Northwoods Seelsorger

Here is the review of Bobertz's most recent book that I am reviewing - hopefully - for a seminary journal: The Gospel of Mark: A Liturgical Reading. By Charles A. Bobertz. Baker Academic. Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2016. 288 pages. Softcover. $27.99. Charles Bobertz, professor of theology at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, offers a provocative commentary on the Gospel of Mark utilizing narrative criticism with an additional twist.   As the title indicates, his interpretation is a “liturgical reading.”   Bobertz notes: “The narrative of Mark reads differently if one presumes that the ritual practices of the early Christians (what I will refer to as Christian liturgy) inform the creation of the story, that is, why Mark was written in the first place, and why it was disseminated to its earliest readers” (xvi).   By his own admission much of his interpretive approach relies on “a good bit of hypothetical reconstruction,” and throughout the book he qu...

I looked back at last year's goals and was pleasantly surprised to see that many were actually met or at least attempted. 1.  I did finish and defend my thesis. The thesis was defended on April 29.  I went on to graduate and receive my Master of Sacred Theology degree on May 26.  The degree was award cum laude , "with honor," reflecting a grade point average of an A. I mused in this goal that my initial plan with the degree was to teach, but realized that securing a position was unlikely.  However, at the end of last year I was offered a position as an adjunct professor teaching homiletics to a cohort of eight men in the SMP (Specific Ministry Program) during the summer through my alma mater Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  Although I've filled out the usual employment paperwork, there is much, yet, that I do not know.  Stay tuned!  Learning to teach online when I have never taken any coursework online will be one of my great...