We are please to copy and carry this announcement from American Baptist Churches USA and to Congratulate a recent alumni of IBTSC Amsterdam. VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 5/9/17)—On Monday, May 8, the Board of General Ministries met at Springhill Suites in Chicago to elect Reverend Dr. Lee B. Spitzer to the position of General Secretary of American Baptist Churches USA. Dr. Spitzer’s name was brought forward to the Board of General Ministries by the General Secretary Search Committee. Over the past several months the Search Committee had interviewed numerous candidates. After much prayer, discernment, and deep discussion, the committee identified Dr. Spitzer as the candidate best suited to lead…
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Gill’s Promotion
He is smiling now. We are pleased to announce the successful PhD defence and ‘Promotion’ of Gil Dueck at the Vrije Universiteit which took place on Wednesday 10th May. Gill’s Thesis was entitled: ‘A Transformative Moment: Emerging Adult Faith Development in Conversation with the Theology of James E. Loder’. We extend our congratulation to Gil and to his family, his wife, parents, and children who traveled to be present. We also congratulate his IBTSC supervisor Dr Parush Parushev and his Vrije Universiteit supervisor Prof. Dr Fernando Enns. Not present on the day we also extend our congratulations to his co-supervisor Prof. Dr Nancey Murphy. A good day.
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Vienna and Vienna again…
In the past two weeks I have been in Vienna twice to participate in two EBF conferences. The first of these was the EBF Younger Leaders’ Programme TRANSFORM held from 15-18 March. Present were six men and five women who had been identified by their Baptist Unions or Conventions as having gifts and potential to exercise leadership in a wider setting with an international dimension. The focus of this gathering was on discipleship and I contributed around themes of: less conventional biblical images of discipleship as leadership, the communal nature of discipleship, and the practices of discipleship. Perhaps a key theme which emerged through all of this was how we deal with…
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‘Prophetic’ theological education
In a previous post I raised the question of what is the ‘theological’ in theological education? In so doing I was pointing to the CEBTS conference in 2018. Here is one example from ‘The Institute of Middle East Studies ‘of such theological work on the nature of theological education that others could learn and reflect on…Theological Education as Formation for Prophetic Ministry
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What is the ‘theological’ in theological education?
In 2018 IBTSC Amsterdam will again take the lead in arranging a meeting of the Consortium of European Baptist Theological Schools. The final dates and venue have yet to be confirmed but it is likely to happen at the end of June 2018. The theme of this conference gathering will be ‘What is the “theological” in theological education?’ This will be an invitation to think theologically about the practice. It could be argued that at times it appears that the only thing that makes theological education ‘theological’ is the content, an emphasis which may or may not be accompanied by a focus on education. The main question invites the potential…
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I guess they knew I’m a Baptist
The below is part of a reconstruction from dozens of confessions given to FBI agents as recorded by Will Willimon in this book. “So I drove myself to American Cab, checked my sheets with Mr. Norris and Mr.O. C. Berry. I went outside and I seen two Yellow Cabs pull up. One driven by Rector, the others by Marvin Fleming. They had gone and got whiskey at Poinsett and were liquored up good. I guessed. They knew I’m a Baptist. I don’t need to get drunk to do right’. The ‘right’ which he was going to do was to take an untried and convicted ‘negro prisoner’ from prison and kill…
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Hughey Lectures 2017 on Baptist and Anabaptist Peace Witness
IBTSC Amsterdam Hughey Lectures in January 2017 were delivered by the internationally renown Baptist historian Dr Ian Randall. The focus of this year lectures was on Baptist and Anabaptist peace witness between the First and Second World Wars. It was good to see more than 40 people gathered for the event, including IBTSC friends and alumni. IBTSC is thankful to Tyndale Seminary who provided their chapel for the conference day. The first lecture explored British Baptist involvement in the peace movement, and the second lecture analysed the development and role of Bruderhof community as they taught and lived out the message of non-violence. However, the practice of reconciliation and peace…
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2017 Hughey Lectures Delivered by Ian Randall
Wednesday 18 January 2017 First lecture 9:30-10:45, coffee 10:45-11:15, second lecture 11:15-12:30 Ian M. Randall is a Senior Research Fellow of IBTSC Amsterdam and Research Associate of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide. His is the author of numerous books, including The English Baptists of the Twentieth Century (2005), Rhythms of Revival: The Spiritual Awakening of 1857-1863 (2010), and a study of the Bruderhof Community’s spirituality – Church Community is a Gift of the Holy Spirit (2014). He will deliver two lectures on the theme of ‘Baptist and Anabaptist Peace Witness: From the First to the Second World Wars’. Lecture 1 English Baptists and the Peace Movement Lecture 2 An…