Northwoods Seelsorger

Rev. Dr. Scott Murray Rev. Dr. Richard Stuckwish Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt Rev. Dr. Frank Senn As I thought about the many well-credentialed pastors in my denomination I often wondered if many  of them had aspirations of positions in academia.  Undoubted some do. Possibly many tried and could not secure a place for any number of reasons. Yet there are many who would be great assets to the universities and seminaries, yet who choose to remain in the parish.  I am certainly not aware of all who possess advanced degrees and doctorates on the clergy roster, but the ones I know of seem content to be pastors.  Dr. Stuckwisch, who I noted in the last post is one.  Another is Dr. Burnell Eckardt, or Dr. Karl Fabrizius.  All three of these men, by the way, are associated with the worship journal Gottesdienst .  Still, there are others out there who have taken the time and energy to earn these terminal degrees, men from a variety of backgrounds an...

Images of what you imagine and pictures of the reality of what is often clash.  So it is with graduate work.  Begun in the summer of 2010, I well imagined that the coursework would be completed and the thesis finished at least by the beginning of this coming year.  Well, the coursework was completed by the end of the summer of 2011, and then came that long arduous task of the thesis.  Unfortunately I completed my M.Div without a thesis.  I say "unfortunate" because it left me without any real sense of what is involved in such a project.  Nashotah House has truly been a wonderful place to study and retreat, but from the time I began the program to now several transitions have taken place at this campus.  The dean resigned after a decade's service.  The one in charge of the STM program changed.  And during this time it seemed as if a lot of adjustments and changes were being implemented.  It was indeed a time of transition for Nashotah, o...