twenty-seventh speedway
Senior students recognized for excellence
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t is a long-standing and much-anticipated tradition at the Austin Seminary Association banquet to learn the identity of the graduating seniors selected by the faculty to receive special awards. These fellowships recognizing excellence in academics, character, and promise for ministry include The David L. Stitt Alumni Association Fellowship, The Pile-Morgan Fellowship, The Janie Maxwell Morris Fellowship, The AlsupFrierson Fellowship for Excellence in Biblical Exegesis and Hermeneutics, and The W. P. Newell Memorial Fellowship. Meet the 2020 fellowship winners here and learn why their professors found them worthy.
Jean Corbitt | Conway, Arkansas David L. Stitt Fellowship | $18,000 prize
“Jean Corbitt is already a star theologian because she understands that bearing witness to mystery requires respecting— and navigating—seemingly paradoxical tensions … She recently identified ‘what if ?’ questions as the only questions that bring us closer to God: ‘What if I’m wrong? What if miracles happen? What if death isn’t the end?’ she asks. Thank you, Jean, for welcoming angels into your head, for being fearless about seeking value in the most traditional voices of the Christian tradition, and for being fearless, also, about challenging them.” –Professor Cynthia Rigby
Usama Malik | Round Rock, Texas Pile-Morgan Fellowship | $8,000 prize
“It is an extraordinary step out of bounds for a Muslim to come to a Christian seminary. Usama has moved the boundary and made it feel entirely ordinary. He comes to chapel, and even when he can’t join in words or actions, he is never not participating, always fully present to the holiness of the time and place. It is because of all this—his energy, his delight, his participation, his wisdom, and his commitment, that a Christian student body chose this Muslim to be their president. The surprise is that it was not surprising.” –Professor Whit Bodman 4 | Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
