University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Faculty Publish Five Books This Spring
Apr 25, 2013 | Kristi
Bradley Longfield, dean of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), recently announced the publication of five books this spring by members of the seminary faculty.
Dr. Timothy Matthew Slemmons, assistant professor of homiletics and worship, has authored two resources in a planned four-volume series of Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship (Cascade Books). When Heaven Stands Open consists of worship elements for use with biblical texts read in conjunction with Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Greater Attention is the first liturgical resource supporting of Slemmons' proposed expansion of the lectionary with a fourth supplementary year (Year D). Each volume in the series is intended for use by pastors, liturgists, and other planners and leaders of public worship in the Presbyterian, Reformed, and related Protestant traditions.
Dr. Elesha Coffman, assistant professor of church history, has published The Christian Century and the Rise of the Protestant Mainline (Oxford University Press) which examines “Protestantism’s most influential periodical.” Coffman argues that the Christian Century helped establish the mainline tradition in the first half of the twentieth century. Mainline ideals aligned with the magazine’s editorial emphases, including support for the newest biblical scholarship, the Social Gospel, and ecumenism. Their successes were measured in prestige rather than popularity. If numerical gains did not tell the story of the rise of the mainline, Coffman concludes, perhaps numerical losses do not tell the whole story of the tradition’s course since the 1960s, either.
Dr. Annette Bourland Huizenga, assistant professor of New Testament, published Moral Education for Women in the Pastoral and Pythagorean Letters: Philosophers of the Household (Brill Academic Press). In this work Huizenga examines the Greco-Roman moral-philosophical “curriculum” for women by comparing the Pastoral letters of the New Testament (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus) and the pagan Pythagorean letters (dating from 200 BCE to 200 CE). Huizenga shows that the author of the Pastorals adopted nearly all aspects of the Pythagorean letters’ advice to women, but has supplemented these with theological justifications drawn from Pauline literature and traditions.
Finally, Dr. Bradley Longfield, dean and professor of church history, has published Presbyterians and American Culture: A History (Westminster John Knox Press). Longfield argues that the current identity crisis of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is, at least in part, a function of the way the church has chosen to relate to the broader culture. In order to gain perspective on the current struggles of the church, this work explores the ways in which Presbyterian laity and clergy have influenced and been influenced by values, beliefs, and attitudes assumed by Americans from the early-eighteenth century to the late-twentieth century.
“These works exemplify the commitment of the seminary faculty to scholarship that forms God’s people for servant leadership in ministry and mission,” Longfield remarked. “They engage the church’s scripture, tradition, and practices in order to build up the body of Christ and serve the One God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
The Seminary is one of ten theological institutions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). UDTS is the only Presbyterian seminary that is integrally part of a university. The seminary emphasizes the local church as the central focus and model for ministry, while also training students for ministry in non-traditional settings. Deeply grounded as a Presbyterian seminary, UDTS also serves students from a variety of other denominations, offering residential and online degree and certificate programs for laity and clergy.
