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08943
December 18, 2008
PC(USA) seminary news
PRINCETON, NJ ― Princeton Theological Seminary is inviting the church and individual Christians around the world to celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth by participating in “A Year with the Institutes,” a daily reading of Calvin’s major work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, during 2009. Calvin, the most important founding theologian of the Reformed theological tradition, was born July 10, 1509. His Institutes represent a systematized approach to Reformed theology, written with a pastor’s heart in service to the church of Calvin’s day.
Princeton Seminary, through its Center of Continuing Education, will provide a daily reading schedule and text of a three-to-six-page section of the 1559 version of the Institutes for each day of 2009, except Sundays and Christmas Day, online on its Web site. The readings, using the McNeill/Battles translation of the Institutes, thanks to permission from Westminster John Knox Press, will also be provided in audio format, as a podcast, with sections read by oral performers from around the country. Michael Brothers, an assistant professor of speech communication in ministry at Princeton Seminary, will direct this part of the project.
Each week an invited scholar or pastor will provide a reflection paper on that week’s readings on the Web site, and participants will be able to comment on both the readings and the reflection papers. The project was the brainchild of Princeton Seminary’s Christian education assistant professor Gordon Mikoski. It will include a number of events in 2009 to celebrate the Calvin anniversary. The first of these is 2009’s first global Calvin conference, “Calvin and the Church Today,” Jan. 20–23.
For information about how to participate in “A Year with the Institutes,” and for answers to questions, visit the Web site or send an email.
SAN ANSELMO, CA ― San Francisco Theological Seminary has hired Charlene Jin as its new director of student formation and assistant professor of Christian education at the Southern California campus.
Jin has most recently been serving as the director of Christian education at San Marino (CA) Community Church. She has previously served in various education and leadership capacities at churches in Richmond, VA, Anaheim, CA, and Los Angeles.
She earned her Ph.D. in Christian education from Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA, where she won the Sara Little and Will Kennedy Dissertation Award for her research on reconceptualizing Christian education through autobiography. Jin also earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from University of California Irvine.
Fluent in Korean, Spanish and French, Jin’s research interests include feminist pedagogy, curriculum theory, culture and education, narrative studies and models of teaching and learning.
AUSTIN, TX ― Tom Long, Mary Louise Bringle, Paul Westermeyer, and Scott Black Johnston will offer a time for alumni/ae and friends of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary to combine topics of interest with warm fellowship during “MidWinters,” Feb. 2-4, 2009.
In addition to the lectures, there will be a Homecoming Fiesta, a screening of the award-winning documentary “At the Death House Door,” and opportunities for dialogue with the lecturers and other participants. The three-day event will include seven lectures, four reunion events, distinguished alum awards, faculty book signings, and tours of the Seminary's new residence, Anderson House.
In the Thomas White Currie Lectures, Long, professor of preaching at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, will look at the seeming incompatibility of innocent suffering and the goodness of God. The E. C. Westervelt Lecturer, Mary Louise Bringle, professor of philosophy and religion at Brevard College, plans to explore how contemporary hymns are being written to address new things God is doing in the world and new challenges arising for Christian faith and practice.
The Robert F. Jones Lecturer, The Rev. Paul Westermeyer, will explore the role of the church's music in the task of Christian education. Westermeyer is professor of church music at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, cantor for the seminary, and director of the Master of Sacred Music program in cooperation with St. Olaf College.
MidWinters preacher is the Rev. Scott Black Johnston, formerly Austin Seminary's professor of homiletics who last summer became pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. The Austin Seminary Alumni Association annual meeting and banquet, Feb. 4 honors 2009 Distinguished Service recipients Marvin Griffin (DMin'90) and Bob Lively (MDiv'73), graduating seniors, and will include a keynote address by former Huntsville (TX) death row Chaplain Carroll Pickett (MDiv'57).
LOUISVILLE ― The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded a grant of $8 million to Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary to support the work of the Louisville Institute through 2012. Generously supported by the Endowment since 1990, the Louisville Institute seeks to enrich the religious lives of American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the work of the other.
The Louisville Institute focuses on three issues of particular importance — Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and religious institutions. Since 1990, the Louisville Institute has made nearly 1,500 grants totaling almost $26.5 million. The additional support from Lilly Endowment will enable the Louisville Institute to extend its grantmaking and convening work with pastoral leaders and scholar-educators in religion and theology for the good of the church and North American society.
According to Dr. Craig Dykstra, Endowment Senior Vice President for Religion, “The church very much needs the kind of collaboration that the Louisville Institute encourages among talented pastors and scholar-teachers who care deeply about the church. Their combined efforts represent a promising resource for America’s churches.”
Added LPTS President Dean K. Thompson: “The Louisville Institute contributes to the church by enriching the work of pastors and theological educators alike. We are immensely grateful to Lilly Endowment for their support of this important ministry of Louisville Seminary.”
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