New Coursework for Epiphany Term


I will be registering this week for my next class at Nashotah for January. It is entitled "Reading Romans: Exploring Paul's Theological Vision," and will be taught by Dr. Garwood Anderson, the professor I had this past summer for the course on "The New Perspective." Excellent teacher. Since Romans represents such a foundational book for Lutherans, it seemed more than appropriate to sign up for this course. I suspect that out of this course will come my thesis topic, which may be inspired by whatever major paper I pursue. At the moment my interest is centered on exploring Romans 13, and maybe a broader exploration of the "kingdom of the left" in the New Testament, with a focus in the Pauline corpus or even incorporating material from the Gospels for the thesis. We'll see.

This summer I am excited for the possibility of a course offering which will explore "The History and Function of the Church Year." The scheduled professor is the Lutheran theologian Dr. Phillip H. Pfatteicher, who is a noted expert in liturgics. He is an emeritus professor of English from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania and is the author of several books on the liturgy. Recently he retired as associate pastor of First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pennsylvania.

It will be nice to space out my course work this year, taking one at a time instead of having so much writing on my shoulders in the Fall just when things are warming up again in the parish after the summer break. It will also allow me a bit of a breather to take in a Higher Things gathering with my son in Illinois in the early part of July.

Hopefully, I can still finish this degree by the end of 2012. After the two courses in 2011, I will have but one left to take, plus my thesis. After that? Who knows.....a D.Min degree...Ph.D....retirement.....?

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