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Faculty News Perspective Online Summer 2020

Faculty Update

Bill Lawrence Webinar

Check out this webinar from the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), “Methodism and the Academy in the 2020s and Beyond“? You can view the full recording here and learn what Dr. Bill Lawrence, professor of American Church History and former dean of Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, had to say about the future of United Methodist-related higher education.

 

Adult Bible Studies Fall 2020 Student

Dr. Charles Aaron, Co-Director of the Intern Program and Associate Professor of Supervised Ministry, is the author of a new Bible study published by Cokesbury.  Centered on the theme of Encounter, the lessons focus on salvation and what it means through example and explanation. Check out the book online at Adult Bible Studies Fall 2020 Student | Cokesbury

 

 

Digital Ministries Course

Perkins School of Theology is launching a new online course this fall to equip church leaders in emerging digital ministries for planning worship, preaching, teaching, pastoral care and other congregational leadership needs. Co-teachers are Dr. Marcell Silva Steuernagel, Assistant Professor of Church Music and Director of the Master of Sacred Music degree program, and Dr. Robert Hunt, Director of the Global Theological Education Program at Perkins. Drawing on expertise from Perkins faculty—who have created nationally distributed resources during the COVID-19 pandemic—and other global experts, the course is entitled “Social Innovation:  Creating World Changers with Emerging Digital Ministries.”  Read SMU’s announcement about the course here and an explanation of the need for the course in Inside Sources.

Webinar on Racism

Dr. Alyce McKenzie and Dr. Wes Allen of the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence recently led a webinar for clergy of the Northwest District (part of the North Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church) on the topic of “Preaching in a Pandemic of Racism: Strategies for Preparing Sermons that Offer both Challenge and Hope.” The courses led participants in an exploration of strategies for intentional self- awareness and preparation of sermons that address issues of systemic racism and our national narrative.

“Their wisdom, insight, and expertise challenged and provided practical methods for preaching about racial justice in our congregations,” said the Rev. Todd Harris (M.Div. ’90), District Superintendent of the Northwest District.  “I’m also grateful for the talented and committed preachers of the NW District who are laboring in the vineyards of the district and proclaiming the Good News of God’s work to liberate us from the sin of racism and guiding us toward a new future where God’s Kingdom is on earth as well as in heaven.”

 

Inviting Diversity

“If you drive through Dallas looking for religious institutions, you’ll see this sign over and over: Everyone Welcome,” writes Dr. Robert Hunt. “Practically speaking, everyone means no one.  Folks don’t go to church because everyone is welcome. People go to church because they were specifically welcomed in all their particularities.” Hunt wrote this in a recent op-ed in the Dallas Morning News entitled, “Welcoming diversity isn’t enough. We must invite it.” Read the op-ed here.

 

Natalia Marandiuc Selected as Templeton Fellow

Dr. Natalia Marandiuc, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Perkins School of Theology, has been selected to participate in the New Visions in Theological Anthropology (NViTA) Templeton Grant as a recipient of a Fellowship in Science-Engaged Theology. Administered by the School of Divinity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, this $3 million grant in science-engaged theology from the John Templeton Foundation aims to facilitate greater collaboration between scientists and theologians. Marandiuc is one of eleven scholars from the U.S., Canada, and Europe in the 2020 Cohort, which will gather through video links during the next months and at the University of St Andrews in 2021. Marandiuc’s focus will be her next monograph, provisionally titled Love and Human Thriving: A Feminist Soteriology. Read the press release here.