This week I finished the syllabus for Advanced Hermeneutics, the second of two courses I will teach this fall at the Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa. It is a sure sign that, in just over a month, my travels begin with teaching beginning the last week of August. My reading list is long and I still must build the Moodle course sites.
So many have been helpful and supportive as I prepare. I am very appreciative. The time is approaching.
During our recent travels to Ethiopia, Rhoda and I were able to participate in the launch festivities for the new PhD program at the Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa. The EECMY is the largest Lutheran church in the world (12 million members). It is an honor to be part of this project and to be teaching in it this fall in Addis.
With the installation of Pr. Chad Elfe on Saturday 29 June 2024 my service to Luther Memorial Church as vacancy pastor has come to an end. We have been praying that God would soon provide a new lead pastor, and God has done so.
I am most thankful to the people at LMC for the opportunity to serve in their midst. They are a mission-minded, deeply committed and loving congregation. Typical metrics of congregational life show no decline during the vacancy. They are ready to move forward in their mission to the community, the UWRF campus, and beyond.
I pray that God will bless them and their new pastor.
They hold a special place in my heart!
Shortly after I accepted the invitation to teach this fall at the Mekane Yesus Seminary, a colleague there asked if I could raise money and bring ten new Greek New Testaments for the first class of PhD students. Resources for them are limited and sourcing these books is challenge. My desire was to get for them the premier research edition, the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 28. I sent emails to about thirty colleagues, friends, and former students. Within a week, the request was fully subscribed, and more. The first ten copies are on their way!
Since about 2000, my primary external focus has been excavation and research associated with the Northeast Insulae Project of the Hippos Excavations. I was set to return to the Albright Institute in Jerusalem last October for more work on the research when those plans were disrupted by the war between Hamas and Israel. I have no idea when I might return again.
Then this spring, I received an invitation to be visiting professor for a semester in the new PhD program at the Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa. The seminary is affiliated with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus, the largest Lutheran denomination in the world with over 10 million members. I will teach Advanced Hermeneutics and Advanced Biblical Greek in that program.
Once the teaching begins, I plan to post a weekly update here. If you are interested in following my work.
I will soon be setting up a way by which you may subscribe to these posts and receive them via email. I will echo these posts on Facebook.
Below are a few pictures of the seminary from my visit there in 2023.
