wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Assembly confirms 2 seminary presidents

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Note #8375 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Assembly confirms 2 seminary presidents
GA04081
June 30, 2004

Assembly confirms 2 seminary presidents

by Bill Lancaster

RICHMOND, June 30  - The General Assembly approved the appointments of two
seminary presidents Wednesday: Iain R. Torrance of Princeton Theological
Seminary, and Dean K. Thompson of Louisville Presbyterian Theological
Seminary.

In remarks to the Assembly, Torrance told a story about a blind man taught by
missionaries to read the Bible in Braille, whose son later went on to an
important ministry fighting AIDS. "Acts of kindness can blossom in entirely
unexpected ways," he said. "I am here primarily because I believe that
Princeton Theological Seminary has enormous potential to do good in the
world."

"What I have learned in my few days here (at the Assembly) is that as a
church you face similar issues to those with which I am familiar," he said.
"... If, as an outsider - that is, someone who comes from a different country
- I can help in your debate, I will."

Torrance comes to Princeton from Scotland, where he recently served as
moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, dean of the
faculty of arts and divinity at the University of Aberdeen and master of
Christ's College, Aberdeen, where he also taught patristics and Christian
ethics. He also is editor of the Scottish Journal of Theology.

Thompson told the commissioners: "At our best, Presbyterians are thinking
people with warm hearts. ... It is clear that the people of God want our
seminaries to serve as theological resources for the entire church. Our
congregations have been (conditioned) to believe that theological education
is one of our most remarkable Presbyterian strengths."

Thompson has served in parish ministry in West Virginia, California, Texas,
and, most recently, West Virginia, where he was pastor of First Presbyterian
Church in Charleston. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at San
Francisco Theological Seminary and at Union Theological Seminary/Presbyterian
School of Christian Education and as an instructor at Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary.

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