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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Nordenhaug Lectures 2015
This year the Nordenhaug lectures will take place at the VU (Virije Universiteit) Amsterdam on Monday 2nd November 2015. These will be delivered by Dr David P. Gushee who is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life Mercer University, Atlanta & Macon, Georgia. Widely regarded as one of the leading moral voices in American Christianity, he is the author or editor of 20 books and hundreds of articles in his field, including Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, Kingdom Ethics, The Sacredness of Human Life. He will deliver three lectures on the Monday on the theme of ‘What it means to say that human…
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Freedom and Person: Research Colloquium 2015
Over the past few days at the research colloquium in Amsterdam students have been presenting an update on their studies. Some are at the beginning of their studies seeking a focus and methodology to carry their work forward. Others are facing the challenges of writing and rewriting. All students are part time and doing their work while sustaining ministries in churches and colleges. The geographic range of students is wide. As part of the colloquium we also have various seminars for students and staff. Here Dr Tim Noble is presenting a piece of recent research on ‘Freedom’ drawing some theological links between Russian Orthodox Theology and Liberation Theology. The paper as…
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First Promotion at VU of IBTS Centre Student
The 9th of September 2014 saw the first defence and promotion (graduation) at the VU of an IBTS Centre Amsterdam PhD student, Jon Hardin. On this occasion in the Dutch style, Jon publicly defended his PhD thesis: ‘Creating Convictional Community: Missional Spirituality in the Moravian Community of Bethlehem Pennsylvania, 1741-1762’ and was awarded the title of ‘Doctor’. His supervisor Tim Noble writes: Jon Hardin, from the USA, first started as a student on our old doctoral programme in Prague in 2006. From the beginning of his studies, he was interested in the Moravian community that was established at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially he was interested in…
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What a let down! Obama fails miserably
So Nobel Laureate Barack Obama went to Copenhagen but he might as well not have bothered. Eye witness accounts from people in the conference hall report his lack lustre speech – the Obama rhetoric under par – offered nothing by way of action and so it looks like the Copenhagen event will produce no useful outcome. Our son, Tim, an accredited NGO delegate, was in the hall and felt the disappointment. One African delegate sat next to him expressed deep frustration and sadness. Here was the chance for a grandson of Kenya to do something from the richest nation to stand with the poorest, but the opportunity has been lost.…
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Impressions of Switzerland and Germany
Some weeks ago a group of students, organized by Dr Peter Penner, had an opportunity to visit Switzerland. Before this trip, I knew about Swiss Reformation only from the books on Christian history and lectures, so this was a good opportunity to visit those historically important places. Here are some pictures: of Grossmünster church where he served as a pastor; and the statue of Zwingli. – Dmitry Not far from the Townhall Bridge in Zurich, and under the continuous rain, we hardly manage to find the house No.5, a theatre at the Newmarket between the Predigergasse and the Forschaugasse, where Conrad Grebel who together with Felix Manz founded the Anabaptist…
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History starts here…
Yevgeniya, our student (actually our Student President) from Kazakhstan, reflects on the recent trip that the students and some of the staff took to Germany: History is always connected with cemeteries. Those are special places where a person can feel the time of 17th or 18th century, for example. They are places where time stops! This academic year has been a special one for us students. We have visited several historic places; but wherever we went, we found ourselves in cemeteries. Grave yards were very specific and unique in each place we went. There were no similar burial grounds. On the one hand they looked the same, but on another hand, each of…