IRT News

Astute readers will notice a change in our board of directors.  Louis Weeks, who helped to found the Institute for Reformed Theology, retired from the presidency of Union-PSCE in July 2007.  A distinguished American religious historian, who continues to work on leadership in the American protestant church, Louis retires from his administrative duties but will continue to write and make his valuable contributions to the American Reformed community. We celebrate his role in the making of the IRT.  Meanwhile, we welcome Professor Brian K. Blount, the new president of Union-PSCE, who began his new post in the Fall of 2007.  Brian comes to us from Princeton Theological Seminary where he was the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation.  We look forward to his leadership at our Institute. 

The Institute for Reformed Theology’s 2007-2009 National Colloquy, entitled “Prayer,” convened on September 13, 2007 in Richmond, Virginia.  This colloquy, led by Union-PSCE professor Dawn Devries, John Newton Thomas Professor of Systematic Theology, will explore different views of prayer through the reading of many classic texts on the theology of prayer that span the centuries. The first meeting addressed “Prayer in the Bible,” first with a lecture by Samuel E. Balentine, followed the next day by discussions of Balentine’s book, Prayer in the Hebrew Bible: The Drama of Divine-Human Dialogue and David Crump’s Knocking on Heaven’s Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary. The last day of the colloquy was devoted to wide-ranging discussions of prayer practices and postures, to more explicitly theological questions.  Another theme repeatedly touched upon was the connection between prayer and ethics or right action. Meeting six times over two years in Richmond, the participants are: Elizabeth McNair Ayscue, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Albemarle, NC; Edna Banes, Dean of Students and Chaplain, Union-PSCE; Charles Booker-Hirsch, Pastor, Northside Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, MI; Veronica E. Cannon, Charlotte, NC; Steven Chase; Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality, Western Theological Seminary, Holland, MI; David Crump, Professor of Religion, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI; Sheila C. Gustafson, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, NM; Kristine Haig, Co-Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown, WV; Sam Hamilton-Poore, Director of the Program in Christian Spirituality and Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality, San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, CA; John E. Harris, Designated Pastor, North Presbyterian Church of Flushing, Flushing, NY; Ethel Hornbeck, Parish Assistant for Spiritual Formation, Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, Shepherdstown, WV; Samuel E. Massengill, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Metuchen, NJ; Albert G. Peery, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Asheville, NC; Robert J. Sherman, Professor of Christian Theology, Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, ME; Rebecca Harden Weaver, John Q. Dickinson Professor of Church Theology, Union-PSCE; and Union-PSCE students, Elizabeth N. Howell, Esta M. Jarrett, Elizabeth K. Lovell, Nelson Reveley, Andrew Taylor-Troutman, Lindy Smith Vogado, and Jennifer Williams.  A list of readings for the colloquy can be found here. 

On November 4–6, 2007, “The Scandal of Particularity: A Jewish-Christian Conversation” colloquy continued with a meeting in Richmond, VA on the Union-PSCE campus. This colloquy, a joint project with the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, MD and in conjunction with First Presbyterian Church and the Temple/Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, both in Atlanta, is being led by S. Dean McBride, the Cyrus M. McCormick Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation and Andreas Scheule, Professor of Old Testament, both at Union-PSCE; Christopher M. Leighton, Executive Director, and Rosann Catalano, Roman Catholic scholar, both of the ICJS; and Randi Rashkover, Assistant Professor of Religious studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

The study for the November session focused on the topic, “The People of Israel, the People of God.” The session was organized around the following questions: (1) What is the significance of the land of Israel within Jewish self-understanding? (2) What role does the land of Israel play in the Christian understanding of salvation history? (3) Is there consensus among Jews regarding the significance of the land? and (4) Does the incorporation of the meaning of the land into the Christian narrative of salvation history grant continued significance to the land or does it transform the meaning of the land? In a series of ten blocks of study, participants discussed these questions, concluding with four questions: (1) What is your biggest discovery? (2) What do you think is your most pressing question or ideas for your profession colleagues? (3) What might be the most effective way to “translate” these ideas in your professional context? and (4) What one idea do you not want to lose? Visiting scholars for this session were Yehezkel Landau of Hartford Seminary’s Center for Faith in Practice and John Pawlikowski, O.S.M. of Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, IL.