Hello, -
In early June three significant public figures in theological education died. Each one contributed through teaching and writing to the education of ministers and the doctoral training of seminary professors. They each held up distinct nodes in the ecology of ministry in the United States and beyond. How many people did they teach and mentor? Impossible to count. Today we remember and appreciate Dr. Craig Dykstra, Dr. Toni Craven, and Dr. Walter
Brueggemann.
I'm grateful for two Baptist colleagues who wrote lovely remembrances. You'll find the links below in this email. In today's blog, I share brief appreciations for Dr. Craven and Dr. Brueggemann. Then I share a longer reflection about Craig Dykstra's influence on my reading, writing, and teaching. He is the originator of the concept of "pastoral imagination" so his thinking and questions have been
with me for a very long time!
Here's a bit of my story...
In the summer of 2003, my course work was complete, and my comprehensive exams seemed far away in the following summer. So I was flexible to say yes, when VDS Dean Jim Hudnut-Beumler and my advisor Bonnie Miller-McLemore approached me with an invitation. They wanted me to work as the graduate fellow for a year-long Lilly Endowment grant called “Teaching for
Ministry.”
I would work closely with Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty, the Dean, my advisor, and Dr. Patout Burns. We became the four principal investigators for the year-long study grant, meeting every
two weeks with a faculty collegium exploring practical theology and doctoral education focused on the practice of ministry.
