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January 4, 2008
Seminary news
AUSTIN, TX - Elizabeth Currie Williams has made the closing gift to fully fund an endowed faculty chair named for her late father at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Thomas White Currie Jr. Chair of American Church History was established in 1999 through an initial donation of $50,000 from the Presbyterian Historical Society of the Southwest. Thomas White Currie Jr. was at the epicenter of the Currie clan, whose history is woven into the fabric of Austin Seminary. Currie Jr. also served Presbyterian churches in Texas from 1941 until his retirement in 1983. Upon Currie's death, his friends and family made numerous memorial gifts to the seminary with the goal of funding the professorship. Elizabeth Currie Williams' gift realized the funding goal for the chair. Faculty chairs provide income for a faculty salary, benefits and support services.
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DECATUR, GA - Columbia Theological Seminary's Center for Lifelong Learning will offer the introductory course for its Certificate in Spiritual Formation program [http://www.ctsnet.edu/lifelong/certPrograms/csf/index.asp] the weekend of Jan. 24-27. In this "immersion experience," participants will study the origins of the Christian spiritual tradition, including the formative elements of Old and New Testament, monastic and Reformed spirituality. The course also provides opportunities for personal reflection through guided meditative journaling and exploration of one's own unique journey with the living God, as well as through community and the practical application of acquired knowledge. John Kloepfer, a pastor and former professor at Duquesne University's Institute of Formative Spirituality, will lead the course.
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LOUISVILLE - Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary has made several new appointments. Wayne Clark will serve as director of clinical training for the seminary's pastoral counselor training program, which prepares students for the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy degree. Clark's work will be primarily administrative as he oversees students' clinical experience, coordinates practica, manages the policy and administrative structure of the program, and works with the pastoral counseling faculty. He begins his service Feb. 1. The Rev. Cheri Harper will serve as director of recruitment and admissions. Harper is a graduate of Louisville Seminary and Austin College in Sherman, TX. Most recently, Harper served as a program associate for Presbyterian Women of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). She begins her new position Jan. 7. The Rev. Kilen Gray will serve as dean of students. Gray, an LPTS alum, has been serving part time as interim dean of students since July 2007. Gray is the pastor of New Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Shelbyville. He began his service as dean of students Jan. 1. The Rev. Debra J. Mumford was appointed Frank H. Caldwell Assistant Professor of Homiletics. Mumford, an ordained minister in the American Baptist Church, was called to serve as assistant professor of preaching and worship last year and began teaching full time in the fall. Loren L. Townsend, professor of pastoral care and counseling, was appointed to the Henry Morris Edmonds Professorship in Pastoral Ministry. Townsend, a tenured member of the faculty, began teaching at Louisville Seminary in 1996.
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PITTSBURGH, PA - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host Fred D. Smith Jr., associate professor of urban ministry at Wesley Theological Seminary, on Jan. 28 as part of the annual Kelso Lecture in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. This event, held on campus, is free and open to the public. Smith will speak on "Prophets of the Beloved Community in Babylon!" The Bidwell Church Choir, under the direction of Leonard Johnson, also will perform. For more information, contact the office of continuing education at (412) 441-3304, ext. 2196.
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PRINCETON, NJ - Princeton Theological Seminary's Center of Continuing Education is offering a "Meet the Author" book series, featuring five authors speaking on the topic of literature responding to a changing world. William M. Tucker, author of How People Change: The Short Story as Case History and clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, will speak Feb. 19.
Poet Micheal O'Siadhail will give a poetry reading on March 11. The full-time writer lives in Dublin, Ireland and was educated at Trinity College, where he has since lectured. His latest collection is Globe. On April 1, Linda Mercadante will speak about her book A Jewish-Catholic Jersey Girl's Spiritual Journey. Mercadante is an ordained minister in the PC(USA) and is currently professor of theology in the B. Robert Straker Chair in Historical Theology at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Brian McLaren, an author, speaker, pastor and emergent church leader, will speak about his latest book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope on April 15 McLaren is board chair for Sojourners and is a founding member of Red Letter Christians, a group of communicators seeking to broaden and deepen the dialogue about faith and public life. In May Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, author, public theologian, preacher, activist and international commentator, will present his latest book The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. The date of Wallis' talk has not yet been set. The book series is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register go to the Web site, [http://maestro.ptsem.edu/trk/click?ref=zqha6qcka_0-71x38cx140&;] email coned@ptsem.edu<mailto:coned@ptsem.edu> or call (609) 497-7990.
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RICHMOND, VA - "Christian Education in the Small Membership Church" [http://www.union-psce.edu/prodev/workshops/index.php] is the title of an upcoming seminar at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education. Scheduled for Feb. 5-7, the workshop will help pastors and educators overcome the limitations of scarce resources and limited staff by exploring models of individual and intergenerational teaching and learning theories that support spiritual formation. Cindy Kissel-Ito, visiting assistant professor of Christian education at Union-PSCE, will lead this workshop.
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SAN ANSELMO, CA - San Francisco Theological Seminary's board of trustees and faculty have endorsed the appointment by President Philip Butin of the Rev. Judy Yates Siker as the new vice president of the SFTS Southern California campus in Pasadena and professor of New Testament and Christian origins. Siker, a PC(USA) minister who is a member of the Presbytery of the Pacific, teaches widely for SFTS-related congregations and governing bodies on subjects related to the New Testament, the church and the relationship of early Christianity to early Judaism. Siker currently serves as dean of the faculty at the American Baptist Seminary of the West. Siker begins her new position in June, following the retirement of Rev. Dr. David Tomlinson.
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