McCormick taps top scholars for new academic year
08-25-2010
By Geoff Ashmun
Renowned for a model of theological education that is cross-cultural, urban, Reformed, and ecumenical, McCormick Theological Seminary has augmented its core faculty with nearly a dozen nationally and internationally recognized scholars for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Following a pair of engaging lecture-performances last February, Dr. John Bell, a widely celebrated hymn writer and member of the Iona Community, returns to campus to teach in the Doctor of Ministry Program. A minister in the Church of Scotland, Bell will bring his passion for grassroots congregational renewal in the form of a course entitled Joining Up the Body: Building the Common Life of the Church.
Acclaimed New Testament scholar and preacher the Rev. Dr. Brad Braxton has been named Distinguished Visiting Scholar for the full academic year and will be teaching three courses in the Masters Program: New Testament and Contemporary Cultures, Corinthians Correspondence, and Preaching Healing and Justice.
The Rev. Dr. Clare Elizabeth Butterfield, Executive Director of Chicago-based Faith in Place is co-teaching the Masters-level elective Religious Leadership for an Ecological Age with Dr. Ted Hiebert, McGaw Professor of Old Testament. Faith in Place is a unique not-for-profit organization committed to developing ecologically sensitive leadership for communities of diverse religious traditions.
Five additional instructors complete the Masters-level roster. The Rev. Bernard “Chris” Dorsey, Vice President of Development and Marketing at Chicago Theological Seminary, will teach Black Theology and Religious Experience. Rev. Stephanie Perdew Van Slyke, Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Wilmette, Illinois, will teach Christian Worship. The Rev. Reggie Weaver, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Chicago is part of the team teaching Pilgrimage in Faithfulness, while the Rev. Joshua Yoder will be teaching Introduction to Hebrew, Epistles of Paul, Book of Acts, and Introduction to Biblical Studies. Yoder served for five years as pastor of a small Mennonite congregation, which began as an intentional community located in a low-income, racially diverse neighborhood in Elkhart, Indiana.
Four additional instructors round out the slate of Doctor of Ministry adjunct faculty. The Rev. Dr. Sharon Ellis Davis, Senior Pastor of God Can Ministries (UCC), will teach Sexual and Domestic Violence. Dr. Douglas Tracy, Associate Professor of Christian Education at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, returns to the D.Min. Program to teach Research Methods. Dr. Daniel Schipani, Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and author of nine books on pastoral care, will teach Pastoral Care in Times of Crisis. Finally, Dr. Ghana Cooper, alumna of McCormick's Masters and Doctor of Ministry programs and Protestant Christian Chaplain at DePaul University, will co-teach Ministry in Conflicts.
McCormick staffs 18 full-time faculty teaching in the fields of Bible, History, Theology/Ethics, and Ministry. Read more on their scholarship, teaching, and areas of interest.