What does the Fall look like for me at IWU?
- In an hour I meet with my "World Changers" breakout group for the first time. This is normally a Friday discussion group I will lead in conjunction with our Freshman common course, World Changers. Two classes a week will be in mega groups and then Fridays in smaller enclaves with professors.
Today we are beginning to debrief from a book that they read over the summer (and I finished an hour ago ;-)--Practical Justice. It is about ministering to the needy. Don't be alarmed. No objective person could think that this small hat tip to Jesus' focus on the poor will balance out the overwhelmingly Republican leanings of the university ;-)
Actually, he critiques NPR as being too left in leaning... I found the book pretty balanced on the whole. - I'm teaching a general philosophy, general epistles (James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude), intertestamental literature (apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, apocalyptic literature, etc...), inductive bible study method and
- A special topics course--biblical hermeneutics. We'll be reading through Grant Osborne's mammoth Hermeneutical Spiral and Kevin Vanhoozer's Is There a Meaning in This Text?
- On broader notes, I have two months to write a twenty minute presentation on "Hebrews and the Parting of the Ways" for SBL in November.
- I have a contract now to finish the Greek textbook I have long envisaged (in fact wrote over a 100 pages at one time). It will give a pastor everything she needs in one semester and the scholar everything and more than she would have received in two. If I can deliver what I just said, it will be the best Greek textbook in existence :-) (that's what they all say...)
- An MDiv is in the proposal stage at IWU. So far so good! I don't know what my role will be in the planning from this point forward, but the proposal leaves the summer with the potential to be the most practically beneficial MDiv I know (and we benchmarked a number of other institutions). It looks very promising at this point.
So let the games begin for what I hope is my best year of teaching yet!
21 comments:
Ken, IWU is a better place because of people like you. Blessings to you as you embark on numerous projects. I hope that you find time for Sabbath in the midst of it all. It's also encouraging to hear about IWU's MDiv program. My only question is (and perhaps this is not the venue to ask it and if so I apologize and withdraw it) will it be so practically driven that it will lack components necessary for theological reflection that ultimately undergirds any practical action? In other words, will the program simply be about teaching pastors how to grow big churches and run good bible studies, or will deal with give people the tools to critically engage culture in a way only made possible by becomming grounded in history, theology, Scripture, and ethics?
One of its greatest strengths is that it is structured around six praxis blocks that are integrated and effectively team taught. So the block called "Global Christian Mission" begins with a Bible prof who for three weeks covers the biblical bases for Christian evangelism, church growth, cross cultural mission and Christian service. Then three weeks of theological foundations from a theology prof follows, then followed by two weeks of church historical background.
Then the last eight weeks of the block are the practice. Students have to be involved in ministry during the program, so the mission, growth, and service practice is done in situ, with real case studies from one's actual ministry context.
However, it will be only require one self contained theology course unless one opts for the concentration with more advanced theology courses or takes them as electives.
The concentrations are not proposed yet, since they would not be needed until a couple years into the program.
Doesn't one have to be committed to the "claims of Christian faith" (convinced as to "truthfulness" and convinced of the claims of the "Church" ) before one can believe that "building the Kingdom" is about Christian church growth...In what you've said about the M.Div. program, it assumes a commitment to Christian faith and is not apologetically focused, right?
I ask this because I believe that numbers are NOT the most important aspect to Christian faith...
Since a person would have to be in ministry to be in the program, I imagine all the students would surely profess faith. The example I gave is just one of six key praxis domains (mission, worship, congregational life, proclamation, leadership). So "church multiplication" is one of the panoply of practical subjects that would be covered.
I left out congregational formation.
Will the M.Div. be a fully ATS accredited graduate program?
Has a MTS or MaTS been considered as well?
Its exciting no matter what it looks like to hear of an IWU M.Div.
I strongly agree with Kevin that practical emphasis often is a watchword for compromising thelogical excellence.
ATS accreditation (Association of Theological Schools) is about a 5 year process. My understanding is that IWU would begin the application process as soon as it was approved. Before that would be a visit from the Higher Learning Commission for our more basic accreditation. We would not even market such a program without that.
"Practical Justice" is a necessary nudge in the right direction for freshman, even though this writing is more blog-like than book-like, and fairly scattered (or maybe it was my brain...?). At least this is a baby-step towards more progressive thought in a formalized way (being that the institution likely follows progressive shifts in the student population).
I also noted his slight critique of NPR (which I adore), but also saw that he put Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the U.S." back there. Whoa!
A common critique of Practical Justiceyesterday was that the book was repetitive (although he warns us a bit of a sermonic edge at the beginning). Someone also noted Zinn :-)
The organization of the proposed MDiv program sounds interesting and innovative at the very least. I'll be interested in seeing the final form of what comes out of all of the planning and committee meetings. Either way, this will be a welcome addition to the Wesleyan Church and provide our pastors (and perhaps even pastors of other denominations) with wonderful training and preparation. Kudos to everyone who has pushed for this new degree program!
"I have a contract now to finish the Greek textbook I have long envisaged (in fact wrote over a 100 pages at one time). It will give a pastor everything she needs in one semester and the scholar everything and more than she would have received in two. If I can deliver what I just said, it will be the best Greek textbook in I proposed such an approach."
:-) Ken, when you get a chance, tell me more about this project. I had actually proposed such a two-step, two-semester approach at Asbury (in fact, it might still be on the table, I don't know). So I am very interested in what you're up to.
Woody
ganderson@nashotah.edu.
Hey Woody, how's Wisconsin?
The idea is to give analytical information in the first half of the book so that you can teach the semantic categories the first semester. Then the second half is for the purists who want to go the rest of the way and be able to identify the forms without the cheats.
My contract deadline is March 30!
Wasn't the Greek Septuigent "messed with" by Christians...why are you not teaching Hebrew when you have some lovely Hebrew scholars there at IWU...Is it because the NT is going to be the "promotional" with the OT supporting it, as mainline evangelicalism believes, while scholarship is struggling to understand what emphasis Christianity is about anyway? And looking at the NT in that way is reading back into the OT what was not there at the time!!
Elaine teaches Hebrew here at IWU. I think it's being offered this semester.
It's not that Christians messed with the Septuagint but the translation of the Septuagint is idiosyncratic at a number of points in ways that played well into Christian interpretation. Accordingly, second century Jews, if I remember right, banned it and had the OT retranslated.
So that was when the Gnostic Gospels were found at Nag Hammarabi, wasn't it?
And of course, it being Greek...would be a way for it to be "useful" in "missions"....as that was the language most common, wasn't it? And the concepts were philosophically based, not historically based...am I understanding correctly?
What did the Jews do that was "different" during the retranslation? Or what difference did it make in the OT text?
Ken,
Wisconsin is great (of course, it's summer, why wouldn't it be?), and Nashotah House is a joy (after two days of classes!). Your idea sounds exactly like the kind of thing I was proposing. You might have your first customers here in the woolly north. Keep me posted.
Woody
Have a great semester, Ken. And Godspeed on all those projects.
I'm eager to see the MDiv possibilities develop.
dd
I was going to email you, and if you don't get this, I just may do it anyway...but I'm glad to see you guys doing some Vanhoozer. I was just introduced to his work by the Bethel hermeneutics profs up here. I was wondering what your thoughts on his work was?
Also, Dr. Jeannine Brown, here at bethel, has done some interesting work drawing on Vanhoozer and Stein (her old prof I think). her book is called "Scripture as Communication." Ever flipped through it?
Great to hear from you Mike and mega-congratulations on getting married!
I think Vanhoozer does a good job of summarizing various postmodern trajectories in hermeneutics (I did a review of Text a while back. But I don't think his "hermeneutic of love" holds as much weight has he wants it to. Respecting and listening to the original authors of Scripture makes sense, yes. But it's hard to put as much emphasis on it from a Christian perspective when the NT authors, speaking through the Spirit, don't afford the same privilege to the OT authors.
My thoughts... I'll have to look up the prof you mention... Thanks!
Not a problem. And thanks for the congrats. I miss our lunch chats and your wonderful classroom tangents! I am taking intermediate hermeneutics from Dr. Thorsten Moritz (German lad) that I will supposedly "get bored with" because of his tangents. I don't think people know who they are dealing with---I think in that style!
Dr. Brown and Moritz are both Vanhoozer fans to an extent. As well as Stein (Dr. Brown at least). She quotes Joel Green a lot as well. Basically, she uses speech-act theory of communication and applies it to hermeneuticss, making the exegetical task much more intrapersonal. I really enjoyed her book
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