Category Archives: Old Testament

Kudos to My Colleagues at Northeastern Seminary (Rochester NY)

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I am privileged to be part of a wonderful Seminary, and I work with excellent faculty colleagues.

Here I want to highlight three faculty members in particular, with a focus on their recent (and upcoming) accomplishments. Indeed, the first is still future at the time of writing this post.

Esau McCaulley

Esau McCaulley is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity.

Prof. McCaulley will be defending his PhD dissertation on Monday, April 3, at the University of St. Andrews (his supervisor is N. T. Wright)—that’s tomorrow, as of this writing. The defense is scheduled for 1:00 pm UK time (7:00 am EDT).

The defense was successful!

Prof. McCaulley’s dissertation topic is Paul’s application of the Old Testament idea of Israel’s inheritance to Jesus in the letter to the Galatians.

Last year (November 2016) he presented a paper based on his dissertation in the Biblical Theology Research Group of the Institute for Biblical Research. His paper was entitled Exile, Restoration, and the Inheritance of the Son: Jesus as Servant and Messiah in Galatians 1:4.

Josef Sykora

Dr. Josef Sykora (PhD, Durham University) is Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program and Assistant Professor of Biblical Interpretation.

Prof. Sykora’s 2016 dissertation on the elect and non-elect in the Old Testament (supervised by Walter Moberly) has just been accepted for publication by Eisenbrauns publishers, in their prestigious series called “Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures.” His forthcoming book is tentatively titled “The Unfavored: Judah and Saul in the Narratives of Genesis and 1 Samuel.”

Rebecca Letterman

Rebecca Letterman (PhD, Cornell University) is Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation.

Over the last few years Prof. Letterman has been hard at work with Susan Muto (executive director of the Epiphany Association and Dean of the Academy of Formative Spirituality in Pittsburgh, PA), co-authoring a book on spirituality and the developmental process of human life, based on the brilliant work of Christian psychologist and spiritual director Adrian van Kaam.

The co-authored book, called Understanding Our Story: The Life’s Work and Legacy of Adrian van Kaam in the Field of Formative Spirituality, has recently been published by Wipf and Stock. Both Doug Cullum (Vice President and Dean of Northeastern Seminary) and I have written endorsements for this intellectually and spiritually stimulating book.

Congratulations to my three faculty colleagues for these accomplishments. I am proud to know you and to work with you in theological education for the Kingdom of God.

The Ethical Challenge of the Imago Dei—Human Rights and Beyond

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I was recently invited to write a blog post on humanity as imago Dei (“image of God”) for the Imago Dei Fund.

My post is now published online, with the title: “The Ethical Challenge of the Image of God in the 21st Century – Human Rights and Beyond.”

After sketching the meaning of the imago Dei and some of its ethical implications, the post concludes by exploring the compassion of God for the foreigner/refugee, which those made in God’s image are called to imitate.

Interestingly, my colleague in New Testament, Esau McCaulley, has recently written a blog post on a similar theme, entitled “The Slave, the Foreigner, and the Compassion of Israel.”

The Imago Dei Fund

Their website of the Imago Dei Fund describes them as “a grant-making organization working with our grantee partners to co-create a more just and more free world in which all human beings can thrive and flourish together.”

One of the issues the Imago Dei Fund addresses is human rights (as part of their commitment to “justice and mercy“). This was the topic I was invited to write about, based on the biblical teaching of humans as imago Dei.

Besides human rights, the Imago Dei Fund addresses matters of ecological justice (“care of creation“) and holistic shalom for persons (“care of souls“).

I invite you to check out the blog page of the Imago Dei Fund, where my post is located (along with other posts on related topics). It has the unusual name of The Inukshuk Blog.

If you want to know what an Inukshuk is, here is an explanation, with a picture.

Biblical Interpretation for Caribbean Renewal—Call for Papers

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I am delighted to announce an upcoming theology conference that I am helping to organize. It will be held in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday–Saturday, September 8–9, 2017.

The conference is sponsored by the Jamaica Theological Seminary (and will take place on their campus); it is co-sponsored by the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology and the United Theological College of the West Indies.

This interdisciplinary theology conference celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals and the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

Proposals for papers are invited from established scholars and practitioners in all theological disciplines, as well as from graduate students, post-docs, and non-tenured faculty.

Both Caribbean residents and others with an interest in the Caribbean are invited to propose papers.

We encourage high quality papers on any topic relevant to the theme of “Biblical Interpretation for Caribbean Renewal.”

We welcome papers from all theological disciplines, including biblical, historical, systematic, philosophical, moral, pastoral theology, and theology that engages culture, the church, or other academic fields.

We especially encourage papers that:

  • propose priorities for biblical interpretation in the Caribbean
  • address current practices of biblical interpretation in the Caribbean
  • engage particular biblical texts in light of Caribbean realities

The due date for receiving proposals is July 15, 2017.

You may access the Call for Papers, which contains further information on submitting proposals.

For more information please visit the conference page on the website of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. As we get closer to the date, the page will be updated with information about registration and the conference schedule.