Ps Magazine - Fall 2009

Volume 92 Number 2

WHO are our NEIGHBORS? Moving from Interfaith Dialogue to Interfaith Engagement in a World of Faith

Fall ✛ 2009

Message from the president

WHO ARE OUR NEIGHBORS ? For a number of years my colleague, Dr. Katie Day, The Charles A. Scheiren Professor, Church and Society, and Director of the Metropolitan/Urban Concentration, has been researching the changing scene of congregations on historic Germantown Avenue. It may not be surprising that on a five-mile stretch of this famous road along which The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) sits, there are over eighty congregations. It may, however, be surprising to you that in addition to Jewish synagogues there are now three Islamic mosques on the avenue. As some of you may know, our dear Dr. John Kaufmann has been in the hospital recently. We pray that God will soon restore him to all the important things he does for LTSP as he approaches his ninetieth year. He told me in a recent visit that the Hari Krishna temple has occupied the old Mt. Airy Hotel on Allens Lane across from the seminary for over forty years. That is almost half of his wonderful life of service to the church. We celebrate Dr. Kaufmann in an article on page 6. We have become a nation of many cultures and religions. When I grew up, we thought we were doing something for harmony in the community when we attended an ecumenical Thanksgiving service. Each year in Germantown there is now an interfaith Thanksgiving service. Who are your neighbors? Do you have the confidence and the resources to profess your faith in Christ in the changing pluralistic context? At LTSP, our curriculum and programs are increasingly aimed at preparing leaders who can lead communities of faith who will be confident in our increasingly complex contexts. Centered in Christ, it is important that our leaders are not only comfortable in ecumenical settings, but now increasingly in interfaith relationships. Our leaders must cross these boundaries to help insure God’s peace in our neighborhoods. Too often we have seen tensions flash up around the world because religious communities live along side each other but in parallel universes. In addition to Dr. Day, my colleagues like Dean Rajashekar, Dr. Jon Pahl, Dr. Kiran Sebastian, Dr. Wil Gafney, and Dr. David Grafton, among others, are working hard to prepare future leaders to

ON THE COVER: The Rev. Khader Khalilia and his uncle, The Rev. Khader ElYateem on the steps of Salam Arabic Church (ELCA), Brooklyn, NY, the former Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, serving in the middle of a community where neighbors constantly change. Story on page 14.

be competent leaders in the world that God is renewing with each passing day. They are equipping leaders of our congregations and institutions with a theology that can witness publicly in a world of many new neighbors. Our seminary has long been a leader among seminaries in ecumenical preparation for leaders. There are usually twenty-six or more different denominations represented in our student body, and in addition to knowing their own traditions, we require our graduates to demonstrate competence in ecumenical relations. You cannot know your own tradition well if you do not understand how it differs and relates to other traditions. Competence in interfaith dialogue will be necessary in the future. This will be vital so that our gift of faith will be the source of God’s grace and peace in our world and not as a destructive force it has sometimes become in the modern world. Not long ago in our assigned texts for the season of Pentecost we heard in Mark 7: 24-30, Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile and a Greek. As a result of her appeal for her daughter, Jesus broke through the boundaries between Jew and Gentile and responded to her as a neighbor. It was not an easy conversation at first, but ended in healing for the woman’s daughter, and we learn something from the story about God’s will for us to be healing and reconciling forces with our neighbors near and far. In a world riddled with ethnic and religious tensions from Israel/Palestine to the Balkans, Iraq, India, and Pakistan, to name a few, we are called to speak a word about Jesus Christ that contributes to the healing and the welfare of the nations. At LTSP we have taken up this challenge, and we pray God’s blessing and your support. In Christ,

Philip D.W. Krey President

EDITOR/DESIGN

Merri L. Brown DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

John Kahler WRITERS

contents FEATURES ✛ FALL 2009

John Kahler Mark A. Staples

Who Are Our Neighbors? ..............................................................8

PHOTOGRAPHY

Moving from interfaith dialogue to interfaith engagement in a world of faith.

John Kahler Jim Roese Mark A. Staples EDITORIAL BOARD

Merri L. Brown Lois La Croix Louise Johnson John Kahler Philip D.W. Krey Adam Marles J. Paul Rajashekar

“Jesus Walks With Us ...” ..............................................................14 ... through a Brooklyn interfaith ministry led by LTSP educated Palestinian pastors.

Alumnus Romeo Dabee ................................................................19 A new ministry at a Long Island church with a global vision.

Emmett Nixon’s Campus Lesson ............................................25

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“You show people love and respect by the way you cook for them.”

CORRESPONDENCE

PS, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, 7301 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19119 Telephone: 215.248.6311 or 1.800.286.4616 Email: [email protected] Visit us online: www.Ltsp.edu PS is a publication of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and is distributed without charge to alumni/ae, faculty, staff, and friends of the seminary.

© Copyright 2009 The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia

DEPARTMENTS Message from the President ....................Inside front cover Offerings

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Alumni News ........................................................................................21 Alumni Spring Convocation 2010 Faculty/Staff News and Notes ..................................................23 Faculty/Staff Activities ................................................................23 Passages ................................................................................................27 In Memoriam ..................................................................................28

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Around Admissions ..........................................................................29 From the Foundation ......................................................................30

Volume 92 Number 2 The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, a school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is committed to preparing ordained and lay ministers of the Word as leaders for the mission of the Church in the world.

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OFFERINGS✛

Photo: Mel Fabrikant

Pastor Susan E. Nagle Receives Muhlenberg Award for Exemplary Service The Rev. Susan E. Nagle, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Paramus, New Jersey, is the recipient of this year’s Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Medal for exemplary service in ministry. The honor was conferred at the 2009 New Jersey Synod Assembly by The Rev. Dr. Philip D.W. Krey, president of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), sponsor of the medal. Pastor Nagle, ordained for 25 years, served as associate pastor at St. John Lutheran Church, Summit, New Jersey, First Lutheran Church, Montclair, New Jersey, and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Bristol, Connecticut, prior to receiving a call to her current congregation a year ago. “While serving a congregation is a full-time job, she also managed to serve on a variety of churchwide committees,” president Krey said in remarks honoring Pastor Nagle. Those voluntary capacities have included the Lutheran World Federation, the Office of Ecumenical Affairs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the denomination’s Division for Ministry, the planning board of the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries, the publication committee for Lutheran Partners magazine and the Hein-Fry Lectureship Committee. She’s also served LTSP as a Trustee and member of its Development Committee. Pastor Nagle has also served on a variety of synodical committees and has chaired the synod’s Guyanese Lutheran Outreach Committee. In her local community her involvements have included the Interfaith Hospitality Network and Parish Nurse/Congregational Health Network. Pastor Nagle received her Masters in Theological Studies from Princeton Seminary in 1983. Nominations for the Muhlenberg Medal are by pastors and synodical leadership in Regions 7 and 8, with the endorsement of a synodical bishop. This year is the 267th anniversary of the beginning of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg’s foundational ministry in North America. His approach to ministry serves as a model for recipients chosen to receive the medal.

PROFESSOR EMERITUS GORDON LATHROP RECEIVES HONOR The Rev. Dr. Gordon Lathrop, Charles A. Schieren Professor Emeritus of Liturgy, who taught Liturgy at LTSP until his retirement five years ago, was elected president-elect at the Sydney Congress of the Societas Liturgica, the international and ecumenical professional organization for teachers and researchers in liturgy, held this past summer in Sydney, Australia. He will serve as vice president for two years until the next Congress in Reims, France, in August of 2011, when he will become president for the following two years.

LTSP is on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LTSP1 2

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Erin Vertreace/Chestnut Hill Local

Advent Vespers to Celebrate Dr. Robert Bornemann

(Back row, l. to r.): George Stern, Ken Weinstein, J. Jayakiran Sebastian, Dan Muroff. (Front row, l. to r.): Laura Siena, Bob Elfant, Philip Krey, René Diemer, Marcia Bell, J. Paul Rajashaker, Katie Day.

PICNIC FUNDRAISER CONNECTS LTSPTO THE COMMUNITY LTSP president Philip D.W. Krey opened the seminary on June 11, 2009, for a Mt. Airy Picnic and Fundraiser celebrating the presence of The Lutheran Theological Seminary in the Mt. Airy community. Community members enjoyed music by LTSP’s own Groove Daemons, fellowship, food, and libations, while helping to support the seminary’s mission and its presence in the community. Local businesses and friends of the seminary contributed about $10,000 to the Leadership Fund.

The Annual Advent Vespers, to be held Sunday, December 6, 2009, will be on the theme Repent! Prepare! Rejoice! The Vespers will celebrate the life and ministry of The Rev. Dr. Robert Bornemann, Anna Burkhalter Professor Emeritus of Old Testament and Hebrew, at LTSP for 41 years, and director of the seminary choir from 1955 to 1990. The Seminary Choir, under the leadership of Michael Krentz, Director of Music Ministries/ Seminary Cantor, will lead the Vespers. Music will include compositions by Robert Bornemann, Edward V. Bonnemere, Georg Philip Telemann, and a South African traditional tune arranged by Nancy Grundahl. Join us for Advent Vespers at 7:30 pm at Grace Epiphany Church, 224 E. Gowen Avenue, Philadelphia. More information and directions are online: www.Ltsp.edu/adventvespers.

Repent! Prepare! Rejoice! With Augsburg Fortress closing their retail locations, LTSP has stepped in and reopened the campus bookstore as LTSP Books & Gifts. The Wiedemann location has been spruced up and reconfigured, and the store continues to be a resource for academic texts, church supplies, clergy apparel, LTSP items, and gifts with The Rev. Heidi Rodrick-Schnaath serving as the manager of the bookstore. The store is open Monday to Saturday, and is open to the public. Stop in and say hello the next time you’re on campus. More information and hours are on the store’s Web page: www.Ltsp.edu/bookstore, or call Pr. Rodrick-Schnaath at 215.967.1112.

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OFFERINGS✛ JUST WAR: JUSTIFIED OR OXYMORON? Nearly 50 believers from the three Abrahamic traditions engaged in a stimulating April 26, 2009 interfaith conversation at LTSP in connection with just war and their understanding of their sacred texts. Can war ever be justified, or is the notion of “just war” an oxymoron, as one presenter put it. And how do sacred texts as interpreted by adherents to the three Abrahamic traditions shed light on the matter in this challenging time? Yehezkel Landau, an author who teaches Interfaith Relations at Hartford Seminary, offered a Jewish perspective, discussing the moral dilemma surrounding the issue of selfdefense as appropriate in just war considerations. Rob Arner, a Mennonite and PhD student at LTSP, indicated his was “a” Christian perspective, and said persons who argue for a “just war” position are abandoning Jesus’ teachings, who “never taught or hinted at the theory.” Imam Abdulla Antepeli, recently appointed Muslim chaplain and an adjunct faculty member at Duke University, noted that stereotypes about Muslims have often served to strike “fear into people’s hearts and made life for many Muslims extremely difficult.” He said the Islamic tradition is “not pacifist... If confronted by a transgressor we are commanded and permitted to respond with a level of violence.” While self-defense if attacked is justified in the Islamic tradition, certain ethical, moral and humane standards should be observed. The plenary addresses were followed by responses from several leaders and small group discussion. For more details and video of the plenary talks, go to www.Ltsp.edu/justwarconversation.

THE 145th COMMENCEMENT Sixty eight students were awarded the Master of Arts in Religion, Master of Divinity, Master of Sacred Theology, Doctor of Ministry, or Certificate of Study at the 145th commencement of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) on Sunday, May 17, 2009 on the seminary campus. Six students received the UTI Certificate of Church Leadership. In addition, Pennsylvania Senator LeAnna M. Washington and Pennsylvania Representative Cherelle Lesley Parker, whose districts both include the community of which LTSP is a part, received the Doctor of Divinity Honoris Causa in recognition of their work for the community they serve. Chris Satullo, Executive Director of News and Civic Dialogue at Philadelphia public broadcaster WHYY, and formerly columnist and editorial page editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, was the speaker. Satullo spoke on the theme of public theology, and how public theologians — including the graduates — can and must practice their faith in the world. Photos, videos, lists of the graduates, and biographies of the honorary doctoral recipients can be found at www.Ltsp.edu/commencement09.

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION WITHYOUTH (TEY) BRINGSTOGETHER COMMUNITIES OFYOUTH AND SEMINARIANS TEY is a joint initiative of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG) and LTSP that has created spaces for youthful scholars to gather and get wrapped up in theological conversation with seminary faculty, staff, students, and other young people since the summer of 2000. The Crossroads Event, for rising high school sophomores and juniors, and the Summer Theological Academy, for rising high school juniors and seniors, are the centerpieces of this program. Since the summer of 2000, these programs have involved nearly 250 scholars from congregations from as far away as Puerto Rico. The impacts of TEY programs are also seen on the seminarians who are involved as mentors, worship leaders, and educators. As they continue through their process of call and discernment in seminary, this can be a formational experience as they prepare for ministry. More on TEY at tey.easterncluster.org. 4

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What do nearly 3 million members have in common?

ASIANTHEOLOGICAL SUMMER INSTITUTE A SUCCESS Reflections from Dean Rajashekar The third annual Asian Theological Summer Institute (ATSI), held on the LTSP campus last May, was an outstanding academic and fellowship experience. Prof. Kiran Sebastian, four other guest faculty (Profs. Kowk Pui Lan, Eleazar Fernandez, Anne Joh, and Benny Liew) and I were indeed impressed by the quality and depth of the next generation of Asian/Asian American scholars and future teachers being trained in the United States. This year we had students from Britte Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Yale University, Vanderbilt University, Emory University, Boston College, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, and LTSP. ATSI has been received with such enthusiasm by the participants that we already have a network on Facebook: “ATSI 2009.” We have 46 alumni so far, and LTSP is now recognized as a new center for Asian/AsianAmerican Theological Studies in the United States. Our success has been recognized by the Henry Luce Foundation which has approved our request of a modest $325,000 grant to fund ATSI for the next five years. In conjunction with the the annual Institute, we are planning to offer a public lecture next year.

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OFFERINGS✛ JOHN KAUFMANN: For 44 years, much more than a registrar and still going strong: In May, he celebrated the 65th year of his ordination. He still comes to work most days...

FOR 44 YEARS The Rev. Dr. John A. Kaufmann served The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) as registrar, keeping track of seminarians and their records of academic and personal progress from 1946 to 1990. But that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. Dr. Kaufmann observed the 65th anniversary of his ordination in May and turns 90 years of age this coming February, and for many of those years fulfilled a wide variety of “other” duties. From 1944 to 1952, he assisted Dr. Fred Nolde in Christian Education instruction. He oversaw the refectory food service. He managed buildings and grounds maintenance including construction and repair projects. He served as treasurer, preparing budgets for the school. He handled public relations, including tours, edited the Seminary Bulletin (now PS magazine). He served in effect as bursar — filling an accounting role, processing bills, managing payroll records and tax forms. Kaufmann assisted the president in faculty matters, held the post of alumni liaison, and related to syn-

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ods. For many years he handled admissions too. Whew! These responsibilities today are divided up and managed by a considerably larger staff. Once, Kaufmann was one of only four administrators. And today, John Augustus Kaufmann still works for LTSP, fulfilling special assignments for president Philip D.W. Krey and serving as assistant secretary of the LTSP Board of Trustees. Kaufmann pooh-poohs all the responsibilities he once juggled. “When I saw something that needed to be done I just did it,” he said. “You have to remember the seminary was a far less complicated place in those days. Now, far more challenges are imposed from the outside — accreditation and federal and state forms. It is not as simple as it once was. If I saw a light bulb needed to be changed we didn’t fill out a form. I just did it. In effect, I was on call seven days a week.” A graduate of both Lehigh University (BA History, 1941, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and LTSP (1944), Kaufmann maintained, until not so many years

ago, that mindset of doing what it takes. A staffer on a Saturday would see him carrying a ladder to perform chores around the campus. Anecdotes abound. Alumna Laura Csellak, now a pastor in Easton, Pennsylvania, recalls the evening seminarians placed a sheet bearing the face of a jack-o-lantern over the Library clock on Halloween. Ever vigilant, Kaufmann quickly saw the prank and removed the sheet. “I always kept a special eye out during holidays and special occasions,” he recalls with a smile. “The trouble was the sheet got caught up in the clock hands. It would have burned out the motor inside.” Years later, Kaufmann made a donation to replace the clock’s complex and difficultto-maintain mechanism with a simpler digital device. “Not many people are around these days to repair tower clocks like ours,” he said. Kaufmann retraces several life milestones that led him to seminary service and beyond. Reserve Officer Training Corps study was required at Lehigh, and in the late 1930s, Kaufmann greatly enjoyed the

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“John has been invaluable as an adviser and sage to presidents because he has kept the history of the school's records so carefully he can spread a range of options before the president, faculty, and board. His records and role have always relativized any one person or group that has wanted to fix the school’s future in the recent past.This has been most helpful.” program’s study of European and World War I history. A teaching officer urged him to apply for advanced ROTC study, likely leading him to become a military officer. “I flunked the physical,” he recalled. The military officer, frustrated by the outcome, urged him to take it again. “I flunked the second time too. I often wonder what would have happened in my life had I passed.” Wondering what to do with his training, his father Harry, Pastor M. LeRoy Wuchter (Atonement Lutheran Church in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where Kaufmann went to church) and his father’s cousin, seminary professor, and later president, Paul Hoh, persuaded him to undertake seminary study. A second milestone: Kaufmann thought he would accept a call to a small congregation and continue graduate studies when, in 1946, he was unexpectedly invited to be seminary registrar and treasurer. The third personal milestone he identifies came in 1986 when seminary president John Vannorsdall initiated a measure, approved by the Board, that would permit Kaufmann and his wife, Doris, to remain in their campus home after his retirement in 1990. “That was a very telling step,” he explained. “That I have been able to remain on campus all of these years is why I believe I am still alive, why I am here today. It gave me purpose, something to do. I have served under nine of the seminary’s 11 presidents. All of them have been exceedingly generous to me.” His wife and one of his two sons, Alan, died in 1993. A son, Bruce, resides in a community living arrangement in Northeast Philadelphia.

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— President Krey

Favorite seminary memories? Kaufmann cites the many lay leaders who undertook projects over the years - especially the work of the Women’s Auxiliary with leaders like Catharine Reed and Elizabeth Hagan, and men stalwarts like Peter Paul Hagan, Claude Wagoner, and Robert Blanck, who chaired the Trustees for decades and still serves as a Trustee. “They all showed great leadership and dedication to the school,” he said. “They were marvelous.” Kaufmann professes that he worries about the future of the church. “Many of the most successful congregations today seem to be non-denominational megachurches, dependent on the charismatic personality of their pastors,” he said. “When the pastor leaves the church tends to go downhill.” The denominational structures succeeding the former United Lutheran Church in America have become more centralized in recent decades, he said. As a result, synods and many local church expressions have lost influence, he believes, “and that has taken people away from many local area activities that used to flourish, and so people don’t relate to local institutions the way they once did.” He also empathizes with today’s emerging professional leaders. “There was a time when pastors engaged in preaching, teaching and visiting ministries were looked up to by the entire community, by members and non-members of churches alike,” he recalls. For example, he remembers a pastor who would receive a call from the local telegraph office whenever a soldier from the community was killed overseas in war. And the pastor would go to the family

home to express sympathy and support regardless of whether the family was related to the pastor’s congregation. “It’s so different today,” he said. “So many influences such as technology and other distractions detract from the church’s once prevalent social order. It is really an enigma for pastors to know how to deal with such challenges.” His advice to pastors? “Make sure you really get to know your people,” he said. “Do for them what they are not able to do for themselves. I worry sometimes that we are part of a dying business, but these things also go in cycles. Technology can be seen as a negative unless we know how to deal with it.” Reflecting back over the years, he recalls enjoying such challenges as relating to The Brossman Learning Center and Wiedemann contractors, who leaned on him for his razor-sharp knowledge of the seminary’s operational infrastructure to ease their way with construction challenges. He played a major role in key construction meetings, assisting greatly with problemsolving. “I always seemed to find time to do what was needed,” he said with a smile. “Sometimes I wish I could have done more. But except for a few health problems here and there, I really don’t feel so very different now than I did when I was 60 or 50 or 40.” ✛ See a video interview with Dr. Kaufmann at www.Ltsp.edu/Kaufmann.

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WHO ARE OUR NEIGHBORS?

WHo are our Moving from Interfaith Dialogue to Interfaith Engagement in a World of Faith by PROF. STORM SWAIN

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WHEN I THINK OF “INTERFAITH DIALOGUE,” several pictures come to mind. Sitting in the common room of my theological college as a 24-year old student, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, in conversation with a visiting maroon robed Tibetan Buddhist monk, the conversation was carried on in polite respect, but little real engagement until the monk began to tell me his perceptions of what Christians believed. It was in the difference and not the commonalities that the real life-giving nature of the conversation unfolded. Another picture — sitting at a table at the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York City, ten years later, wearing clericals, in conversation with an elderly Jewish couple whose dress was forgettable but not their most noticeable bodily addition of the numbers tattooed on their arms. The conversation was fused with anger and pain as the man, inspired or incited by my clerical collar, told me of what the Christian church had done and not done in the Nazi Germany of their youth. It was in this shar-

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Neighbors? ing of suffering that the pain-bearing nature of interfaith dialogue unfolded. Another picture — loitering with (pastoral) intent as a chaplain in the Family Assistance Center in the second week following the 9/11 destruction of lives in the World Trade Center, overhearing one of my colleagues minister to the wife of one of the 9/11 victims as she shared with anger and grief her feelings towards Muslims whose faith would lead them to perpetrate such a disaster. The conversation was characterized by his compassionately making space for her grief without judgment or defense, as he held her as she cried for her lost love. It was only at the end that she asked the faith affiliation of the imam who was her chaplain, whose Muslim skullcap she had not noticed, and this space of grace opened even more. These snapshots open up for me the nature of interfaith dialogue that has to make space for the other as both similar to and different from oneself, to the suffering that has often character-

ized interfaith relations, and to the life-giving nature of real engagement. I find, I think, its basis in theological anthropology. For me, it is not so much “We all worship the same God” (as this is an assertion I often wonder most about in conversation with my Christian sisters and brothers who don’t seem to worship the God of love I see in Christ, let alone sisters and brothers of other faiths), but “We are all created by the same God.” The best interfaith dialogue I have experienced has come not simply from owning what we have in common and can agree on, but a real engagement that listens, understands, and respects our differences. Likewise, its basis is also in a soteriology that is grounded in grace and not law, where we acknowledge that the God who so loves the whole world, in Christ died “once, for all,” (not just for some) and where we see belief as a gift of grace and not a justifying work. I am not sure if one can really engage in interfaith dialogue if one’s goal is conversion of the other to our own faith. Evangelism in an interfaith context is more appropriately practicontinued

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cal evangelism, where we are, rather than have, the message of God’s love. When I think of the question of “Who are our neighbors?,” I am reminded that in Luke’s singular story known as “the Good Samaritan,” Jesus chose the example of another person of offensive belief who acted out of compassion, to answer the question of the religious expert seeking to justify himself. Essentially the parable is a narrative of action rather than dialogue. Perhaps it is in this place of the active response of love, the “go and do likewise” space, in the face of suffering that real interfaith engagement happens. After 9/11, I was privileged enough to participate in the ministry of those who did go and do likewise. The chaplains that ministered to those affected by the destruction of the World Trade Center were Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Interfaith, Buddhist, and others. The response to the suffering of those who had lost family and friends, and those who were working to recover them or process their bodies was something that drew us all together. For many, the compassionate response to 9/11 was a deep expression of their faith, but grounded in an inclusive view of humanity. Since that time, I have sat around the table at New York Disaster Interfaith Services and on the leadership team at Disaster Chaplaincy Services with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Interfaith members. It seems like our best times have been when we acknowledged our differences, did not deny the perspective of the other, took responsibility for our actions, and focused on some plan of action for those whose suffering we sought to alleviate in some way. Our worst times were those points of dialogue where we were focused on our own needs, where we held on to pain that we could PS ✛ FALL 2009

have worked through, and when we distrusted each others motives. I have seen in much of this dialogue both how inadequate to the task I am, and how much I believe in the need of it. Despite that, these organizations have facilitated a religious collegiality unprecedented in many places. We have managed to build a neighborliness around the table and in the field that means we have not simply engaged in interfaith dialogue with one another, but we have built transformative relationships where we have been able to engage in conversation and compassionate action as people of different faiths. For me, interfaith dialogue is no longer an abstract formulation or a once a semester meeting with another seminary, but having a conversation with Amardeep, Musa, Nakagaki, and Lily as we work together. Perhaps it is because my field is Pastoral Theology that I come to this conversation, not from a doctrinal but a relational perspective. Perhaps it is because 9/11 had a deep impact on me, and I would rather spend my time on healing our brokenness rather than breaking our wholeness, or perhaps it’s because the Jesus I read in the Gospels often seems focused on the kind of relationships outlined in the parable of the Good Samaritan. But I think that part of the Gospel call is not only to be family, sisters and brothers in Christ, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, but to be neighbors to those different from us, especially those overtaken by adversity while on the road. I would encourage those of you who feel a greater call to interfaith relations to do so on a personal basis, to engage in loving action with those of other faiths if you have not already, to seek out those places where you are “other” or we are all

“others” together, and to advocate for the human rights and religious freedoms of those who are our neighbors in this country and on this planet. Personally, I think Disaster Response is a great place to forge those relationships, and the preferable time to do so is before a disaster. As is often the case, when my own words seem inadequate, I turn to the words of a great “Neighbor” which arose in the context of another disaster: To be Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way... but to be a man. It is not some religious act that makes a Christian what he, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world. This is metanoia. It is not in the first instance bothering about one’s own needs, problems, sins and fears, but allowing oneself to be caught up in the way of Christ into the Messianic event... — D. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison, July 18, 1944 ✛ The Rev. Dr. Storm Swain is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Theology and Director of Anglican Studies. She is conducting a senior seminar on the Theology and Practice of Disaster Spiritual Care in Spring 2010.

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From Dearborn and Cairo to Philadelphia: A aculty Member’s Life-Changing Interfaith Journey by DR. DAVID D. GRAFTON, Director of Graduate Studies, and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations I GREW UP IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN. My home congregation was St. Paul Lutheran Church in Dearborn. I was active in a large Anglo, suburban church. I attended a Lutheran school, Capital University, in Columbus, Ohio, since it was part of our family’s legacy. It was also where I met my wife, Karla. I was interested in Middle Eastern history and cross cultural studies (for some mysterious reason). I quickly met my mentor/advisor, Dr. Howard Wilson, a Sri Lankan Buddhist art scholar, who helped change my life. During our initial meeting, he asked me

what I was interested in studying. I told him I was intrigued by the religions of the Middle East. His response was, “Well, that makes sense.” I responded, “What do you mean?” He said, “Well, given that Dearborn has the largest Arab population in the United States, it makes sense that you are interested in learning more about the Middle East.” To which I blankly responded, “It does?” That I had grown up several miles from the largest Arab population in the U.S. and had not realized it dumfounded me. How could I not have known? My questioning forced me on a journey to which God was calling me. Dearborn, and the Detroit environs, were a long time destination for Lebanese and Syrian laborers who came to work in the factories of the automobile industry (where, incidentally, my father worked as a line foreman). My future PhD dissertation choice on the political-religious views of Lebanese Muslims during the Lebanese Civil War was no accident, I think. Dr. Wilson guided me through a major in religion and cross-cultural studies during my time at Capital, focusing on Islam and the Middle East. My studies were derailed only slightly by my relationship with my future wife, Karla, herself a religion major. We married before the summer of my senior year. While I finished my BA, she was already atTrinity Lutheran Seminary, working on a Masters degree in OldTestament. Our next stop was Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, where I continued my interest in theology and cross-cultural studies. In the midst of my seminary course load I mingled with international students on campus, attended Ojibwa sweat lodges, and visited local mosques, learning about the Iranian intellectual community of the Twin Cities, many of whom fled Iran during the revolution of 1979. I also had the opportunity to spend a semester studying African contextual theologies at the University of Zimbabwe. It was also during my second year when I was selected to be one of the ELCA International Interns to serve in Cairo, Egypt. It turned out to be a life-altering experience. My internship in Cairo was at St. Andrew’s United Church under the supervision ofThe Rev. Dr. MichaelT. Shelley. In addition to providing a ministry of Word and Sacrament to expatriates, the congregation offered an educational ministry to refugees from the Horn of Africa (primarily Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalians, and later Sudanese). After serving as intern in Cairo, Karla and I returned to a continued

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much colder and greener Minnesota and graduated from seminary. I then received a call to Zion Lutheran Church in Ridgefield, New Jersey. It did not take long for me to find out that the Reformed pastor in town was a long-term missionary of the Reformed Church in America to Basra, Iraq. After the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, anti-Arabic, anti-Islamic sentiment ran high in northern New Jersey. So, the two of us began an educational ecumenical program, taking congregations into mosques to learn more about the Immigrant and African American Muslim communities in the area. After several years, I began my PhD in Islamic Studies at the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Birmingham, England.The faculty of the Centre was evenly represented by Christian and Muslim instructors.The student body ratio was similar. Here I met Ahmad, a young member of the Muslim Brotherhood from Jordan. He was the first “Brother” I met. I was the first “priest” he met. What a wonderful and challenging journey we had together. Once again, the church called, this time asking if I would go back to St. Andrew’s in Cairo. In addition to providing Word and Sacrament ministry to the good people of St. Andrew’s, the congregation’s refugee ministry taxed most of my energies. St. Andrew’s was the only Christian organization in the country serving refugees that hired Muslims to be on staff.This approach of hiring Christians and Muslims to serve as administrators and teachers in the child and adult programs was deliberate. It was our attempt to help create a climate in which the dignity of each created person was to be lifted up and respected — regardless of race, tribe or religion. In my daily ministry among Christian, Muslim, Marxist, and African traditional religionists, I found that I was accepted and respected as a “holy man.” This extremely humbling experience profoundly affected my view of the Christian-Muslim encounter. It reminded me that interfaith encounters happen among individuals and not by amorphous religious systems.The Christian-Muslim encounter is not about systems and traditions, but about real people. Another part of my ministry in Egypt was teaching. I worked with the Catholic Orders of Northern Africa, teaching Modern IslamicThought and Inter-Faith Dialogue. We, as Christian missionaries, were engaged in thoughtful reflection about our role as bearers of Christ in dialogue with Muslim communities. I found these faithful sisters and brothers, some of whom have faced martyrdom, to be a great gift to me in my faith life. In 2004, while on a vacation to the Red Sea, my family and I were victims of an al-Qa’eda bombing at the Hilton Hotel resort of Taba. We managed to escape our room, making our way through smoky darkness and confusion, my daughter bleeding from shrapnel, and with nothing but our pajamas on. In the midst of chaotic

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rescue operations, we were relocated to another hotel some 20 miles away. In the pristine tiled foyer of another five-star hotel, now bloodstained from victims, a young Muslim doctor saw to my daughter, and a young veiled Muslim woman and her husband provided care for us.This event, which altered our lives forever, was more than likely perpetrated by a Muslim radical, aimed primarily at Israelis on holiday. The event was not about me, or even my family. It was bigger than us. It was about systems and institutions and traditions that have a hard time seeing individuals as God’s created gifts. We were caught up in international events beyond our control. It has reminded me that so too are those unnamed and unknown Muslim, Jewish, and Christian families living in the Middle East (and around the world) who desire nothing other than a healthy and happy life for themselves and their children. Being spared from that bombing was a “miracle” in the words of an Egyptian colleague. “God has something great for you to do.” That “something” has led me toThe LutheranTheological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). What that “something” is remains to be seen. My vocation has led me to meet and engage in conversation with Muslims from New Jersey; Eritrea; Palestine; Sudan; Washington, D.C.; Iran; England; Chicago; Lebanon, and Detroit. I have spoken with a Shi’a Hizballah minister from Southern Lebanon, Pakistani Brits, a fully “niqab-ed” converted American housewife, a liberal Senegalese sheikh, frustrated Palestinian day-laborers, chador-wearing female Iranian intellectuals, young al-Azhar scholars, and African American imams. In my ministry in the Middle East I have also had the privilege of living with the “living stones” of the church, those descendants of the first disciples of the day of Pentecost. Whether in Beirut, Cairo, Cyprus, Khartoum, Jerusalem, Chicago, or Hartford; whether they were Greek Orthodox, Armenian Evangelicals, Syrian Jacobites, Palestinian Lutherans, or Sudanese Anglicans; I have been forced to confront my own North American social and Western theological assumptions. The more I engage in social-historical and theological reflection on Christianity and Islam in the Middle East, the more I realize that I am trying to balance on a three-legged stool, the legs of which are my own American Lutheran origins, my rediscovered Christian heritage and culture of the Middle East, and the Islamic tradition with which I am in dialogue.These legs, however, often unseat me, knocking me to the floor. It is only by the grace of God that I’m ever able to get back up and try to put the stool back together, so that I might sit down, resting fully on the gracious love of God — who in good Middle Eastern fashion — shares with me a cup of tea.

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An LTSP Student’s nexpected Interfaith Journey Who is “the other?”A Personal Reflection IN AUGUST OF 2003, ALMOSTTWOYEARS AFTERTHE EVENTS OF 9/11 and less than six months after the U.S. entered Iraq, I landed in Cairo, Egypt, along with three other young adults to live and serve among Egyptians. We were there under the invitation of the local Protestant church and its relationship with the ELCA’sYoung Adults in Global Mission program.The first month of our time in Egypt was spent orienting ourselves to the city, the culture, the people, and the local religious climate. A major part of our stay was to study the Arabic language at a local school, which we did for four hours a day, five days a week, for the first month. Most of what I remember about studying Arabic was that it was extremely difficult.The letters that formed words looked like a child’s haphazard scribble to my untrained eye.The sounds of the letters — many of which were formed using a strong throat sound — made me think that people needed to cough every other word. I was hot, I could understand very little around me, and as the days wore on and the honeymoon phase wore off, it became more and more evident that I was the outsider, I was the other. And if it weren’t for Ashgan, I might have felt like the other, the outsider, the foreigner, for a very long time. Ashgan was one of our language teachers, the only Muslim, the only woman on an otherwise Christian male teaching staff. Ashgan taught us with gentle yet persistent patience.Through teaching us her native language, she also taught us about her country, culture, life, and religion. After our one month intensive course was over, Ashgan continued to tutor us privately. We met once a week for eleven months. In addition to teaching us the Arabic language, she taught us how to make Egyptian food, she told us the best places to shop, and she cared for us like a favorite aunt cares for her favorite nieces. Ashgan invited us into her home many times where we would sit, talk, and eat, drink some tea, talk a bit more. And every several hours, Ashgan and her sons would excuse themselves from the sitting area to pray, a practice they were committed to five times a day. Over time, and as our relationship grew, religion entered our conversation more and more. We would ask questions about her religion and she would ask about ours. We found areas where we agreed, and we found areas where we disagreed. I saw Christianity through new eyes, and I witnessed the devotion and commitment to God of another person through Ashgan. It was Ashgan who made me feel fully welcomed. It was with Ashgan, more than any other person throughout the year, that I felt the most spiritually connected and comfortable. It was through my

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relationship with Ashgan that part of me was transformed. I learned about myself, I learned about her. I learned the importance in letting go, opening up, and trusting that God works through the people we might least expect.

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Elizabeth Nees is a senior MDiv student at LTSP. She is one of president Philip Krey’s guests on the latest Message from the President online video — Ltspmedia.Ltsp.edu. Learn more aboutYoung Adults in Global Mission: www2.elca.org/globalserve/youngadults/index.html

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“JESUS WALKS WITH US” THROUGH BROOKLYN INTERFAITH MINISTRY LED BY LTSP EDUCATED PALESTINIAN PASTORS

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“OUR CHURCHES NEED RIGHT NOW to look around their communities and get to know their neighbors,” said The Rev. Khader N. El-Yateem ’96, pastor of Salam Arabic Church in Brooklyn, New York. “We live in a fast-changing world. It is easy for congregations in changing places not to notice what is happening around them. But in these times, not knowing your neighbors can mean you will not be around for very long. It can mean imminent death.” In these challenging times and places of changing context, El-Yateem said God ultimately decides what ministries survive. But he passionately reminds congregations willing to embrace change and see it as an opportunity will find that “Jesus is walking with them, filling them with hope.” It would be hard to imagine a community anywhere more challenged by change than the Salam Church neighborhood. Once inhabited by Scandinavians, it is now a multicultural haven including people of many faiths from around the world. Salam (originally named Salem) church includes Palestinian Christians from eight Middle Eastern nations including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan, along with African American and Chinese members. El-Yateem notes that 40 languages are commonly spoken in the neighborhood, and that at the nearby Lutheran Medical Center, records show 140 languages have been spoken in the hospital confines. The ministry out of Salam Arabic is truly a family affair. El-Yateem’s nephew, The Rev. Khader S. Khalilia, has been part of the Salam ministry for several years, and said of his uncle, “He has been a true mentor and friend to me. He has taught me so much about community ministry and how to be sensitive to a wide variety of cultures, how we can best help our neighbors.” Khalilia has studied in the Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM) program at LTSP, an

initiative that prepares talented prospective leaders for service in distinctive contexts. Both Khalilia and his uncle are Palestinian Christians who’ve felt a genuine calling to serve in the U.S. Both agree that it is a considerable challenge to serve Palestinian immigrants who hail from different national Middle-Eastern cultures unfamiliar to them back home until they come together in the Brooklyn melting pot. “We have 60 core members here,” El-Yateem said, “but many more than that are involved in our ministry. It can be a kind of revolving door with peo-

studies and conduct a Vacation Bible School. We have youth groups and home visits with prayer. The other platform is social. We conduct English as a Second Language classes. Ninety-five percent of the learners are Muslims. We have a food pantry, immigration counseling services, job training and health fairs, including free screenings for breast cancer. We also counsel people on housing needs.” Many individuals the uncle and nephew meet are unemployed or lack health insurance. Hence, the food pantry and health screening services prove invaluable.

“We have a fundamental responsibility to love our neighbor” — Khader Khalilia ple coming and going and on their way to another place.” Because of the immigrant and transitional nature of the congregation, finances are more of a problem than for most churches. A strongly entrenched pre-school program paves the way for children to gain trust with different cultures at an early age and helps families to know each other. The school has interfaith enrollment, which bridges many community gaps. El-Yateem explains that the congregation has two platforms framing its ministry. “One is spiritual,” he said. “We conduct worship in two languages — English and Arabic. We lead Bible

“These services, “El-Yateem said, “are not only for our members but also for the whole community. Unemployment is a widespread problem here.” El-Yateem is plainly excited and energized about the congregation’s ministry even after nearly 15 years of working at it. “It (the time) goes by so fast. It seems to me like only two days,” he said. Khader El-Yateem recalls his grandmother reading him Bible stories under an olive tree in Palestine. She would always make sure to wake him and get him to church. Raised in a Greek Orthodox tradition in his homeland, El-Yateem said he wasn’t comfortable with it and fell continued

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Martin uther and Islam DR. J. PAUL RAJASHEKAR LUTHER D. REED PROFESSOR of SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY and DEAN of the SEMINARY IT SEEMS ODDTO JUXTAPOSE “LUTHER” AND “ISLAM.” Luther is associated with the Protestant Reformation and seldom is his name invoked in relation to Islam. But the Islam Luther knew was the religion of OttomanTurks.TheTurkish threat to eastern Europe at the time of the Reformation made it necessary that Luther pay attention to Islam. Like any medieval thinker, Luther’s understanding of Islam shares the prejudices of his era. Since the birth of Islam in the seventh century, Christians have had a great deal of difficulty understanding Islam, for it claimed to supercede Christianity (just as Christianity did with Judaism), and accepted Jesus as a prophet but not as a savior. What’s more, it claimed the Qur’an as the absolute and ultimate word of God replacing all earlier forms of revelations. Added to this theological challenge was the fact theTurks were at war with northern Europeans, beginning with the Crusades in the 11th century to the rise of Ottoman rulers.The military threat ofTurks against the Holy Roman Empire distracted the Emperor from suppressing the Reformation of the church Luther initiated. Luther, therefore, found himself in a context where he could not avoid addressing the challenge of Islam in his time. He was critical of the money expended for undertaking crusades against Muslims in his controversies over indulgences. His criticism was among the charges in his excommunication from the Roman Church. Luther wrote six different treatises on the religion of the Turks. He was instrumental in the publication of the Latin translation of the Qur’an in 1543, a book that was banned in Christian Europe. He even wrote a preface to the printed Latin edition of the Qur’an. There is no evidence that Luther ever came into a direct contact withTurks or Muslims. His knowledge of Islam was gleaned from various sources; a good deal of them were inaccurate or prejudiced. He, nonetheless, had accumulated a fair amount of knowledge about Muslim beliefs and practices, and knew about the fundamental differences between Muslims and Christians. He observed about the Muslim objections to the doctrine ofTrinity, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the importance of law in Islam. Luther, of course, couldn’t help but to evaluate Islam from the perspective of his favorite doctrine, “justification by faith.”

under the influence of a Lutheran pastor in later years who helped him come to terms with his faith. In the early 1990s, he was visited by a Global Missions consultant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who asked him to consider leading a ministry with Arabs in the U.S. “I was really having a good life in Palestine,” he said. “But I decided to pray about it, and I began to think there could be a role for me to serve as a prophet in exile in the U.S., sharing a perspective on the Middle East as I did ministry there.” He attended seminary at LTSP “because it was conveniently located to our New York City ministry.” El-Yateem recalls the seminary “as a truly hospitable place with professors welcoming and supportive of me a I struggled with language, new ideas and values. The students and staff were the same way.” He remembers a time when, expected to take an exam, he expressed reservations about the writing challenges a new language was presenting for him. “They suggested I record my answers. I was so grateful for that,” he recalled. Khalilia too felt welcomed and supported in the LTSP community, although at times, he admitted, “I felt like peo-

“Go and knock on your neighbor’s door... ” — Khader Khalilia ple expected me to be an authority on the Middle East. I was the only Palestinian Christian on campus, and I did not have all the answers.” When El-Yateem began his ministry in Brooklyn in the mid1990s, he started knocking on doors, he said. He visited area pastors, imams in mosques, rabbis in synagogues, and neighbors of all kinds, including the police. His message? “I would introduce myself as a Palestinian Lutheran Christian and say that if we are going to make an important difference in the community we are all going to have to find a way to work together. I had no hidden agenda. I suggested that we find ways to worship together and pray together.” As interfaith activities began at Salam and elsewhere, El-Yateem said some of his congregants were anxious. “Some back home had experienced persecution at the hands of Muslims,” El-Yateem said. But the interfaith collaboration has worked just fine in the new context and the preschool program. “Children are learning to play together and trust each other and that passes on to the adults,” he said. “They are learning they don’t have to fight each other.”

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“Come and See” — Khader El-Yateem The door-to-door campaign and interfaith collaboration made all the difference when the events of 9/11 decimated the community. The police called El-Yateem and said, “Our advice is to close the church and go home.” They were genuinely concerned, he said, that the congregation could become a target of profiling in the aftermath of the attacks. “We went to our homes, but then I prayed and thought about it. I said to myself we are not going to live in fear at a time like this. We need to be working together in response to the tragedy.” The next night, 160 spiritual and other leaders met at Salam Church to discuss the tragic events and their responses to it. They began a series of prayer marches that would start at Salam Church with about 60 persons, ending up in the park with 500 or more interfaith marchers who would pray together. “It turned out to be a powerful and inspirational witness in the face of of some community hate speeches,” El-Yateem said. In the aftermath of 9/11, El-Yateem and Khalilia say interfaith dialogue in each community is an important and worthwhile initiative. “Knock on the door of your neighboring synagogue or mosque. Be sincere and open to challenging others and being challenged yourself. You will find yourself being welcomed,” Khalilia said. “Dialogue is an important tool,” added El-Yateem. “But it is important to be genuine and serious. Dialogue is not some kind of trendy new toy. It is important to be open and willing to have your reality changed.” In Brooklyn, uncle and nephew agree walls and stereotypes have been removed thanks to such attitudes. Both men encourage would-be professional leaders to be open to a call and be continued

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The Alcoran of Mahomet Alexander Ross, translator. London, Printed, Anno Dom. 1649. OVERTHEYEARS,THE KRAUTH MEMORIAL LIBRARY has benefited from book donations from its alumni and friends. One special anonymous gift was the first translation of the Qur’an (Koran) into English by Alexander Ross (1592-1654). It remains a very special book because only 69 libraries in the United States have a copy. Of that number, only four are in seminaries. The story of how this book came to be printed is equally fascinating. At the time of its publication, 1649, printers only published books that would sell. In other words, when Alexander Ross approached a printer with his text, that printer agreed to publish it because he knew that English readers were interested enough in Islam and its sacred text that they would purchase copies of the book. What is even more amazing is that he believed English readers would settle for a translation of a translation, as Ross did not read Arabic and had to rely on the French edition of Andre Du Ryer (1647). Ross had hoped for royal support of the project, but when he had finished his translation Charles I had been executed and England was a Commonwealth. That complicated matters, — when word of the book’s publication reached the new Council of State, the printer and the printed copies were seized. Ross was summoned to appear before the Council. He argued his case well, and the book was released on May 7, 1649. It was an instant bestseller, and the printer had to print a second run that same year. Despite its limitations, Ross’s text would remain the English translation of the Qur’an for the next 85 years, being replaced in 1734 by George Sales’ translation. At some point in its history, our copy crossed the Atlantic in someone’s luggage and eventually came to the Rare Book Room ofThe LutheranTheological Seminary at Philadelphia.

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willing to be challenged by today’s exciting contexts for ministry. “Being a pastor today is not easy,” El-Yateem said. “But the joy that comes with seeing how you can touch people’s lives and walk with them through their challenges and sorrows is truly rewarding. You can provide opportunities for people to have faith, to teach them about how Jesus walks with us to make us strong and able to survive. We need people to serve as leaders who are open to the challenges within their communities, not only inside the church but in the world. Jesus is with us all of the time, and that gives us the hope we need even in the hardest of times.” ✛ The Rev. Khader Khalilia accepted a call to join the staff of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, San Mateo, CA, as Assistant Pastor. To view an interview with El-Yateem and Khalilia, go to www.Ltsp.edu/salamchurch.

Martin Luther and Islam, continued from page 16

From this doctrinal perspective, he found Islam wanting. It appeared to him as a religion of law rather than of grace and therefore a religion of “good works.” Despite these differences, Luther was unwilling to advocate the destruction of Islam or Muslims nor undertake crusades or Holy wars against them. He believed that war in general is against the teaching of Christ, and inciting people to go to war againstTurks is contrary to Christ’s doctrine and name. “Christians shall not resist evil, fight, or quarrel, nor take revenge or insist on rights” (Luther’s Works 46:165). Luther inherited a certain image of Islam and in many respects reiterated that image, adding some of his own views, albeit from a Reformation perspective. If Luther had had at his disposal the necessary information, literature, and linguistic competence, he perhaps would have done all he could to promote a better understanding of Islam, despite his cultural prejudice. Nonetheless, we may take a cue from Luther and seek to understand Islam in its own terms and not succumb to inherited prejudices and political fears in our encounter with contemporary Islam or the Muslim world.

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Alumnus Romeo Dabee Enters a New Ministry at a Long Island Church with a Global Vision LTSP ALUMNUS THE REV. ROMEO DABEE, MDiv, ’05, fondly recalls growing up in the South American nation of Guyana as part of a strong Luther League and youth ministry program. He has been powerfully influenced by his parents and pastors who taught him about the Christian faith. “During a youth exchange event I heard theologian Tony Campolo say to our gathering, ‘After what God has done for me, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him,’” Dabee recalled. Campolo’s words nagged at him for six or seven years. Then, Professor Winston Persaud of Wartburg Seminary and native of Guyana came to an annual youth camp program in Guyana. “He asked me, ‘How are things? Where is God leading you?’” Dabee remembered. “His probing helped me discern my calling to become a pastor.” He earned a college degree, then began studying at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) in 2001. Dabee, a New Yorker, was a resident-commuter to the school. “It wasn’t easy leaving Rozelle, my new wife, to come from New York to seminary each week,” he remembered. Rozelle, now a public school teacher in New York City, worked with her new husband at “keeping each other accountable to our goals,” he said. He felt a lot of support from the campus community in Philadelphia too.

African American scholar John Miller, now a pastor in Los Angeles, “took me under his wing.” Now-retired Professor Gordon Lathrop “taught me so personally about the grace-filled and fulfilling aspects of worship. His teaching was a fundamental piece of my development, and I thank God for that.” Professor Timothy Wengert’s teaching about the Lutheran Confessions and Professor Robin Mattison’s instruction about Greek have also been foundational. “Their teaching shapes my sermons today,” he said. And Dr. Charles Leonard, who directs Contextual Education at LTSP, persuaded him to serve as an intern at an all-white congregation in Babylon, New York. “I really didn’t want to go there,” Dabee said. “But now I can see and understand his insight. I’m so grateful for his wisdom.” And all that hard work and preparation led Dabee to a new call, serving Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, a congregation in New Hyde Park, New York, “one of the first villages beyond the New York City border,” adjoining the Borough of Queens. The congregation is part of a picturesque, residential blue-collar community steeped in German and Scandinavian roots. Dabee notes that many New Hyde Park residents serve as New York City firefighters and police officers, and medical

professionals at neighboring hospitals. The community is also becoming richly diverse, with many newer Asian residents. Gloria Dei is 95 percent comprised of white members. “That members of this congregation would call me as their pastor says much about their commitment to a truly global church and their commitment to an inclusive ministry,” Dabee noted. He said the first year at Gloria Dei has focused him on understanding the history of the congregation and getting to know well the people who have shaped the development of a ministry with a wonderful physical plant, but with a history of financial challenges that about 10 years ago forced them to sell the church parsonage. Recently, the church acquired a new one that Romeo and Rozelle have moved into. Other hardships have included some members losing jobs due to the state of the economy. “But that reality hasn’t shaken the congregation’s focus on mission,” Dabee said. “You can really sense the congregation’s commitment and encontinued

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thusiasm to stewardship.” He noted that, among other things, the church offers vigorous financial support to mission work in Liberia, and now India. The 67-yearold congregation — organized in 1942 — has also had to come to terms with the loss through death of some original charter members since Dabee began his ministry. Other strengths and opportunities? The congregation has a nursery school that has been a community stronghold for 35 years, and which has helped to shape both the neighborhood and the congregation, he said. Dabee explains that the congregation’s surviving financial hardship is a plus. It also has members of diverse ages in its midst. “There is just tremendous growth potential here,” he

said. He feels parishioners are visionary with support for social ministry, a food pantry, and outreach to the community. Dabee has a core of six youth who regularly meet in the congregation’s gymnasium. He senses the church is powerfully aware of the need to “do things differently” now as compared to the past. He figures his management experience in accounting, quality assurance, planning, and communications, gleaned from undergraduate studies and daily work before seminary, will help the congregation greatly as he works to “inspire, teach, and equip,” as he puts it. “Having seminary training, but also having been involved with personnel management, is really helping me with the challenges, and I

think it will benefit the congregation,” he said. The values instilled in the youth ministry he experienced growing up are also a critical factor. And as he strives, he recalls the words of his first call mentor Pastor Robert Fritch, who serves Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Jamaica, New York. “In ministry he taught me, ‘You gotta have to wanna,’” he said with a smile. “You have to have your heart in ministry and understand you may not be around long enough to see all the fruits that bear testimony in the lives of the people you serve.” It will all happen in God’s time, and it will take prayer and patience on our part, he said. ✛

Inspiring Service Founded in 1847 as a Lutheran college, Carthage highly values its affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Our liberal arts curriculum includes courses that explore and celebrate religion and spirituality. Faith-oriented programs and student religious organizations offer students many opportunities to strengthen their faith as they discover how they can serve others in the Church and in the world.

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ALUMNI NEWS✛ Alumni Spring Convocation 2010

April 26 to 28, 2010

alumni

The Rev. Judith VanOsdol, LTSP 2009 Distinguished Alumnus/a

Ecology and Theology

Our presenter is The Rev. Dr. H. Paul Santmire, ’60, whose pioneering life work and writing has focused on the growing environmental crisis. Workshops will include theological reflections and practical presentations for “greening” your congregations.

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OUR DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS/A 2009, The Rev. Judith VanOsdol-Hansen, ’87, received her award at the 2009 Spring Convocation Alumni Banquet on April 29, 2009. She has had an extraordinary ministry over the last 22 years, 14 of which has been as a pastor/missionary in Argentina. After graduating from LTSP, she spent two years as associate pastor of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pittsford, New York. Next came several years as ELCA pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, an inner-city church with a substantial Latino community. In 1994, she became a pastor/missionary for global mission for ELCA, serving a number of parishes and missions in Argentina as part of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Uruguay. Since 2002, she has also been continental director for women’s ministries and gender justice with the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), focusing on such issues as economic justice, human rights, and overcoming violence. Recently, she has become a mission developer of El Milagro/The Miracle Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and continues to be consultant for the United Nations concerning women’s gender/poverty/justice issues.

Look for Alumni Spring Convocation 2010 registration material in your mail in early February and online at www.Ltsp.edu/convocation10.

Nominations for the Distinguished Alumnus/a Award 2010 must be in by December 31, 2009. The award will be given at the Alumni Banquet on Tuesday evening, April 27, 2010. Please fill out enclosed form, email information to [email protected], or nominate online at www.Ltsp.edu/ nomination.

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Thanks to a grant from the Lilly Foundation to the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), ATLASerials is now available to all alumni. ATLASerials databases provide extensive indexing of theological journals as well as full text to key periodicals. Please contact Ellen Anderson at [email protected] for a user id and password. PS ✛ FALL 2009

SPRIN CONVOCATION

Reunion Class Anniversaries celebrated at Spring Convocation: 1935,1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2009

Convocation 09 photos, stories, and video of lectures and more online at www.Ltsp.edu/convocation09

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ALUMNI NEWS✛ classNOTES

firstCALLS

The Rev. Dr. Michael Linderman, MDiv ’95, completed his PhD in South Asia Regional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in May, 2009, and is now Assistant Professor of South Asian Civilization and Religions at Seton Hall University. In recognition of this, the New Jersey Synod of the ELCA extended to Linderman Call to Specialized Ministry in Education, effective fall, 2008.

The Rev. Chris T.K. Duckworth, MDiv, ’02, received a first call at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington, VA, serving as Associate Pastor. He was ordained December 20, 2008.

The Rev. Dr. Jessicah L.K. Duckworth, MDiv ’03, received her PhD in Practical Theology in May, 2009, from PrincetonTheological Seminary. Her dissertation was entitled, “Cruciform Catechesis: A PracticalTheology of Welcoming Newcomers for Churches Living Under aTheology of the Cross.” She is Assistant Professor of Christian Formation andTeaching at WesleyTheological Seminary in Washington, D.C. The Rev. Paul Miller, MDiv ‘06, was installed on October 18 as pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church at Canyon Lake,TX.

JohnWeit, MAR, ’09, has accepted the position of Director of Music and Organist, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church,Worcester, MA.

Contact Ellen Anderson at [email protected] and let us know your latest news for the next issue of PS!

The Rev. Jeffrey Goodman, STM ’08, received a call to serve as pastor at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ephrata, PA.

The Rev. Joseph McGarry, MDiv ’08, received a call, June 29, 2008, to St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baldwinsville NY. He was ordained August 1, 2008. The Rev. Emilie TheobaldRowlands, MDiv ’08, was called as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Crescent, PA, and Resurrection Lutheran Church, Oakdale, PA. Both are located near the Pittsburgh International Airport. She was ordained June 21, 2008, at the Southwestern PA synod assembly. The Rev. Nancy J. Beckwith, MDiv, ’09, has been called as Pastor to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Meriden, CT. She was ordained September 20, 2009.

The Rev. Jeanne Gay, MDiv ’09, was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament on Sunday, September 13, 2009, at Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, PA. She has been called to Firelands Presbyterian Church in Port Clinton, OH.

The Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) is a library of over 10,000 theological thesis/dissertation titles representing research from as many as 70 different institutions. Titles may be ordered online through the TREN search and order system. Also available are conference papers presented at annual meetings of several academic societies. Our new Google Scholar search box, www.tren.com/e-docs/search.cfm, is up and running which lists titles based on the content of the document and not simply keywords in the document title. Visit www.tren.com, or email Robert Jones at [email protected], or call 1.800.334.8736. 22

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NEWS✛NOTES FACULTY/STAFF ACTIVITIES Texts Trialogue held at LTSP; May, 2009: attended the Region VII Life Long Learning Network, Camp Koinonia, NY; attended Multi-Faith Education symposium at Auburn Theological Seminary, NY; published: Piety, Politics and Power: Lutherans Encountering Islam in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, 2009), “Reading Their Book of Faith: North American Muslims and their Interpretations of the Qur’an in the Post 9/11 Era,” 48/3 2009, Dialog.

Professor Jon Pahl travels to enya

k

DR. WIL GAFNEY Associate Professor of Hebrew and the Scriptures of Israel June, 2009:

traveled to Turkey with Dialogue Forum, (see sidebar, pg. 24); sermon entitled, “Of Dreams and Their Dreamers: A Sermonic Reflection on the Obama Presidency” included in: The Audacity of Faith: Christian Leaders Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama Marvin A. McMickle, editor ( Judson Press 2008).

Professor Jon Pahl interacts with primary students from the Turkish Light Academy, Nairobi, Kenya.

DR. ERIK M. HEEN Professor of NewTestament and Greek publi-

DR. DAVID D. GRAFTON Director of Graduate Studies Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations March, 2009: attended

the New Jersey Synod Congregational Ministries Event; April, 2009: presented on “Contemporary Islam in the Middle East,” at Hershey’s Mill; emceed Sacred

cations: Hebrew Texts from the Church Fathers, Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings, Lectionary Cycle C., edited by Cindy Crosby (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 26, 28, 187, 189, 192, 197, 198, 202, 204; “Hebrews: Book Introduction and Study Notes,” in Lutheran Study Bible: New Revised Standard Edition (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2009), 1974-1991; February, 2009: presented, “Biblical Resources for a Conversation about Homosexuality,” LTSP Convocation; “LTSP: Lutheran and Ecumenical,” Eastern Cluster Joint Faculty Retreat (ELCA), St. Mary’s Seminary. Baltimore, MD; March, 2009: Workshop Facilitator, “Preaching the Texts of Year B, 2009: Easter Through Pentecost.”

IN JUNE 2009, PROFESSOR JON PAHL TRAVELED to Kampala, Uganda, and Nairobi, Kenya, at the invitation of the Turkish Community Association of Uganda. In Kampala, Prof. Pahl was keynote speaker at the International Dialogue Dinner on Love and Tolerance, on the topic, “The Challenge for Youth.” Prof. Pahl’s talk described the challenge facing young people across religious traditions to turn faith teachings and practices away from violence (as either militarism or terrorism), and toward peacemaking and reconciliation. Included in the audience were ministers of the government of Uganda, members of the Ugandan Parliament, religious leaders, businessmen and women, diplomats, and other dignitaries. Prof. Pahl’s talk was based upon a presentation he made in March for a “Friendship Dinner” sponsored by the Turkish community in Pittsburgh. While in Uganda and Kenya, Prof. Pahl also visited several schools sponsored by members of the Gülen movement. The Gülen movement is a progressive Muslim movement centered in Turkey that has established schools around the world dedicated to scientific education and interreligious dialogue. Members of the movement have been inspired by the teachings of M. Fethullah Gülen, voted the world’s top public intellectual in 2008 by Foreign Policy magazine. Gülen’s most widely read work in English is entitled Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance (The Light, 2006).

continued

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NEWS✛NOTES p rofessor Wil Gafney: Notes fromTurkey

Professor Wil Gafney (standing, sixth from left), and traveling companions from the Dialog Forum, in front of the Blue Mosque, in Turkey.

PROFESSOR WIL GAFNEY TRAVELED, in June 2009, to Turkey with Philadelphia Dialog Forum, a group dedicated to inter-religious dialogue in general and introducing Jewish and Christian clergy and academics in the West to the diversity of Islamic thought, religious practice and cultural expression. The Dialog Forum has roots in the Turkish-American diaspora and in Philadelphia is associated with student and community organizations on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Our trip to Turkey allowed us to experience the world’s only Islamic democracy, Turkey, which is also a secular and socialist nation. Turkey is culturally Muslim, there are mosques on every corner, and they outnumber churches and synagogues. Yet Turkey is secular, there is no state religion. I was particularly interested in the number of ways in which Turkey intersects biblical and Christian history. In the Scriptures of Israel, the ancient Hittite Empire where Abraham first buried Sarah (Genesis 23), where Abraham was later buried (Genesis 25:7-9), where Esau married local girls (Genesis 26:34 and 36:2), and the country of origin of Uriah whom David had killed for his wife (2 Samuel 11) are located in modern Turkey. The ancient city of Ephesus to whom Paul directed his Ephesian letter is located in Turkey as are the caves of Cappodochia where early Christians fled persecution. Ancient Anatolia is also synonymous with Turkey as are Seljuk and Ottoman Empires. continued on page 26

FACULTY/STAFF ACTIVITIES continued

Eastern Nassau Conference, Metro NY Synod of the ELCA; April, 2009: workshop leader, “Philippians: The Anchor Commentary (2008) in the Light of Jack Reumann’s Life and Work as a Teacher of the Church,” LTSP; speaker, “In Memory and Celebration of John Reumann,” The Alumni/ae Association Annual Spring Convocation Banquet, LTSP; May, 2009: presented (with James Nestigen and Jon Pahl) “Focus on Scripture,” Sex and the Synod:Perspectives on Homosexuality in Scripture and Ministry, Seeger’s Union, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA; July, 2009: presented, “The ELCA and ‘The Theological Investigation of Scripture’: Past, Present, and Future,” four sessions during “Teaching a Living and Active Word,” The Summer Institute for Ministry 2009, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.

DR. MELINDA A. QUIVIK Associate Professor of Christian Assembly June/July, 2009:

presided and preached, and led worship and preaching reflection groups at two one-week Worship and Music conferences at Montreat Conference Center, in North Carolina sponsored by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians; October, 2009: Authored Serving the Word: Preaching in Worship (Elements of Preaching) (Fortress Press, 2009). DR. NELSON RIVERA Associate Professor, SystematicTheology and Hispanic Ministry; Director, Latino Concentration February

2009: Presented sermon commemorating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday, LTSP Seminary Chapel; April, 2009: Lectured on the “Vocation of Scientists and Theologians” as part of the Public Theology Series at LTSP. DR. J. JAYAKIRAN SEBASTIAN H. George Anderson Professor of Mission and Cultures; Director, Multicultural Mission Resource Center attended 2009

award ceremony and colloquium held in Heidelberg, Germany, as a board member and evaluator of the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise; March, 2009: keynote speaker, Ecumenical Christian Fellowship of New continued

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mmett Nixon’s Campus Lesson: “You show people love and respect by the way you cook for them.” AS LTSP’S COOK, HE HAS PASSED ALONG WHAT HE FIRST LEARNED FROM HIS PARENTS: savory home-made black bean, cream of mushroom, and minestrone soups. Potato salad. Cole slaw. Succulent ribs featuring an original sauce and meat that falls off the bone. All served atThe LutheranTheological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) with a gracious smile and warm greeting. That’s all thanks to Emmett Nixon, seminary cook. For 30 years he’s been preparing and often serving meals at the 1792 refectory or at other points on campus — the president’s front lawn at a picnic, in Benbow Hall ofThe Brossman Center. And alumni, staff, faculty, and seminarians alike all think Emmett to be as much of an institution as the seminary is itself. (Next to John Kaufmann, registrar emeritus, he’s the senior working presence on campus).You just need to mention Emmett’s name to them if they don’t mention his first. And at the thought of Emmett they reveal a smile just like his. Rail thin and as energetic as ever at age 70, Emmett Nixon drives or takes public transit every day from Philadelphia’s Logan section to LTSP. And he doesn’t miss a beat. Emmett grew up in North Philadelphia, the eighth of 11 children, five of whom were boys. His father, Julie, was a hard-working chef for Horn & Hardart. His mother, Hattie, was a stay-at-home mom. Both parents taught him something about cooking, but his dad only cooked at home on Christmas for a big family gathering “to give Mom a break,” he remembered. He learned a lot about cooking from his mom. Favorite delicacies? “Cakes, pies, stews, everything,” he recalled with the patented smile. He was especially fond of salmon and rice with home-made biscuits. Cooking runs in the family. His father’s brothers were chefs. His brother once cooked at the Italian Riviera Restaurant in Philadelphia’sTorresdale section. His sister, Amelia, today runs Patterson’s Palace, a vegetarian restaurant nearTemple University. Emmett began his career running an eaterie specializing in fish and chips and other home-made meals.Then he decided to seek other work. An agency sent him for a day to the seminary refectory. He worked with a cook named Cliff. Emmett decided “right away I liked the seminary. I just felt at home here.” Eventually Cliff fell ill and decided to step down. Emmett took his place. He’s worked at

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the school since. “I’ve always felt loved and respected by the students, staff, and faculty — right from the beginning,” he said. Could it be because of what he first learned at home? What he learned was crystal clear. “Dad put a roof over our heads and worked hard,” Emmett said. “My mother had dinner on the table every night at 5 o’clock. At each meal we prayed and gave thanks to God. And I was taught that one way you respect God is to respect everyone you come in contact with. I was taught that making meals that you serve to others is a way of showing other people love and respect.” The teaching certainly stuck. In interviews with past and present students, Emmett is often mentioned. Emmett Nixon grew up in a Christian home and is now a Muslim. He’s formed lasting relationships with many in the seminary community. And he enjoys conversations with students at a favorite table in the refectory at lunchtime. In the past, several students have asked him to discuss the Islamic faith with them, and he cherishes such conversations. Emmett’s wife, Earlie, fell ill in the early 1980s and died. He’s the father of five adult sons and 20 grandchildren. His favorite seminary memories include the dedication ofThe Brossman Learning Center a few years ago, the installations of president Philip Krey, and deans Faith Rohrbaugh Burgess, James Echols, and Paul Rajashekar, and a friendship with colleague Lois LaCroix, executive assistant to the president. What would Emmett Nixon like to say to the seminary community and those who’ve known him over the years, or to anyone thinking of studying at a school of theology? “I’d tell them that the seminary is truly a safe place to study, that it is a community filled with love and understanding, and if you are looking for a chance to learn at a place like that, you would be making a wise choice to come here.” “I know I’m not planning to go anywhere soon!” he chuckled.

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NEWS✛NOTES Notes from Turkey continued

Turkey is a beautiful country, roughly the size of Texas, and has the climate variation of California, from ski slopes to beaches. Our itinerary included Instanbul (formerly Constantinople) including the world famous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, once a church, then a mosque, now a museum, and the ruins of Ephesus, Antalia, Kona, Cappodochia and Kaisere. We were warmly hosted by local families. Our hosts had in common support for the social and educational movement of M. Fethullah Gülen, who believes that a world-class education includes global ethical, communal, and family values along with a curriculum that emphasizes history, science, mathematics, and the Turkish language. It was a wonderful experience, and I would love to go again. Our hosts made it clear that they would love to facilitate a seminary trip at some point in the future.

FACULTY/STAFF ACTIVITIES continued Jersey, 2009 World Day of Prayer, at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Garfield, NJ, theme: “In Christ there are many members yet one body”; resource person, District Resource Day of the GateWay North District of the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church, at Emanuel Methodist Church, Springfield, NJ, theme: “Mission and Ministry in a Global Society”; May, 2009: resource person, District Resource Day of the Raritan Valley District of the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church, at the United Methodist Church of Bound Brook, NJ, theme: “The Bible in Context — Learning from the World Church”; evaluator and participant, John Templeton Award for Theological Promise 2009 and Colloquium at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum, Heidelberg, Germany; faculty mentor, Asian Theological Summer Institute 2009, LTSP; June, 2009: presented “Public Theology and the Challenges of Pastoral Ministry and Praxis,” at DMin Colloquium I & II, LTSP; resource person and preacher, 23rd Church of South India Family and Youth Conference, Somerset, NJ; published “The Sand Around Lake Geneva: Reformed Legacy in Another Land, Another Time,” in Reformed World, Vol. 58, No. 4 (December 2008), pp. 257 – 262; review article on God and Globalization: Volume 4: Globalization and Grace, by Max L. Stackhouse, in International Journal of Public Theology, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2009), pp. 256-262.

DR.TIMOTHY J. WENGERT Ministerium of Pennsylvania Professor of the History of Christianity authored: Martin Luther’s

Catechisms: Forming the Faith, (Fortress Press, 2009); edited: The Pastoral Luther: Essays on Martin Luther’s Practical Theology, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009); April, 2009: Spoke on Luther’s use of Scripture at the Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon; July, 2009: visiting researcher at Ecumenical Institute, Strasbourg, France; participated in program review on behalf of the Mainz Academy of Sciences for a project at the University of Mainz and its Institute for European History.

Dr. Kiran Sebastian (top row, fifth from left), at Heidelberg castle with the representatives of the board/evaluators and winners of the 2009 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise. The award ceremony and colloquium was held in Heidelberg, Germany, in May of 2009.

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Robert E. Bornemann, OldTestament Professor and Music Aficionado THE REV. DR. ROBERT E. BORNEMANN, professor of Hebrew and Old Testament for 41 years at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), and director of the seminary choir from 1955 to 1990, died Sunday, May 3, 2009, of lung cancer at his home in Philadelphia’s East Mount Airy section. He was 85. He died peacefully, and his wife Agnes and his family were able to be with him. His illness had been announced at the recent Spring Convocation at LTSP, and a number of his students who had returned to the area for convocation were able to visit Dr. Bornemann while they were here. Dr. Bornemann was a remarkably gifted musician who played the piano, recorder, organ, and harpsichord. He built two harpsichords from kits and composed

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many songs and liturgical settings. While directing the seminary choir, he was known for staging performing editions of little-known or unknown dramatic musical works from the thirteenth century, and organized the seminary’s currently popular Advent Vespers series. “As a young instructor at the seminary, I was invited by Dr. Bornemann to sit in on his beloved course, ‘The Church, Music and the Arts,’” recalled LTSP president Philip D.W. Krey. “It was among the finest courses I have ever taken. He was a masterful teacher.” “I think of Bob Bornemann as a true renaissance man because he had so many varied interests,” said The Rev. Dr. Jack White, Hagan Emeritus Professor of Pastoral Care at LTSP who taught with Dr.

Bornemann for 30 years. “No one on the faculty had a better rapport with students than Bob. He especially loved the languages of antiquity and music.” Dr. Bornemann participated in several noteworthy archeological digs in Israel continued

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NEWS✛NOTES IN MEMORIAM over a 25-year period. “The emphasis on archeology is not to prove that the Bible is either right or wrong,” he told the seminary’s PS Magazine upon returning from his last Middle East digging experience. “It’s a study that makes scripture come alive. Archeology shows us the dynamics of how and the way people lived.” He was also active in a variety of Jewish-Christian dialogues. Though Dr. Bornemann officially retired from his post as the Anna Burkhalter Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew in 1994, his wife of 63 years, Agnes, said, “Bob never really retired.” He occasionally taught Old Testament courses at the seminary, and was planning a course to be taught this year in the Graduate Religious Studies Program at La Salle University, where he had served as a visiting professor since 1977. In addition to his spouse, Dr. Bornemann is survived by John and Collette Bornemann of Hyde Park, VT; Annamary and Tom Anderson, of Craftsbury, VT; Elizabeth and Stanley Kozakowski of Milford, NJ; and Kate and Alan Ayers of Seattle, WA; eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Memorial gifts may be made to the Robert Bornemann Fund at LTSP, 7301 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19119 or online at www.Ltsp.edu/give. A complete article about Prof. Bornemann, with comments from colleagues and students, and photos, can be found on the Web at www.Ltsp.edu/bornemann.

The Rev. ArnoldTiemeyer, visitation pastor at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lansdale, PA, died May 31, 2009. During his 45 years of ordained ministry, Pastor Tiemeyer worked continuously to bridge community divisions over social and civil rights rooted in economic circumstance, race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. In 1985, Pastor Tiemeyer was named president of Lutheran Home at Germantown (LHG). During his decade at LHG, the organization expanded its care services with special needs children, home services to older adults, and managed care consulting services across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, constructed a new care facility at Germantown Home, and opened the Betak facility, the first AIDS hospice in Philadelphia during the early 1990s.

The Rev. Robert Z. Wuchter, BD, ’45, STM, ’49 of Wall, NJ, died May 25, 2009. He was ordained in January of 1945. Pastor Wuchter began his ministry at Grace Lutheran Church in Somers Point, N.J, where he served for five years. He then came to Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Manasquan in 1950 and served as pastor until his retirement in 1985. He was a president of the N.J. Conference of the Ministerium, the Central Conference of N.J. Synod, dean of the Central District of N.J. Synod, and also served on the Executive Board of the N.J. Synod, on the Examining, Vocations and Division of Professional Ministry Committees. The Rev. Walter O. Huegel, MDiv, ‘55, Allentown, PA, formerly of New Hartford,NY, died July 12, 2009. He earned masters degrees from Syracuse University and The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He served as a Lutheran pastor from 1955-1973 at St. Stephens Lutheran Church, Brooklyn, NY; Christ Lutheran Church, Little Falls, NY; and Zion Lutheran Church, New Hartford, NY. The Rev. Ralph F. Eberle, STM, ’60, died May 1, 2009. Pastor Eberle was ordained in 1955. Following his ordination, Pastor Eberle served Central Lutheran Church, Conshohocken (1955-

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1958); Christ Lutheran Church, Dryville (19581966), and Jordan Lutheran Church, Orefield, from 1966 until his retirement in 1996. The Rev. Harold R. Baer, MDiv, ’62, died Wednesday, September 30, 2009. Pastor Baer was ordained in 1962. Pastor Baer served Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Reading, PA (19621964); St. John’s Lutheran Church, Sinking Spring, PA (1964-1983); St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Catasauqua, PA (1983-1988); and St. Paul Lutheran Church, Shavertown (1988-1996). The Rev. Dr. Ivis J. LaRiviere-Mestre, MDiv ’84, DMin, ’07, died May 26, 2009. Pastor LaRiviere-Mestre was ordained in 1985. Following her ordination, Pastor LaRiviere-Mestre served St. John Lutheran Church, Union City, N.J. (1985-1986). In 1986 she became editor for Spanish Language Resources for the Division for Parish Services of the Lutheran Church in America. After two years in that position, she became Director for Educational Resources for the Women of the ELCA. In 1991 she returned to Pennsylvania to serve as pastor of San Martin de Porres Lutheran Church, Allentown. In 2005 she because the ELCA Associate Director for Evangelism and Latino Outreach, a position she held until becoming ill in 2007. The Rev. Vicki Hall, MDiv, ’93 of Franconia Township, Montgomery County, PA, an interim Lutheran pastor at several churches in the Philadelphia region, died August 11, 2009. Pastor Hall was ordained in 1994 at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. The Rev. James W. Myles III, DMin, ’08, of Philadelphia. Myles joined White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia as a youth minister in 1962, was installed as pastor of First Baptist Church of Wayne, PA, in 1979, and retired there last February. The Rev. David Graham Volk, who died April 16, 2009, was ordained by the Central Pennsylvania Synod in 1955. Throughout his ministry he was active in civic affairs and the work of the wider church, serving on the boards of the Tressler Home and Allegheny Lutheran Home and as secretary of the Lutheran Commission on Mental Retardation in the Northeastern U.S. He served on the LTSP Alumni Board as an LTSG representative for many years.

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✛ADMISSIONS Theological Education in a Pluralistic Society THE REV. LOUISE N. JOHNSON Director of Admissions

WHY WOULD A SEMINARY, a place that trains leaders for the Christian church, be interested in exposing its students to the leaders, believers, and tenets of other faith traditions? In the eight mile stretch of Germantown Avenue, the road on which the seminary sits, there are more than eighty places of worship that represent a wide range of faith traditions. They are our neighbors. Both leaders and worshippers, living side by side, wrestling with everything from how to fix the streets to how to mark our history. The world is on our doorstep not only by virtue of the virtual, but also in the flesh. And not just on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, but also on Tilden Street in Postville, IA. Learning about other faith traditions is not the privilege of abstract academia, but a practical reality of ministry in the twenty-first century. But engaging in conversation and relationships inevitably raises questions about what we believe, think, and practice, questions about who God is for us, for others, for the world. Difficult questions that lack simple answers. And yet we are called by our own faith to engage both the questions and the relationships. In John 17, Jesus prayed that we would be one — as he and the Father are one. It is worth noting what the Christian faith teaches about how Jesus and the Father are one. In the Nicene Creed, we confess Jesus to be “eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, of one being with the Father.” In other words, Jesus is so like the Father that they are one being. And, at the same time, the very structure of the Creed itself (addressing God, the Father, in the first article, God, the Son, in the second, and God, the Holy Spirit in the third) illuminates our belief that God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are also separate persons with particular roles and gifts. Our God is both three and one, distinct in persons and yet one Lord. Which seems to suggest something about the character of the unity to which we are called. Unity, if you think about it, presupposes differences. If Jesus were not distinct from God in some way, he would simply be the same and there would be no cause for relationship, no cause for unity, no need to speak of them as one being. In other words, we are called to be unified, but not uniform. Differences are crucial to our unity. And, yet, our unity must bear the character of oneness. To be sure this is no simple task. Discovering the differences that make us distinct and yet unified is, well, a miracle of God. Which is precisely the point. When we engage in relationships with our neighbors, trusting in the sure work of God in Christ Jesus, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Listening, asking questions, and engaging in genuine relationships moves us closer to Jesus’ desire for us and all creation and puts us in place to see the miracles God can work. So perhaps the better question is, “Why wouldn’t a seminary be interested in exposing its students to the leaders, believers and tenets of other faith traditions?” ✛

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✛FOUNDATION Swedish Festival Kicks Off LTSP Augustana Room Campaign: Bishop Chilstrom Praises First Lutheran Church in Brockton THIS PAST SEPTEMBER , Herbert D. Chilstrom, first Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), gave a hearty “Thank you!” to a crowd of worshippers at First Lutheran Church in Brockton, Massachusetts, as the congregation kicked off the campaign for a new Augustana Room at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) with a Swedish festival weekend. “I’m especially grateful that I can be here at First Lutheran Church on this historic day,” said Bishop Chilstrom. “The congregation’s decision to celebrate its Swedish heritage by supporting the creation of the Augustana Room at LTSP is very important — not just to honor the past but to equip generations of church leaders for the future. As students learn about the history of our ELCA,” said Chilstrom, “it will be important for them to know about one of our distinct tap roots — The Augustana Lutheran Church.” The festival weekend began with a Saturday evening meatball supper and concluded with two hours of energetic song — a rich variety of Swedish hymns for all seasons and occasions. Three members of First Lutheran, once known as the “mother church” of Augustana congregations in New England, donned traditional Swedish festival costumes to serve as ushers for festival guests. (l. to r.) Bishop Herbert D.Chilstrom, Bishop Harold Lohr, Pastor Ken Bjorklund, Ted Steege, Associate Pastor Ken Hilston, and Pastor John Stott.

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According to retired Pastor Ken Bjorklund, the festive morning service drew double the normal attendance, and Associate Pastor Ken Hilston said more people attended the Eucharist that day than he can remember in a long time. Bishop Chilstrom’s sermon, “How Wide is God’s Kingdom?”, brought a forward-looking focus, rooted in an enduring faith in Christ and a commitment to the Lutheran confessions. At a forum following the service, some 50 worshippers remained to hear and interact with Bishop Chilstrom and LTSP representative Ted Steege on the topic of “Vocation” as it applies not only to pastors and other rostered leaders, but to congregations and members, called to support their pastors, their synod, and their seminary. LTSP, one of eight ELCA seminaries is “our seminary” for ELCA Lutherans in New England, under a churchwide agreement to provide for the ongoing mission of training future leaders as part of a faithful partnership between synods and seminaries. Recently ordained Pastor Mark Huber, called as mission developer in nearby Marshfield, Massachusetts, expressed gratitude for First Lutheran’s emerging commitment to support his work. Bringing greetings on behalf of New England Synod Bishop Margaret Payne was Pastor John Stott of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Dean of the Southeast Massachusetts Conference. Other guests included Bishop Harold Lohr, a seminary classmate of Bishop Chilstrom; Ms. Edie Lohr, retired director of Lutheran Social Services of New England; and Pastor Dennis Kohl of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Warwick, Rhode Island, an LTSP alumnus who did his internship at First Lutheran and also served as its pastor for a number of years.

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In remarks at the hymnfest, Bishop Chilstrom noted that when First Lutheran was founded in 1867, the preacher for the dedication service was The Rev. Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, professor of systematic theology at LTSP. The bond of commitment to the Lutheran Confessions as the foundation for mission and public ministry proved strong then and still is strong today, he said. As host of the Lutheran Archives Center of the Northeast, the seminary is a custodian of a treasure trove of archives relating to the Augustana heritage in New England and elsewhere on the East coast. “By establishing The Augustana Room in The Brossman Learning Center, LTSP recognizes the heritage of The Augustana Lutheran Church, which enriched the Lutheran Church in America as it formed, and now enriches the ELCA, including the faithful partnership between the New England Synod and LTSP,” said Steege. In The Augustana Room, a permanent exhibition will reflect The Augustana Lutheran Church’s life, witness, and ministry. “As we build on the faithful witness of Augustana in teaching, forming, training, and sending out new leaders for Christ’s church,” said Steege, “we invite gifts by individuals, congregations, and organizations toward a goal of $250,000 for The Augustana Room.” Proceeds of the meatball supper, the Swedish hymnfest, and special envelopes inserted in the morning bulletin will be dedicated in support of the Augustana Room, according to First Lutheran’s administrator, Jim Benson. Mr. Steege and other seminary representatives will provide information, discuss giving opportunities by individuals and congregations, and make available response forms and other resources for this

(l. to r.) Pastor Dennis Kohl, Karin Kohl, Bishop Herbert D.Chilstrom

project. Mr. Steege will be meeting soon with the Congregation Council to discuss possible next steps in First Lutheran’s support of the campaign. Gifts in support of The Augustana Room will assist the seminary in meeting the New England Synod goal of $1.5 million toward Building in Faith for People of Faith, the Continuing Journey. By midsummer of 2009, firm gifts and pledges toward that overall goal had come to more than $650,000. The campaign is scheduled to continue through the end of 2010.✛ To contribute to the Augustana Room campaign, go to www.Ltsp.edu/give.

www.Ltsp.edu

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from the

✛FOUNDATION LTSP Dedicates William Allen Plaza THE NEW WILLIAM ALLEN PLAZA AND HISTORICAL MARKER on the LTSP campus were dedicated on Saturday, September 26, 2009, by representatives of the seminary, the community, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Colonial Pennsylvanian William Allen was a key member of the colony’s business community, government, and judiciary, financing many projects including the state house, which we now know as Independence Hall, and serving as chief justice of the colony’s Supreme Court. Allen made his summer home, which he called “Mount Airy,” on the land that now is the home of LTSP. William Allen Plaza is located on the LTSP campus just yards away

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PS ✛ FALL 2009

from the place where “Mount Airy” once stood, connecting the LTSP campus and Schaeffer-Ashmead Chapel to the Mt. Airy community along Germantown Avenue. The ceremonies made it clear to strangers and those familiar with the project alike that only a unique collaborative endeavor could have made the $1.5 million plaza initiative possible. Festivities at the event included colonial-era dancers and an address by “Justice Allen.” Learn more about the Plaza and Marker, and listen to the lecture and dedication: www.Ltsp.edu/williamallenplaza.

www.Ltsp.edu

LTSP events

fall 2009/winter 2010

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 CONVOCATION Prof. Jose David Rodriguez 11:30 am Benbow Hall, The Brossman Center Sunday, December 6, 2009 ADVENT VESPERS Celebration of the life and ministry of The Rev. Dr. Robert E. Bornemann 7:30 pm Grace Epiphany Church of Mt. Airy 224 E. Gowen Ave., Philadelphia www.Ltsp.edu/adventvespers Monday, February 8, 2010 THE ST. OLAF CHOIR IN PERFORMANCE 7:30 pm The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Verizon Hall www.Ltsp.edu/stolafchoir Saturday, February 20, 2010 WOMEN’S RETREAT: Creation and Creativity 9:00 am to 3:45 pm LTSP Campus www.Ltsp.edu/restrefresh Saturday, February 20, 2010 PROSPECTIVE STUDENT DAY 8:30 am to 1:00 pm LTSP Campus www.Ltsp.edu/visit Thursday, February 25, 2010 PUBLIC LEADERSHIP VISIT DAY 6:00 am to 8:30 pm LTSP Campus THe www.Ltsp.edu/visit

For information and updates go to www.Ltsp.edu or sign up for @PS, our eNewsletter at www.Ltsp.edu/enews.

THE ST. OLAF CHOIR IN PERFORMANCE Anton Armstrong, Conductor Monday, February 8, 2010 7:30 pm Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Verizon Hall presented in partnership with The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia Tickets on sale November 2, 2009 www.Ltsp.edu/stolaftickets More information: www.Ltsp.edu/stolafchoir

“It was a tour de force, carried out with poise and power that brought the audience to its feet.” — The Washington Post

7301 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794 www.Ltsp.edu

Have you remembered LTSP in your estate planning?

Join us in meeting our $1 million Leadership Fund goal by making a gift today online at www.Ltsp.edu/give. Your gift today to the LTSP Leadership Fund will ensure that we can continue to educate, prepare, and nurture leaders of the church, both for today and for generations to come.

GIVING MAKES A DIFFERENCE www.Ltsp.edu/give