Open Plaza 9/26/22 Open Plaza 9/26/22

The Hope of the Gospel

Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas talks to Dr. Mark S. Young about his book on theological education and the next evangelicalism

*Detail from “The Gospel Compass for Sailors of All Nations”* *(ca. 1880),* *designed by W.C. Miles.* *Source: Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, UK*. *Photo:* *Leo Reynolds*

Old Testament professor Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas talks to Denver Seminary president Dr. Mark S. Young about his book The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2022), which argues for returning evangelicalism to its core commitments.

“We read the Bible too simplistically,” Dr. Young tells Dr. Carroll. “We interpret the Bible too arrogantly, and we apply the Bible too selectively.” Some of us, for instance, treat the Bible like “a handbook with tips for, you know, better living: how to parent your children; how to use your money; how to overcome whatever X,Y,Z. So a lot of evangelical preaching lands on these practical tips of how to live a better life. And, indeed, the Bible is full of wisdom, but it's not just a handbook for happy living.” Dr. Young adds that readers latch on to the idea that the text is “inerrant,” so “we interpret it very arrogantly and say this is the only way this passage can be understood. And then, when I say we apply it selectively—if we're honest with ourselves—we have a canon within the canon. We all choose passages that we say are going to shape the way we do things.”

Along with the book, this conversation is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."

BUY

“Mark Young writes as thoughtfully as an evangelical and as insightfully as the president of a leading American seminary. Evangelical theological educators should read this book because it will remind them of the gifts that have distinguished this evangelical movement and point them to the generative work that needs to be undertaken to extend those gifts into the future. Others should read this book because it gives needed clarity to the identity confusion evangelicalism is experiencing and provides valuable insight into the work of evangelical theological schools.”

— Daniel O. Aleshire
Executive Director, Association of Theological Schools (1998-2017)

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Dr. M. Daniel Carroll Rodas is the Blanchard Professor of Old Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School. He holds a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Sheffield, both degrees in Old Testament. Dr. Carroll Rodas is half-Guatemalan (his mother was Guatemalan) and was raised bilingual and bicultural. In his youth he spent many summers in Guatemala and later taught many years at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City. He has taught Old Testament at Denver Seminary, where he founded a Spanish-language lay training program. At Wheaton, he hopes to model a commitment to connecting careful biblical scholarship with the mission of the church as it engages today’s complex realities. Dr. Carroll Rodas is the author of The Lord Roars: Recovering the Prophetic Voice for Today (Baker Publishing Group, 2022), The Bible and Borders: Hearing God's Word on Immigration (Brazos Press, 2020), and The Book of Amos (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020).

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Dr. Mark S. Young, president of Denver Seminary, is a theological educator and pastoral leader with over 40 years of global ministry experience. Prior to joining Denver Seminary in 2009, he served as professor of world missions and intercultural studies at Dallas Theological Seminary from 1995–2009 and was the founding academic dean of the Biblical Theological Seminary in Wroclaw, Poland.

Dr. Young has authored several publications, including The Hope of the Gospel: Theological Education and the Next Evangelicalism (Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022); One True Story, One True God: What the Bible Is All About (Our Daily Bread Publishing, 2021); “Marriage and the Mission of God,” published in Marriage: Its Foundation; Theology and Mission in a Changing World (Moody Press, 2018); and “Recapturing Evangelical Identity and Mission,” published in Still Evangelical? Insiders Reconsider Political, Social, and Theological Meaning (InterVarsity Press, 2018). He has also presented on issues in theological education and mission for numerous international symposia and conferences.

Dr. Young holds a PhD in Educational Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a ThM in New Testament Literature and Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary. He serves as the board chair for the Association of Theological Schools and is a member of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education, Evangelical Theological Society, OMSC Missions Leaders Forum, and several other organizations. He has been married to Priscilla Young for nearly 40 years, has three children and eight grandchildren.

Open Plaza 9/20/21 Open Plaza 9/20/21

After Whiteness

Dr. Teresa Delgado talks to Dr. Willie James Jennings about education in belonging and forming people who form communion

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Dr. Teresa Delgado and Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings discuss his most recent book, After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging (Eerdmans, 2020), the inaugural volume of the groundbreaking Theological Education between the Times book series. As the publisher notes, Rev. Dr. Jennings draws on "the insights gained from his extensive experience in theological education, most notably as the dean of a major university's divinity school—where he remains the only African American to have ever served in that role." In order to “tell the truth from deep down inside of it,” says Rev. Dr. Jennings, “I couldn't get to it just by standard academic writing. I can only get to it by drawing on all the sides of what it means to talk and write about life, but also all the sides of me.” In the book, these “sides” include vignettes, poetry, short stories, and analysis. “What I try to do is to bring people in through the back door,” he says. “I was an academic dean. I learned all the secrets. Yes, I cannot tell you the secrets, but I can tell you what they mean.”

This episode of OP Talks is part of the Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) series, an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."

After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging by Willie James Jennings (Eerdmans, 2020)

PURCHASE

In the tradition of bell hooks and Paulo Freire, Jennings’s insightful indictment of the church and university will be an ideal choice for group discussion…When the academy is not a home, but your skin, paying attention requires everything. A fearlessly candid diagnosis of the failures of the theological academy—its soul-killing cultivation of the self-sufficient man builder—Jennings’s poetic truth-telling nevertheless refuses cynicism’s surrender.

— Andrea C. White
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

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Dr. Teresa Delgado is Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University, NY. She previously held teaching positions at Iona College, where she was Chair of the Religious Studies Department and Program Director of Peace and Justice Studies. Dr. Delgado mentors doctoral students of color to nurture their success in the academy, church, and world. A Senior Fellow of the Ford Foundation, she has served on the board of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, as a member of the mentoring consortium of the Forum for Theological Exploration, and the advisory committee of the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology and Religion. Dr. Delgado served as President of the Board of WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition), a leading force of social justice activism in Westchester County, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colgate University and The Ursuline School. Dr. Delgado holds PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary and a BA in Religion and Women's Studies from Colgate University. Her research interests and scholarship engage the experiences of marginalized peoples to articulate a constructive theological/ethical vision. She has published on topics ranging from diversity in higher education, transformational pedagogies, constructive theology and ethics, and justice for racial/ethnic/sexual minoritized persons. Dr. Delgado is the author of A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and she is currently working on a manuscript in sexual ethics, titled “Loving Sex: Envisioning a Relevant Catholic Sexual Ethic.”

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Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at the Yale Divinity School. A Calvin College graduate, he holds an M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in religion and ethics from Duke. Rev. Dr. Jennings is widely recognized as a major figure in theological education across North America. Writing in the areas of liberation theologies, cultural identities, and anthropology, he has authored more than 40 scholarly essays and nearly two-dozen reviews, as well as essays on academic administration and blog posts for Religion Dispatches. He is the author of After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging (Eerdmans, 2020), which examines the problems of theological education within western education. His book The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale, 2010) won the American Academy of Religion Award of Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Constructive-Reflective category and the Grawemeyer Award in Religion, the largest prize for a theological work in North America. Englewood Review of Books called the work a “theological masterpiece.” His commentary on the Book of Acts, titled Acts: A Commentary, The Revolution of the Intimate (for the Belief Series, Westminster/John Knox), received the Reference Book of the Year Award from The Academy of Parish Clergy in 2018. He is now working on a major monograph provisionally entitled Unfolding the World: Recasting a Christian Doctrine of Creation, as well as a finishing a book of poetry, entitled The Time of Possession. Rev. Dr. Jennings is an ordained Baptist minister and has served as interim pastor for several North Carolina churches.

Open Plaza 8/2/21 Open Plaza 8/2/21

Attempt Great Things for God

Rev. Dr. Sammy Alfaro and Dr. Chloe T. Sun celebrate theological education in diaspora

Rev. Dr. Sammy Alfaro talks to Dr. Chloe T. Sun about her book Attempt Great Things for God: Theological Education in Diaspora (Eerdmans, 2020). Part of the TEBT book series, the work was inspired by Dr. Sun’s experience of being born in China and raised in Hong Kong, before coming to the United States to attend college and where she would become a Christian. “In this process of finding my vocation,” she says, “I struggled with the question of who am I, really—in terms of my identity, my ethnic bicultural identity, and my spiritual identity—and so it took me a while to figure that out.” Dr. Sun encourages others to “find that identity in God's Kingdom and to embrace it and to share it with those who have struggles about who they are in this journey of theological education.”

Attempt Great Things for God: Theological Education in Diaspora by Chloe T. Sun (Eerdmans, 2020)

“This book fills a gap in our knowledge of theological education in the diaspora by showcasing the story of Logos Evangelical Seminary. Chloe Sun challenges the narrative of decline of theological education in America and helps us reimagine the future of theological training with vision and hope. I highly recommend this insightful text.”

— Kwok Pui-lan
Candler School of Theology at Emory University

PURCHASE

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Rev. Dr. Sammy Alfaro is a pastor-scholar whose research interests focus on doing theology from and for the Pentecostal Latina/o church and community. He is an ordained bishop with the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) and founding pastor of Iglesia Nuevo Día (New Day Church), a Latina congregation in Phoenix, AZ. Rev. Dr. Alfaro is Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon Theological Seminary. His publications include Divino Compañero: Toward a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology (Pickwick Publications, 2010) and a co-edited work with Néstor Medina, Pentecostals and Charismatics in Latin America and Latino Communities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Rev. Dr. Alfaro holds a BA in Pre-Seminary Studies from Patten University; he earned an MA in Biblical and Theological Studies and a PhD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

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Dr. Chloe Sun was born in Beijing, China, raised in Hong Kong, and became a Christian while attending college in the US. Her PhD is from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Logos Evangelical Seminary, El Monte, California, where she also serves as Acting Director of ThM and PhD Programs, and Academic Dean. Dr. Sun has published in both Chinese and English, and conducts Bible seminars internationally. Her recent publications include Attempt Great Things for God: Theological Education in Diaspora (Eerdmans, 2020) and Conspicuous in His Absence: Studies in the Song of Songs and Esther (IVP Academic, 2021). She is interested in promoting diversity in theological education because of her own context as a Chinese woman in the academy and her vision for a more inclusive future. You may visit Dr. Sun’s website at: chloesunphd.com

Open Plaza 7/5/21 Open Plaza 7/5/21

Theological Education between the Times

Dr. Antonio Eduardo Alonso, Lucila Crena, and Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith introduce a project out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology

Theological Education between the Times (TEBT) is an initiative out of HTI member school Emory University Candler School of Theology that "gathers diverse groups of people for critical, theological conversations about the meanings and purposes of theological education. The project begins with a recognition that theological education is between the times, on the way. And it works in the confidence that we do not walk this road alone."

HTI Open Plaza’s TEBT series features several conversations among the scholars involved in the project, as well as excerpts of related publications. In this introductory OP Talks episode, TEBT Advisory Board member Dr. Antonio Eduardo Alonso (Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture and Director of Catholic Studies) talks to his Candler School colleagues and fellow TEBT leaders—Managing Director Lucila Crena (Instructor of Theology, Ethics, and Culture) and Director Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith (Professor of Preaching and Ethics)—about the project’s origins. At meetings that spurred conversations and a multi-genre series of books, they gathered to explore a diverse world of thoughts about theological education.

“We met seven times over a couple of years and wrote books together, worshipped together, shared a lot of big moves in our lives together, and now the books are coming out,” says Rev. Dr. Smith. “It’s not really just kind of rolling out the books, it's letting the books be part of a conversation that's now expanding again, sparking new conversations that are deeply contextual where they are. I hope we can start, like, hundreds of little wildfires of theological reflection on theological education, and let the books be part of that, and let them be interconnected.”

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Dr. Antonio (Tony) Alonso is currently Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he also serves as the inaugural Director of Catholic Studies. Dr. Alonso works at the intersection of theology and culture, with a particular focus on worship and ritual practices. In 2019, he was awarded the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition from the Catholic Theological Society of America for his essay "Listening for the Cry: Certeau Beyond Strategies and Tactics" (Modern Theology, 2017). Dr. Alonso's first book, Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life (Fordham University Press, 2021), offers a theological account of contemporary consumerism and its relationship to the Eucharist. It was awarded the 2021 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize, an award that recognizes the best book written by a junior Latinx scholar on theology or religion each year. His current research, funded by a Teacher-Scholar Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute for Worship, focuses on the theological significance of the transformation of Catholic material culture in the wake of the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer of sacred music. The author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements, he was commissioned to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the United States in 2015.

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Lucila Crena is Assistant Professor in Christian Ethics and Public Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary; formerly, she served as Managing Director of the Theological Education between the Times project and Instructor in Theology, Ethics, and Culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. She has taught at innovative theological institutions like the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI, in San José, Costa Rica), Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.), and Regent College (Vancouver, BC), where she was part of the founding faculty for Regent’s new MA in Theology, Leadership, and Society. Crena also served as the faculty liaison during the course redesign of CETI's MA program while the institution pursued accreditation in North America. She has been awarded fellowships from the Forum for Theological Exploration, the Louisville Institute, and Virginia Theological Seminary. Prior to pursuing theological education, Crena worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, as well as for nonprofit organizations like ProInspire, the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, and Year Up. She holds a BA from Emory University, is a graduate of Regent College (MATS), and is completing her doctoral studies at the University of Virginia.

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Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith is the Almar H. Shatford Professor of Preaching and Ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He works at the intersections of practical and political theology. His first book, The New Measures: A Theological History of Democratic Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), tells a history of preaching that gives rise to eschatological visions of modern democracy. His second book, Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics (Stanford University Press, 2014), works through memories of the raid on Harpers Ferry to show the limits of social ethics for thinking about violence. Rev. Dr. Smith has edited collections of essays on sexuality and ordination, contemporary issues in preaching, and economic inequality. He is currently editing a series of books on the meanings and purposes of theological education in a time of great change. Rev. Dr. Smith holds a BA from Duke University, an MA from Oxford University, and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. At Emory, where he earned his PhD, he also teaches in the Graduate Division of Religion and is an affiliated faculty member with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Beyond Emory, Rev. Dr. Smith serves as a senior fellow with the University of Virginia’s project on Religion and Its Publics, the steering committee of the Political Theology Network, and a member of the editorial boards for Political Theology and Practical Matters. He recently completed two terms on the board of the Louisville Institute.