Hillman Professor of Urban Ministry and director of the seminary’s Metro-Urban Institute, on Saturday, and by Pittsburgh Seminary graduates Derek Davenport (SYI ’97) and Michelle Wahila (SYI ’97) on Sunday.

Visit http://www.summeryouthinstitute.org to learn more about SYI X.

 

For more information…

…on any of these news items, including how to register for events, or to learn more about our seminaries, please visit www.pcusa.org/seminaries/ and/or www.pcusaseminaries.org.

It is our intent to include news from all 10 of our PCUSA seminaries, and the two that are related to the denomination by covenant agreement, in each issue of the Seminary Update E-Newsletter. We solicit news from all 12 seminaries six times a year, but sometimes a seminary does not respond or submit a news item. When this happens, we regret not being able to include all the seminaries but feel it is important to get you as much news as possible in a timely manner.

 

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