Dr. Leopold Lucas-Prize 2024 awarded to Prof. D. Nirenberg (Princeton University)

The World 

Updates from Tübingen    
by Dennis Lindsay

Institute:

The past month has seen a flurry of activity in our work in Tübingen. The German-English Colloquium in New Testament has become a truly international forum of scholars and participants. In the most recent session we had a presentation via Zoom Dr. Edward Wong on the topic: 'The Samaritan Woman as a Perpetual Foreigner: An East Asian Immigrant Reading of John 4." Dr. Wong is a Chinese scholar who recently completed his Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Colloquium participants included individuals from Germany, South Korea, South Africa, USA, Austria, and India (online participant).
This month we were also pleased to welcome Dr. Tony Twist, President of the EES and TCM, along with Vice President Christian Witzmann, for a brief visit to Tübingen. Normally an annual event, this was their first opportunity to visit the Institute since the disruption of the COVID pandemic—and thus the first time that they had seen the new physical location of the Institute. We were able to have a productive meeting also with Frau Prof. Dr. Weyel, the Dean of the Protestant Faculty, ensuring an ongoing strong relationship and partnership with the University of Tübingen. We have already planned the date for their next annual visit and meeting with the Dean in May 2025.

University:

Dr. Leopold Lucas-Prize 2024 awarded to Prof. David Nirenberg (Princeton University)

In other news, this year's Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize was awarded to Princeton University historian Dr. David Nirenberg. The Protestant Faculty of the University thus honored his research on the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle Ages and the present day. Dennis attended the award ceremony on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in the Festsaal of the University, where Dr. Nirenberg gave the keynote speech on the topic: “What theology and history can offer each other when thinking about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”

Start of the Summer Semester in Tübingen

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN

by Dennis Lindsay

At the time when most colleges and Universities in the USA and elsewhere are wrapping up the "academic year" and celebrating commencement, the Universities here in Germany are just getting started with the "summer semester"—the second half of our academic year. The program at the Institute is just now coming into full-swing. We have a complete lineup of weekly presentations in our English-German Colloquium in New Testament that will take us up through the end of July. The presenters represent doctoral students and faculty from the University of Tübingen, as well as the University of Edinburgh and the University of Bucharest. The "Readings in Theological English" course is also under way, with a focus on selections from  British theologian Alister McGrath's book entitled: "Theology: The Basic Readings." In this text McGrath presents excerpts from Christian authors throughout the history of the church (e.g., Augustine, Irenaeus, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, and many others) on a variety of theological topics of central interest to the New Testament

Lectures in Heiligenkreuz

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN

by Dennis Lindsay

Since the middle of January I have been teaching a course on "Mission in the New Testament" for M.A. and M.Div. students at TCM's Institute. Most of the coursework has been online, but for in the middle of March the class met at Haus Edelweiss in Heiligenkreuz, Austria for a week-long in-person intensive session. Students enrolled in the class were from a number of central and Eastern European countries, including Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Austria. The group included individuals engaged in pastoral ministry, mission, youth ministry, music ministry, and seminary instructors. This rich mix of ministries and nationalities provided fertile soil for cutting-edge conversations about the nature and needs of Christian mission in Europe today! The class officially ends in April when students will submit final projects tailored to address mission work in their own current contexts.

Special guest lecture at the English-German Colloquium f. NT

In the last session of the English German Colloqiuim on the New Testament for the 2023-2024 winter semester, the Institut zur Erforschung des Urchristentums and the Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät der Universität Tübingen was happy to host Dr. Matan Orian of Tel Aviv University, currently a visiting scholar at the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum of the University of Münster.

Dr. Orian, whose research interests focus on the Jewish view of non-Jews in the Second Temple period, lectured on the Jewish concept of “Gentile impurity” in the Second Temple period, as reflected in the writings of Josephus, the Dead Sea Scrolls and several texts of the New Testament, including the Gospels of John and Luke, Acts of the Apostles, and a number of Pauline letters. In his lecture, titled “Paul and Luke-Acts on Circumcision and Gentile Impurity,” Dr. Orian drew a connection between the Jewish view of non-Jews as impure and the debate, in the early church, over the requirement of circumcision from non-Jewish Christian believers, thus offering a possible explanation for the centrality of this debate in the pertinent NT texts.

Research News

 NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN

by Dennis Lindsay

We are pleased to announce the recent publication of "Wisdom, Faith, & Service: Reframing the Bushnell University Saga", co-edited by Dr. Dennis R. Lindsay (Institute for the Study of Christian Origins) and Dr. Agam Iheanyi-Igwe (Bushnell University).

This volume captures the essence of the institutional vocation and mission of Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1895, Bushnell is one of the oldest higher education institutions of the Stone-Campbell Movement. The Bushnell Saga—past, present, and future—is shaped and framed by the individual "wisdom, faith, and service sagas" of Bushnell people: women, men, professors, students, alumni, administrators, and countless friends, whose own vocational callings have contributed to the saga of the institution. This book is not simply a history of the past; rather, in a collection of essays current "Bushnell people" reflect theologically and practically what it means to be a Christian University in the 21st century, shaped by the high calling of wisdom, faith, and service.

Pickwick Publications (21. Dezember 2023)
Englisch : 336 pages
Link for Order:
https://www.amazon.de/Wisdom-Faith-Service-Reframing-University/dp/166675028X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1705917153